Much Needed Advice on Stage 1 Remap Insurance
Discussion
It's not the increment in power and performance that causes the rate hike, it's the indicated attitude of the driver. Just like sticking a Nurburgring decal on the tailgate.
From the insurer's perspective, a remap indicates a predilection towards aggressive and fast driving. Whether or not you have such tendencies is irrelevant as the majority of your risk cohort do.
As for declaring: checking the ECU for signs of a remap is common after performance-related claims and if found then all of your insurance will be invalidated, even third party. That's a whole world of financial destitution.
Source: used to work in auto insurance
From the insurer's perspective, a remap indicates a predilection towards aggressive and fast driving. Whether or not you have such tendencies is irrelevant as the majority of your risk cohort do.
As for declaring: checking the ECU for signs of a remap is common after performance-related claims and if found then all of your insurance will be invalidated, even third party. That's a whole world of financial destitution.
Source: used to work in auto insurance
FA57REN said:
It's not the increment in power and performance that causes the rate hike, it's the indicated attitude of the driver. Just like sticking a Nurburgring decal on the tailgate.
From the insurer's perspective, a remap indicates a predilection towards aggressive and fast driving. Whether or not you have such tendencies is irrelevant as the majority of your risk cohort do.
As for declaring: checking the ECU for signs of a remap is common after performance-related claims and if found then all of your insurance will be invalidated, even third party. That's a whole world of financial destitution.
Source: used to work in auto insurance
How easy is it to tell if remapped?From the insurer's perspective, a remap indicates a predilection towards aggressive and fast driving. Whether or not you have such tendencies is irrelevant as the majority of your risk cohort do.
As for declaring: checking the ECU for signs of a remap is common after performance-related claims and if found then all of your insurance will be invalidated, even third party. That's a whole world of financial destitution.
Source: used to work in auto insurance
In a scenario where -
you purchased a second hand car which was remapped before your ownership and you were not made aware.
An incident occurs which results in a claim
the insurance company looks for evidence of a remap which comes back positive.
Are you then penalised despite not knowing it was remapped and by its essence theres no outward signs of one?
Seems a little ludicrous
you purchased a second hand car which was remapped before your ownership and you were not made aware.
An incident occurs which results in a claim
the insurance company looks for evidence of a remap which comes back positive.
Are you then penalised despite not knowing it was remapped and by its essence theres no outward signs of one?
Seems a little ludicrous
The software can easily be downloaded from the ECU and checked against standard.
One of the things I remember about my speed awareness course was being told about the level of investigation that goes into a serious accident. Everything from the position of a stick on sat nav, the driver’s mobile phone records (paying attention to any calls or messages around the time of the accident), and the condition of, and modifications to the vehicle are considered to be potential contributing factors, and are thoroughly investigated and documented.
The effort and depth of investigation is proportional to the seriousness. For a minor tickle, you might get away with it. For a big shunt, involving a large claim, or any serious injury or death, they spare no effort.
It’s not worth the risk, IMO.
One of the things I remember about my speed awareness course was being told about the level of investigation that goes into a serious accident. Everything from the position of a stick on sat nav, the driver’s mobile phone records (paying attention to any calls or messages around the time of the accident), and the condition of, and modifications to the vehicle are considered to be potential contributing factors, and are thoroughly investigated and documented.
The effort and depth of investigation is proportional to the seriousness. For a minor tickle, you might get away with it. For a big shunt, involving a large claim, or any serious injury or death, they spare no effort.
It’s not worth the risk, IMO.
Careful, now that you've had a quote you might find yourself in a situation where you have to prove to the insurer that you DON'T have a remap, should you eventually insure it without so.
Happened to a friend of mine. Admiral wanted him to get an engineer report to prove his car hadn't been tampered with. They backed down after a bit of email tennis, but it was certainly an eye opener on what information is gathered/stored about a vehicle when a quote is given.
Happened to a friend of mine. Admiral wanted him to get an engineer report to prove his car hadn't been tampered with. They backed down after a bit of email tennis, but it was certainly an eye opener on what information is gathered/stored about a vehicle when a quote is given.
