What "mods" do you declare to your insurers?

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by Rustyfrog

andy_d .....

I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that you dont have a very good opinion as to the integrity of insurance companies.

:P prefer to say i have a true and honest opinion of the lot of them
Brokers can be Fine, in-sewer-rats aint

[Thekilt]

Good responses and very insightful. The main reason i ask is that i have declared the suspension and brake lines on my car, howeve rim looking at changing my side skirts, lower bumpers for colour matched versions from other trims of the V50, and also the change in wheels. I feel i wouldnt have to as it comes on another V50 and i have the T5 so its unlikely to have changed anything.
And then got me thinking about the other car (Jaguar) we recentely picked up and it has a tow bar (we dont want it and looking at getting it removed) but what about other "Mods". the dealer actually refurbed the alloys for us and sprayed them black rather than silver, which in the white we have looks a lot better, however what would insurers think about this? I have heard stories about insurers not covering people as they had their car wrapped (with clear protection film not different colour) and it wasnt declared!

[domhart10]

Your best bet is to speak to someone like ChrisKnotts within the business part of this forum. I used them for mine and declared my mods, they were very helpful and it was quick to do.

I couldnt get a single accurate quote online. used them for 2 years now and they have been great so far.

[AndyV7o]

Originally Posted by domhart10

Your best bet is to speak to someone like ChrisKnotts within the business part of this forum. I used them for mine and declared my mods, they were very helpful and it was quick to do.

I couldnt get a single accurate quote online. used them for 2 years now and they have been great so far.

Adrian Flux, Redline two other brokers for modded cars, mate got cheaper insurance with both these on a modded policy than his std quotes.

[andy_d]

Originally Posted by Thekilt

Good responses and very insightful. The main reason i ask is that i have declared the suspension and brake lines on my car, howeve rim looking at changing my side skirts, lower bumpers for colour matched versions from other trims of the V50, and also the change in wheels. I feel i wouldnt have to as it comes on another V50 and i have the T5 so its unlikely to have changed anything.
And then got me thinking about the other car (Jaguar) we recentely picked up and it has a tow bar (we dont want it and looking at getting it removed) but what about other "Mods". the dealer actually refurbed the alloys for us and sprayed them black rather than silver, which in the white we have looks a lot better, however what would insurers think about this? I have heard stories about insurers not covering people as they had their car wrapped (with clear protection film not different colour) and it wasnt declared!

so ,, "you didn't tell us you waxed the car = not covered"! is coming next,,,,
if those stories are true that is.

If the "bits" your fitting came off a volvo V50 T5 personal POV is no need to tell them
Same with alloy colour (If volvo alloys that were fitted to a V50) Fancy smancy after market alloys id tell them of ,, in the hope they Wouldnt then wiggle out of paying up for a couple of grands worth of alloys

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by andy_d

...two schools of thought
"tell them EVERY little thing then they have no excuse to not pay up" ,, they will find SOME bs reason to not pay up/ontime/true value of the car
"the car is legal and meets all its spex they dont need to know" ,, they will still find bs to not pay/pay late/not pay the correct value,,

...or a third school of thought, the genuine reason they will try not to pay for expensive repairs to a vehicle which is differently specced than what was declared is because that payment comes out of my pocket, there's no magic money tree to make money for claims it comes from premiums paid by everybody else and we all like to keep our premiums low, some of us do that by shopping around, others do it by not declaring mods.
Not accusing anyone of anything here just opening a train of thought.

Having secondhand cars my response to the 'Has the car been modified?' question is always 'None that I'm aware of', as it happens my V70 was Torslanda (poverty) spec but has alloys from a 940 Wentworth, but since they are Volvo and were put on before my ownership I figure if push came to shove a court would agree that I couldn't reasonably have been expected to research that, and any claim will result in my car being written off anyway and some 20+ year old alloys will make no significant difference.

[concrete]

When I bought my then two year old XC70, I had the two seats fitted into the boot by the Volvo dealership where I bought it. It had also had a genuine towbar fitted. My insurance company were fine with the towbar, but the extra seats confused them. After much discussion they finally agreed it was an optional extra and didn’t increase the premium.

[Baxlin]

The first time I came across this was in the 60s, when Wolseley and Riley had similar (ie badge engineered) offerings, the 1500, and 1.5 respectively. About the only non-cosmetic difference was Riley 1.5, with its more sporty heritage, had twin carbs. Both were in the same insurance group - in the days when insurance groups were easier to understand.

A pal had a Wolseley 1500, and fitted a pair of carbs from a Riley, which resulted in a higher insurance group.

[DAN AT ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.
If anyone ever needs any help with insurance for modifications then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

[baggy798]

Declared the brake lines?!

I've changed the axle oil to race spec, oh no!!