How does modified/custom car insurance work and how is it calculated?

Akagi

Akagi

Akagi

Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
"Oh God not Acme again, I bet he is asking some stupid question about putting a V10 in his Polo LOL"

Hi all. When insuring a heavily modified car with a specialist such as Sky insurance, how is the insurance cost calculated?

1. Is it on an individual basis, or are there set "insurance bands" for the cars, based on some factors? (Power to weight, acceleration, safety rating of the base car, insurance bracket for the base car/engine car etc)

2. Also, when you heavily modify a car, does it have to be independantly inspected and re-registered, or do you just have to decare the extensive modifications and have a new MOT?

When I say heavily modified I mean:

- Non standard engine, possibly not from the same OEM
- Non standard gearbox, clutch, drivetrain, etc, possibly not from the same OEM
- Non standard suspension/ARB/links/etc
- Non standard brakes (incl rear disk conversion)
- Non standard wheels/tyre spec
- Non standard colour
- Non standard interior

3. And as an example (this might not be a question you can answer, if so, ignore) but if:

- A Polo 9N 1.2 costs £750 to insure
- A Golf IV R32 costs £2300 to insure

How much would a Polo 9N with an R32 engine, and all other relevant parts up-rated to suit (yes it has been done! :D) cost? I assume it would be more than the Golf R32?


4. How is road tax calculated? Based on the engine? Or would the car need an emmisions test (or something), and then it would be calculated from that?
There isn't necessarily any intent behind this question, but it is something I have wondered. :)
 
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The way I envisioned the phone call is:

Me: "Hi, would you insure a 20 year old on a VW Polo with a 3.2 V6?"
Operator: *laughter* - *hangs up*

:p
 
Janesy B said:
It'll probably cost as much and you'll end up paying loads for a Polo with an R32 engine. Just buy an R32.
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As I said, it is more of a theoretical question out of sheer curiosity. I will admit that I have considered engine swapping the Polo instead of getting a new car, but if I did, I would probably put in a 1.8T or a 2.3 V5.
 
Sasso said:
if they can put a 4.2 v8 from on old S4 in a Lupo I'm sure it would fit in your polo ;) ....just sayin...... :D
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The engine bay in the Polo is huge because they put a 1.9 TDI PD130 with a 6 speed manual in the same shell. (The very same you would find in an A6)

I know that there is enough room for a 2.3 V5 and a 3.2 V6 without extensive modification to the bay. I doubt the 4.2 V8 fitted in that Lupo's engine bay. It probably went in the back or something. :p

---

Are there any specialist insurers who you can get quotes for heavily modded cars from, using an online system, rather than on the phone? Perhaps with a load of yes/no questions and text boxes, and then a long wait for a quote via email while someone in an office mashes some keys?
 
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Dale V said:
google 4.2 Lupo . it went in the front
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That is just completely stupid. I love it! :D

Oh the fun you could have at traffic lights... Oh the lack of traction... Oh the understeer and inevitible fatal crash you would have with those skinny wheels... :p
 
I have submitted a comprehensive mod list to greenlight online, saying I was 21 with 2 years experience and 2 years NCB. Waiting to hear back...

If it is completely insane, I will write off any stupid ideas I may be having... :p
 
Most seem to require you to be either 21 or 25, but a few are 19 or 20. Sky is the youngest, at 19 it seems. :)

mccarf said:
20% power hike = 20% premium hike
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Going from the 1.2 AWY engine to the 3.2 V6 would be a power hike of 346%. :p

346%!!!! :eek:
 
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Like I said, this is mainly just a silly idea at the moment, I don't have any real intent to have these modifications done, but I am curious as to how much it would all set me back. My mechanic and resident car modding enthusiast has said he'll get back to me with a work quote (he knows I'm only curious and not serious and he's doing it cos he loved the sound of the idea, and is a mate. :p) and I have applied for one insurance quote out of sheer curiosity as well.

The Polo GTI would be a good base car yeah, but there is something nice about the thought of keeping my first car and adapting it to suit, instead of selling up. Plus a half decent Polo GTI would set me back 5 grand to begin with, and a-lot of the standard GTI parts wouldn't be up to scratch for that power anyway.

It would almost be worth it just for dousing show-offs in Civics and things at traffic lights. How it must feel to get rinsed by a Polo. :p
 
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The car is fairly low value in its standard form anyway, so I could just get a new car, stick the Polo in storage, and work on it/have work done to it in my spare time.
 
Thanks. We shall see what the quote looks like if and when it ever comes back my way. :p

I expect it to be over £2K, and for me to look at it and then laugh and move on.
 
Lashout_UK said:
Oh, by the way, it'll work out far cheaper to just buy a quicker car. The end result will be better too :D
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I know, but there is something special about owning a very unique car. :D

But, again, this is just another silly pipe dream. As I have said, it is very unlikely that I will go through with this, even though it is very tempting to try.

Admittedly I don't have a great deal to compare it to (a BMW E87 118D M-Sport and an Audi A4 2.0 TDI S-Line are the only two newer "decent" cars I have driven), but when I had my AP Coilovers and 215:40:ZR16 spec tyres on my alloys fitted to the Polo, it was a blast. Obviously it didn't go very fast, but you didn't have to do a great deal of slowing down either. :D

http://www.polo9n.info/Foto/picupload-pimpowski-144349-586.jpg?width=800
http://www.polo9n.info/Foto/picupload-pimpowski-143216-586.jpg?width=800
http://www.polo9n.info/Foto/picupload-pimpowski-140136-586.jpg?width=800
 
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That seems strange. I can insure a Focus ST through Admiral right now, at 19 if I want to. :confused:

The quote is a little high, but its there at least.
 
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I'm not sure I would want to fit £1500 of brakes to a £1500 base car (4 pot Brembo's are mighty expensive!). I might spend £1500 on an engine, but that is different. :p
 
Just found a car I rather like which is a fraction of the price of similar cars to insure, so with that in mind, this becomes less likely.

For some reason a 2008 Audi A3 2.0T FSI Quattro S-Line Sportback manual (what a mouth-full) costs just slightly more than a 2006 VW Polo 1.6 to cover. :confused:

A similar sort of car like a BMW 120i M-Sport costs over twice as much to cover. Very confused but not complaining. :p
 
ubersonic said:
I honestly don't know, all I know is that a friend changed the engine and gearbox in his Volvo to different (non-standard) ones and was able to insure it as a kit car as it met the criteria.
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The official criteria for retaining the original registration was posted previously in the thread and it looks like a-lot more would have to be changed before you can no longer have the car registered in the same way.

Are the criteria for kit-car classification different to the criteria for what can no longer be considered a standard model? I sort of assumed that they would coincide.
 
Clarkey said:
I can't possibly see how some bolt on upgrades combined with an engine swap could be considered a kit car.
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I can't possibly see why I thought this was a good idea to be perfectly honest... :p

I just had the car with sports suspension and wider wheels in the past and it was a blast, even if it took 20 years to get up to speed. Ever since then I have been wondering what it would be like if I did it properly, and did everything else as well... It would certainly be different. I doubt there are many if any V5/V6 Polo 9N's in the UK, they all seem to be elsewhere in Europe.

Looking over the car with a fine toothcomb, the bodywork isn't in very good condition at all, so sentiments aside, it makes little sense to use this car as a base for such a project.

I AM still interested in hearing more though... :p
 
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