"wind deflectors"? Each insurance company is different though

I've yet to find an insurance company that has wind deflectors in their list of modifications.

I've yet to find an insurance company that has wind deflectors in their list of modifications.

 

What they call it is up to them. You should tell them though and let them decide.

As above, I tell them what they are and let them list it as whatever they want. Some will list the item as told, others will have "misc body modification" etc. 

Yeah, my lass' car has the dashcam declared as 'misc interior decoration' as the guy couldn't think of anything better to put it under.

What about tomtoms and if dashcam has been declared ! Things that can be easily removed or not permanent fitted shouldn't be declared surely ?

What about tomtoms and if dashcam has been declared ! Things that can be easily removed or not permanent fitted shouldn't be declared surely ?

 

The cams are wired in to the ignition. I also wanted them declared incase the car catches fire and they say it was the camera battery or something like that.

Ah understand mines just melted as well :(

The big problem is not that the people who are saying you should inform the insurer are correct it is that SOME (not all) insurance companies seem to take terrible liberties with their customers, all within the letter of the law I'm sure, but liberties nonetheless.  I can think of a few that wouldn't think twice about charging you £16.00 for the "admin" of noting this on the computer.

 

It's the absence of common sense and personal contact which has leaked out of this industry that is the problem, not people fitting wind deflectors.  Generally I am happy with my insurer but when some call centre Monkey tries to sign your RARB up as a full roll cage you also know that you might as well be talking to the automated answering machine at times.  I am hoping that come Feb when my insurance is up, one of our insurance sponsors can show me the light on this front.  If I trusted I would be dealt with fairly, nay appreciatively for coming forward and updating my notes for a fairly banal "mod", I'd do it everytime.  Instead I fear for most it's like pulling teeth and ends in a bill.

 

We would all of us I expect say that you must be some kind of idiot not to declare your shiney new Miltek exhaust and map or coilies and upgraded alloys, no arguments there.  Correctly installed Wind Deflectors should have no more difference on the safety of a car than the difference in width of A pillar between certain manufacturers models and others, common sense.

 

 

Edit: FYI I do personally however still call through all car mods (sigh), I blame my parents

I rang the insurer up to tell them that I'd removed my rear seats from my old metro. He essentially just laughed at me and told me that I didn't have to declare that as it wasn't a performance gaining mod. Nice feeling inside knowing it was done though and I think it's always better to be safe than sorry.

 

To be fair removing 28kg seats in a car that weighed 750kg probably did add power haha

Edited 9 December, 201312 yr by Dann2707

The big problem is not that the people who are saying you should inform the insurer are correct it is that SOME (not all) insurance companies seem to take terrible liberties with their customers, all within the letter of the law I'm sure, but liberties nonetheless.  I can think of a few that wouldn't think twice about charging you £16.00 for the "admin" of noting this on the computer.

 

I have never paid extra when declaring things, Admiral once tried, when I mentioned the towbar, but I just laughed and asked if he was joking and he just folded and said they'd 'waive the charge, this time'. If an insurer wanted to increase my premium for the things I declare, I'd just move to the next quote down the list. There's no shortage of those.

 

With the wind deflectors, it is still worth mentioning anyway, because as someone posted an example, in any accident that your side visibility would be a factor in, they can point at them and walk off.

The big problem is not that the people who are saying you should inform the insurer are correct it is that SOME (not all) insurance companies seem to take terrible liberties with their customers, all within the letter of the law I'm sure, but liberties nonetheless.  I can think of a few that wouldn't think twice about charging you £16.00 for the "admin" of noting this on the computer.

 

It's the absence of common sense and personal contact which has leaked out of this industry that is the problem, not people fitting wind deflectors.  Generally I am happy with my insurer but when some call centre Monkey tries to sign your RARB up as a full roll cage you also know that you might as well be talking to the automated answering machine at times.  I am hoping that come Feb when my insurance is up, one of our insurance sponsors can show me the light on this front.  If I trusted I would be dealt with fairly, nay appreciatively for coming forward and updating my notes for a fairly banal "mod", I'd do it everytime.  Instead I fear for most it's like pulling teeth and ends in a bill.

 

We would all of us I expect say that you must be some kind of idiot not to declare your shiney new Miltek exhaust and map or coilies and upgraded alloys, no arguments there.  Correctly installed Wind Deflectors should have no more difference on the safety of a car than the difference in width of A pillar between certain manufacturers models and others, common sense.

 

 

Edit: FYI I do personally however still call through all car mods (sigh), I blame my parents

 

all good points above.

 

IMO this is why we should be using 'specialists' who are used to modified cars, that way the broker knows what an arb is and usually no charges are applied for sensible changes. Infact my last policy with chris knight allowed for numerous mods with only an increase in premium for increasing power. Everything else could be added/removed as i liked wth no admin charge.

