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I Work In Motor Insurance, Ask Me (Almost) Anything


Mathrin
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So as I ended up going off on a tangent in the other topic, decided I might as well start a topic here.

I work for one of the largest motor insurance companies in the UK, and with the obvious boundaries of data protection and company secrets, am happy to answer any questions anyone might have regarding insurance, underwriting etc.

Can't say I will be able to answer every question, but I'm willing to help. Any questions about insurance, claims, reputations of various insurers, throw them at me, I will give it a shot :)

Quick Q&A's (reoccurring questions)

Q. I have X Y Z factory fitted extras, should I tell me insurer?

A. I certainly would - More you tell your insurer, the better and more hassle free any claim should go.

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Good effort mate.

You've helped me already so others should have a few questions.

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Yes, nice one. Its always good to have some expertise in various fields.

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Why does my insurance premium go up on go compare by 2000 quid just for having a front splitter added to the car and an induction kit that adds almost no performance what so ever? Ha. I find the prices so rediculous that i havent declared my mods. So in the event of a crash theyd most likely not want ti pay up. Why is this? The mods are worth no more that 300 quid i could easily pay for the repair myself.

Thanks

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Im only 20 so my insurance is very high for my s1600 just dont understand why a bit of fiberglass can justify a 2000 quid premium increase lol. Any recomendations on insurane companies that insure modufied cars for around the same price as the original car. I understand the induction kit maybe adding a bit to the price (even tho it diesnt do much bit give me a nice sound) but the splitters are purely cosmetic and i have plans to tint windows and re spray the interior trim. Do things like spraying the interior even have to be declared? Thanks again.

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And despite my mods im a very careful driver. May look to the eye because the way my car looks im a speed demon and drive like an idiot but i cant stand people speeding and driving like tools lol. Questions/rant over haha.

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Adrian Flux do decent modified car insurance, and Greenlight are recommended by Mountune. There's 2 to have a stab at for a modified boat.

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Any mods that you add to the car to make it more attractive to a thief is going to raise your premium.

My question is why does my insurer require me to declare factory fitted options?

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You're right in saying that its loaded due to the increased risk to thefts and vandalism. Also means if you smash it up, it will cost more to put right due to custom parts etc. It also brings in some problems with availability.

You need to have them declared for the same reason tbh - It might be factory fitted alloys, but its still more attractive than a fiesta with hubcaps! As far as I am aware, the loading for factory fitted mods is nominal compared to aftermarket fittings

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With regards to tints, Some places may refuse to insure you on them. I'm pretty sure we do actually.

You'll find that a lot of the reason the increase in premium is so big, is that they're trying to deter you from insuring. By law, we cannot refuse to insure you, however we CAN charge whatever we want, that is basically our way of saying "you're too much of a risk, go away".

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You're right in saying that its loaded due to the increased risk to thefts and vandalism. Also means if you smash it up, it will cost more to put right due to custom parts etc. It also brings in some problems with availability.

You need to have them declared for the same reason tbh - It might be factory fitted alloys, but its still more attractive than a fiesta with hubcaps! As far as I am aware, the loading for factory fitted mods is nominal compared to aftermarket fittings

This declaring of factory fitted options is a bit of a semi myth from what I've read although I am aware that direct line and one or two others insist you tell them. I have never been asked the question by my insurer and have never known anybody have problems with this when it comes to paying out. The trim level of my car eg Zetec S has always shown up on file for the cars I have insured, so surely the desirabilty amongst the 50 million other variables is already likely to be factored in?

Someone made a good point in a thread on here last year that if Mrs X is not going to know what is a factory fitted extra and what is standard when she buys a second hand car.....

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Someone made a good point in a thread on here last year that if Mrs X is not going to know what is a factory fitted extra and what is standard when she buys a second hand car.....

And therein lies a common problem. 90% of the time its sorted out in a matter of days, claim on pend, we get an explanation in, jobs a goodun.

I should clarify - Some insurers DO have different stances and policy clauses, I can only speak for the ones I work on :)

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Also insurers don't know that what type of driver you are just because you don't have points and previous crashes doesn't mean you're a good driver.

Age never helps and when you drive round in a 1.6 or higher under the age of 25 we're all painted with the same brush "a risk" in Moses case it's a limited edition car as well which makes it again a higher risk and in the case of an accident harder to repair.

Like its been previously said to modifications make a car more desirable to a thief or vandal, like the age old saying GTI - guaranteed theft item. Hence why insurance is always so high on them.

I've seen many cases where friends haven't had their modifications declared and insurers won't pay out, it's left them screwed.

If you were Mr Direct Line and jo blogs crashed his heavily modified undeclared car and you have to pay out £8000 you'd do anything to keep hold of your money, they'd just say that was the cause of the crash/theft etc.

I'm still shocked at a quote I had off of direct line for window tints. An extra £500 per year!!! And £250 more excess!! When I already pay £900 a year! They simply said you're too young and the car is already a high risk.

Admiral tend to be the most reasonable with mods

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Also insurers don't know that what type of driver you are just because you don't have points and previous crashes doesn't mean you're a good driver.

