Modifications And Insurance
Discussion
Ok, so I understand that modifications that increase performance should attract a higher insurance premium but a conversation with a broker today set me wondering.
Presumably premiums for standard cars are set according to manufacturers specifications so in my case I'm paying for a 340bhp Chimaera. Except that it never was 340bhp and when my car went on the RR I found that in fact I have 276bhp. Now, if I have an induction upgrade and my bhp increases to, say, 300 bhp my premium increases.
Surely they should give me a refund?
Presumably premiums for standard cars are set according to manufacturers specifications so in my case I'm paying for a 340bhp Chimaera. Except that it never was 340bhp and when my car went on the RR I found that in fact I have 276bhp. Now, if I have an induction upgrade and my bhp increases to, say, 300 bhp my premium increases.
Surely they should give me a refund?
I am just about done with the handling mods, so my next step is performance. I know that before I start I will be wanting to set a baseline with the insurance company. So according to the manual my car develops 280BHP. It has been tested on 2 rolling roads and is confirmed as putting out 259BHP. When you (isurance co) ask about performance increase I assume you are talking about increase over standard.
Now the mild mods I plan shouldnt put it beyond 280, so as long as I have the output confirmed by a Rolling Road session as being on or under 280BHP I would not expect an increase in premium.
I dont expect to win this argument, but at least I will be dealing with Hagerty who are very sensible about this kind of thing.
Now the mild mods I plan shouldnt put it beyond 280, so as long as I have the output confirmed by a Rolling Road session as being on or under 280BHP I would not expect an increase in premium.
I dont expect to win this argument, but at least I will be dealing with Hagerty who are very sensible about this kind of thing.
Edited by bigdods on Thursday 6th September 21:07
Ballistic Banana said:
AS long as you tell them about the mods and explain that they arent anything that excedes the Power TVR claim then you and them are normally ok.
BB
If only.BB
The insurers (Groupama) are adamant that a modification that does not increase power above that quoted by TVR still attracts a loading
. The brokers (A Plan) have agreed to absorb the increase though. In principle this is a con and though I appreciate the gesture from A Plan I'll be looking elsewhere.
Are you honestly telling me an insurance assessor would have any idea what to find under TVR bonnet?
You could bolt the bonnet down and say thats how it was from the factory and they'd have no idea
I've dealt with a few assessor's in my time and they're mostly clueless, the last one was from the designated repair garage.... conflict of interests?
Why yes of course we can repair it, No we won't write it off
Matt
You could bolt the bonnet down and say thats how it was from the factory and they'd have no idea
I've dealt with a few assessor's in my time and they're mostly clueless, the last one was from the designated repair garage.... conflict of interests?
Why yes of course we can repair it, No we won't write it off
Matt
The issue is transparency. Bearing in mind that insurance companies will wriggle out of claims if they think they have been misled it's not worth not declaring modifications. My 3000M is hardly standard in any respect - but I've got an engineers report done which I sent in with the proposal. Then if there is a claim and they say "It's modified" I can say "You know because I sent you the details"
I had a chat with a guy on Hagerty's stand at Rockingham.
The essence of it was that as long as you tell them and get an acknowledgment of whatever modifications have been done you're ok.
They're not going to charge extra for most modifications.
It seemed the point at which they would charge more was capacity increase.
In a way, it's telling me what tuning really works.
A V8D engine may not be cheap, but it suddenly looks better value.
Fester
The essence of it was that as long as you tell them and get an acknowledgment of whatever modifications have been done you're ok.
They're not going to charge extra for most modifications.
It seemed the point at which they would charge more was capacity increase.
In a way, it's telling me what tuning really works.
A V8D engine may not be cheap, but it suddenly looks better value.
Fester
davido140 said:
Flintstone said:
In principle this is a con .
thats the insurance biz for you in a nut shell! 
nice idea though, tell them you have "de-tuned" your car to a lower power output!
. I was a loss adjuster (non-motor claims, granted) for 10 years. It was the greasy, penny-pinching, 'streamlining' of the insurers that made me give it all upGassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff