insurance brokers following you on pistonheads !!
Discussion
just had a chat with my insurers who shall remain nameless. the broker happened to mention that by chance they had seen me on pistonheads and had followed a couple of threads. This got me wondering about what i had posted on pistonheads. he seems to suggest although that insurers would not neccesarily follow people on pistonheads but if a claim later arised they might search your history to see if anything may have invalidated your insurance. i have agreed with him that i will look back on the work i have had done and inform the insurers of any mods that were done to make sure they can assess them and see if they need to be authorized for my latest insurance quote.
i am 99% sure i havent done anything wrong but im not sure so i will inform them and let them decide.
i suggest however tha pistonheaders only write what is true and do not not do anything that is outside the law, firstly because you should not do anything illegal and secondly because you never know who is watching.
just to say my conscience is clear.
note to mods, can i post this in tvr section as well as owners are constantly tweaking their cars and might be interested in this post?
i am 99% sure i havent done anything wrong but im not sure so i will inform them and let them decide.
i suggest however tha pistonheaders only write what is true and do not not do anything that is outside the law, firstly because you should not do anything illegal and secondly because you never know who is watching.
just to say my conscience is clear.
note to mods, can i post this in tvr section as well as owners are constantly tweaking their cars and might be interested in this post?
Suspect it may be worth them spending a couple of hours time doing some detective work if it avoids a claim.
Not sure how they would present any information gained through a forum, it might fall foul of the cyber stalking laws.
If mine are reading, its on the path, not turned a wheel this week so can I have a rebate ?
Not sure how they would present any information gained through a forum, it might fall foul of the cyber stalking laws.
If mine are reading, its on the path, not turned a wheel this week so can I have a rebate ?
neilbauer said:
If anyone is modding cars and not telling their insurers then more fool them, and I hope they caught! (sorry if this seems harsh)
it doesnt seem harsh until you realise a tyre 1 inch wider than original might be considered a mod, or if you change the steering wheel from originaal it might be considered a mod,or if you put a wheel spacer on it may be considered a mod. these could be done perfectly innocently without realising.the insurance broker suggested to me that if they had seen someone on line blatantly boasting about what they had done and they knew it would invalidate their insurance, that the broker would not warn or advise their customer who pays them their fees but they would keep that knowledge filed away for future reference.
on my first chimaera my bonnet catch was broken so i temporarily put a wire to the outside of the bonnet but hidden and safe, Adrian Flux wanted another £15 to cover that mod
lestershaw said:
neilbauer said:
If anyone is modding cars and not telling their insurers then more fool them, and I hope they caught! (sorry if this seems harsh)
it doesnt seem harsh until you realise a tyre 1 inch wider than original might be considered a mod, or if you change the steering wheel from originaal it might be considered a mod,or if you put a wheel spacer on it may be considered a mod. these could be done perfectly innocently without realising.the insurance broker suggested to me that if they had seen someone on line blatantly boasting about what they had done and they knew it would invalidate their insurance, that the broker would not warn or advise their customer who pays them their fees but they would keep that knowledge filed away for future reference.
on my first chimaera my bonnet catch was broken so i temporarily put a wire to the outside of the bonnet but hidden and safe, Adrian Flux wanted another £15 to cover that mod
neilbauer said:
lestershaw said:
neilbauer said:
If anyone is modding cars and not telling their insurers then more fool them, and I hope they caught! (sorry if this seems harsh)
it doesnt seem harsh until you realise a tyre 1 inch wider than original might be considered a mod, or if you change the steering wheel from originaal it might be considered a mod,or if you put a wheel spacer on it may be considered a mod. these could be done perfectly innocently without realising.the insurance broker suggested to me that if they had seen someone on line blatantly boasting about what they had done and they knew it would invalidate their insurance, that the broker would not warn or advise their customer who pays them their fees but they would keep that knowledge filed away for future reference.
on my first chimaera my bonnet catch was broken so i temporarily put a wire to the outside of the bonnet but hidden and safe, Adrian Flux wanted another £15 to cover that mod
lestershaw said:
the insurance broker suggested to me that if they had seen someone on line blatantly boasting about what they had done and they knew it would invalidate their insurance, that the broker would not warn or advise their customer who pays them their fees but they would keep that knowledge filed away for future reference.
on my first chimaera my bonnet catch was broken so i temporarily put a wire to the outside of the bonnet but hidden and safe, Adrian Flux wanted another £15 to cover that mod
So basically they would know you couldn't claim but would keep the policy in force therefore keeping their commission (no clawback) but on an invalid policy. Utmost good faith hey on my first chimaera my bonnet catch was broken so i temporarily put a wire to the outside of the bonnet but hidden and safe, Adrian Flux wanted another £15 to cover that mod
lestershaw said:
neilbauer said:
If anyone is modding cars and not telling their insurers then more fool them, and I hope they caught! (sorry if this seems harsh)
it doesnt seem harsh until you realise a tyre 1 inch wider than original might be considered a mod, or if you change the steering wheel from originaal it might be considered a mod,or if you put a wheel spacer on it may be considered a mod. these could be done perfectly innocently without realising.I'd be more worried about something like saying "I'm off for a blat over such and such a road at the weekend" being taken as evidence of dangerous driving or something should you have an accident on said road
This is an interesting topic.
