(G) Should I declare my alloys and leather ?

Just been reading through some old threads and I have read something that alarmed me. Do I need to declare the claw alloys and leather seats that were not standard on my newly aquired Abarth. The leather was a factory fitted option but the claw alloys were purchased at a later date. They are a Fiat option so do I need to declare them and what are the consequences if I dont? I will declare them if I have to but obviously I dont want to spend money if I can help it!

Appreciate your help guys and sorry if this has been asked before........

yes is the short answer.best to phone your insurer and ask if factory options are covered as standard. may be covered but you dont want to find out the hard way when they reject a claim

Imagine being the Insurer and it's your own money that you have to pay out. You would do anything to avoid paying up and these insurers will exploit every possible loophole to prevent payment. Declare it and then relax.

Dont think Ive (errrmm I mean my mum) has declared the options on my car. Theyre not really mods though the leather on your Abarth came out of the factory like that. And the wheels- the Abarths come with alloys standard so......

think the problem(from an insurers view)is they quote for factory standard. if a car has upgrades such as larger claw alloys and leather it increases the replacement cost and theft chances

Can I ask who your insured with David ? Because it will depend on that for one thing. My new insurers are very mod friendly and they noted the leather and sunroof purley out of the need to replace them if there was a problem. But Elephant actually charged me for them and classed them both as mods, that's why I left them this year.

I am with Admiral and I must give them a ring to see how much being honest is going to cost me!

I too am with Admiral [although may change to a different company at end of Policy].

When I phoned them to declare the Eibachs and CDA, think I paid an extra £27. Tbh, I totally forgot about the leather

Its always best to check. Not all mods cost extra. I did not have to pay extra for my drilled and grooved discs.

Isn't it admiral that Elephant use ? If so you really need to declare them and also I'd recommend changing insurers because they will NOT replace the leather or the Alloys if you make a claim. Yes you will pay the extra premium for them but they will not actually be covered. The extra premium is because your car is more desirable to theives . They will probably ask for between £30 and £60 for those to be included on your policy

Stupid question, but do you guys in UK pay a monthly or annual premium? ie. would that be £30 and £60 per month or per year extra?
Over here in Cape Town I pay about £25 per month to have my car insured against theft and accidents. That includes road side assistance if anything should go wrong mechanically with the car. If I have an accident, I am given a rental for a maximum of 6 weeks while my car is repaired. The only thing I have to declare in my car is the cd player... but I am not allowed to make major modifications to my car (like adding a turbo or supercharger). I can do minor mods like induction kit and remap without it affecting my premiums.

Another stupid question: What is MOT? I seen it mentioned here before, but I have no idea what it stands for or what it means

Slovac: The MOT is the same as the road worthy test in SA just abit more complicated and a little less corrupt... lol I saw a taxi driver pay a tester R100 once for a taxi that looked like it had just been pickedup at the scrap yard!!! also the insurance here is completly INSAINE!!!!!! i pay €2000 (about R15000) a year for my 206 1.6 (know that talking about pugs is not alowed but i won't do it again) all mods declared (there are a few)

Slovac:

We can pay monthly or annual, paying monthly is usually a rip off however since the interest rate can be close to 20% so you may aswell get a loan - it's usually cheaper to pay it using a credit card let alone insurance systems.

The figure of £30 to £60 would be per year extra. I don't know what people are paying for abarths but I am paying for a 1.8 Laguna £760/year at 19 with 1 years NCB (no claims bonus), a person with full NCB of about 7 years (which is about the maximum on average companies accept) with a normal group 6-7 car at 30+ could pay £200/year.

We have either TPFT - third party fire or theft and FC - fully comp. TPFT means youi're covered in fire and theft situations but if you crash your car and it's YOUR fault, you won't get any money, if somebody crashes into you and it's their fault, you will get paid by their insurance.

In the UK, it's a legal requirement to have at least third party insurance.

Sometimes our insurance includes roadside assistance but this is usually basic and rubbish - i.e. takes you to the local garage and not home, not very useful in my opinion.

We have to declare everything that makes the car non-standard because it can lead to it being quicker or more desirable to thieves.

A MOT stands for ministry of transport, it's the name we call our yearly vehicle checks. All cars older than 3 years have to have a check which checks whether or not at that time, the car is road worthy.

R15,000 per year for insurance?!? Sounds just as corrupt as here <joke> No, seriously, that IS insane!!
I thought the insurance companies and traffic department over here were out to make a quick buck... but I've changed my mind now!
<I've seen taxi drivers bribe traffic cops with boxes a sigarettes... >

They wouldn't be able to do that over here... more than half the cars on the road would fail!!!

Thanks for the info guys... now I don't feel so bad paying R300 (£25) insurance a month any more