SEAT SOUND RETROFIT & INSURANCE!

[cairus]

Interesting topic. I'm affected by it because of my many retrofits. But that's a country regulation, right?

 

[Walone]

Interesting topic. I'm affected by it because of my many retrofits. But that's a country regulation, right?

I don't think it's country specific, certain it's not law, but a requirement by the insurance companies, at least in the UK.

 

[cairus]

I'll ask the insurance company...

 

[Mr Pig]

Not declaring mods is a gamble. Lots of people mod their cars and do not tell the insurance company. You could be fortunate and never need to claim or if you do, the assessor might not notice the mods or care about them. If you're unlucky your insurance could be canceled because of undeclared mods. It's just a risk you take.

 

[SRGTD]

Agree, it is a gamble not declaring mods - or not declaring any other information the insurance company might need for that matter. It’s not a gamble I’d be prepared to take.

If an insurance company isn’t provided with full risk information including details of any mods, they can’t accurately assess the acceptability of the risk to them and / or whether they would require a higher premium compared to the premium they would charge for an equivalent standard risk.

Knowingly withholding risk information to;

• get insurance cover in the first place

or​

• get a premium that’s less than the insurance company would charge if they had full risk information

might technically be considered to be insurance fraud. Insurance fraud is a criminal offence which would need to be declared in future when switching insurance companies, and the existence of the offence could affect a person’s ability to get cover -either at all or at a reasonable premium.

So IMHO, it’s just not worth the risk of not declaring mods. If the existing insurance company won’t provide cover, there are plenty of other insurance companies out there to try, including those that specialise in insuring modified vehicles.

 

[LeylandVCDS]

Agree, it is a gamble not declaring mods - or not declaring any other information the insurance company might need for that matter. It’s not a gamble I’d be prepared to take.

If an insurance company isn’t provided with full risk information including details of any mods, they can’t accurately assess the acceptability of the risk to them and / or whether they would require a higher premium compared to the premium they would charge for an equivalent standard risk.

Knowingly withholding risk information to;

• get insurance cover in the first place

or​

• get a premium that’s less than the insurance company would charge if they had full risk information

might technically be considered to be insurance fraud. Insurance fraud is a criminal offence which would need to be declared in future when switching insurance companies, and the existence of the offence could affect a person’s ability to get cover -either at all or at a reasonable premium.

So IMHO, it’s just not worth the risk of not declaring mods. If the existing insurance company won’t provide cover, there are plenty of other insurance companies out there to try, including those that specialise in insuring modified vehicles.

Agree, but again there's a fine line between a modification which obviously changes the potential manner of use of the vehicle, and a change which makes it a more comfortable, and therefore safer, environment for the owner. Adding something like heated seats isn't going to make the car's characteristics change, unlike suspension changes or remaps. Yes I totally agree that someone involved in a speed related accident in a car with an undeclared power enhancing remap should have the insurance refused, but I do feel adding a couple of interior lights or a nicer sound system isn't going to change how that vehicle is likely to be driven. Obvious cosmetic changes like stuck on spoilers and bodykits send a clear message to anyone, changing seats to better ones out of a same-model vehicle of higher spec don't. Again, as I've said, it boils down to common sense on both sides

 

[SRGTD]

Agree, but again there's a fine line between a modification which obviously changes the potential manner of use of the vehicle, and a change which makes it a more comfortable, and therefore safer, environment for the owner. Adding something like heated seats isn't going to make the car's characteristics change, unlike suspension changes or remaps. Yes I totally agree that someone involved in a speed related accident in a car with an undeclared power enhancing remap should have the insurance refused, but I do feel adding a couple of interior lights or a nicer sound system isn't going to change how that vehicle is likely to be driven. Obvious cosmetic changes like stuck on spoilers and bodykits send a clear message to anyone, changing seats to better ones out of a same-model vehicle of higher spec don't. Again, as I've said, it boils down to common sense on both sides

Agree - common sense should prevail.

However, pretty much all car insurance policies will include a requirement in the small print to notify modifications and it’s unlikely it will stipulate what type of modifications should be notified. The small print will probably just state all or any modifications should be notified. As I feel I pay more than enough for my insurance - as I dare say pretty much everyone does - I don’t want to give my insurance company an excuse not to pay out if I’m unfortunate enough to need to claim on my policy.

 

[Mr Pig]

The majority of the people modding cars are young men, who are a higher insurance risk and already have high insurance and are afraid of having to pay even more. I totally get it but it's fecked up priorities. Like the guys I knew who would spend hundreds on new wheels but put the cheapest tyres they could get on them.

A story I still remember was one I read decades ago. I can't remember where but it's a true story. A young girl was going to uni and moving into a flat in the city. This move was going to bump her insurance up a lot so they decided to keep her primary residence as her parents house in the country.

She had a big accident. Ran into the back of a stationary traffic queue, multiple cars shunted together, people got hurt. The bill came to £60,000, this was maybe thirty years ago so adjust that for inflation. Her insurance company found out she had lied about where she was living and voided her insurance.

She and her parents sued the insurance company to try and get them to pay. This bit I don't get, they used the insurance company's legal cover in the process of doing that, but they lost the case and now had other legal costs on top of the 60K and her parents had to sell their house to cover the bill.

There was more to it than that but that's all I can remember. No one intends to be in an accident but only the foolish believe there is no chance of one happening to them.

The point that you need to come back to is that insurance companies do not asses things the way we might. To us, changing the seats or stereo might seem irrelevant but insurance companies do not operate on guesswork. They've had thousands of people looking at hard numbers for decades and that's what they use to calculate risk. Is a fifty year old woman less likely to drive too fast and crash? Yes. Is she also less likely to upgrade her seats and stereo? Also yes.