Important - be careful with Insurance

[Gristy]

Just phone my insurance company to let them know about BritMINI's new spotlights she gets on Wednesday - no extra to premium

Also asked about my bonet stripes and UJ roof after reading this thread a few days ago - again no charge and they made a note on the policy under comments rather than extras

I was the first person to ask this question, either to her or her supervisor - had to ask further up

This was Churchill

[DaveN]

Interesting, if slightly worrying, thread. Hope this may help someone... I checked out my insurance company Swiftcover.com who I've been happy with, at least in terms of price (no connection etc). Checked out their position on modifications and have this from their website...

Question / Issue

What modifications do you cover?

Answer / Solution

We will cover your car if you have any standard options, fitted by the manufacturer (or their approved garage) at the time of first purchase, apart from any form of performance enhancement.

We will also cover cars with

Air Conditioning
Alloy wheels less than £1000 in value
Any modification solely due to disability
Audio system less than £1000 in value
Bull Bars
Satellite Navigation (Permanently fitted)
Sunroof
Tow Bar
Stainless steel exhaust
Roof racks, bars, bike racks, or top boxes
Professionally converted to LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas)

We will not cover cars with

Alloy wheels £1000 or more in value
Audo system £1000 or more in value
Bodywork (Air dams, Side skirts, etc)
Darkened windscreens or driver & passenger windows
Decorative internal or external neon lights
Internal trim (Seats, Rally harness, etc)
Performance Enhancement of any kind (e.g. Chipped engine)
Roll Bars or Roll Cage
Large or medium spoiler or whale tail
Altered Suspension (not due to disability)
Any breach of Road Traffic Act or Construction & Use regulations

R
Dave

[supa-dupa-cooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by DaveN (original)

We will not cover cars with

Bodywork (Air dams, Side skirts, etc)

Thats me out then

Its not just worrying about whether your mods or extras are covered. Its the fact that the insurance companies dont have a clue what your talking about i.e Tesco putting down 'side steps' rather than side skirts

[supa-dupa-cooper]

I like this bit from esures website

There'll be some circumstances where we won't be able to provide a quote for car insurance:

If any driver is not aged between 21 (19 if female) and 78

[MetalMini]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tonyrec (original)

I dont know if this is posted in the right forum but it concerns insurance with my forthcoming MCS.
It is important that people see this because someone could fall into the trap and suffer as a concequence.

Whilst changing over my car insurance from my old car to the new MCS which im getting in a few days, i was shocked to find out that they would only insure a basic MCS with a Chili Pack and nothing more.

Any extras over and beyond the Chili Pack are not covered. As we all know, you have to be restrained not to tick any other boxes other than the Chili Pack and as a result, some of us have some well speced up expensive cars. In short, they said that things like a Multifunction wheel and heated screen, seats etc were a modification and as a result, would not be insured.

I was shocked because as far as im concerned, a modification is jacking it up and giving it more horses etc etc.

I then contacted 5 other Insurance Companies and they all said the same. I eventually found one that is only concerned with performance increases and purchased my new policy.

I hope that nobody from this Forum falls into this trap because if your day old car is written off or stolen then you will lose the price of the extras with it seems 'most' insurers.

Sorry about the rant but i hope that as many people as possible are made aware of this potential loophole and as a result, dont come a cropper.

With regards your thread Tonyrec, i must admit mate i was bricking myself, i too fell into that trap, i got a quote of £400 FComp protected no claims, for a brand new MCS, value £22K, problem was that i mentioned it was a mini cooper S, year etc, but didnt inform them of the Chili pack, leather seats, web spoke alloys, vis pack blah, blah, blah. I thought modifications meant Jacking up, lowering, performance enhancement etc.
Just rang my insurance company, and told them about the chili pack, and all the above, but they told me, they only want to know about things that affect the performance of the vechicle. I asked if i could have that in writing (my insurers have a call centre in India), the guy said look in your policy document.
Im well worried by the whole affair, bit concerned that in the event of a claim, they will only pay out for the book value of the car minus all accessories !
But at the end of the day i have asked, and was categorically told that unless it enhanced the performance of the car, my insurers do not want to hear about it, so hey ho...Not much more i can do..

Quite clearly in my eyes leather seats do not make it go faster!

[Tonyrec]

I must admit though, it was something that i hadnt even thought about when Insuring the Mini.
But as long as people are aware of the potential pitfalls re Options etc then this thread was worthwhile.

[LMB]

I've always been with Direct Line and my insurance has always been based on cost as opposed to what extras.

[Tonyrec]

Quote: Originally Posted by LMB (original)

I've always been with Direct Line and my insurance has always been based on cost as opposed to what extras.

Thats the way it should be.