I would wager there are thousands of people driving around that have bought new cars and had different wheels, colour coded bumpers or other little options put on at the dealers that don't even realise they are supposed to declare them.

Wouldnt that be classed as "factory fitted" though mate?

I know exactly what you mean, but if the person bought the car brand new and didnt do any mods themselves, then I am sure they'd think they were factory fitted mods

insurance companies are just b@stards

On mine it states you have to declare whether you have tinted windows or not

the rear ones on the cupra/fr are slightly tinted from the factory. do I have to declare that or not?
 
Something like this I would personally just have it put back on to be on the safe side.

I'm pretty sure the wording on most if not all insurance policies is something to the effect of "you need to make us aware of any changes as failure to do so MAY invalidate your policy" doesn't actually say it will, although we know insurance companies will do anything to weasel out of paying out if they can.

I would wager there are thousands of people driving around that have bought new cars and had different wheels, colour coded bumpers or other little options put on at the dealers that don't even realise they are supposed to declare them.

Yeah I agree. I'm sort of on the look out for a second hand one now that I know I'll be doing s**t tons of motorway miles next year. I'm not shelling out £500 for a new one. Need to work out which ones fit first though. Just a bit annoying spending money getting rid of it to put it back in! The slightly annoying thing is that its all advertised as legal everywhere.

I had a look through and its generally worded as "Roadworthy condition" which is more than a little vague. With respect to the Road Traffic Act (which is surely how Roadworthy is defined), the exhaust modifications (silencer removal) which I've declared with them is technically illegal, so why are they insuring me/everyone else who does that?

As far as I can make out from my insurance docs, you have to declare factory fitted optional extras. I can say for a fact no one declares their factory fitted optional Sat Navs! I know I wouldnt realise I had to!
 
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^^^^^


exactly the point I was trying to make lol

If it came like that, a lot of people would ASSUME that all models came like that!

Great minds think alike mate ;)

Exactly! Who here got optional HU, Cruise Control, Bluetooth, A/C, Seats, mats.....

Where the hell does it end! Everything is arguable, except we can't afford to argue it against them
 
Wouldnt that be classed as "factory fitted" though mate?

I know exactly what you mean, but if the person bought the car brand new and didnt do any mods themselves, then I am sure they'd think they were factory fitted mods

insurance companies are just b@stards

On mine it states you have to declare whether you have tinted windows or not

the rear ones on the cupra/fr are slightly tinted from the factory. do I have to declare that or not?

Any changes that are made to the original spec of the car are classed as mods regardless of if they were done at the dealers or afterwards by yourself mate.

For instance if your car comes out of the box with 17" wheels and you opt for an upgrade when you buy the car to get 18" wheels and you don't declare it then technically it's an undeclared modification.
 
Any changes that are made to the original spec of the car are classed as mods regardless of if they were done at the dealers or afterwards by yourself mate.

For instance if your car comes out of the box with 17" wheels and you opt for an upgrade when you buy the car to get 18" wheels and you don't declare it then technically it's an undeclared modification.

I know mate, I am talking about mods that the dealers have put on a car, rather than ones that someone has specified when they asked for it to be built :)


I know what ya saying tho


that's why everything i've got is declared ;)
 
changing to brent acre next month tho when my insurance is up for renewal, they'll replace mods like for like, whereas elephant will only cover up to a certain amount!
 
changing to brent acre next month tho when my insurance is up for renewal, they'll replace mods like for like, whereas elephant will only cover up to a certain amount!

I'm with Admiral who are the same - don't cover mods. But £650 with all mods declared is too good to part with. Benefits of multicar policies! They are **** though if ever you actually need them though.
 
I know mate, I am talking about mods that the dealers have put on a car, rather than ones that someone has specified when they asked for it to be built :)


I know what ya saying tho


that's why everything i've got is declared ;)

Anything that differs from the original spec is classed as a mod regardless of who did it.

Best way to covers your own ass like you say is to declare everything, although I can see why some people don't/haven't.
 
