Insurance after mods

[harpoon]

Just wondering if all you guys doing mods are informing the insurance company?

I have heard some horror stories of people who prang their modded car and the insurance company won't cough up due to modifications being done that were not cleared by the company.

I know most people just mod away and hope for the best but I'm curious as to what you guys do.

As an example, if I wanted to get rid of the runflats, then one day I'm doing 110km on a freeway and a tyre blows out and I put the car into a wall, am I covered still? And would the company investigate what tyres were on the car vs what is OEM?

I've never had to make an insurance claim so far (touch wood) so not too sure of the procedures.

Cheers.

[Bizall]

Most of the mod issues would be you trying to get recovered for them whether they were stolen or damaged during a crash and the insurance company didn't know about them. You normally have to pay a bit extra for "mod insurance" if you want aftermarket parts covered. I would hope NO insurance company would leave you high and dry because you didn't have OEM tires on your car. I think the example given is taking it a bit to far. On the other hand, if your car had with modded to hell car with 800hp and you were in a high speed wreck or something like that, then yea, I could see them doing that.

[takahashi]

Must tell your mod to insurance company and many are turning around insuring mod.

Years back only Just Car insure them even a wider tyre has to go with them.

Now we have Shannon and AAMI who insure mods which are legal.

If you have 800hp and you wreck the car, when they can prove that you are operating in an illegal speed (e.g. from tyre mark), they will have grounds not to pay you.

For just tyre change without change tyre size. It is AOK. If you are still want to make sure you can phone them and record their conversation. Record the company name, operator name and make sure you record your policy number on the tape. Tell them you recording the conversation for record too. You can do that with most mobile phones.

If you can get them to write in black and white, then it is perfect.

[Wraith]

Agree with the above posts...

Tell/list/declare mods for total piece of mind regardless of additional premium !

I too have heard of plenty of cases ending up in court because of undeclared modifications which rendered the vehicle illegal for road use, things such as incorrect tyre load ratings for eg. it seems some insurance companies will go to extraordinary lengths to get out of paying high dollar claims, so it pays to be secure on this aspect...

I've done this with all my modified cars - most insurers will allow plenty of scope for modifications (although it is limited and dependant mainly on previous record and age) and the premium increases, in my case anyway have not been drastic at all...

With one of my cars which is highly modified, I've had to go with Shannons as it's too modified for the mainstream insurers to be comfortable with...

[harpoon]

OK good to know thanks guys.