Cheap re-map, insurance nightmare?

[Backtobasics]

PKLD said:

Ok this MUST have been discussed before but:

2.0tfsi with DSG - I've seen prices as little as £299 for supposedly +70bhp increase.

1. Is this 'too' cheap as in a proper job should cost more?
Probably

2. The balance of the car is through Audi finance and I'd probably want to hand the car back at the end of agreement (in 18 months time) - would this cause problems? Car would be main dealer serviced - will be out of warranty in 3 months as I know if found it would invalidate a warranty
Ask them

3. I'd want to be legit - does anyone have an idea of insurance increase for a 26 year old that wants to modify a car like this?
+20% maybe, ring your insurance and ask

4. Anyone done it and can give me their feedback?
Depends on the map, revo have a good reputation I seem to recall from my vag days. Been in a few chipped a 1.8t's years ago, made a noticable difference

It's a mk2 TT but I'm guessing anything with the 2.0tfsi will be done the same way. Cheers!

[georgejoshington]

PKLD said:

That might explain the insurance increases with remaps?

Yeah, there's a lot of thieves nowadays that take mobile rolling roads with them.

[AlpineWhite]

DannyVTS said:

But how were you supposed to know it had been remapped before you bought it?

I don't think ignorance counts as a defence. And when I last took out a policy, it asked "has the car been modified or altered", as opposed to "have you modified or altered the car".

[georgejoshington]

CampDavid said:

I believe that Admiral won't touch remapped cars at all while others will only put down a mild increase.

Admiral allow a BHP increase up to IIRC around 50% with what they call a 'chip'. Whether this covers remaps as well, I don't know. Generally the major insurance companies don't know what a remap is.

[MX7]

CampDavid said:

DannyVTS said:

How are they going to know? Insurance companies are milking us for enough cash.

I doubt their evaluators will come to see the car with a Vagcom device if you crash and read the firmware etc..

Depends how well you crash it. For a couple of bumpers they probably won't bother. You can bet that they'll go through it with a fine toothed comb if they're looking at a six or seven figure pay out

I agree, and if they find anything, you are effectively uninsured. Stupid not to.

[carmonk]

DannyVTS said:

carmonk said:

If you're unlucky enough to be involved in a crash where someone is seriously injured or died it's quite possible they will check.

But how were you supposed to know it had been remapped before you bought it?

There'll be a date inside that little box somewhere, I'm afraid

[PKLD]

ZOLLAR said:

I'm slightly slow when it comes to remaps,blueprint,chips etc.
When you say remap OP what would this involve is it simply "chipping" the car or something more involved i.e. Changing pistons, increasing cubic capcity?.

I'm learning as well! As far as I can tell re-mapping simply adds a different software 'map' to the existing chip/ecu. This is what i'm interested in.

For more serious upgrades you can go about replacing the chip entirely, then onto bigger turbos etc but that's OTT for what I need

[R1 Loon]

CampDavid said:

Depends how well you crash it. For a couple of bumpers they probably won't bother. You can bet that they'll go through it with a fine toothed comb if they're looking at a six or seven figure pay out

In which case there is no gain for them in doing what you say, as the insurer remains liable under their RTA obligations.

Just a couple of points from an insurance perspective.

• You should declare it
• Insurers are not CSI, despite the Urban Myths on here. They rarely inspect cars apart from write-offs and even then it will be a look at the superficial damage and a check that the right engine is in the car at most.
• Your biggest problem is Audi. They plug cars into laptops now and it will be immediately evident that you've fiddled with the ECU to the Service Dept there.

[CampDavid]

ZOLLAR said:

I'm slightly slow when it comes to remaps,blueprint,chips etc.
When you say remap OP what would this involve is it simply "chipping" the car or something more involved i.e. Changing pistons, increasing cubic capcity?.