I'm with Admiral who are the same - don't cover mods. But £650 with all mods declared is too good to part with. Benefits of multicar policies! They are **** though if ever you actually need them though.

Hound them about your mods mate


i said to them "why do I have to pay to declare my mods if you dont replace with like for like?"


and they went and spoke to their manager or whatever and they came back and said for £50 they'd cover upto £500 for the exhaust, which isn't bad IMO.
 
Anything that differs from the original spec is classed as a mod regardless of who did it.

Best way to covers your own ass like you say is to declare everything, although I can see why some people don't/haven't.

yeah I know that lol, im just saying that if someone went and the car was brand new and had 18s instead of 17s and a spoiler, they might think theyre supposed to come like that

I couldnt tell you what is standard on a fabia vrs? they all have mad colour schemes etc!
 
Hound them about your mods mate


i said to them "why do I have to pay to declare my mods if you dont replace with like for like?"


and they went and spoke to their manager or whatever and they came back and said for £50 they'd cover upto £500 for the exhaust, which isn't bad IMO.

That's not bad to be fair. The only mods are fairly minor though and the exhaust wasn't that expensive. If the worst happened, they'd replace it with standard parts which I could probably sell for more than they'd cover for!!
 
yeah I know that lol, im just saying that if someone went and the car was brand new and had 18s instead of 17s and a spoiler, they might think theyre supposed to come like that

I couldnt tell you what is standard on a fabia vrs? they all have mad colour schemes etc!

Ahh I see what you're saying, yeah very true, that's part of the reason you can guarantee there are loads of people out there who haven't declared mods that they have on there cars.
 
Ahh I see what you're saying, yeah very true, that's part of the reason you can guarantee there are loads of people out there who haven't declared mods that they have on there cars.

Obviously some people will do it on purpose, but I can imagine some 50 year old bloke having a mid life crisis wouldnt know that the side skirts, spoiler and 18" optional extra wheels on a Leon arent standard parts lol
 
Just a little note having looked into this a bit more.

I do not believe any insurance is invalid or could be construed as so with regards to the DPF provided that "Exhaust Modifications" are declared on the insurance documents. This follows in the same vein as exhaust silencer modifications with respect the Road Traffic Act.

Just wanted to say that following on from previous comments.
 
Just a little note having looked into this a bit more.

I do not believe any insurance is invalid or could be construed as so with regards to the DPF provided that "Exhaust Modifications" are declared on the insurance documents. This follows in the same vein as exhaust silencer modifications with respect the Road Traffic Act.

Just wanted to say that following on from previous comments.

But what about the fact that it is now supposed to be illegal to remove or disable the DPF, meaning the car would not be legal to drive on the road, thus not roadworthy, thus a perfect get out clause for the insurance should the worst happen?

Anything that is a MOT failure should also invalidate the insurance due to your obligation to ensure the car is roadworthy.

DPF are a terrible blight and one if the reasons I won't have another diesel (unless pre dpf), but it is the law.

Now do I need to declare my new armrest.....
 
But what about the fact that it is now supposed to be illegal to remove or disable the DPF, meaning the car would not be legal to drive on the road, thus not roadworthy, thus a perfect get out clause for the insurance should the worst happen?

Anything that is a MOT failure should also invalidate the insurance due to your obligation to ensure the car is roadworthy.

DPF are a terrible blight and one if the reasons I won't have another diesel (unless pre dpf), but it is the law.

Now do I need to declare my new armrest.....

Haha! I know my honeycomb grill is declared. Because that makes the car/me drive in an entirely different manner...

What you're saying is very true, however an MOT test is not clarification that the car is roadworthy other than on the day of the test, and the car has been declared roadworthy by the MOT tester. As far as I'm concerned, the definition of roadworthy is entirely under the opinion of the insurance companies who cannot use the Road Traffic Act as their definition of roadworthiness (due to the aforementioned silencer rules), and since the car has an MOT, what else can they do?

Also, it's likely there will be Particulate filters on Petrol Cars in the next 10 years or so
 
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