Car Insurance

Dr Who · 28 Nov 2009 at 16:57

I agree a premium should be higher for a set of alloys, but age relating alloy wheels is a bit of a joke tbh.

Gribs · 28 Nov 2009 at 17:03

Joshy said:
Alloy wheels are going to have a negligible effect on performance. The only real increased risk is the increased desirability to thieves.

The risk of them getting stolen is so small as to probably have no effect on premiums. It's all down to the fact that those who do this and are young tend to make more frequent/expensive claims.

BurningHorizons · 28 Nov 2009 at 17:44

Churchill / Direct Line / (Priviledge) are all owned by the same company, (RBS), which may explain why the both refused you.

[TW]Fox · 28 Nov 2009 at 18:12

Joshy said:
No, alloy wheels are nothing like an air filter or dump valve insurance wise. Aftermarket Air filter/Dump Valve = Performance enhancing. As far as an insurance company is concerned, you have improved the car's performance specifications than standard, as a result it is quicker and you are money likely to have an accident (or so they say).

Alloy wheels are going to have a negligible effect on performance. The only real increased risk is the increased desirability to thieves.

The premiums are loaded for completely different reasons, so how exactly are they the same?

An air filter makes no real difference to the performance of your car. It does, however, tell an insurance company what sort of person you are LIKELY to be.

Alloy wheels do the same thing.

Yes, it sucks, but thats how it is.

jellybeard999 · 28 Nov 2009 at 18:15

Try Adrian Flux, their renewal quote was half the quotes I've gotten elsewhere (quinn, admiral group etc)

thecremeegg · 28 Nov 2009 at 18:33

Try More Th>n, I'm with them and fully comp on a 1.4 clio comes to £211 for me

iaind · 28 Nov 2009 at 18:40

There's very little point suggesting companies like More than, elephant, swiftcover et al in these threads - they're all on comparison sites.

Comparison sites are a bit crap, mostly because a lot of companies arent in included, but if one of the companies who participate in them was going to give a decent quote the OP would have found it by now

Delvis · 28 Nov 2009 at 19:21

[TW]Fox;15416212 said:
An air filter makes no real difference to the performance of your car. It does, however, tell an insurance company what sort of person you are LIKELY to be.

Alloy wheels do the same thing.

Yes, it sucks, but thats how it is.

Very true really, sad, but hey ho!

Gone with Elephant for the time being, cheapest one i could find that would insure me...Without searching around for days on end.

End of the day I've dropped it by £150

Thanks for the input all

Meatball · 28 Nov 2009 at 20:01

n3vrmind said:
If they are factory fitted, then no need to tell them because your car is original spec. Even if your car is a special edition that came with alloys, thats still the spec put out for that edition

They are factory fitted upgrades

. The stock ones are 16" but I'm on 17"

.

Morba · 28 Nov 2009 at 20:43

Delvis said:
But I don't live on these forums to witness all the threads coming in and out every day

recently the mods added a new thing to the forum, think its called 'search'. Guess it must be rubbish though if you needed to start a new thread

n3vrmind · 29 Nov 2009 at 11:22

Meatball said:
They are factory fitted upgrades . The stock ones are 16" but I'm on 17" .

The size of the wheel means nothing, if its the way the car rolled out of the factory then its not a mod and you dont have to delare it, if they ask "do you have alloy wheels fitted?" you can say yes but be clear about the fact they are an original part of the car and not something added by yourself or a previous owner.

If you just said yes then it could have been assumed by the person at the other end of the line that you modified the car and will either have paid more for your insurance than you should have or been denied a quote

Morba said:
recently the mods added a new thing to the forum, think its called 'search'. Guess it must be rubbish though if you needed to start a new thread

If its a problem that this is a frequently asked question, perhaps there should be an FAQ post stickied to the top of the forum to stop people asking it.

Gribs · 29 Nov 2009 at 12:05

n3vrmind said:
The size of the wheel means nothing, if its the way the car rolled out of the factory then its not a mod and you dont have to delare it, if they ask "do you have alloy wheels fitted?" you can say yes but be clear about the fact they are an original part of the car and not something added by yourself or a previous owner.

You're wrong. It's not a mod as such but technically any options over base spec should be declared.

The_Dark_Side · 29 Nov 2009 at 12:13

iaind said:
There's very little point suggesting companies like More than, elephant, swiftcover et al in these threads - they're all on comparison sites.

You couldn't be more wrong mate.
Swiftcover were circa £500 cheaper than my previous insurer, and over £200 cheaper than anyone else I could find.....including when using the comparison sites.

The_Dark_Side · 29 Nov 2009 at 12:14

Gribs said:
You're wrong. It's not a mod as such but technically any options over base spec should be declared.

I think you're wrong on this one matey.
Insurers only want to know if the car has been modified/altered from the state it was in when it left the factory.

n3vrmind · 29 Nov 2009 at 12:57

Comparison sites are a load of crap, most people are too dumb to reconise them for what they really are which is insurance brokers, just like any other insurance broker they dont need to give you the cheapest quote and quite often they dont. They earn percentage commision on the sale and the higher the premium the more commision they get. You can and will get cheaper insurance by going direct with an insurer

The very reason a broker/comparison site asks what your best quote has been is because if your best was £600, and their best is £300 they could quite happily give you a quote for a company that is £550 knowing you would be happy and they get more comission, they are business, do not assume they have your best interest to heart

The_Dark_Side · 29 Nov 2009 at 13:00

n3vrmind said:
Comparison sites are a load of crap, most people are too dumb to reconise them for what they really are which is insurance brokers, just like any other insurance broker they dont need to give you the cheapest quote and quite often they dont. They earn percentage commision on the sale and the higher the premium the more commision they get. You can and will get cheaper insurance by going direct with an insurer

The very reason a broker/comparison site asks what your best quote has been is because if your best was £600, and their best is £300 they could quite happily give you a quote for a company that is £550 knowing you would be happy and they get more comission, they are business, do not assume they have your best interest to heart

So you use a comparison site to find which are the lowest prices, then go to their own websites or phone them directly.

Princey · 29 Nov 2009 at 13:00

Strange I'm 22 and insure a stage 2 VXR for £700 with all mods declaired with Bell(end).co.uk

Ricochet J · 29 Nov 2009 at 13:29

Whats the first three letters of your post code?

Gribs · 29 Nov 2009 at 13:34

The_Dark_Side said:
I think you're wrong on this one matey.
Insurers only want to know if the car has been modified/altered from the state it was in when it left the factory.

Directline and the other RBS group ones certainly required info on changes from the standard spec when I worked there a few years ago. For normal options it very rarely made any difference to the cost though. It's perfectly logical as a base spec model can cost many thousands less than a specced up model.

The_Dark_Side · 29 Nov 2009 at 14:02

Gribs said:
Directline and the other RBS group ones certainly required info on changes from the standard spec when I worked there a few years ago. For normal options it very rarely made any difference to the cost though. It's perfectly logical as a base spec model can cost many thousands less than a specced up model.

It is, but the owner who bought his car second hand can't reasonably be expected to know what equipment his car had fitted as optional extras can he?