Changing car’s shade of blue - an insurance mod?
Discussion
My Chimaera’s paintwork is looking tired, and is peeling badly on a rear quarter.
It’s not a desperate problem on a fibreglass body, but it looks crap. So when funds allow it’ll be time for a respray.
I’d really like to go for a brighter shade of blue. Currently it’s “Starmist Blue”, probably the most common colour for a Chimaera or Cerbera. I’ve seen pictures of Chimaeras in “Viper Blue”, sometimes referred to as “GTS Viper Blue”. It’s not a rare colour by any means, but has much more impact. If you Google “Chimaera Starmist Blue” and “Chimaera Viper Blue” you’ll get the idea.
My question is: Would this be notifiable, either to Doovla or to insurance?
Changing a car’s colour (e.g. blue to red) certainly would be notifiable to DVLA and probably to insurance I would think so that the car matches their records - but I’d only be changing from one shade of blue to another. But might this count as a mod from an insurance perspective, even though I’m pretty sure they only know the car as being “blue”? If an insurance assessor were to inspect the car after a claim, I’m pretty sure they’d simply think “yup, still blue”. Both blues are, I believe, standard off-the-shelf metallic paints with no fancy flippery, and I doubt there’s much (if any) cost difference.
I can’t see DVLA caring - on the V5C it is simply “blue”, which would still be correct.
Of course I guess I’d have to ask, but I just wondered if anyone has done something similar, and whether it affected insurance.
It’s not a desperate problem on a fibreglass body, but it looks crap. So when funds allow it’ll be time for a respray.
I’d really like to go for a brighter shade of blue. Currently it’s “Starmist Blue”, probably the most common colour for a Chimaera or Cerbera. I’ve seen pictures of Chimaeras in “Viper Blue”, sometimes referred to as “GTS Viper Blue”. It’s not a rare colour by any means, but has much more impact. If you Google “Chimaera Starmist Blue” and “Chimaera Viper Blue” you’ll get the idea.
My question is: Would this be notifiable, either to Doovla or to insurance?
Changing a car’s colour (e.g. blue to red) certainly would be notifiable to DVLA and probably to insurance I would think so that the car matches their records - but I’d only be changing from one shade of blue to another. But might this count as a mod from an insurance perspective, even though I’m pretty sure they only know the car as being “blue”? If an insurance assessor were to inspect the car after a claim, I’m pretty sure they’d simply think “yup, still blue”. Both blues are, I believe, standard off-the-shelf metallic paints with no fancy flippery, and I doubt there’s much (if any) cost difference.
I can’t see DVLA caring - on the V5C it is simply “blue”, which would still be correct.
Of course I guess I’d have to ask, but I just wondered if anyone has done something similar, and whether it affected insurance.
davek_964 said:
I'm pretty sure my insurers don't know the colour of any of my cars. In fact, I insured a new (to me) car last week, and I definitely did not tell them the colour.
Come to think of it, I don’t think it is a question they ask, but I assume they know from the car’s registration that it’s “blue”.dundarach said:
Ring and ask?
Of course I would, if I actually decide to do it. But at the moment I’m at the idle musing stage, so wondered if others have done something similar.V5’s show colour albeit in your case just “ blue “.
I don’t think any Insurer has also ever asked me for the colour albeit when I have paid extra for special paint I have obviously mentioned that as part of any agreed value conversation.
Thinking about it I think this is the only aspect of a blue respray that you should mention to your Insurer as clearly should the worst happen post respray you want to make sure you don’t just get standard market value etc.
I don’t think any Insurer has also ever asked me for the colour albeit when I have paid extra for special paint I have obviously mentioned that as part of any agreed value conversation.
Thinking about it I think this is the only aspect of a blue respray that you should mention to your Insurer as clearly should the worst happen post respray you want to make sure you don’t just get standard market value etc.
Bigends said:
These are the basic colours recorded by the DVLA -doesnt differentiate between shades of Blue
Beige, black, blue, bronze, brown, buff, cream, gold, green, grey, ivory, maroon, orange,
pink, purple, red, silver, turquoise, white and yellow
I always assumed they categorised colours according to the Windows 16-colour palette of the 1990s. But they have yellow, beige, cream, and, er, “buff”… the last of which you surely need an XX chromosome to identify! Beige, black, blue, bronze, brown, buff, cream, gold, green, grey, ivory, maroon, orange,
pink, purple, red, silver, turquoise, white and yellow
Having grown up with a Sinclair Spectrum, I’m disappointed that magenta and cyan aren’t on the list.
Until recently, I would have said "No, of course not" but after reading recent threads - particularly the one regarding PPF - I'm now not so sure.
When I think back to the 70s and some of the stuff that was going on, I just think "Blimey, if I do that now, I'll be uninsurable for the rest of my days!"
When I think back to the 70s and some of the stuff that was going on, I just think "Blimey, if I do that now, I'll be uninsurable for the rest of my days!"
I recall being told on a PNC course that DVLA staff creating V5's from manufacturers details often had to make a best guess as to which of the DVLA colour palette fitted the colours described by the manufacturers. Blue grey can often look more grey than blue. Itll probably be recorded as blue by the DVLA, so a PNC check could well flag up a car as being the wrong colour if the officer checking perceives the car to be grey.
Given that one insurance company considered repainting the wheels in the *exact* same silver they came as originally or putting stickers on the car (or PPF) as a "modification" it's fair to say that if you're changing the colour, no matter how slight, *some* insurance companies would consider it a modification.
It would presumably not be that hard to tell either (I presume that they did have proper paint codes still).
Personally I would just tell the insurer and leave it up to them if they consider it to be a modification or not.
It would presumably not be that hard to tell either (I presume that they did have proper paint codes still).
Personally I would just tell the insurer and leave it up to them if they consider it to be a modification or not.
Fastdruid said:
Given that one insurance company considered repainting the wheels in the *exact* same silver they came as originally or putting stickers on the car (or PPF) as a "modification" it's fair to say that if you're changing the colour, no matter how slight, *some* insurance companies would consider it a modification.
It would presumably not be that hard to tell either (I presume that they did have proper paint codes still).
Personally I would just tell the insurer and leave it up to them if they consider it to be a modification or not.
Refurbing wheels to factory spec is not a mod as is a respray in the original colour. Who is this ins co?It would presumably not be that hard to tell either (I presume that they did have proper paint codes still).
Personally I would just tell the insurer and leave it up to them if they consider it to be a modification or not.
sixor8 said:
My folks have a Honda Accord that is a dark grey metallic, but is at DVLA recorded as silver. Nobody looking at it would call it silver but that's its original colour. 
My accord is apparently 'blue'.irl it is sky coloured tbf, but not a nice south coast summer sunny day sky, more a grim up north miserable overcast day sky.martinbiz said:
Fastdruid said:
Given that one insurance company considered repainting the wheels in the *exact* same silver they came as originally or putting stickers on the car (or PPF) as a "modification" it's fair to say that if you're changing the colour, no matter how slight, *some* insurance companies would consider it a modification.
It would presumably not be that hard to tell either (I presume that they did have proper paint codes still).
Personally I would just tell the insurer and leave it up to them if they consider it to be a modification or not.
Refurbing wheels to factory spec is not a mod as is a respray in the original colour. Who is this ins co?It would presumably not be that hard to tell either (I presume that they did have proper paint codes still).
Personally I would just tell the insurer and leave it up to them if they consider it to be a modification or not.
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