Right i know i haven't shut up about it lately, but i was looking to get insured on a modded 1.3 genesis, which came to about £550 fully comp for me and my two parents in standard spec. A standard GT would have cost me around £750 which is still dead cheap for an 18yr old on a provisional!

To have the gensesis insured with a sports exhaust, lowered 40mm and uprated brakes (mk1 golf gti) would cost me £1100... How can it cost twice as much to have uprated brakes which i would argue make it safer? I guess the exhaust counters this though. And i thought having it lowered 40mm or less didnt affect insurance? Still, could i get away without mentioning the induction kit that is sitting nicely under the bonnet, or would this cause problems if i had to claim? COs i had a friend running an e36 bmw compact with an induction kit, and when he went in to the office of his insurance people they told him not to bother declaring it?!

Basically i was wondering if it would cause less hassle just to pretend my ignorance of how cars work and not declare the induction kit? If its gona cost too much to add the kit tho i guess i could just drill the airbox loads....

Ignorance won't really cut the mustard when the insurance company won't pay out if you smash into a porsche.

Edited 4 September, 200620 yr by andypaterson

So they would refuse to pay ou tif i had to claim? Or could i get away with whacking the standard airbox back on?

I imagine they would refuse to pay out if they discovered an induction kit, yes. It's a performance enhancing modification, and it's a modification plain and simple.

if they can get out of paying, they will! I hear if you join clubpolo for £5 you get a discount at Adrian Flux.

Yeah i wondered if it counted as a car club in that sense. I belive with HIC you can get discounts for magazine subscriptions, but maybe clubp[olo will count. I imagine the insurance cost will drop once i pass my test, and then again when i get pass plus. Oh well till then il have to pay silly money i guess. And try not to crash hehe.

It varies from company to company. On my car policy, I don't have to declare my towbar (although I always mention it to cover myself). On my kit car policy, I have to decalre it, even though it's standard equipment on the car (ie, the kit is designed with a towbar, and there were none produced without one).

Yeah, some policies allow unlimited mods, others dont allow any. But most will allow a couple and rape you on the premiums.

Fair enough. I'm gona ring and see if i can haggle, argue that the uprated brakes make the car safer as polo's aree nototious for the shit brakes, and ask how they can justify increasing my insurance when I'm trying to make it safer. Then i'll mention the sports exhaust etc and hope for the best hehe. I can but try! thanks for the help neways guys. I'm gona try HIC and adrian flux first, and i do have a few contacts with other compaines so we will see...

Yeah i wondered if it counted as a car club in that sense

If you pay to join the actual club it does, just using the forum doesn't count .......

ANY modification or undeclared alteration, however small, could render your insurance invalid.

After any claim is put in, an assessor will come round to view the car/damage. His job is quite simple - to put a price on any repairs, and to try and find ANY way in which his insurance company can avoid having to pay out.

Shop around for a quote with EVERYTHING declared. If you can't afford the lowest priced quote, then don't do the modifications - simple as that!!

The old saying goes "if you cant pay for it dont play with it!"

The insurance company's arguement regarding uprated brakes is as follows.

The manufacturer provides adequate brakes for the vehicle, if you need uprated ones, then they assume you intend to use them by driving faster and braking harder, so in a less safe manner.

Same goes for uprated suspension.

Any modifacation that could enhance the performance of a vehicle will result in higher premiums.

No to be honest i understand and i agree with them, but it just seemed a little bizarre knowing how poor the standard mk3 brakes are (i was nearly killed as a passenger in one a few years ago) so if the car was otherwise standard it would make sense to lower the premium. But at the end of the day businesses are run to make money and the more ways they can find to do that the happier they are. Still i have a quote of £1000 from lancaster insurance for it, which isnt too bad. DO i need to mention interior stuff like seat replacements and steering wheels etc too? Thanks for the help guys!

i used to work for an insurance company....

depending on the circumstances of a claim, they may ask you to pay an additional premium to cover what your premium should have been with the mods (and back date it), then they'll pay out....

also, although your brakes may make your car safer, should your insurance company need to replace them after an accident, they will most likely cost more to replace than factory standard... thats why its more expensive.

with your induction kit, if your in an accident where its nearly a write off... the car will be taken elsewhere for inspection by the police or the insurance company engineer etc. so you wont have chance to take the induction kit off....and they may turn around and say the car has had a bhp increase etc etc contributing to the reason you crashed.

