I'm after some winter tyres so I asked my insurance company (Esure) whether they regard winter tyres & steel wheels as a notifiable modification - they said changing the tyres was not notifiable, but changing the wheels was. With this in mind I am thinking of sticking with the standard wheels and just changing the tyres, not as convenient I know but cheaper in the short term and possibly also in the longer term (cost of changing tyres vs insurance premium hikes or admin charges).

My Octavia 1.8TSI has 205/60R15V tyres but the info on the filler cap also lists 195/65R15:

- Does this mean that either size would be regarded as a standard fit from an insurance point of view?

- Would I be OK going for a T rated tyre instead of H (haven't seen any V's)

There is much more tyre choice in the narrower size (and cheaper) but don't want to invalidate my insurance so any advice would be welcome.

205 * 0.6 = 120.6

195*0.65 = 126.75

The difference is about the tread depth, so there's no issue I can see other than the use of T-rated tyres, and I'd want specialist or importer advice on that.

Yep! that size is within the 2.5% diff

http://www.alloywheels.com/tyrecalc.asp

Diff of + 1.2%....so OK...

Usually insurance companys charge more for fitting bigger alloy rims...or aftermarket alloy rims.....so go for the exact same alloys...or go for OEM Skoda steel rims. You might have to still inform them!

With fitting the tyres on the same rim....how much mileage do you do??? If you are taking a set of part worn "summers" off and swapping over to a set of "winters"...then refitting the summers back on.......the tyre fitters will not guarantee their work as the bead on the tyre that is being put back on might break...so a new tyre is required!!!..Best to fit tyres to a set of rims then just swap the wheels over!

Unfortunately another set of alloys is too expensive and the insurance company want to know about steel wheels too. I think in the interests of an easy life I'm just going to fit the same size of tyre to the existing wheels.

I do 5000 - 6000 miles per year, and would probably only expect about 15000 from the front tyres so they would only get removed/fitted a couple of times so I'll take the chance of a bead breaking during fitting (surely can't be that common given that its possible to buy part worn tyres and it doesn't worry tyre fitters when they fix punctures).

Unfortunately another set of alloys is too expensive and the insurance company want to know about steel wheels too. I think in the interests of an easy life I'm just going to fit the same size of tyre to the existing wheels.

I do 5000 - 6000 miles per year, and would probably only expect about 15000 from the front tyres so they would only get removed/fitted a couple of times so I'll take the chance of a bead breaking during fitting (surely can't be that common given that its possible to buy part worn tyres and it doesn't worry tyre fitters when they fix punctures).

Although they are notifiable, did it actually change the price?

Direct line told me there was no price change. Just let them know when I am swapping them over.

Insurance companies should not charge extra to fit winter tyres.

However, they can charge extra for "non standard wheels" with winter tyres.

This includes; after market alloy OR steel wheels, as the car has been "modified from the manufactures original specification" - This phrase, could also impact a different size tyre.

My last vehicle, i fitted BFGoodrich all Terrain's, in speed rating T. (oem was H) i did advise insurance, they made a note, and no charge was applied.

Al.