Chipping and remapping are really interchangeable, I can't see why an insurer would have an issue with one and not the other as they do the same thing. With either you are just changing the injector and spark plug settings to optimise performance, nothing else changes.

[carmonk]

Just checked RSTuning, they say a non-guaranteed 40bhp, so I'd take that figure over many others. And yes, it's a straight s/w mod. New ECUs generally cost £1000s and are for use in combo with other mods.

[MX7]

DannyVTS said:

carmonk said:

If you're unlucky enough to be involved in a crash where someone is seriously injured or died it's quite possible they will check.

But how were you supposed to know it had been remapped before you bought it?

If they phone the mapping company to find out when it was mapped, you're facing fraud too.

[lost in espace]

2 things. Can the clutch take the extra bhp and torque? And can you get a plug in chip al la tdi?

[R1 Loon]

CampDavid said:

Chipping and remapping are really interchangeable, I can't see why an insurer would have an issue with one and not the other as they do the same thing. With either you are just changing the injector and spark plug settings to optimise performance, nothing else changes.

They may have an issue becasue the car is

(1) Not the risk that it originally was
(2) Modified
(3) More likely to driven harder

However, having remapped my horsebox, as it was just too slow for me when using for transporting my motorbike it made no difference to the insurance premium, as it is the same engine used in 100bhp, 120bhp and 150bhp versions of the same van.

The biggest issue is Audi, especially invalaidating the warranty as it may put additional stresses on other components causing them to fail prematurely.

[ZOLLAR]

Ok thanks for the replies so far to my post, just trying to get enough info and i'll ask in work tomorrow and post to see if we'd cover it.
Op what sort of percentage increase would it mean on the engine power?.

[PKLD]

carmonk said:

Just checked RSTuning, they say a non-guaranteed 40bhp, so I'd take that figure over many others. And yes, it's a straight s/w mod. New ECUs generally cost £1000s and are for use in combo with other mods.

Thanks will have a look - I'd rather get someone selling me something that actually is realistic than someone trying to exaggerate.

As for insurance I will be declaring as I'm going to be reducing my mileage but about 7k a year so a wee bit extra on the insurance is not a worry - I'm already paying +£800 for it anyways so in context even an extra £100 would be justified for the extra power I mean fuel savings

[PKLD]

ZOLLAR said:

Ok thanks for the replies so far to my post, just trying to get enough info and i'll ask in work tomorrow and post to see if we'd cover it.
Op what sort of percentage increase would it mean on the engine power?.

I think at best it would be +35% but probably less.

And interesting what others mentioned:

1. The engine is the same in the next level of stock TT - the TTS which has 268bhp - not sure if they would look at it in the same way as the lower powered TDi etc

2. The same clutch/gearbox is used in the TTS but not the TTRS which has the new dsg box as it has 335bhp

[PKLD]

Bump for day crew - anyone done the basic remap on a tfsi engine?

Cheers

[Patrick Bateman]

R1 Loon said:

They may have an issue becasue the car is

(1) Not the risk that it originally was
(2) Modified
(3) More likely to driven harder

He meant between 'chipping' and 'remapping'. Not between either of them and 'standard'.

[McSam]

CampDavid said:

Not saying this is right or wrong, just that some insurers will see it that way. I believe that Admiral won't touch remapped cars at all while others will only put down a mild increase.

For the record, I've had a quote from Admiral for a slight increase in premium for a remap adding less than 10% power, a considerable increase for 10-25% more power, and if I recall correctly it was only when I got over 25% more power that I started getting huge prices. Insurers aren't really that bad over it.

[PKLD]

McSam said:

or the record, I've had a quote from Admiral for a slight increase in premium for a remap adding less than 10% power, a considerable increase for 10-25% more power, and if I recall correctly it was only when I got over 25% more power that I started getting huge prices. Insurers aren't really that bad over it.

That's encouraging - looking at it a bit more I think I would be getting a 20% increase (200 to 240) so within reasonable premium I hope!