Insurance & modified cars
Discussion
Tim,
My insurance with the TVRCC scheme at Mannings went up by 15% for adjustable suspension when I had Ohlins fitted to my Griff500. Sports exhaust and uprated brakes didn't seem to make any change though. Premium still resonable, in my opinion, as it includes TVRCC organised track days.
Mike
My insurance with the TVRCC scheme at Mannings went up by 15% for adjustable suspension when I had Ohlins fitted to my Griff500. Sports exhaust and uprated brakes didn't seem to make any change though. Premium still resonable, in my opinion, as it includes TVRCC organised track days.
Mike
I know this is a bit naughty but--I have never known of an insurance company stripping an engine or even making anything other than a cursory examination in the case of write-off's--which means that changes that are not obvious (like fancy wheels etc) including engine upgrades are not likely to be detected. It's your choice.
The reason i started this post was that some people have been stung for hundreds due to minor modifications, and are quite happy to pay up thinking that this is the norm. In my experience if you offer as much technical info as possible they seem reasonable. In my case there has never been an increase in premium, (the insurer is NIG) i personally wouldn't take the risk of not telling them .
Maybe we can establish the best or the worst insurers for mods ..
Tim
Maybe we can establish the best or the worst insurers for mods ..
Tim
clint888 said: I know this is a bit naughty but--I have never known of an insurance company stripping an engine or even making anything other than a cursory examination in the case of write-off's--which means that changes that are not obvious (like fancy wheels etc) including engine upgrades are not likely to be detected. It's your choice.
I have... including several TVRs. I know of one claim that got turned down due to a chipped car, and another due to cat removal. I know of another case where they found a ringed TVR as a result. It all depends on the size of the claim.
Both my TVRs are modified and I have had no premium increase because the whole car was upgraded. Insurance companies do not take lightly to upgrades that affect the performance of one part of the car without looking at the rest. Chip the engine without upgrading suspension and brakes and you are likley to get stung. Brakes and suspension etc along with the engine. The 520 has 14 pages of mods so I am not talking about the odd thing or two. Talk to your insurer before doing the mod as well and they will guide you. Be prepared to fill out a mod vehicle form and supply as much technical info including receipts and so on.
I'm with Sunninghill. Cover any track day as well. No premium increase.
If you don't tell the insurers and get their agreement, you risk having no insurance cover which is pretty stupid IMHO.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
>> Edited by shpub on Sunday 8th December 07:25
2 Sheds said: The reason i started this post was that some people have been stung for hundreds due to minor modifications, and are quite happy to pay up thinking that this is the norm. In my experience if you offer as much technical info as possible they seem reasonable. In my case there has never been an increase in premium, (the insurer is NIG) i personally wouldn't take the risk of not telling them .
Maybe we can establish the best or the worst insurers for mods ..
Tim
I've had various suspension, brake and engine mods while insured with Pearts and Privilege. They charged a nominal admin fee and increased the premium by twenty quid or so each time. I was a bit surprised that they weren't actually interested in the details of the changes other than the % power increase and approximate cost. They did say at one point that the reason they were happy with the power increase was that I had brake and suspension mods to cope, but they didn't seem to keep any record of what the mods actually were. (One time they told me I had an expensive stereo system fitted, it turned out they had lumped the suspension mods under a miscellaneous category which usually means ICE.)
david beer said: Slightly off topic but i have Sparco pedals and i have just learnt that they are not road legal. In the event of an accident iam sure the insurance company would love that get out clause. Makes you think what else!
David:
Are those the daft lumps of alloy with push-in rubber buttons? My car has something like that: I wasn't aware they were illegal, but thay are a pain in the arse 'cos the brake and throttle are now too close together. Richard Aldous tried driving my car a couple of weeks back but was concerned that his DMs were hitting both pedals! I actually threw the car off Croft circuit when my heel'n'toe went pear-shaped...
Ian
david beer said: Slightly off topic but i have Sparco pedals and i have just learnt that they are not road legal. In the event of an accident iam sure the insurance company would love that get out clause. Makes you think what else!
