Car Insurance Problems - Help!

GXR · 14-01-2008, 02:58 PM

Hi all

I have an AU XR6 series 3. I am looking at doing the following mods:

DBA Slotted rotors (front & rear)
Modified Airbox
Extractors, High flow Cat, Cat back exhaust
Edit

My Car Insurance company wants me to provide a list of these mods & costs, which I have no problem with. They say they will probably NOT insure my car with these mods done.

I have spoken to Shannon's and they will only insure my car if it is garaged (my car is under a carport).

Can anyone recommend a car insurance company that does not charge over the top premiums, or excesses, for such minor modifications.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Laminge · 14-01-2008, 03:01 PM

Most places will only accept 3 mods, maybe limit it to that for the time being.

Just cars?

GreenMachine · 14-01-2008, 03:15 PM

Just Cars will insure just about anything.

One (technical) dodge I've seen used to get around the "3 modification" rule is listing "intake mods" as one modification (air filter, manifold, cam etc all under one mod), "exhaust mods" as another (headers, hi-flow cat, exhaust) and something like "engine management modifications" as the other... I wouldn't class that as out and out fraud, but I'd hate to have to make a claim...

Chamelion · 14-01-2008, 03:20 PM

I want to put a different front bar on my wagon as the stock one is damaged... What's the bet budget direct won't insure a simple front bar... :p

sfr rob · 14-01-2008, 03:26 PM

why would you make a claim to get another front bar on your car anyway? Go to a wreckers and buy another one for a fraction of the price, I couldn't see one being worth more than $30.

poolkeeper · 14-01-2008, 03:38 PM

You can get away without telling the insurance company, with those replacement parts...

Chamelion · 14-01-2008, 03:48 PM

Sorry, I should calrify.

My car was hit, the damage bill is around $500. Bar cover being $177~ and the rest paint and labour.

I will not be doing an insurance claim... I want to fund my own aftermarket front bar as I may as well do it now that the stock one needs replacing anyway.

I'm concerned that budget direct will not longer honour my policy with the mod. I have heard that they only insure low risk, bog stock vehicles.
It's important that I stay with budget direct as my mrs is on her L plates. Everywhere else wanted around $1000pa, budget direct were less than $500pa.

Matt.

JC · 14-01-2008, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GXR

Hi all

I have an AU XR6 series 3. I am looking at doing the following mods:

DBA Slotted rotors (front & rear)
Modified Airbox
Extractors, High flow Cat, Cat back exhaust
Edit

My Car Insurance company wants me to provide a list of these mods & costs, which I have no problem with. They say they will probably NOT insure my car with these mods done.

I have spoken to Shannon's and they will only insure my car if it is garaged (my car is under a carport).

Can anyone recommend a car insurance company that does not charge over the top premiums, or excesses, for such minor modifications.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'd list the whole exhaust as "Sports exhaust system". They should have no problems with the rotors as you are upgrading the brakes, not really modifying them (if that makes sense), and the edit, well, do you really need to tell them - can they find out? No, as you can just reflash with the standard tune in the case of a walk-away accident. In any other case (ie you don't walk away), why would you even care - you'll have the whole pearly gates experience to deal with?

b2tf · 14-01-2008, 06:16 PM

You do need to be careful how you describe things to insurers - as JC said, you're not actually "modifying" the braking system, you're just replacing a part that does need replacing from time to time (rotors). To be honest I wouldnt even bother listing the airbox or rotors on there because they will make SFA difference to any claim you have.

Oo_xrsx_oO · 14-01-2008, 07:47 PM

I'm with Just Cars and when I mentioned the exhaust they asked about headers/extractors as well so not sure if you can get around that. Like the others have said, you shouldn't worry about mentioning the brakes and airbox if it will still look factory. But when I add mods to my policy they only increase it by $30 or so anyhow. I wrote one of my cars off a couple of years back and it had extractors and sports exhaust which I didn't have listed and the claim went through without a hassle -but now I tell them everything as I was stressing out bigtime that my claim might have been overlooked for not disclosing all my mods so thats something to think about.

RUKIDN · 14-01-2008, 08:43 PM

Just car will insure you for pretty much anything. Im insured through just car and they had no issue at all when i told them its supercharged plus the rest. Im paying pretty low price too, well for what the car is anyways lol i assume its cause im older now so dont get roasted like a younger person would.
I was with RACV for my first 2 cars and was happy to stick with them with the AU but they wouldnt insure me as they dont insure 'petrol' supercharged vehicles, so they say.

Who are you insured through? That is a bit tight they doubt they will insure you for those mods..

GXR · 16-01-2008, 07:22 PM

I'm with CGU.

I am looking around at other Insurance companies, & all of the have different
criteria for acceptance, policy schedules, details & premiums vary enourmously.

I'll let you know who I end up insuring with.

NC1183 · 16-01-2008, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chamelion

It's important that I stay with budget direct as my mrs is on her L plates. Everywhere else wanted around $1000pa, budget direct were less than $500pa.

Matt.

I'm with NRMA, and when i told them that my Mrs who was on her L's at the time they said you don't have to worry about putting them on the policy as she'll be under constant supervison or something like that. When she got her P's i got her listed as a driver on the policy they GAVE me $22 back. Mine was just over the $800 mark.

