My proposed insurance company (RAC) will charge me a £25 pounds fee for changing the wheels from alloy to steel when I fit them next winter. They are not bothered about the tyres just the wheels. They say all their underwriters charge the same.

What experiences have others had?

Thats probably a admin charge to update your policy?

I just bought a set of spitszbergs with winters and just swap over.

I'm with Admiral and they charged £27 to have "non-standard alloys" added to my policy, though around £15 of that is an admin charge. Might have been less if I had gone for genuine Skoda steel wheels, but my 16" alloys were half the price of Skoda alloys and only £25/corner more than steels. As my insurance is still just under £300 it didn't feel like I'd been cheated (and my previous insurers, Hastings, charge £35 admin)!

Also with Admiral and when I contacted them in 2009 they said no charge (mind I did have to explain what snow was to the overseas call centre operative ) and last year I followed the abi infomation, highlighted by David 8 in the tyre section of the forum;

http://www.abi.org.u...ommittment.aspx

TP

The ABI committment is about TYRES, not wheels.

Some insurance companies are happy about going down to a 16" wheel, others are not.

The ABI committment is about TYRES, not wheels.

Some insurance companies are happy about going down to a 16" wheel, others are not.

Going down to 16" rims; I'm already there

TP

Going down to 16" rims; I'm already there

TP

The change the RAC want to charge for is going to steel wheels the same size.

Skoda insurance did not charge me anything when I informed them I was changing from the standard 17" summer tyred alloys to 16" Steel wheeled winter tyres. They just asked me to let them know when I changed back. No adin fees or anything.

The change the RAC want to charge for is going to steel wheels the same size.

does seem totally barmy wanting to charge extra for replacing £600 + of alloys with £180 of steel rims of the same size but that's insurance companies for you, totally illogical and deserving of That's Life! 'Jobsworth Award' (showing my age now )

TP

As per everything noted above, it seems to depend entirely on the whim or accepted practice of the individual company. Because I'm a tight wad I asked about any proposed charge before taking out a policy and only considered those with a sympathetic attitude towards WTs. But agree there is a trend towards admin charges where there wasn't so much previously. They may have said it was due to the steels, but in reality, as said above, it's more likely just another term for an admin charge. As always, shop around and ask about admin charges, tyre swap charges or any other charges there might be. To be fair, the farmers insurance company (what are they called?) don't apply admin charges - but quoted me twice as much as anyone else, despite living in a rural area...so again...just shop around and if the quote is still competitive despite you having to pay a fee then it's obviously worth paying the fee and still getting an, overall, lower annual cost.... but generally it can add up if they charge say £25 to put the WTs on and £25 to take them off...then that might be prohibitive.

I asked about notification of wheel changeover. They said once the clause was added to my policy it didn't matter. There does seem to be a big variation is what the different companies require

Having looked into this issue when our insurance came up for renewal, plus a couple of other minor items, I came to the conclusion that the cheap(er) insurance companies were that because of these types of issues.

Skoda insurance did not charge me anything when I informed them I was changing from the standard 17" summer tyred alloys to 16" Steel wheeled winter tyres. They just asked me to let them know when I changed back. No adin fees or anything.

I have changed to Skoda Insurance - more cover and just need to 'phone them when the wheels are changed for a total cost of just £229. Thanks Yetiflute.

Edited 26 July, 201213 yr by Norry

Wish I could have got a quote like that from Skoda. They were over £500 for the same cover I'm on at the moment for less that £300.

The ABI committment is about TYRES, not wheels.

Some insurance companies are happy about going down to a 16" wheel, others are not.

Hi Graham,

thought it did cover both rims and tyres, although the wording is very vague on this. Anyway I e-mailed the ABI this afternoon specifically asking about changing factory fitted alloys for approved steel rims and I'm pleased to say I got a quick reply and I quote;

"Thank you for your email which has been passed to me.

The commitment covers the fitting of manufacturer approved tyre and rim combinations as you point out in your email.

I will take your feedback into account with regard to the commitment being vague on this area.

Kind regards,"

Hope this clears things up,

TP

When I first swapped mine (Ebay Audi alloys and winter tyres two winters ago, Direct Line charged nothing for the procedure and seemed to positively welcome my actions. Same for Mrs T's Roomster too.

I tkink it helped that the very friendly Scottish Lady at their call centre knew all about snow and ice as she explained that she was brought up near Aviemore!

Regarding the change to the Steels & the Winter tyres, they really are taking the pith.

Saying that & regarding your Alloys while removed from the car.

The Question is where are you storing them and is that secure, be it a garage, shed or your utility room.

You may well end up claiming on Wheels and tyres that get stolen while not fitted to your car with Security Lock Nuts.

You might even get the Car stolen from your Garage and the extra wheels and want to claim on the lot.

Only Playing Devils advocate there, because i have never paid to declare any mods on any vehicle,

but then i have insurance which allows Modifications if declared & this insurance with specialist brokers is usually cheaper than from Standard Cover Robbers.

george

Skoda insurance did not charge me anything when I informed them I was changing from the standard 17" summer tyred alloys to 16" Steel wheeled winter tyres. They just asked me to let them know when I changed back. No adin fees or anything.

Skoda Insurance also asked me to notify them every time I changed the wheels/tyres but the last time I called (in 2011) I was told it was not necessary to notify them in the future.

I thought you would not have to inform them, as all you are doing is changing a wheel, this not being a modification as the car had wheels when you got it.

I was told this by an insurance broker when I told him I had a performance exhaust fitted to a car. Car came with an exhaust therefore you have not modified it you have just fitted a new exhaust.

I may be wrong as insurance is a mine field. Good luck with it

More Than advised me that a change to winter tyres on wheels approved by Skoda for that vehicle (alloy or steel) is acceptable and does not require notification or additional premium.

Or at least this is the response that I eventually got from an assistant in the UK, who helpfully confirmed it in writing too.

I got hold of a UK operative only because I demanded to speak to someone in the UK after three calls that ended up in their overseas call centre (India?) where the staff couldn't understand why I would want to fit different tyres at certain times of the year!!!