Insurance And Minor Mods

[Steven33]

Just a heads up for anyone with admiral insurance, I was reading forums about how admiral can sometimes be a tad over-zealous when it comes to not paying out due to undeclared modifications on things as trivial as car mats, mudflaps etc.

perhaps i was being paranoid but for my own peace of mind i just phoned them up to ask about mods i have planned namely mud flaps, sill plates and car mats (I know I would never have dreamt car mats counting as a mod but these rumours are all over other forums so thought I'd check).

Anyway, car mats are fine, mud flaps/sill plates count as an exterior mod but it only cost an additional £16.20. Ok I know thats a bit of a rip off really but I think for peace of mind its worth it, knowing you are completely covered. Just thought I'd post this up for 2 reasons: 1, incase anyone has fitted mud flaps and was worried telling their insurer incase they charge you something ridiculous and 2, for anyone (like me) who didnt realise these counted as mods. btw all these parts I have to fit are genuine ford)

I'd imagine the vast majority of insurers wouldn't care too much about these kind of things but admiral will charge for any little thing! I cant complain though as they usually are quite a bit cheaper than anyone else!

[GSM]

I'm with admiral and find their charges totally ridiculous.

They charged me about £25 to fit a mk2.5 spoiler to my mk2... it's almost identical apart from a slight aesthetic change, its a standard Ford part, and I'd say 99% of people wouldn't know that it wasn't factory fitted.

They charged me about the same to fit rear parking sensors - which are a safety feature which decrease my liability to them, surely?

And they charged me about the same again to fit DRLs - again, a safety feature which reduces my liability to them.

Come renewal time I'll be demanding a refund of those charges or I'll be going elsewhere.

"admin fee" culture HAS to end.

[Steven33]

mate tell me about it. i was sitting at a red light two years ago when someone run into the back of my car. my insurance is know £40 a year more even thought it was not my fault. apparently because i was involved in an accident I am deemed to be more likely to be involved in another. complete joke, what are you meant to do, run a red light so the person behind you doesnt go into the back of you? even more annoying I enquired as to what discount i would get if i completed teh IAM course...£7 discount so you can be innocently at not to blame involved in an accident and they justified this as a £40 increase but if you have shown the aptitude and have the skills to be IAM accredited it is only worth £7 off. sigh, rant over....

[GSM]

The car insurance industry in general is running amok.

Personally I think every customer should receive a precise mathematical derivation of their premium based on their risk assessment based on statistical evidence.

Then we can see how much of our premium is justified, how much is nonsense fees and random number generation, and how much is just pure profit.

I'm sure we'd all be shocked.

My insurance quotes went up a few hundred pounds because I spent some time on a price comparison website trying all sorts of different combinations of answers to the questions, just to see what might my premium might be if I wait a few months to renew (i.e. waiting until after my birthday), that kind of thing. And they said that because I was putting in so many different and varied answers to the questions, they assumed I was intending to misrepresent myself (lie about my age, or something stupid like that) in order to get the lowest premiums...

So from that point onwards I've just been using fake e-mail addresses to do my twiddling.

[Stoney871]

Your job description can cost you too.

There are web sites that give you legal alternatives and how much you'll save on average if you use these alternatives.

[Steven33]

yeah i put in random names and email addresses so I can get new qoutes based on changing my car, having additional drivers etc. it is a joke really, job description really shouldnt come into it (especially if you dont have your car insured for commuting!). the fact here we need to specify if we commute using our cars is a joke in itself). my mate who lives in germany says its much better there as you insure the car not 'yourself' therefore anyone can drive it and prices are sensible. I cant believe in this day and age the whole industry isnt regulated.