Declaring Mods.

**Stevel** · 10th August 2008, 23:53

Just a quick heads up on something I've just remembered following the accident last week.

The first two questions asked by the insurance company when I phoned them were, had the car been modified in any way and not declared to them? and were there any endorsements on my licence which I had not informed them of?

Everything was declared on my car which wasn't much but the thing that got me thinking was that the other guy took a picture at the roadside which may have come back to haunt me if that was not the case.

**Caterman** · 11th August 2008, 00:04

i did with my old silver veccy and when i had my little "bump" they paid out £12k for a car with a trade value of around £8k

Simply because all the mods were declared and i had plenty of pics at shows etc to back up my case about how good it looked pre-accident

Having said that, i haven't told them about ALL the mods on this one yet, only a few as i didn't intend to do much but got carried away

...........and i ain't finished just yet ...........

.......

**Stevel** · 11th August 2008, 00:08

Yes today seems to have been "Mod Sunday"

. Just don't want anyone to be caught out.

**Duncan** · 11th August 2008, 00:08

Originally Posted by Stevel

The first two questions asked by the insurance company when I phoned them were, had the car been modified in any way and not declared to them? and were there any endorsements on my licence which I had not informed them of?

Blimey, they were just looking for any reason not to pay out on a claim! - even though you wouldn't have been claiming off them anyway! lol

Which insurer was that BTW?

**Stevel** · 11th August 2008, 00:10

Originally Posted by Duncan

Blimey, they were just looking for any reason not to pay out on a claim! - even though you wouldn't have been claiming off them anyway! lol

Which insurer was that BTW?

This was before they knew what had happened. He was reading from a Script. Company is Zurich who appear to have based the nerve centre of their operations in India.

**Duncan** · 11th August 2008, 00:17

Oh, good 'ol Zurich - used to be Eagle Star. Very good insurance company when I was with them. I ditched them for two reasons - 1) they moved their call centre to India, or wherever, and trying to explain something that you wanted to change/had changed on the car was impossible - they just didn't understand what you were trying to explain and 2) they seemed, then at least, that they simply didn't want to cover cars that had been modded. When I had the suspension done they 'allowed' it as an existing customer as a goodwill gesture - gee, that was big of them! lol When I then enquired about something else they said they wouldn't cover it! - and that was with no claims with them!

So I changed to DL and it was a relief to be able to talk to a UK call centre who understood what I meant when I was asking about/explaining things. They've also been pretty cool with the mods so far.

**Stevel** · 11th August 2008, 00:22

Yep, trying to get them to understand that the A350 is a road and not in fact the type of car that hit me was the first challenge.

I gave up on trying to explain that Wiltshire is a county so moved Warminster to Dorset as that did at least appear on their drop down menu.

**Duncan** · 11th August 2008, 00:34

lol, yep - I remember all that as well! Even just ringing about renewals and the general admin/running of the policy was a nightmare and seriously putting me off! The 'no mods' thing was the last straw and they got the heave ho.

**daverip2003** · 11th August 2008, 06:05

Just a quick one on declaring mods guys.....I have just fitted a powerbox to my diesel (more bhp + mpg). It is a 5 minute job to fit and remove but do you recon I should still declare it to my insurer? And do you think it will make a big difference to the policy price?

**wickedwillie** · 11th August 2008, 07:26

Originally Posted by daverip2003

Just a quick one on declaring mods guys.....I have just fitted a powerbox to my diesel (more bhp + mpg). It is a 5 minute job to fit and remove but do you recon I should still declare it to my insurer? And do you think it will make a big difference to the policy price?

Personnal choice but I would (and I have for my remap) for one simple reason. If you are in an accident and you are unable, for whatever reason, to remove the modification at the scene of the accident and the car gets towed away, then you may be in trouble. Of course if you dont survive the accident then its no longer a problem but if you do and the mods have not been declared, you could effectively be uninsured and end up paying for the rest of your life.
In my younger day, I would have not thought that way but have seen so many accidents and you never know, it could be you.