Mods and Insurance Companies

[joshua.watson1987]

Hello,
Right i have a few questions about modifications to my car and telling insurance company about it. Im with tesco and when i took the policy out the guy on the phone said any mods no matter how small should be decleared.
Well ive:

debadged Punto and Active sport badges does that count ?

Does changing the fiat badges to abarth count ?

K&N Induction Kit ?

Non stardard speakers and head unit? (6x9s) on a stealth shelf and front door speakers changed)

Also im planning on changing my rear lights to lexus style ones ????

Now which of these should i declear incase i crash. Will my insurance me void if i crash and they find otu about the mods that i should of decleared.

 

[custard]

all mods is all mods.lights,debadging etc make the car more dsesirable ot thieves
stereo as well though since you only get covered for X amount its a moot point
K&N is a performance mod

depends on the insurer as they may not increase the premium for some mods

 

[joshua.watson1987]

So what happens if i only report a few mods and not all and i crash ? Will it be void if i try to make a claim or wont they pay for repair for damaged on the mods

 

[Poondash]

With my old car i was told can have as much body mods as i want but the insurance company would not put a value on them and if i was in a accident they'd only pay on on standard parts.

K&N is a must cus that is a performace mod,

My friend bumped hes new clio but it was void due to lexus light and cheap alloys, so ur better off listing everything, or theirs no point in having insurance at all ur car is not as discribed.

 

[joshua.watson1987]

Well its my first year drivng next insruance due in febuary 2007 so will just tell them then like and putting them on next week so odd it to my total. I will hopefully have a ears no claims if i dont crash just will take the risk for next 6 months might wait longer for the lights like a few more months down the line. Taking punto and active sport badges and changing fiat to abarth badges i will tell them as it wont cost much. As for K&N if i have n e trouble will just put standard back on it. I will declear it in 6 months time when insurance due.

Any idea how much they charge for a few months with a K&N on and few debadging and change of badges??

 

[joshua.watson1987]

Just read a piece online about tesco car insurance they said all mods must be declared but minor ones often do not affect premiums so i think i will tell them about changing badges and taking off punto and active sport badges, as for K&N that can wait a while till i have more money, what about sond system tho should i declare that?

 

[steve1219]

Must be honest I have a few pounds worth of ICE in the car and when I went to tell my company they were not interested as they only pay a set amount out on ice.
If you find one that will cover \ICE let me know

Steve

 

[gex18]

I would add the k&n if i were you, as it adds more bhp to the engine (well thy claim it does, lol), so if you crash and it is serious, an insurance inspector will see the air filter, may claim it was contibutary to the accident (even if it only adds 1 bhp extra), your insurance policy is then null and void, which means not only will you get no money for your car and injuries (if fully comp), but any other drivers involved, will have any injuries / repairs to car / value of car paid for by you, which could be thousands of pounds. If your paying over £1000 a year or whatever it is, it seems stupid to risk this being worthless by nit adding the K&N for a few extra ££££ (my gsr induction kit increases my HGTs bhp by 9 bhp and only cist £34 extra a year), this is the kind of thing you should consider before buying and adding any mods to your car. Also if you get pulled by a cop they can ask to look under the hood, if they see the air filter they will ask you if it is insured, and they will contact your insurance comapny to see if it is or not. If it isnt they can impound and scrap your car and if you get caught again slap an ASBO on you for 2 years!

All that for the sake of maybe £50 or so!

Well thats my rant over, lol!

Anthony

 

[gex18]

My friend bumped hes new clio but it was void due to lexus light and cheap alloys, so ur better off listing everything, or theirs no point in having insurance at all ur car is not as discribed.

This says it all IMO.

 

[joshua.watson1987]

Well i will get some money together and declare it all i dont wanna loose my beauty punto it would mess ma life up thansk for info ppl

 

[gex18]

no worries!

 

[Helz]

Must be honest I have a few pounds worth of ICE in the car and when I went to tell my company they were not interested as they only pay a set amount out on ice.
If you find one that will cover \ICE let me know

Steve

I have a set value of £750 with Diamond (even though my ICE isn't worth anywhere near this), you can increase this value as well. Think they are related to Admiral so you could try them or get a sex change

 

[joshua.watson1987]

Well just rang them and it was a foreign person and didnt seem to know what i was talking about, he said the de-badgeing and changing badges i should tell fiat about cos its trying to pass my car off as something else so nothing to do with tesco so thats odd ???? , now the Air Filter they said how much % increase it adds to the engine before they can talk to me about it, anyone got n e idea the percentage that a K&N for a punto mk2b active sport 1.2 8V adds to engine anyone got an idea on how much it adds percentage wise.

Now should i mention side repeaters are now tinted slighty and my coloured side mirrors and door handles.

But what the hell do they mean about debadging being fiat problem not theres ?

 

[steve1219]

Is taking the badges off a mod? Hope not as I am not insured if it is

I think it is just another case of getting through to the trained monkies who read a script and cannot answer a straight question.:yuck:

I would think you would be very lucky if the kit gave you a 2bhp increase.

Steve

 

[joshua.watson1987]

Just called again and the guy spoke good english and knew excatly what i meant, he said debadging and colour coding is just cosmetics so dont cost anything to insurance he will list them but its nothing new to insure really so not costing anything. I said 5% increase to BHP which is about 3BHP which should cover me so its all sorted now cost me £133.35 for that more than the air filter lol but at least im covered now.

As for my I.C.E its anything up to £1000 until start declearing.

Side repeaters, colour coding and debadging no new costs cos its just cosmetics he said

Air filter at 5% increase £133.35 for 6 months left on my policy.

im less stressed now so if i crash im covered

 

[randomizered]

WOW, £266 per year increse for the air filter Thats a lot! I am thinking of getting one for myself, but will def check before hand.

I guess its all relative though, how much is your insurance roughly, if you don't mind me asking. Mine is about £340 fully comp, and I had to pay £17 to lower my car 5cm. Thats per year.

Kristian

 

[crazydave]

Insurance aint affected by debadging, bhp gains are usually determined in bands so air filters are 0-10% increase, but yeh pretty pointless with bhp on a air filter unless its a gsr or bmc cda.

spoilers can affect premiums, sports springs can affect it, tints affects it, exhaust can affect it. even upgraded brakes can affect it.

audio is as said often at a capped amount and after the limit you have to declare the rest and usually send an inventory of what you have for a new premium to be calculated. HTH

 

[beau]

5% for k&n? id of told them that that it adds 1% maximum

 

[crazydave]

5% for k&n? id of told them that that it adds 1% maximum

i aint saying it adds 5% thats just the sort of catagories companies have, so a few people see no point in having one

 

[joshua.watson1987]

it was £1650 my insurance fully comp sucks dont it, well next year im hoping to install a BMC CDA filter i just couldnt be bothered with finding and stuff n e ways thanks for all the help ppl (i say ppl instead of guys incase ladies are reading) im sure i will have loads more questions pop into my head over this