Overhaulin'

What can legally be done to modify a car that the insurance companies are not bothered about?

Cos I'm 17 and with insurance prices etc, Is there anything I can work on, I believe they increase the price with alloys, what about things like exhausts, lights and tinted windows? And modifications welcome. Thanks for you help up front

Public Comments

1. You MUST inform them of any and all modifications from stock, as to if they charge you it is up to them as every company is different. Personal experience with me is they charged for alloys but nothing for a different colour grill or LSD. Ring your insurers and ask them.
2. You have to look at it from a different viewpoint. Insurers hate to pay claims. So if you fail to notify they will latch on to any excuse to refuse what may appear to be a genuine claim. If you give them this loophole they will use it for sure. So the only way you can protect yourself is to tell them in detail what you propose. They will then tell you what mods they will accept and what the increase in premium will be, if any.
3. There is nothing you can work on. Any modification changes the vehicle from what they know it to be, into something new. Even something like tinting your windows. Think about it this way, how can they accurately insure your vehicle, if they are not informed of what your vehicle is, accurately? You end up with a body kit, new paint job, tint, and the rest....and they'll flat out tell you that it's not the car they've insured. Doesn't matter that the VIN is the same. And then what will you do?
4. Yes, it's best to notify the insurers of any change as you could be involved in an accident that wasn't your fault and if you tried to claim for the damage to your car, the assessor would soon find anything non-standard and if you haven't declared it, they will not pay a penny to you. You could be left with a wrecked car that wasn't your fault and in the worst case, have to pay thousands in legal fees too out of your own pocket. If you can afford that then, you carry on. Tinted windows have to be less than 30% tint and there's an easy test to check them. Anything less then 30 isn't worth having so I should save your money. The police can seize your car if it's over 30% tint too. On top of that, if you did manage to get the insurer to pay out because you'd only changed the lights etc, they will only pay for a standard replacement, not the expense of more fancy lights. I wouldn't bother, you are looking at pouring money down the drain anyway and face having to fork out more in the long run. I used to work in vehicle tuning and I can tell you now, those big exhausts wreck performance and fuel consumption - most young owners think that because they sound loud, they must be getting better performance lol- nothing is further than the truth. All you are doing is wrecking the efficiency of airflow through the engine and out again.
5. Basically the insurance needs to know about any changes as the fitting of these can affect the value of the car (their insured asset). If there is a claim and they do not know about something they will refuse to pay for that item. In addition, if the fitting of an item is the cause for the claim (tinted windows being illegal for example) they can refuse to pay anything.
6. ANY modification must be declared to the insurance company. If you put a non standard radio in it should be declared. If you change the wheels to different size than standard it must be declared if you tint the windows it must be declared if you add a spoiler it must be declared Anything you do to change the car from what it was when you first bought it is a modification and must be declared to the insurance company.
7. Legally tinted rear windows will be OK - you cannot tint the windscreen and front side windows beyond 30% which many are already. Minor cosmetic things mainy inside. External body graphics would be OK too. Exhausts are not OK as they can be considered performance enhancing. Additional lights would be OK as long as they are within the laws pertaining to them Generally though many insurers will not cover modified cars at all for under 25s and many are driving around in modifieds without valid policies