Strut brace and insurance

[Monty]

I'm getting a strut brace for my GTV soon. Does this count as a modification which I would need to notify my insurer about?

If it does, does anyone know how they assess this? Personally I would not expect it to affect my premium as:

a) it does not materially affect the price of the car and therefore the insured value
b) it would not make the car any more likely to be involved in an accident (arguably the opposite as it would improve the handling).

Thanks

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Originally Posted by Monty

I'm getting a strut brace for my GTV soon. Does this count as a modification which I would need to notify my insurer about?

If it does, does anyone know how they assess this? Personally I would not expect it to affect my premium as:

a) it does not materially affect the price of the car and therefore the insured value
b) it would not make the car any more likely to be involved in an accident (arguably the opposite as it would improve the handling).

Thanks

Hello,
Yes you should disclose this as a modifications. Also most of the schemes wouldn't increase the price of your policy just because of this being added.
hope this has helped,
Dan.

[Trailbraker]

Yup definitely disclose. It entailed no additonal charge for me along with rear ARB upgrade , but my car was already modified with an associated premium increase.

TB

[Monty]

Thanks guys

[PaulR]

What it does tell them is that you probably drive "enthusiastically".
Always disclose.

Paul.

[Gary Slegg]

Yes, its better to disclose and be covered than not disclosed and not be covered

[joegals]

Fully agree - honesty is the best policy, particularly when not to disclose could cost you your car or worse.

Interesting story though - I'd disclosed all my mods to my insurer, initially back in September last year, then again a month ago when the renewal came through and only the exhaust was listed. The day on which I received their confirmation letter in response to mine, I had a prang on the way home from work

Yesterday, I had a call from Direct Line claims department telling me that their enginner had pointed out I had a non-standard front bumper, and did I know, because I hadn't told them and it would affect my claim. Yes I did know, I said, and so did they and after a bit of digging they found my letter and said everything was ok. Phew!

Funny thing was though, the only mod the engineer caught (out of the Novitec front-end, Autodelta coilovers, drilled front discs, Angel re-map) was the bumper. Despite my advice above, half of me wished I hadn't mentioned the others because the combined effect has been to raise my premium by some £30 per month........

[Gary Slegg]

£30 a month seems a bit steep

[joegals]

It's a long story - I have a bit of a stain on my driving record (big mistake back in 2000, of which I'm not proud) so I've been paying anything from £2000/year (2002, Spider V6) to my current £1200 on the GT. I've learned my lesson.

In that context, the extra premium is more understandable - and the main factor affecting it is the exhaust and re-map (the latter being classified as 'chip', which sets bells ringing at insurers), which are accountable for 'a 10% increase in power' in Direct Line speak.