Age never helps and when you drive round in a 1.6 or higher under the age of 25 we're all painted with the same brush "a risk" in Moses case it's a limited edition car as well which makes it again a higher risk and in the case of an accident harder to repair.

Like its been previously said to modifications make a car more desirable to a thief or vandal, like the age old saying GTI - guaranteed theft item. Hence why insurance is always so high on them.

I've seen many cases where friends haven't had their modifications declared and insurers won't pay out, it's left them screwed.

If you were Mr Direct Line and jo blogs crashed his heavily modified undeclared car and you have to pay out £8000 you'd do anything to keep hold of your money, they'd just say that was the cause of the crash/theft etc.

I'm still shocked at a quote I had off of direct line for window tints. An extra £500 per year!!! And £250 more excess!! When I already pay £900 a year! They simply said you're too young and the car is already a high risk.

Admiral tend to be the most reasonable with mods

I pay over 2k insurance for mine without mods declaired haha. Lucky to have a well payed job i guess

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For a modified policy try Brentacare. They are AMAZING for modified policies. im 24, 3 points and a claim. under £700 for my 2011 zetec s, stripped out, 2 buckets, induction kit, lowered, mountune spoiler extentions and every other kmod included :)

My question is "the ring" what is the deal with insurance? i have been reading up on this. alot of insurance companies excluded this from there policy but how can this be legal? the "ring" on a non track day is just a paid toll road, parts of it have speed limits and all accidents are treated as if they were on ever other road in germany. It is not a race track unless on certain days.

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I'd have bought a zetec S and bought myself a top of the range iMac or something but I take my hat off to you.

What is it you do?

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My question is "the ring" what is the deal with insurance? i have been reading up on this. alot of insurance companies excluded this from there policy but how can this be legal? the "ring" on a non track day is just a paid toll road, parts of it have speed limits and all accidents are treated as if they were on ever other road in germany. It is not a race track unless on certain days.

Do you mean Nurburgring? I can only speculate on that one, as I'm not a foreign handler. I would hazard a guess it would be down to the nature of the road itself. It might have speed limits but you can bet your !Removed! people are going to try and take racing lines, especially people from the UK going over.

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Also insurers don't know that what type of driver you are just because you don't have points and previous crashes doesn't mean you're a good driver.

Age never helps and when you drive round in a 1.6 or higher under the age of 25 we're all painted with the same brush "a risk" in Moses case it's a limited edition car as well which makes it again a higher risk and in the case of an accident harder to repair.

Like its been previously said to modifications make a car more desirable to a thief or vandal, like the age old saying GTI - guaranteed theft item. Hence why insurance is always so high on them.

I've seen many cases where friends haven't had their modifications declared and insurers won't pay out, it's left them screwed.

If you were Mr Direct Line and jo blogs crashed his heavily modified undeclared car and you have to pay out £8000 you'd do anything to keep hold of your money, they'd just say that was the cause of the crash/theft etc.

I'm still shocked at a quote I had off of direct line for window tints. An extra £500 per year!!! And £250 more excess!! When I already pay £900 a year! They simply said you're too young and the car is already a high risk.

Admiral tend to be the most reasonable with mods

I'm with swift cover I'm 23 and have declared all my mods new alloys window tints cruise control even a different panel filter didn't make a blind bit of difference to premium of £590 I have a 1.6 tdci zetec s and have a claim against me

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I think i got shafted a little bit on my insurance, this is my first car 1.6 tdci im 22 but never really needed to drive just because how close my work is to me, now im paying around 4000 for the year for my insurance with an excess of 500, i should of really looked around abit more and atleast called some companies up but this was an inpulse buy with about 5 hours to get my insurance sorted.

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If you don't mind me asking, who did you insure through?

I'm, 24, only passed my test in february, and my insurance is around £800 for a brand new 1.4 Zetec :/

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Went with LV, should of spent more time looking really, if i went with a 1.4 petrol it dropped to about 2000.

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Hmm. They're not normally that bad... But everything comes into it... your occupation, your location, where it is stored etc. Still... 4000 is pretty much them saying "We'd rather not insure you"!

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Although my insurance company requires me to declare extra factory fitted options, I only found out by chance as they did not ask me outright. I was asked if the car was modified. A very misleading question.

It is also very unfair for the insurer to expect the buyer of a secondhand car to know if the car has factory fitted extras especially when manufacturers often add items to the standard spec during a cars production life.

If this info is so important to insurers then it should be their responsibility to check the manufacturers build records (such as Ford Etis) to check that they are charging correctly for the cover required, or these options need to be listed on a legal document such as the V5 and passed on to consecutive owners.

If my insurer wants to void my policy over undeclared factory extras, then I will see them in court.

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I did all the comparisons and no one was that good, my area is pretty rubbish tbh i live in manchester and in droylsden you know where all the grenade attacks and shootings are happening, so i can kind of understand it. Plus im paying monthly which makes it dearer aswell. But i have a good paying job so i just have to get the first year out of the way and see what it goes down to, i had a look and with 1 years no claims it drops to 2000 a year.

Edited by iNath
Removed swearing
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