Some TVR Tuscan owners have added spacers to their front wheels to reduce bump steer.
Its done as a safety mod and although I didnt need to do it, it never crossed my mind that the insurance should be informed.
I once wrote off my a Tuscan and when I called to claim they asked about any mods.
I informed them that I had fitted stronger alloys (which alctually corrected the above bump steer offset).
Insurance asked me for the value and date and back charged me additional premium to cover them and deducted the amount from the car write off value.
I considered myself very lucky when I realised they may well have voided my insurance.
Some TVR Tuscan owners have added spacers to their front wheels to reduce bump steer.
Its done as a safety mod and although I didnt need to do it, it never crossed my mind that the insurance should be informed.
I once wrote off my a Tuscan and when I called to claim they asked about any mods.
I informed them that I had fitted stronger alloys (which alctually corrected the above bump steer offset).
Insurance asked me for the value and date and back charged me additional premium to cover them and deducted the amount from the car write off value.
I considered myself very lucky when I realised they may well have voided my insurance.
This is a public forum that uses usernames, how do the insurance companies know who is who, I do think anyone puts "Liquid Knight" or "Poo at Pauls" on their proposal document, plus people post stuff that may not be strictly 100 percent accurate, dont think this can be used in court, I asked about a remap for my 944 in the Porsche section, I havent done it but now do they think I have my car remapped or is thinking and asking about things potentially a minefield, it a bit like that film, "Minority Report"
In the meantime we need to look for users called Sheila, Aleksandr, Churchill, Adrian etc
In the meantime we need to look for users called Sheila, Aleksandr, Churchill, Adrian etc
DanDC5 said:
This is the exact reason why I always declare mods on anything I've had, from my 206 which was the first car I did anything to until now. I got told a long time ago that insurance companies check on forums, and for the sakes of a few quid it really isn't worth the risk.
+1lestershaw said:
just had a chat with my insurers who shall remain nameless. the broker happened to mention that by chance they had seen me on pistonheads and had followed a couple of threads. This got me wondering about what i had posted on pistonheads. he seems to suggest although that insurers would not neccesarily follow people on pistonheads but if a claim later arised they might search your history to see if anything may have invalidated your insurance.
This isn't an insurer following you on PistonHeads, it's a person, who happens to work for an insurance broker, following you on PistonHeads.As said above, if you're modifying your car for performance gain and not disclosing this to your insurer, then more fool you for doing so, and even more fool you for being idiotic enough to be posting it on a public forum
From a legal point of view, then a court would not accept a forum post as an admissuing of guilt. However, insurance claims are generally 4-5 figures+, so an insurer (and I would if I was them) could use it as an indication of who to investigate further come claim time.
I bet insurance companies do this all the time, it's just in this instance you've found out.
From a legal point of view, then a court would not accept a forum post as an admissuing of guilt. However, insurance claims are generally 4-5 figures+, so an insurer (and I would if I was them) could use it as an indication of who to investigate further come claim time.
I bet insurance companies do this all the time, it's just in this instance you've found out.
Deva Link said:
This isn't an insurer following you on PistonHeads, it's a person, who happens to work for an insurance broker, following you on PistonHeads.
not quite, my broker said that they , meaning more than one from the broker office was watching.so where do you think the loyalties of " a person" who happens to work for a broker are placed then? lots of brokers are small family/intimate companies whose first loyalty should be to their company, then the customer (who pays them) and then the insurers.
i suspect though that the customers are placed third and the insurers second which makes a nonsense of the "broker" working for you is a fallacy.
i have no issue at all with what happens to someone who knowingly tries to defraud or dupe his broker, but i think its unfair if the broker knows something to be a breech that his client may not,and the broker doesnt advise him of that.
I got a discount from my insurer for the Porsche by proving I was a member of 911UK.com. I had to send them a screenprint of me logged in. It was obvious what that was for - with a record of my username they could search all of my posts in the event that I should need make a claim and any open admittance of speeding/modding/using the car outside the bounds of the contract would invalidate my insurance.
The moral is make sure you're insured for exactly what you're driving and don't post crap online about three figure speeds or stancing your Prelude. Your insurance may be invalid and nobody likes a Billy Big-b
ks anyway.
The moral is make sure you're insured for exactly what you're driving and don't post crap online about three figure speeds or stancing your Prelude. Your insurance may be invalid and nobody likes a Billy Big-b
ks anyway.andyjo1982 said:
neilbauer said:
lestershaw said:
neilbauer said:
If anyone is modding cars and not telling their insurers then more fool them, and I hope they caught! (sorry if this seems harsh)
it doesnt seem harsh until you realise a tyre 1 inch wider than original might be considered a mod, or if you change the steering wheel from originaal it might be considered a mod,or if you put a wheel spacer on it may be considered a mod. these could be done perfectly innocently without realising.the insurance broker suggested to me that if they had seen someone on line blatantly boasting about what they had done and they knew it would invalidate their insurance, that the broker would not warn or advise their customer who pays them their fees but they would keep that knowledge filed away for future reference.
on my first chimaera my bonnet catch was broken so i temporarily put a wire to the outside of the bonnet but hidden and safe, Adrian Flux wanted another £15 to cover that mod
Surely if the insurance company did question the client about a post on a forum or remarks about going x amount down a road....the client could just turn round and say he was bored and fancied making a story up to create a thread?
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