insurance premiums work in some weird ways, whatever you argue, they come back with a "yeah but..." there is always a reason why premium increases...

you cant really barter over the phone with them as they have an underwiting criteria, and stick to it...

its pretty much a case of.... "computer says nooo"

some insurance brokers may be able to negotiate, the ones you walk into to see... but there aint as many of them about now....

your main guys i.e RBS Insurance - direct line etc etc, Norwich Union, Admiral, they all have a system that adds and takes away points from a set price to calculate a premium...

keep your mods simple and easy, you've got plenty of time to 'max' your motor once you've got no claims built up...

theres no point paying more than you really have to on your insurance....

you can also be vague in how you describe your mods to the insurance company, like my GT has "uprated brakes" fitted.

now this conversion includes:-

1) modified peugeot citroen 266mm vented disks

2) VW II vented calipers

3) caliper spacers

4) mk3 master cylinder and servo binned and replaced with a mk2 master cylinder

5) rear brake compensator binned

6) different rear slave cylinders.

now the insurance company dont know what the mods are, but they are listed in the modifications so I guess I'm covered.

and on a similar note, my "camper" interior isnt declared as a mod to the insurance as its not fitted to the car, its only carried in it, just like a suitcase etc, and as such isnt part of the car so doesnt need declaring.

haha i ran a quote or two online last night, it turns out about £300 to insure a standard mk3 than this lukewarm genesis... Looks like i found a plan really.

your insurance is well cheap mine set me back over £1700 for a mk3 astra estate that cost £500 to buy now thats a rip off

Just do it! If you crash say it was like that when you got it. I never thought it was any difference. Ignorance is bliss imo :hehe: Or quickly whip the parts off;)

Edited 18 September, 200619 yr by TimW

Just do it! If you crash say it was like that when you got it. I never thought it was any difference. Ignorance is bliss imo :hehe: Or quickly whip the parts off;)

its not that easy these days, as so many people have mobiles with cameras built in. if they have one they are likely to take several of your car after a crash. now since insurance companies will talk to one another in the event of a claim, you may have to explain why you car has altered between the accident and when the insurance assessor arrived.

Just keep you are mods simple, if u modify anything urself , keep the original items.

My mate crashed his xr2 a few yrs ago, into a snotty woman who was in the middle of the road with no lights on just after a bend. She said she didnt want to pull onto grass verge because it was muddy and her feet would get wet. My mate kept her talking while i was "making the car safe" secretly whipping his k&n filter off and putting his battered airbox back on. He used to keep a few simple things in his boot "just in case", it worked and he got a pay out, otherwise this woman would of got off with it.

Insurance nowadays is an absolute scandel, for the sake of a few measley mod's, its a bussiness and will try every trick in the book to rob the motorist, as if we aren't paying enough. So, why the hell cant we play them at there own game!!

Word of advice, its up to you, not anyone else what u do with you are car. If you do subtley mod you are car, keep one step ahead and think before u do things. Be extra carefull, try not to get to "cocky" with you are mods or driving. Think, what would u do if there was an accident.

Nick

Well i dont think i will be doing much in the way of performance mods whatever i get. I will be putting GT bumpers on it and probs lower it, i think as long as it looks nice then it maybe doesnt need to go too fast. Maybe an induction kit, but really i dont want any mods that bang my insurance up too much. I could afdford to do it, but i'd rather pay less on insurance and have more to spare for other stuff really. Kinda no point paying £400 more for insurance when i won't get it back, i might as well go skiing in the alps or something, or spend that on the interior, visual style stuff.

Anyways i guess a slower car means you have to have more skill to carry speed through corners, rather than relying on great acceleration to drive quick. I.e. its not so much about how long it takes to get there, as about how you carry maintain a constant higher speed.

Insurance companies will do everything they can to stop paying out. If you don't insure a few things your just giving them fuel on why not to pay out.

All bumpers are the same on a mk3 btw, SPI, GT, G40. Only difference is all GT/G40's came with red tape on the bumpers and some other special editions did too.

It won't matter anyways if i get Garrett's gt, £750 to insure fully comp (with my dad as a main driver though - sacrifice my no claims for the sake of a Gt hehe). Pretty good deal if I'm 18 and on a provisional!