There would have been a better way to deliver the point. To paint me as some evil demon seems somewhat excessive but entirely in your style gaddafi and my decision to take you off ignore does seem to have been a bad one.

Nonetheless the point is quite valid a significant performance enhancing mod it is and should be declared on the insurance.

Checking into this the 3rd party should be covered by their own policy and can then take civil action against the individual for damages, in many cases this would get nowhere as the person has little to lose.

I suppose I had gotten used to making small mods, braces/stereo and I had for some reason neglected to recognise the significant change in how the car performed. So ultimately I managed to justify it to myself as changing a stereo/exhaust/brace shouldn't really affect your insurance as it doesn't really enhance the performance of the car or at least it doesn't make it any more dangerous than it was in the first place. In some cases with uprated brakes and suspension should it not improve the premium? What irritates me is that almost always when you declare a mod you pay additional premium but your mod isn't covered should it need replacing.

Anyway I realise I was wrong and it's back to stock now until I can find out how much it'll cost me in insurance.

I'm quite sure Gaddafi will feel vindicated now as he has managed to change my mind about something important, perhaps he should. What do I care, I don't have to read it

 

This is the bit that gets me.

In 99% of all cases you won't get that, even if you have declared all mods.
They will pay out on OEM parts only.

So your

 

Surveys have proved the opposite is actually true

 

Boab: ouch, touchy language

don't blame you. I would in the same circumstances

but hats off to you for an honest admission and a lesson to us all

and thanks to Gad - where would we be without his underappreciated wisdom

 

My last policies have been "Like for like", I always ask for this. I've also had agreed value policies.

So you provide them with prices of mods and they provide you with the cash if it ends up in a hedge.

Normal policies are for "OEM replacements". Which are often more expensive than the aftermarket stuff

 

The opposite of which part of that statement?

 

Does anyone have an example of insurance premiums going down?

Any affect direct insurers had was caused by availability of information and the comparative ease of phoning around.

A combination of guilt and potential consequences (either financial or psychological) would mean any mods of mine were declared.

However, I can understand why people don't given the overwhelming sense that you're being ripped off by the insurers.

- When I moved from Battersea to Kingston the car went from being left on the street (car visible, not in sight of the flat, risk of minor dings) to down a private drive and in a garage: no reduction in premium, just an additional admin charge.

- we hear all the time about the portion of "our" premium that goes to pay for uninsured drivers who are the lowest of the low as far as I can see. So there's an element of people just "getting what I'm due"

Now, should I have declared my new gear knob?

 

Premiums are very cyclical and are often dependant upon external factors. Inrecent times these have included:

Joyriding/theft which increased hugely in the late 80s and 90s - combatted successfully with immobilisers.

No Win-No Fee lawyers appearing and the increase in small injury claims

The Ogden tables - which changed the way in which long term care was paid for by insurers (it cost them a lot).

Satnav theft is on the rise so that will have to be factored into premium rating calculations.

Repair cost inflation - this is dependant upon all sorts of factors and has been high in recent times.

Here's an extract from a Datamonitor report:

The combined ratio is essentially the measure of the profitability of motor insurers, if it's below 100%, they are making a profit on their insurance activities, if above, then they aren't.

So, they made a 2.2% underwriting profit in 2006, and a 1.8% loss in 2005. Of course, they make some profit by investing the premiums they receive but this is not huge, as they end up paying it all out in claims and expenses anyway.

 

Funny, I was thinking about the same thing having just ordered one of those FD2 knobs!

I wholeheartedly fall into the 'rather conservative' camp when it comes to things like insurance. Selling to the insurers, its an eye opener to see what kind of technicalities they will have you on if a claim is submitted and the policy's been invalidated due to undeclared items that materially impact the policy. That applies across all types of general insurance - no idea what the score is with life, but assume same applies.

For that reason - leaving aside any thoughts of accidents, injuries, fatalities, regardless of blame - I would rather everything was declared and take the extra premium (if one is payable) on the chin. I dread having to make a claim for something only to then find that a mod - regardless of how small I might perceive it - is actually considered by the insurer to materially change my statement of facts (is that what its called?), and then invalidate my policy as a result.

You would feel totally butt-f&%$

 

Whilst in the situation described your insurance company may pay third party(ies) for damage/compensation etc.

If they discover you had undeclared mods at the time of the incident they (your insurance company) may well take a civil action against you to recover all of their costs... which may be very substantial...