Insurance.. How honest are you?

wow Insurers suck. Im with a company called shannon's and they define mods as accessories or mods, so I guess it depends which category things fall under. accessories are covered, Mods to performance may be covered, but don't incur a fee, unless I want each mod insured for replacement value

ACCESSORIES
Your vehicle includes standard accessories installed or fitted by the manufacturer or dealer, being installed items or equipment that increase the value of your vehicle, but do not alter its safety, performance or handling. Accessories include but are not limited to sound systems, instruments, and interior improvements. We do not insure any accessory that is not legal.

MODIFICATIONS
You can ask us to insure modifications and after market accessories. Modifications are alterations or additions to your vehicle that alter its safety, performance, handling or appearance. Modifications include but are not limited to body, exhaust, transmission and suspension. If we agree to cover them, the modifications will be shown on your certificate. We do not insure any accessory or modification that is not legal
 
After reading this thread - decided to give my insurance company a call, and listed out everything I have done to my car, the guy on the phone was like wow, this list is long. but it didn't add anything to my premium, and if the parts are damaged / in crash the insurance company said they will replace with identical modified parts 8) even strut brace was fine, and face-lift headlights were included.

Although when I asked about quad exhaust, they said it would be a $130 p/a increase :evil:

But overall I am happy now and feel safe if I ever had to make a claim :)
 
richtea78 said:
When my brother was 18 he rolled his car and wrote it off, insurance companied reduced cover to TP only as a result of undeclared wheels as a modification so he had to carry on paying for the car even though it was written off.

They did pay for the damage to the fences and hedge he smashed but told him where to go other than that.

Plus it took a while for his premium to return to normal as they cancelled his cover as a result of non disclosure.
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Interesting, seems like honesty is the best policy (ouch :oops: )
 
well i work fo an insurance company so if anyone is unsure of anything just ask me and ill tryhelp as best i can ;-)
 
Hotride said:
After reading this thread - decided to give my insurance company a call, and listed out everything I have done to my car, the guy on the phone was like wow, this list is long. but it didn't add anything to my premium, and if the parts are damaged / in crash the insurance company said they will replace with identical modified parts 8) even strut brace was fine, and face-lift headlights were included.

Although when I asked about quad exhaust, they said it would be a $130 p/a increase :evil:

But overall I am happy now and feel safe if I ever had to make a claim :)
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wowzers, replace all the modified parts? who are you with? im with Admiral, and they havent upped the premium for the modified parts but they don't replace if the car gets knackered. sort of makes the modifications worthless to be honest. that said, i have 2 cars and their multi car policy is lots cheaper than anywhere else.
reckon that i still would be better off stashing the money under my mattress - had 2 crashes in my life and both were rear end shunts. ooooh . :roll:
 
I have said it before but if you bought a car that had already been fitted with aftermarket alloys you are not necessarily going to know they are aftermarket (unless stupidly big or heavily "blinged" to declare to the insurers. Thats not through ignorance. We as a forum know what is and isnt OEM but i would bet the majority of the population wouldnt. I cant see how an insurance company could possibly turn down due to lack of knowledge.

This leads me to the second point......if you buy a car and fit aftermarket wheels how could the insurer prove that you didnt purchase the car with said wheels already attached (leading back to the above point).

A very grey area. Personally, i believe that - providing the wheels are within the size parameters of OEM there is nothing an insurer could hold back on if not delared.

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Mafoo said:
I have said it before but if you bought a car that had already been fitted with aftermarket alloys you are not necessarily going to know they are aftermarket (unless stupidly big or heavily "blinged") to declare to the insurers. Thats not through ignorance. We as a forum know what is and isnt OEM but i would bet the majority of the population wouldnt. I cant see how an insurance company could possibly turn down due to lack of knowledge.

This leads me to the second point......if you buy a car and fit aftermarket wheels how could the insurer prove that you didnt purchase the car with said wheels already attached (leading back to the above point).

A very grey area. Personally, i believe that - providing the wheels are within the size parameters of OEM there is nothing an insurer could hold back on if not delared.

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original guvnor said:
I suspect, although I'm no lawyer, that the insurance company would have a strong legal case to refuse payment in the event of a claim, if there were undeclared mods.

You would think for example, that if someone ran into the back of you whilst stationary at traffic lights, that the fact you had an upgraded stereo or larger alloys would be inconsequential. However I am sure they would defend non-payment of the claim on the grounds that had they known at the time the policy was taken out they would have declined to quote. What you also need to consider is that cosmetic, but not performance enhancing mods potentially make your car more desirable to a thief (in the eyes of the insurer) and therefore a policy of 'better safe than sorry' is always the best option.
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If it is stolen, the insurance company would not know about it :D
 
Common sense and logic applies methinks ..........

Everytime you make a claim it costs the insurance company money ..... even when its a minimal claim. the man hours involved and the procedures etc all have a cost which is what they look at.

If the claim is within boundaries of minimal overal cost to them, you will not get an argument - they pay, over and done with ....
if your claim starts involving personal injuries etc and the cost to them could spiral - then ........... well you can figure the rest.

