car insurance + superchip = ripping the pi$$?????

[tekta]

Just enquired yesterday with my insurance people (Egg - don't bother with em) about how I would be affected if I fitted a chip. Suitably vague, but they said 'hmmmm....you'll be looking at something like £1000 extra for a modification like that'



So this would raise my insurance from £700 to £1700! Can anyone even begin to give a decent explanation of how a 10% increase in power on my car deserves a 250% increase in premium? And recommend another company that has a small amount of common sense? thanks

[Spoonman]

It's because you only add a chip if you want to go faster. People like you only do this because they're reckless thugs. But if you modify the rest of your car, it's because you're an enthusiast, and your premium (through a specialist like Flux) will actually go down. They think you'll want to take more care of your car, the more you spend on it.

But why tell them? Who's going to know?

[NikB]

Try Greenlight, I just had a quoute from them and they undercut my current insurer by aprox £150. Number is 01277 263030. They also offer track insurance and they seem to appreciate what you want to do with the mods.

[loudpedal]

Spoonman said: But why tell them? Who's going to know?

As insurers seem to loose money every year, they are tightening up on the small print aspects. If you get caught with an undeclared mod your insurance is technically invalid.

Also,If you have phoned them to say you might get a chip done, I reckon they would be likely to check in the event of a crash.

All imho. Also imho, 98% of insurers are thieving to55ers.

[moreymach]

Its somthing called the 'moral risk'.. the performance of the car has only gone up by 10-15% but the fact that you needed more power inplies youre a going to be driving faster than average for the car/driver risk. extra 1000 squid seems rather oevr the top though!! Lots of the big name insurers just want the choice clients these days and anyone outside the norm is penalised, go to a specialist broker and it shouldnt effect yoru premium much at all...
Oh and Egg use 'UK insurance' aka Direct Line as do Tescos so no point calling them either ...

>> Edited by moreymach on Friday 18th October 11:01

[relaxitscool]

I wouldn't bother with a SC anyway. I had one once, it just made my car detonate on full throttle. Save the money and buy more cubes

Rob

[tekta]

I'm not a thug, i'm lurverly guy officer Agree with the comment about 98% of insurance companies, someone here called them 'thieves with O-levels', sounds about right.

I'm actually dealing with a crash through Egg now, after a guy on a Ducati decided to take a bend wide and land on my bonnet. 100% not my fault, yet it's 3 months down the line and I've had to phone up 20/30 times to get anything sorted. Then they send me some junk mail about taking out their car insurance !!including the classic line 'one call does it all' !!!! I wish I knew what does it all, cos one call does nothing.

And yeah, Egg=Tesco=Privelege=UK insurance ltd (don't think they are direct line) I know this because I have had letters from each of these companies during the claim! Know Elbow Wouldn't Arse From

So anyway, I went with them cos they were the cheapest, give cover for trackdays, and only charged another £80 when I told them I had lowered suspension. So the £1000 extra made me choke a bit. I guess that it's another situation where the insurance company doesn't want anything remotely unusual, so they pick a ridiculous figure out of the air to scare you off.

I don't really want to risk it either, as checking for a chip is an easy thing to do, and I've experienced how picky they are over what is/isn't covered. They deal with the small print all day long!

Thanks everyone anyway, are there any other companies people can recommend?

[GreenV8S]

But why tell them? Who's going to know?

Dangerous advice! If you had a big claim I'm sure they'd look for any excuse to invalidate the policy, don't even think about making undeclared mods!

I was insured with Pearts the first time I had my V8S chipped, a few years ago. They only charged a nominal admin fee of about £50. I've made many other changes since then, but the premium increase has been very small each time. I'm now insured with Privilege, who have raised the premium slightly each time I modify the car but not enough to worry about, I think I'm paying about £100 over the standard rate now. I think the substantial suspension and brake mods offset the power increase, in my case. I imagine if you chucked in another 100 BHP with no other changes they might get a bit twitchy!

Cheers,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 18th October 12:26

[cotty]

Spoonman said:

But why tell them? Who's going to know?

Insurance is based on utmost good faith. They trust you to to tell them about your car and driving history. They dont come round and check. So how would you feel if you were lied to, im sure you wouldnt say "oh thats ok just take the money"