Jaybee1981 said:
In a scenario where -
you purchased a second hand car which was remapped before your ownership and you were not made aware.
An incident occurs which results in a claim
the insurance company looks for evidence of a remap which comes back positive.
Are you then penalised despite not knowing it was remapped and by its essence theres no outward signs of one?
Seems a little ludicrous
You say it seems a little ludicrous but how many people would remap their car and then claim they had no idea if the proverbial hits the fan? Insurers will be well used to those type of claims from owners, you purchased a second hand car which was remapped before your ownership and you were not made aware.
An incident occurs which results in a claim
the insurance company looks for evidence of a remap which comes back positive.
Are you then penalised despite not knowing it was remapped and by its essence theres no outward signs of one?
Seems a little ludicrous
To answer the OP Yes it is possible for an insurer to tell if a car has been modified including a remap, they may or may not bother for a low level claim but if it was a bad accident and their liability was going to be significant such as long term serious injuries to an individual you better believe they are going to go to town getting specialists to pull a car apart to find a reason to invalidate a claim if they can.
Search your online presence for threads where you may have posted on forums asking about remaps etc.
You pay your money and make your choice ultimately.
Thank you for the replies so far, seems like i should just wait a few years and either buy a faster car or declare. Trust me if it was only £100 to declare I would right now but an extra £2k is beyond ridiculous, I feel you would have to either be rich as hell or dumb to pay that much extra for a stage 1 remap.
The insurance increase is much higher than I ever heard. When I was 23 or 24 I had a tdi golf remapped and increase was around £40 for a fairly large power increase, with admiral (if I remember correctly).
It maybe worth giving a call to a broker like SKY who are more used to modifications if you haven't already.
It maybe worth giving a call to a broker like SKY who are more used to modifications if you haven't already.
Jaybee1981 said:
In a scenario where -
you purchased a second hand car which was remapped before your ownership and you were not made aware.
An incident occurs which results in a claim
the insurance company looks for evidence of a remap which comes back positive.
Are you then penalised despite not knowing it was remapped and by its essence theres no outward signs of one?
Seems a little ludicrous
I have thought the same thing, the issue is you're therefore lying to a insurance company. I might be wrong but it may also be possible to check when the remap was done which would obviously expose that you are lying. It's just a bit risky. I guess my question here was, do insurance companies regularly check if a car has been remapped with being declared in case of an accident. And from what I've seen, its very much possible that they could check you purchased a second hand car which was remapped before your ownership and you were not made aware.
An incident occurs which results in a claim
the insurance company looks for evidence of a remap which comes back positive.
Are you then penalised despite not knowing it was remapped and by its essence theres no outward signs of one?
Seems a little ludicrous
Could try one of the good tuning boxes from the likes of DTUK or TDI Tuning. not quite as good as a bespoke remap but having been in and driven cars with them on you can definitely feel the difference and if you need to have the car inspected you can take them out easily in 10 mins with no tools.
Friend of mine ran one on his M4 for a year and a bit even did track work with no problems.
Friend of mine ran one on his M4 for a year and a bit even did track work with no problems.
insurance is based on "Upmost Good Faith", they trust you to delcare what they are insuring accurately and not withhold or falsify information, all in the T's and C's.
I doubt they do much checking into ECU software unless they are trying to avoid a very big claim as it is costly and involved.
Some cars may come with an undeclared remap, I had a 150 bhp Saab that went way, way faster than I expected it to, so much the 210 bhp one that replaced it felt no faster but it was so standard and basic I cant imagine it had been.
It really isnt worth paying loads for a remap, its not going to change your life, it will make it a bit faster but better saving up the cost of the map and added premiums and put it towards your next one, 320D should be plenty fast enough as standard.
I doubt they do much checking into ECU software unless they are trying to avoid a very big claim as it is costly and involved.
Some cars may come with an undeclared remap, I had a 150 bhp Saab that went way, way faster than I expected it to, so much the 210 bhp one that replaced it felt no faster but it was so standard and basic I cant imagine it had been.
It really isnt worth paying loads for a remap, its not going to change your life, it will make it a bit faster but better saving up the cost of the map and added premiums and put it towards your next one, 320D should be plenty fast enough as standard.
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