XC90 B5 (D) Polestar optimisation

[MikeGMT]

Originally Posted by Chudy85

I want to pay for polestar but I cant find insurer that will accept it without horrendous premium increase. £200 per year is just too much.
Let me know if you find or have insurer that meet this criteria

Originally Posted by Chudy85

Exactly the same with Hastings Direct i spent over 45 min on the line and management team told me that as soon as I will do it my insurance will end as they will not insure me.
This is optimization for car done by manufacture that's unbelievable. i am frustrated about this because for them is no problem to unsure if polestar will be installed already when I bought it!! logic!! If I know that I will tell to Volvo to do it before transaction ;(

I was in the same situation when I had Polestar software added to my car.
My then insurer said they would not insure me, so I took my business elsewhere. Volvo Insurance were very competitive and they paid my withdrawal fee. Could be worth getting a quote!

*To get the best quote you are better off giving them a call rather than online.

https://www.volvocars.com/uk/own/exp...-car-insurance

[Chudy85]

Originally Posted by MikeGMT

I was in the same situation when I had Polestar software added to my car.
My then insurer said they would not insure me, so I took my business elsewhere. Volvo Insurance were very competitive and they paid my withdrawal fee. Could be worth getting a quote!

*To get the best quote you are better off giving them a call rather than online.

https://www.volvocars.com/uk/own/exp...-car-insurance

Thank you I will try i see a light

[WABB]

Originally Posted by Chudy85

I want to pay for polestar but I cant find insurer that will accept it without horrendous premium increase. £200 per year is just too much.
Let me know if you find or have insurer that meet this criteria

Direct Line - no increase in premium once explained P* was an engine optimisation modification resulting in a less than 10% increase in bhp.

[Familyman 90]

Different model, but mine had Polestar before it was even sold and registered, never once had the slightest issue with insurance in nearly 14 years with the old bus.

I wonder if Polestar becomes an issue for some reason when it is supplied as an accessory after the car has been sold? Who knows how insurers sometimes think?

[Dohnut]

Interesting thread this.

In the hypothetical scenario where I “forgot” to tell my insurer of the upgrade and in the event I wrote my car off, I wonder what the chances are of them discovering the upgrade?

[MikeGMT]

As we are talking hypothetically, I would say a very good chance. If we are talking about a fairly new vehicle were a substantial payout is involved presumably the assessor will leave no stone unturned. If they interrogate the onboard systems it would show up, likewise if they ask for the car history from the dealer it will be logged on the system. Depending on the model a savvy insurance assessor may only have to look on the Sensus screen under drive modes and Polestar would be staring them in the face instead of Dynamic, presuming of course that they haven’t already noticed the little give-away stuck on the rear.

All this is assumption on my part of course, but it is all a possibility. If you were underwritten by one of those insurers that wouldn’t touch a Polestar vehicle with a barge pole you may well be on a sticky wicket.

To expand it slightly, I wonder if you bought the vehicle from an independent, for example a Car Supermarket, who usually only use the manufacturers list of standard features when they retail a car, and you unknowingly had Polestar on the vehicle, where you would stand then in the event of a claim.

[Ian0803]

Originally Posted by Familyman 90

Different model, but mine had Polestar before it was even sold and registered, never once had the slightest issue with insurance in nearly 14 years with the old bus.

I wonder if Polestar becomes an issue for some reason when it is supplied as an accessory after the car has been sold? Who knows how insurers sometimes think?

The Polestar would have been added by the dealer prior to my car registration, but as pointed out by Chudy85, it still needs to be notified to the insurance company as as a modification as it changes the original manufacturers specification.
If you were involved in a major accident, there could be a possibility that they check the cars software and if found not to comply to the original and the Polestar was not notified to the insurance company, then your insurance would be. null and void.

[Familyman 90]

I do mention it every time I buy car insurance, always with the usual high street insurance suspects, never had so much as a raised eyebrow.

The addition of a Volvo accessory, supplied by Volvo and fitted by an authroised Volvo agent may change the factory spec, but it is still a manufacturers spec. That the dealer fitted it prior to sale and registration is neither here nor there - it is still an official spec out of the catalogue, and not a modified vehicle.

Another issue is one of insurers and their claimed perception of risk. There is no evidence that more powerful cars are any greater risk if being in a collision than less powerful ones. Our very own government commissioned the TRL to look at this in the 1990's, and a very comprehensive review of decades of data showed no relationship between a vehicles performance and its likelihood of being involved in an accident. Indeed, to a very small degree the opposite was true and faster variants were having less crashes per capita than more mundane versions of the same model, although it was never established why this might be (better brakes and handling, more 'mature' and careful owners, less likely to be a boy racers first car? It was never firmly established why.)

In the case of my car there isn't so much as a badge to give the game away, so they can't even argue it makes the car more attractive to thieves. No, insurers look at each customers demographics and calculate a sum based upon their ability and willingness to pay, and thus maximise their profit in that manner. Genuine, demonstrable physical or financial 'risk' is actually a relatively minor factor in calculating a premium. In my book insurers are up there with lawyers, estate agents, and Idi Amin.

[volvocamper]

This is all very interesting and relevant to me as am considering having PS applied to my soon coming XC90 B5D. I have not felt need to change insurers in last 3 years and the memory fades but when I went with current insurer they asked about any modifications and I told them towbar, side steps. 360 cameras etc and their reply was ‘ as long as it was all supplied and fitted by the manufacturer/dealer prior to delivery new to me then it makes no difference to us’ or words to that effect.
Different insurers may see it differently of course and may be seen as different if we are first or 2/3rd owners I guess.
Interested to keep hearing PS owners experiences.

[Chudy85]

Originally Posted by MikeGMT

To expand it slightly, I wonder if you bought the vehicle from an independent, for example a Car Supermarket, who usually only use the manufacturers list of standard features when they retail a car, and you unknowingly had Polestar on the vehicle, where you would stand then in the event of a claim.

According to Hastings Direct if you bought car with Polestar already pre-installed on vehicle it is fine for them to insure you. Paradox that I will never get. I dont understand their logic.