GXR
I've got all my mod's listed ie, bodykit, exhaust, lowered suspension, aftermarket alloy wheels plus rollbar and towbar and stereo and they are all good about it.

robjunior · 17-01-2008, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chamelion

I want to put a different front bar on my wagon as the stock one is damaged... What's the bet budget direct won't insure a simple front bar... :p

i have one of my cars(92 telstar v6) with budget direct,good driving history(no loss of points 7+ years)fully covered and good price,i tried to insure my wagon(au-lowered to xr height,17in rims, exhuast,xr front bar,sound system) with them they said no way even though there policy say they insure good drivers.budget then told me they dont insure cars with mods reguardless of your driving history.i ended up with just car and car is fully covered with the mods as well and it only cost me $700 which i think is good.car is insured for $11,000 approx from memory(series 1)hope this helps

Eu-GenixX · 17-01-2008, 11:12 AM

it's fine to look at premiums.. but you need to look at the excess as well...

i'm with suncorp... they use a points system... once you go over the points.. your excess goes up... my car has alloys... and it's lowered... if i add an exhaust.. my excess goes up $400.... my current basic excess is $300 i think.. might be $400 i cant remember... and my premium is around $700 a year.. including hire car option.. so i get free hire car for 2 weeks while my car is fixed... and some windscreen cover thing....

best thing to do.... shop around...

Chamelion · 17-01-2008, 12:12 PM

I asked Suncorp as my previous car was insured for third party fire and theft for over three years with them... Comprehensive for the 2002 Falcon was quoted at well over $1000... More than twice as much as budget direct.

I checked it all out pretty comprehensively before I bought this car and budget direct was about the only one I could really afford. if they say no mods, guess I'll have to lay off the mods for a while.

I can always work on getting it right back up to scratch, or something. :p

GK · 17-01-2008, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chamelion

I'm concerned that budget direct will not longer honour my policy with the mod. I have heard that they only insure low risk, bog stock vehicles.
It's important that I stay with budget direct as my mrs is on her L plates. Everywhere else wanted around $1000pa, budget direct were less than $500pa.

Matt.

Matt,

I found the same with Budget Direct. Bog stock cars, no problems, low, low premiums. Great, until.

We were hit twice. Neither time was anyone actually in our car, but the premiums went up both times. Apparently we were more of a statistical risk now, even though both are rating 1, with no stacks caused by us.

Then I joined the forum and the mod bug bit hard. Putting slotted rotors on and 16" XR rims sent my premium up again. They basically said if I did anymore mods my premium would go up like a rocket.

Then the Laser was written off, rear ended again not the wife's fault, but the premium was going to go up again. I had to argue hard for the car to be written off and once they paid up, probably about $750 too less, I'd had enough. I took the money and ran.

I went to Shannons, they've been great, let me do lots of mods and had a premium cheaper than anyone else. I insured my home and contents with them as well. No extra to pay by the month, which is much better than what RACV wanted, an extra $80 odd bucks per policy to do it. Thieves!

:

GK

Mr Cube · 17-01-2008, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

You do need to be careful how you describe things to insurers - as JC said, you're not actually "modifying" the braking system, you're just replacing a part that does need replacing from time to time (rotors). To be honest I wouldnt even bother listing the airbox or rotors on there because they will make SFA difference to any claim you have.

Yeah I wouldn't say anything either about the rotors or airbox

BLACKAUXR8 · 18-01-2008, 12:55 AM

I crashed my XR8 and it had a full V8 supercar bodykit, King superlows and exaust dumped before the diff and still got my insurance payout. That was with Just Car

GXR · 01-02-2008, 08:57 AM

Hi all

Well I got the insurance issues sorted.

My Insurance (CGU) - normally don't insured modified cars. Their proposal was to
double the excess & premiums.
Shannons required my car to be garaged (My car is not garaged, therefore no go).
Vigil - Yes, no restrictions - reasonable premiums.
Just cars - restrictions - increased excess - premiums reasonable.
GIO - no problems - no restrictions - reduced premiums. The best by far.

For your info, they also have a "Custom Car" section for highly modified cars.

It just goes to show, every year shop around & compare. All the insurance companies I spoke to offer differing policies, restrictions, some are very negotiable with premiums if you ask. Good Luck.

JC · 01-02-2008, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GXR

Hi all

Well I got the insurance issues sorted.

My Insurance (CGU) - normally don't insured modified cars. Their proposal was to
double the excess & premiums.
Shannons required my car to be garaged (My car is not garaged, therefore no go).
Vigil - Yes, no restrictions - reasonable premiums.
Just cars - restrictions - increased excess - premiums reasonable.
GIO - no problems - no restrictions - reduced premiums. The best by far.

For your info, they also have a "Custom Car" section for highly modified cars.

It just goes to show, every year shop around & compare. All the insurance companies I spoke to offer differing policies, restrictions, some are very negotiable with premiums if you ask. Good Luck.

Good stuff. I have heard good things about GIO recently. They have done a big turn around over the last few years, as they actually cancelled my policy once when I rang to advise that I had lowered the car to XR specs!