No sense giving someone a stick they can hit you with later ..... :D

On the reduced cover thing ....... as far as I know, 3rd party cover is something covered and protected by law - they cannot wriggle out of that.
 
Hotride said:
After reading this thread - decided to give my insurance company a call, and listed out everything I have done to my car, the guy on the phone was like wow, this list is long. but it didn't add anything to my premium, and if the parts are damaged / in crash the insurance company said they will replace with identical modified parts 8) even strut brace was fine, and face-lift headlights were included.

Although when I asked about quad exhaust, they said it would be a $130 p/a increase :evil:

But overall I am happy now and feel safe if I ever had to make a claim :)
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Hotride who do you insure with? they sound like the type of guys i would to spend my next £700 next year!
 
* why not ring up your insurance company as a potential customer, detailing a Z4 your looking to buy and the mods it carries? This may help in understanding what extra cost they may apply if you come clean
 
Right just got off the phone to my insurer Admiral and i declared the none standard 18" that replaced my standard 18" and he wanted £55 but after a winge he knocked it to £37. i told him about the matt black grill and he said thats an extra £2 but he cant do the discount so in total was £55ish in total for the 2 mods. i asked about the storm gear nob and he said thats nothing to worry about. good thing is if i one day put 19s on i dont have to inform them as iv already paid for the "modification"

honesty costs my pocket but atleast i know i can sleep with piece of mind now
 
ranski said:
* why not ring up your insurance company as a potential customer, detailing a Z4 your looking to buy and the mods it carries? This may help in understanding what extra cost they may apply if you come clean
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They normally ask for the number plate though :)
 
just to let you guys know the advisor said that even graphics (stripes,flowers,badges etc) on the body work are an after market thing so need to be mentioned. if the car came out the factory with 16s and the first owner speced it to 18s then this is a none standard item and must be declared. he said the new onwers if in doubt must check with bmw what the car came as in standard trim. Iv got too much to loose if i had an own fault accident and had in valid insurance
 
mark1982 said:
just to let you guys know the advisor said that even graphics (stripes,flowers,badges etc) on the body work are an after market thing so need to be mentioned. if the car came out the factory with 16s and the first owner speced it to 18s then this is a none standard item and must be declared. he said the new onwers if in doubt must check with bmw what the car came as in standard trim. Iv got too much to loose if i had an own fault accident and had in valid insurance
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conversely my insurance company asked if all the changes were OEM or available as OEM options, then no need to declare...
 
The graphics / badges etc is just silly, a badge would be a modification? So a de-badge would be a modification as well. None of their business I would say as it is not a risk factor.

All those 3 series rep drivers with M badges would have invalid insurance than :)

As far as I know, if you don't declare something, you get back "standard" spec. Wheels are a little different as they are more likely to be stolen and you can't expect them to cover those without knowing about it.

When I declared my mods, they wanted to charge extra for my Factory specced Bluetooth as it made the car more likely to be stolen according to them. That is when I lost my rag and asked to speak to a manager as it became a complete nonsense.

If an insurance company was going to try to weasle their way out of paying beacuse of say my Intravee iPod interface which I did not declare, I would take them to court.
 
pvr said:
ranski said:
* why not ring up your insurance company as a potential customer, detailing a Z4 your looking to buy and the mods it carries? This may help in understanding what extra cost they may apply if you come clean
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They normally ask for the number plate though :)
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Peanuts & poo spring to mind :)

Either way I have had many quotes in the past on 'wannabe cars' and not provided a reg
 
its all stupid i think, theres a fella on here with admiral too and they didnt charge him anything for his wheels etc. Gannet who are u with? so if say you bought 19" BMW CSL wheels and put them on a Z ud have to mention it as they was no option for 19s? actually even if you put 18" CSL on ud have to mention it as they didnt come as an option at all :?
 
pvr said:
The graphics / badges etc is just silly, a badge would be a modification? So a de-badge would be a modification as well. None of their business I would say as it is not a risk factor.

All those 3 series rep drivers with M badges would have invalid insurance than :)

As far as I know, if you don't declare something, you get back "standard" spec. Wheels are a little different as they are more likely to be stolen and you can't expect them to cover those without knowing about it.

When I declared my mods, they wanted to charge extra for my Factory specced Bluetooth as it made the car more likely to be stolen according to them. That is when I lost my rag and asked to speak to a manager as it became a complete nonsense.

If an insurance company was going to try to weasle their way out of paying beacuse of say my Intravee iPod interface which I did not declare, I would take them to court.
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Yeh mate apparantly changing the appearance of the car such as sticker makes it more desirable to thieves :roll: putting 3.0lt on a 2.2 would be a mod. painting your grill from optional extra grey to standard silver is a mod!! seems like they are more bothered about the exterior then interior as they arnt bothered about my gear nob. BUT when i said i had a tracker they wanted more off me as i had to insure the tracker too even tho its a devise used to prevent theft!!
 
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