this is not a discussion on why i did not declare that i lowered my car or what your opinions are of people who don't declare because it would of been declared before i drove it on the roads anyway

My insurance took money out of my bank account and when i asked them why they said because youve lowered your car, i dont know how they knew but i just said fair enough, I'm not complaining because they have charged me less then i was going to pay to declare it as soon as i was driving it again anyway but what , i want to know is how they hell do they know, its freaking me out a bit.

the car was standard when i bought it, i lowered it myself. the only logical explanation i can think of is that i put a picture of it lowered on facebook, but are insurers allowed to and do they actually do this or has someone called them and told them

who are you insured with??

id have thought they were not allowed to gain access to your facebook etc however nothing suprises me anymore.

You say they took out less then you were going to have to pay to declare it which makes me think that you have rang them and queried the price it would be to lower it... So if you have queried it they may have been keeping tabs on you thinking you were just going to do it and not pay them... Which you did so they then think fuck that we're charging you.

Future reference do it then just pay it most insurance companies dot charge a lot for much unless you start touching the engine

Insurance companies do look at Forums and Facebook

Insurance companies do look at Forums and Facebook

their probably reading this as i type. big brother is watching you. lol dont post things or pictures you dont want anyone to know about .nothing is secret or safe on the web .

I get what you mean but when I got a quote with the same car lowered that car was already lowered this is a different car that was standard that's why I got a quote with and without, surely that's some sort of invasion of privacy as my Facebook profile is private only my friends can see if teu can bypas that then surely that's not right, I don't mind at all ad I said I was going to do it anyway but it's just bugging me how they know I might photoshop some mad shit to my car and put a Facebook pic on see what they do then

Not only do they scan through forums, etc, but they get us at bodyshops to play the part of spy.

A year or so ago we had a Corsa C in that had front end damage. Once they saw pictures of the car for the estimate (undeclared alloys, Irmscher bodykit, projector headlamps), they asked us could we take more pictures of the car, such as one of the engine bay to check for any visible modifications, one of the side of the car to check for window tints and even the interior of the car to check for after-market steering wheels, etc.

With the increase of insurance fraud, insurers are using what means they can to make sure policy holders are being honest with them.

For the record, as I'm sure some of you are thinking it, we are not here to look for people who are non-disclosing, that's your look out. We are here as we actually prefer modified cars and car club member communities. The only time I've ever checked up on someone was when a customer of ours was all over the BBC breakfast news when they did an article on NOS on road cars, our customer was in the article, we do not insure NOS equipped cars, we had three phone calls over the course of a morning tipping us off, including a call from our head underwriter demanding to know why we had this customer on our books.

It's unlikely there are any insurers on here looking for undisclosed mods, also, bare in mine that you post using your usernames not your real names. If an insurer suspects foul play though, in the event of a claim, they'll do some very careful digging, possibly including looking at forums.

Moral of the story - disclose your modifications, it's not rocket science.

this is not a discussion on why i did not declare that i lowered my car or what your opinions are of people who don't declare because it would of been declared before i drove it on the roads anyway

My insurance took money out of my bank account and when i asked them why they said because youve lowered your car, i dont know how they knew but i just said fair enough, I'm not complaining because they have charged me less then i was going to pay to declare it as soon as i was driving it again anyway but what , i want to know is how they hell do they know, its freaking me out a bit.

the car was standard when i bought it, i lowered it myself. the only logical explanation i can think of is that i put a picture of it lowered on facebook, but are insurers allowed to and do they actually do this or has someone called them and told them

I've seen a few reports recently, all well known insurers

1) going along to Santa Pod - taking registration numbers, cross referencing against their customers and cancelling any policies which flag up

2) taking reg numbers from modified cars on ebay adverts, again cross referencing and cancelling policies

3) customer play around on online quoting systems , adding mods to see cost implications. Insurer automatically assumes mods are fitted and takes money from customer's bank account

Any of these ring a bell?

if you ever did a quote on a comparison site, they can find it out.

I've seen a few reports recently, all well known insurers

1) going along to Santa Pod - taking registration numbers, cross referencing against their customers and cancelling any policies which flag up

2) taking reg numbers from modified cars on ebay adverts, again cross referencing and cancelling policies

3) customer play around on online quoting systems , adding mods to see cost implications. Insurer automatically assumes mods are fitted and takes money from customer's bank account

Any of these ring a bell?

declaring is the way to go but can they just take money without notifying you of it it first?

Surely the insurance company can either

a) cancel the policy their and then and send you a letter saying why and issue a refund (if any) in line with their T&C's

b) say it has been noted that the car is not standard and request additional payment to cover increased premium. And that if its not received then the policy will be cancelled.

