Do you declare your mods?

You have to declare even optional extras, to my knowledge. Thats what the blurb from Admiral says at least. Plus, and I really like this. Even if the mod is declared, they won't replace/repair like for like, it just means your insurance isn't void! Disgusting!
 
I agree that you should declare any mods you make, but most factory fitted ones will not be declared by most people I think.

Also if you buy a car 2nd hand, how do you know what has come factory fitted, what is standard and what the owner has added along the line!
It is not possible for your general car buyer to know every range and modification/extras of the car they are buying.
 
I declared my REVO remap on my A4, it worked out costing me around £150 on the insurance this year.
I'd rather pay than be stuck with £20k worth of scrap metal. its just not worth the risk.

I remember a few people on here telling me to not declare it casue "no one will know" but no way am i risking it.
 
Do you have to declare if you change the headunit in your car? I remember my first insurance policy came with stereo cover upto £500 but haven't seen anything like that in my current policy.
 
It costs me £20 ish extra a year for the bigger factory supplied alloys and Xenons. They didn't bother about any internal extras including the sat nav. They also claim they won't pay out for these non standard extras but if I take out a couple of alloys they would hard pushed to replace them with two smaller ones and the standard headlights have a different wiring loom so they won't fit either.
 
01001101 said:
Anyone have any preference as to the recommended vehicle mod insurance company of 2023?
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I use Safely Insured (formerly Sky Insurance) for my modded car,

Edit, that was a complete lie! I'm with Greenlight insurance, engine conversion covered with all the other mods for about £450 iirc.

Nice thread necro.
 
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andy_mk3 said:
I use Safely Insured (formerly Sky Insurance) for my modded car,

Edit, that was a complete lie! I'm with Greenlight insurance, engine conversion covered with all the other mods for about £450 iirc.

Nice thread necro.
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Cool. Thanks bud. I'll give them a call in the AM.
 
I have been with Greenlight for years with my GT-Four. All mods declared and a good price.

It has to be the most grey area though. Say for example you change the brake pads on a car for non OEM pattern parts. Surely that is technically a modification or changing a bush for poly. Average joe isn't going to know the difference.
 
faisal_uk said:
I agree that you should declare any mods you make, but most factory fitted ones will not be declared by most people I think.

Also if you buy a car 2nd hand, how do you know what has come factory fitted, what is standard and what the owner has added along the line!
It is not possible for your general car buyer to know every range and modification/extras of the car they are buying.
Click to expand...
I was going to post this. Back when I had my 911, I fitted the lowered official suspension and upgraded the engine mounts. Nobody is going to know that as a new driver, remaps must be even worse as the average motorist wouldn't be looking for those things.
I did think they could void insurance for undeclared stuff, or at least if it affects the claim but not sure. Would love to see an insurance company trying to renege on a claim due to after aftermarket wingmirrors on. Surely if it's different from factor you'd have to keep the same brand of tyres, wipers, oil (I know that's being extra pedantic).
 
When I last renewed my classic with A-Plan, the lady I spoke to basically said that unless a mod add's power over factory output, most mods listed would simply be added as a note on their system and would basically have no impact on the price. Ive added quite a few upgrades/replacement aftermarket parts but none of them add power so the whole list got added as a note.
 
I'm with admiral and added my mods last year (resonator delete, spoiler and wing mirror changes) in total it added about £6 onto my insurance for the year which I think was basically just covering the admin fee
 
theone8181 said:
I was going to post this. Back when I had my 911, I fitted the lowered official suspension and upgraded the engine mounts. Nobody is going to know that as a new driver, remaps must be even worse as the average motorist wouldn't be looking for those things.
I did think they could void insurance for undeclared stuff, or at least if it affects the claim but not sure. Would love to see an insurance company trying to renege on a claim due to after aftermarket wingmirrors on. Surely if it's different from factor you'd have to keep the same brand of tyres, wipers, oil (I know that's being extra pedantic).
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As always, it depends. The test is always one of reasonableness - could or should a layperson reasonably have known?

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Misrepresentation and non-disclosure

Information for financial businesses about how we deal with complaints about misrepresentation and non-disclosure.
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

The underpinning legislation basically says that if a reasonable consumer would have known (in this case about the modifications) then you've misrepresented things even if YOU didn't know. In other words, if you're stupid or ignorant it doesn't matter :) In the case of your lowering kit, the courts would likely look at a photograph of your car vs a photograph of a standard car and assess if a layperson would have noticed the difference. Clearly engine mounts are unlikely to meet the bar but lowering or other visual mods might well do. Similarly with things like exhausts - completely obvious to a layperson if an exhaust modification has been made in most cases. In your specific case where you have knowingly misrepresented things then you're likely to come unstuck - they aren't stupid, they have engineers and other investigators specifically to find out things like this.

Outcome wise, if they can demonstrate that without the misrepresentation (ie everything presented exactly as it is in reality) they wouldn't have insured you they would be able to avoid the claim (save for anything 3rd party where payout is mandatory under the RTA, however they may well seek damages from you in that instance!). If they would simply have charged you more then they would be able to reduce the payout by the proportion of the new premium vs what you had paid eg if your premium was £1000 and the all-mods-declared premium would have been £2000 then they would only need to pay 50% of the claim.
 
adam cool dude said:
I have been with Greenlight for years with my GT-Four. All mods declared and a good price.

It has to be the most grey area though. Say for example you change the brake pads on a car for non OEM pattern parts. Surely that is technically a modification or changing a bush for poly. Average joe isn't going to know the difference.
Click to expand...

I'll give them a try next renewal.

My current insurer is LV and they have my mods listed, but they are picky about what they do/don't quite for.
 
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