Wrong wheel?

Kenai · 21 Aug 2023 at 12:55

Bear said:
If you changed all 4 wheels to a replica brand, you would have to declare it

From Aviva "If your vehicle's alloy wheels were fitted by the manufacturer, they'll be covered and you don't need to tell us about them on your insurance policy. If the alloy wheels were not fitted by the manufacturer, but were fitted later, you must tell us about them on your insurance policy."

I think an 'OEM replica' is much more of a grey area because we're describing the wheels in different terms to other parts. These aren't aftermarket 'upgraded' alloys.

If your shock absorbers needed replacing and you jumped on ECP and were presented with the option to buy Sachs/Bilstein/Monroe or something would you phone up your insurance to declare you'd fitted 'replica shock absorbers' or would you just consider it a normal OEM spec replacement pattern part?

Armageus · 21 Aug 2023 at 12:56

tom_e said:
An actual insurance company appear to disagree with you. A replica has not been fitted by the manufacturer.

Realistically even an insurance assessor probably isn't going to notice unless they took 2 of the wheels of and checked.

In the same way that unless wheels are obviously aftermarket (wolfrace or whatever), how does little old lady who buys a second-hand corsa know that the wheels with she has with Vauxhall centre caps, aren't the original wheels?

tom_e · 21 Aug 2023 at 12:58

Armageus said:
Realistically even an insurance assessor probably isn't going to notice unless they took 2 of the wheels of and checked.

In the same way that unless wheels are obviously aftermarket (wolfrace or whatever), how does little old lady who buys a second-hand corsa know that the wheels with she has with Vauxhall centre caps, aren't the original wheels?

100% agree but the point was should you technically declare it i.e. by the letter of the terms of your insurance and if that sentence is indeed what Aviva say then according to that the answer is yes.
Would anyone bother in the real world, absolutely not.

Bear · 21 Aug 2023 at 13:02

Kenai said:
I think an 'OEM replica' is much more of a grey area because we're describing the wheels in different terms to other parts. These aren't aftermarket 'upgraded' alloys.

If your shock absorbers needed replacing and you jumped on ECP and were presented with the option to buy Sachs/Bilstein/Monroe or something would you phone up your insurance to declare you'd fitted 'replica shock absorbers' or would you just consider it a normal OEM spec replacement pattern part?

Fair point

Diddums · 21 Aug 2023 at 13:07

Does make you wonder, if they've skimped on a wheel, what condition the rest of the car is in.

adam cool dude · 21 Aug 2023 at 15:14

I wouldn't want an odd wheel on my car at all. Is it even the same offset? It could be different weight to OEM too causing undue wear on the diffs etc.

I would be wanting an OEM wheel put back on or money my way or return the car.

brendy · 21 Aug 2023 at 15:20

If it were me, Id find a genuine single wheel, put a like for like tyre on it and use the replica as a spare in the shed.

Gaygle · 22 Aug 2023 at 10:10

Got any pics of said wheel vs other wheels?

Rroff · 23 Aug 2023 at 04:53

JonRGV250 said:
Phone your insurance company and notify them, I’d bet a pound to a penny they won’t give one single rats ass.

I talked to Admiral about this awhile back when I had a set of wheels made up for off-road use on my pickup, though the general attitude is they "don't care" you can bet if there was a situation where they could use it against you they would.

It went down as optional extra on my policy and hasn't cost me anything extra (IIRC they even waived the admin fee in that instance).

According to the advisor technically anything wheel wise that isn't "genuine" manufacturer's part would need to be declared even identical spec replicas. In practise they generally don't care but there is a risk with it.

One of my colleagues has 1 steel and 3 different alloys on her car and it makes me wince every time I see it, also 4 different tyres with one a different profile size... (off the top of my head 3x 235 and 1x 225) it must be horrendous to drive but she probably doesn't care or notice and I doubt has informed her insurance of anything.

Bear · 23 Aug 2023 at 05:46

Rroff said:
One of my colleagues has 1 steel and 3 different alloys on her car and it makes me wince every time I see it, also 4 different tyres with one a different profile size... (off the top of my head 3x 235 and 1x 225) it must be horrendous to drive but she probably doesn't care or notice and I doubt has informed her insurance of anything.

Surely thats an MOT fail?

Rroff · 23 Aug 2023 at 05:50

Bear said:
Surely thats an MOT fail?

I'd imagine so - I've not checked to see if the car has a valid MOT.

JonRGV250 · 23 Aug 2023 at 06:56

Bear said:
Surely thats an MOT fail?

Yes.

JonRGV250 · 23 Aug 2023 at 07:11

Rroff said:
I talked to Admiral about this awhile back when I had a set of wheels made up for off-road use on my pickup, though the general attitude is they "don't care" you can bet if there was a situation where they could use it against you they would.

Possibly, but from experience with insurance assessors (I worked bodyshop service advisor for a while and had to deal with them) is they get in, view the car and go in as short a time as possible.
I very very much doubt they'd even bother with a replica wheel.
When I had a bike accident a few years ago and had to inform my insurance company, I realised my MOT had expired (slightly embarrassing) and to my surprise the advisor said don't worry about it, and that was that.
The assessor turned up to view the bike and I told him the swingarm was almost definitely bent and he just took some pics and the mileage and went, he didn't even bother inspecting it.
But yes, I reckon if they really really want to get out of paying out they'd probably go to the ends of the earth to avoid doing so.

Removed User 345456 · 23 Aug 2023 at 08:08

If it's a replica it might not be the same width/offset/weight//tuv approved, so that isn't ideal, and depending who makes it, it could be rubbish quality/non tuv approved so instead of cracking if you were to hit a pothole hard enough it could like smash a chunk out.

As someone that actually builds/maintains their own cars/drifts, this is something we see a lot of in the car scene, don't get me wrong there ARE some good replica wheel companies...

I would definitely get it replaced as I imagine it's a staggered wheel fitment? I.e. rears wider than the fronts? So if some div has put a front replica on the rear that'd really suck, none of the aforementioned stops you driving the car but it isn't what you really want on a newish car...

I'd just buy a genuine one in the correct offset/width/tyre profile and keep the rep for a spare wheel/one to bang on temp if you ever crack a genuine one (which they love to do btw especially on beamers haha I've had 5...)