But just taking the money from bank accounts via DD or from debit/credit cards without notice is theft isn't it, or in Bank speak, an unauthorised transaction.

this is not a discussion on why i did not declare that i lowered my car or what your opinions are of people who don't declare because it would of been declared before i drove it on the roads anyway

My insurance took money out of my bank account and when i asked them why they said because youve lowered your car, i dont know how they knew but i just said fair enough, I'm not complaining because they have charged me less then i was going to pay to declare it as soon as i was driving it again anyway but what , i want to know is how they hell do they know, its freaking me out a bit.

the car was standard when i bought it, i lowered it myself. the only logical explanation i can think of is that i put a picture of it lowered on facebook, but are insurers allowed to and do they actually do this or has someone called them and told them

I've seen a few reports recently, all well known insurers

1) going along to Santa Pod - taking registration numbers, cross referencing against their customers and cancelling any policies which flag up

2) taking reg numbers from modified cars on ebay adverts, again cross referencing and cancelling policies

3) customer play around on online quoting systems , adding mods to see cost implications. Insurer automatically assumes mods are fitted and takes money from customer's bank account

Any of these ring a bell?

i haven't been anywhere in the car since its been lowered,hence why i hadnt told them yet, the car had been sat on my private property long way away from any public roads. like i said the only place i put a picture of the car after i lowered it was on my facebook. no forums nothing. and well thats not right about presuming youve modded your car because you got a quote for another car that was lowered, i legitimitely got a quote for another mk2 golf that was already lowered as i was interested in it, but the one i actually bought and insured in the end was not lowered. like i said i wasnt trying to get away with not declaring my modifications i just didnt want to spend the money until i was using the car theres no need to be condescending about it being rocket science i dont think I'm going to have a crash on my drive, i was going to declare it. i was just trying to find out if a insurance company will check your facebook profile

Edited 10 October, 201213 yr by richhasbigtits

But just taking the money from bank accounts via DD or from debit/credit cards without notice is theft isn't it, or in Bank speak, an unauthorised transaction.

In my opinion yes it is theft and I strongly feel it is a horrendous underhanded way of dealing with this issue.

Putting it less politely, it's an utter p*ss take.

i legitimitely got a quote for another mk2 golf that was already lowered as i was interested in it

That's the cause.

strange, nevermind i dont mind them taking the money as i needed to do it anyway but think its quite rude that they did it without even an email, I'm sure its in there small print somewhere. i just wanted to know how they knew i had lowered it, thanks for clearing that up

So if I see a car on Autotrader for example, do a quote with any mods to see if I could afford it. The current owners insurance could be invalidated because they've not declared? (if they hadn't obviously)

Special companies are the way forward for lots of mods, I even declared different colour interior bulbs on my 6n..why? Because I could, and it's a mod :)

These days, if your car is not sorn, it has to be insured. Therefore I would say that technically if your car has been modified (whether it is being driven or not) then you should tell the insurer.

If someone took an undue amount from my bank on a presumption without calling me first about it, they'd be getting a visit from certain trading organisations and/or solicitors, i'd be pressing for any charge i could, and going for compo on any problems caused as a result. That is absolute theft, not to mention abuse of position, and it can be dealt with. O2 did it, and i gave them absolute hell. At first i didn't mind, took it as a mistake, but then they wouldn't back down so i let rip.

I still advise anyone from going with them, i know they've lost customers thanks to me, and i told them so on the last communication. They lost their claim to the sum in question, too.

I don't understand the Santa Pod thing? Like who doesn't have the right to take their vehicle onto private land and do what the hell they like with it? It's none of their insurers business.

If i break it on a track and then make a bogus claim that i'd crashed somewhere else, then i'd be commiting fraud, and that's for the police to investigate. I wouldn't make a claim or offer my details unless the police had been there to deal with that themselves, and i can't see an insurer paying up on such a fairytail either. I wouldn't claim on the old shed anyway, but that's beyond the point..

I don't understand the Santa Pod thing? Like who doesn't have the right to take their vehicle onto private land and do what the hell they like with it? It's none of their insurers business.

"The Policy does not cover:

Use on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, or for racing, pace-making, competitions, rallies, track days, trials

or speed tests either on a road, track, or at an off road 4x4 event."

It's a load of crap, I would gladly have them change that to 'You can use on a track but if you fuck up then it's on you'.

So you're not insured at Santa Pod - so fucking what? That's no reason for the insurer to cancel your policy.

So you're not insured at Santa Pod - so fucking what? That's no reason for the insurer to cancel your policy.

What about those people who take out Track day insurance? they leave the track and 2 miles later get pulled for no insurance because their main insurance has been cancelled?

And TBH if you manage to crash during RWYB on a 1/4 mile of straight, perfect tarmac then you shoudnt be driving. :lol:

WTF? Never heard of that.

If you race your car on private land i.e santapod, then you do so at your own risk. It hasn't got anything to do with road insurance?

1) going along to Santa Pod - taking registration numbers, cross referencing against their customers and cancelling any policies which flag up

Do you mean they look for cars with undeclared mods and cancel the policy, or they just cancel the policy of any car there that they are insured by? If its the latter then what does it have to do with them if I go to Santa pod in my car?

I think its the former, the latter is bullshit

Mikey you wont come to santapod anyway lol