A subject that is highly argued on the interwebs and has been discussed here before, but why not have another go at it... telling the insurance company about the optional factory extras you had fitted.

So, just looking on comparethemeerkat and i enter the car details, keeping it standard... get about 60+ companies come back with offers, lowest around £200 for the vrs.

I read the modification section and it says to declare mods AND factory optional extras, so i go through the list adding things like coloured roof, wheels, sunroof, interior mods (storage boxes, arm rest etc etc), parking sensors, all optional extras ordered with the car (ex demo, so not my choice) and nothing power wise or the usual "mod" type of thing.

My list of quotes drops to 6 companies... the cheapest is about £30 more than the lowest quote i had before, so thats fine, but from quote 3 and upwards the quotes are stupid money.

I cant see how all the cars out there on the road are stock standard spec, everyone is driving around on modified insurance with just a small selection of companies giving them quotes, or people dont mention options when getting insurance.

I just thought about this when the missis renewed her insurance on her fabia 2 yesterday and was asked by the guy on the phone "any modifications or optional extras fitted". luckly her car is just the base model with no options, but it got me thinking.

i guess this is why its sometimes better to go with a specialist which ive done in the past with my aftermarket modified cars, but for your average skoda runaround is that really nessessary...?

Crazy!

Yep, if you put any options whatsoever into the comparison sites, you will not get many quotes at all and they will be stupendously expensive. I don't mod our cars, so I have no problems getting baseline quotes from them and then just telling them over the phone.

But then there's the other part, re factory options. If you have a used car you have absolutely no idea if a particular thing was an option or standard equipment with that particular deal on that particular trim level on that particular day.

When I was with Avivia they wanted to know everything that wasn't "standard" on the vehicle - that included parts fitted at the factory. I don't know if they made any difference to the premium, however they were still my cheapest quote (after everyone else wanted to bump my premium up 50% after a £0 value, no blame, no claim incident).

This year I went with Swiftcover and they say extra are anything fitted after the factory - so it seems to vary.

I personally think extras at the factory should be factored in - it's more expensive to replace my factory fitted Columbus that the standard fit, if I had a front-end it would be more expensive to replace my xenon setup than it would standard halogens.

But as above, check with the insurance with regards factory fitted options.

It's absolutely something that you need to confirm with insurers, and comparison sites won't always give the most accurate results.

For once, I can see the insurers point of view here. If you have a shiny new car with a couple of grands worth of options that gets written off then you'd expect to replace it with an equivalent vehicle which will cost more.

What is wrong is just how much extra they sometimes ask for. A base model with a options can cost much more to insure than a higher spec car without that costs the same.

Once you get to significantly older cars theres always going to be some uncertainty on options but as long as you answer any questions honestly when you take out the policy then you are fine.

They need to be disclosed, they should not effect the price you pay, if your price does change, try a different insurer.

Ollie

Sky Insurance

Tel 03303 331250

Not that I'd be complaining, but I'm curious why you think they shouldn't affect the price? Is that just a commercial decision you've taken?

If my car was a higher spec as standard and was worth more I'd expect it to be slightly more expensive to cover, or if it was a year younger and was worth more then I'd expect the same.

They need to be disclosed, they should not effect the price you pay, if your price does change, try a different insurer.

Ollie

Sky Insurance

Tel 03303 331250

When I tried to insure my new S4 with my existing insurer, they quoted £350. When I disclosed it had Sat Nav the premium rose to £826. WTF!

Bearing in mind this is a car worth £40k and insurance group 18 (I think). So in summary they were happy to insure a £40k performance saloon for £350, but added another £500 when it happened to have a factory fitted option that cannot be distiguished from an S4 without Sat Nav.

The insured value was given as to include this option. Had it not been on the car the insured value would have been £2k less.

Anyway got it insured for £298 elsewhere, but it does make your blood boil

They need to be disclosed, they should not effect the price you pay, if your price does change, try a different insurer.

Ollie

Sky Insurance

Tel 03303 331250

So why does my insurer (LV=Frizzell) say they are not interested if it was fitted at the factory?

Only thing they wanted to know about was the towbar, and that didn't increase their charge.

So why does my insurer (LV=Frizzell) say they are not interested if it was fitted at the factory?

Only thing they wanted to know about was the towbar, and that didn't increase their charge.

I do not work for that insurer so cannot answer the question but I'd quite strongly suggest you get it in writing that any optional extras fitted to your car are indeed covered.

Thanks

Ollie

Sky Insurance

Tel: 03303 331250