What do you have to legally declare?

Hey just wondering if someone could help me out. I want to do some things to my car but want to know how this would affect my insurance. So i was wondering what i have to declare to an insurer e.g. alloys, bodykit etc. As much info as possible would me appreciated.

Cheers
Macca

declare anything you have chaged, i did on my punto and most was a no cost addition, lowering, body mods classed as one mod whether it was a full one or just side skirts.

lowering 30mm cost me nothing
i added a spoiler and it was £50, also said id be adding skirts, she said "it doesnt matter all body mods are classed as one"
think wheels were £50

exhaust and performance mods, always state its a no added performance mod, they never check.

ecu re-map, cant be traced.

best thing i find is if you insure your car with everything declared, they bump the price up, but if you insure it as standard, and then a month later add a few mods, they charge little or nothing for additions

i did this with di***t l**e

cost me in all 1100 to insure a 1.2 active sport with a recent crash and 3 points with all mods declared and i was 20 at the time and had been driving 1 year

Oh yes they can, all they have to do is compare it against a standard ECU and it will show up.

a chip can be traced becuase thats physically changed, the re-map, likelyhood of them actually checking it and comparing is very slim, i declared mine anyway but its up to the individual if they want to risk it

pretty sure they wont go to the trouble of doing that though, got another quick question along those lines, what about bucket seats and stuff like that ?? first of all they will have to be declaired right ?? and secondly is their any kind of guidelines or rules when it comes to them being road legal for example ride high or harnesses are a must etc ... ??

In alot of cases no your right they dont go to the trouble of checking the ECU unless the vehicle has been 'radically' modified in which they may wish to check all aspects

Bucket seats need to be declared and harnesses aswel, some insurance companies often want an engineers report or proof that the seats and harnesses meet regulation, however some will just require the cost to replace the seats and will band them into categories e.g A: £0-£100 B:£100-200 and so on

Hope this is of some use

Crazy

also in doing so you are getting rid of a saftey aspect of the car, the side airbags, they want to know about this too, and that will put your premium up

well my car i a cinquecento and so no airbags. i would say that the buckets are a saftey improvment on my car lol

cheers
mark

just noticed you live in astley?? where??

not seen a red noisy stilo schui knocking about have ya?

Red Devil is right.

You must declare anything that is different from the factory model.

Sorry to bump this one back up but I'd like some clarification and have a few questions of my own. Figure it's better to be safe than bitten in the ass later...

I want to make a few changes to my Mk1 S60 Punto. I've been looking at options and would like to know if I'm going to see a massive insurance hit on...

1. Tinted windows, only about 20% tint - nothing drastic - but a bit different which is the point of getting it done.

2. Interior mods. I notice places like Halfords do leather gear stick / steering wheels sheaths etc. These don't seem like big changes but they ARE changes...?

3. Modded light clusters. Mk1 Punto lights aren't exactly interesting, I'd like to change them. This strikes me as the largest change of all but again - I lack experience.

As none of these things are performance mods, I didn't think they'd be a massive problem...

Hi mate,

1. Tinted windows need to be declared. Tinting the front may land you an MOT failure, and or prosecution by the police if the light transmition through them is less than 70% (Which is basically hardly tinted at all)

2 and 3. Insurance companies take different views to this.... some are not bothered about minor visual mods.... others are. Strictly speaking if you want to be 100% legal about it they should all be declared.

As you say.... they shouldnt make a big difference to your premium DEPENDING on what insurance co you are with. Some companies have stric NO MODIFICATION policies meaning that they will not insure a car with any mods.... so in a nutshell you need to enquire with your own insurance company as every one will be different.

Hope that helps,

never though of telling them about the steering wheel cover in the Panda, should I? It only cost under £5. I suppose they could say makes you more likly to loose steering of some crap like that.

Well like I said I hope you don't have to declare something that small but if it's a case of doing it or having invalid insurance, well I guess it has to be done!

That said... I don't know if it really does or not....

iv never declared any of my interior mods, but of course if you change a steering wheel that previously had an airbag, then in that case you would.

gear knob, pedals, etc, i never did.

depends how much you want something covered