I understand it's a legal requirement to have a rubber grip surface which is why most alloy pedals say 'competition use only'. But on some types of pedal you can get rubber 'pips' that push into holes in the pedal to act as rubber studs, which makes them road legal.
shpub said:
clint888 said: I know this is a bit naughty but--I have never known of an insurance company stripping an engine or even making anything other than a cursory examination in the case of write-off's--which means that changes that are not obvious (like fancy wheels etc) including engine upgrades are not likely to be detected. It's your choice.
I have... including several TVRs. I know of one claim that got turned down due to a chipped car, and another due to cat removal. I know of another case where they found a ringed TVR as a result. It all depends on the size of the claim.
Both my TVRs are modified and I have had no premium increase because the whole car was upgraded. Insurance companies do not take lightly to upgrades that affect the performance of one part of the car without looking at the rest. Chip the engine without upgrading suspension and brakes and you are likley to get stung. Brakes and suspension etc along with the engine. The 520 has 14 pages of mods so I am not talking about the odd thing or two. Talk to your insurer before doing the mod as well and they will guide you. Be prepared to fill out a mod vehicle form and supply as much technical info including receipts and so on.
I'm with Sunninghill. Cover any track day as well. No premium increase.
If you don't tell the insurers and get their agreement, you risk having no insurance cover which is pretty stupid IMHO.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
>> Edited by shpub on Sunday 8th December 07:25
It probably is pretty stupid I agree but I can only repeat what my good friend who has run a garage associated with a body shop for some thirty years plus tells me which is that the insurance assessors have never in his experience stripped an engine. A change of chip eg to the Tornado type hardly gives rise to an increase in performance by itself and comes under the heading of an obvious immediately detectable mod. But you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to associate the chip change with modifications and this could well lead to further investigation by the assessors.
krispy said: Funnily enough, I rang up Mannings the other day to see if they'd be able to insure my 1600M, which has been fairly heavily breathed on, but they couldn't. The engine modifications weren't a problem but the fact that I drive it every day appeared to be.
Kris..
I think you need to "shop around" Kris
Certainly for cherished/ classic insurance cover its no problem , My Tuscan had around 400 bhp per ton from a Marcos GT race engine, basically an unstable missile ! especially with me driving it, and yet provided i didn't wear a crash helmit and only drove on curcuits for display purposes, i was fully insured with a premium of £380 !!! and that was with an agreed value of £24K and 3000 miles PA road use.
Tim
Hi Tim,
I must admit I was surprised by Mannings. I've been with Firebond for four years but thought I'd look around a bit this year before renewing. My premium with them is 400 quid fully comp, unlimited mileage, which appears to be increasingly good the more I look around (I do 15k p.a. in her) . They were very helpful when I had the engine mods done earlier this year and simply asked for an engineers report detailing the modifications done. No increase in premium.
Kris..
I must admit I was surprised by Mannings. I've been with Firebond for four years but thought I'd look around a bit this year before renewing. My premium with them is 400 quid fully comp, unlimited mileage, which appears to be increasingly good the more I look around (I do 15k p.a. in her) . They were very helpful when I had the engine mods done earlier this year and simply asked for an engineers report detailing the modifications done. No increase in premium.
Kris..
2 Sheds said:
krispy said: Funnily enough, I rang up Mannings the other day to see if they'd be able to insure my 1600M, which has been fairly heavily breathed on, but they couldn't. The engine modifications weren't a problem but the fact that I drive it every day appeared to be.
Kris..
I think you need to "shop around" Kris
Certainly for cherished/ classic insurance cover its no problem , My Tuscan had around 400 bhp per ton from a Marcos GT race engine, basically an unstable missile ! especially with me driving it, and yet provided i didn't wear a crash helmit and only drove on curcuits for display purposes, i was fully insured with a premium of £380 !!! and that was with an agreed value of £24K and 3000 miles PA road use.
Tim
Tim---which company gave you this magic figure???
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