 

I wouldn't and don't ever get quotes for my cars from any of the 'mainstream' insurers..

 

They do but you could very easily remove them before your insurance company come out and look at your car after an accident

all good points above.

 

IMO this is why we should be using 'specialists' who are used to modified cars, that way the broker knows what an arb is and usually no charges are applied for sensible changes. Infact my last policy with chris knight allowed for numerous mods with only an increase in premium for increasing power. Everything else could be added/removed as i liked wth no admin charge.

 

I wouldn't and don't ever get quotes for my cars from any of the 'mainstream' insurers..

 

 

This +1, pointless using compare websites for modded cars, you need to go old skool and ring round. 

 

They do but you could very easily remove them before your insurance company come out and look at your car after an accident

 

Read the previous page, I cant be bothered to write it again

For example: I walk into a Skoda main dealer and look at a new or nearly new vehicle...not being very car savvy, buy it and insure it as anyone would do.

The rear tinted windows, Skoda wind deflectors, Skoda roof bars, Skoda tow bar, Skoda/Kenwood DNX521DAB and Skoda painted black wheels which were all there when I saw the car, are all modifications that I should have declared????

So at point of sale I need to ask the dealer which parts are factory fitted options/dealer fitted/added options and blatant modifications??

Things are now becoming silly,my understanding of " modifications" were performance enhancing parts?

Edited 9 December, 201312 yr by Defenderben

So I go to look at a car. It has a full piper exhaust, bodykit, led washers and a wrc style wing on the boot. Because they are all fitted when I buy it I can plead ignorance can I? No. 

 

Exactly as you said, you use some common sense, ask whats standard and what isnt. Chances are you'd look at the trim level and spec before buying a car anyway and it's not rocket science tbf. 

 

If you genuinely buy a car and it has tinted rear windows which were not standard and later on it comes up then chances are if they were a option at some point then you wouldnt be chased for not declaring it, written off as a genuine mistake. Things like tow bars & wind deflectors are not standard on any skoda and a simple question at the point of looking will tell you that, not that you were in any doubt to start with  :think:

So I go to look at a car. It has a full piper exhaust, bodykit, led washers and a wrc style wing on the boot. Because they are all fitted when I buy it I can plead ignorance can I? No. 

 

Exactly as you said, you use some common sense, ask whats standard and what isnt. Chances are you'd look at the trim level and spec before buying a car anyway and it's not rocket science tbf. 

 

If you genuinely buy a car and it has tinted rear windows which were not standard and later on it comes up then chances are if they were a option at some point then you wouldnt be chased for not declaring it, written off as a genuine mistake. Things like tow bars & wind deflectors are not standard on any skoda and a simple question at the point of looking will tell you that, not that you were in any doubt to start with  :think:

 

that sums it up perfectly above!

 

I previously put (if you have a look back through this thread) Defenderben the definition of a modification.

So I go to look at a car. It has a full piper exhaust, bodykit, led washers and a wrc style wing on the boot. Because they are all fitted when I buy it I can plead ignorance can I? No. 

 

Exactly as you said, you use some common sense, ask whats standard and what isnt. Chances are you'd look at the trim level and spec before buying a car anyway and it's not rocket science tbf.

Some people don't spend ages researching cars to buy, for some they are just cars. Just a tool to get from a to b. I know a few people just like this. The car of one was in such a state it was cheaper to buy another than put it through the mot. So he just went to a local used dealer, said I want that one and that was it. He had a car to get to work in again. Now, I know ignorance is not really a defence, but should everyone really have to go over every detail of every car they want to buy? To this guy, you could have put the car you described in front of his face and he wouldn't think anything odd of it and would probably say it wasn't modified 'to the best of his knowledge' because he doesn't look at those things at all. They register no more than the wife's new haircut. He sees its a petrol with 4 doors in blue.

As above, when did this go this far? When did modifications cover absolutely everything and not just stuff that made the car go faster than it was designed to do so?

So are factory original tinted windows a modification??

Mr average has no idea if the tinted windows are standard factory fitted option or a dealer fitted modification which one should be declared???

I was given a few years ago, a totally mint one owner 1989 Ford Escort XR3i convertible (not messed with in any way), it had a factory fitted and body coloured RS body kit which was a FACTORY option with RS alloys, was all these items I should have declared even though it was in standard factory trim??

As

Edited 9 December, 201312 yr by Defenderben

So are factory original tinted windows a modification??

I was given a few years ago, a totally mint one owner 1989 Ford Escort XR3i convertible (not messed with in any way), it had a factory fitted and body coloured RS body kit which was a FACTORY option with RS alloys, was all these items I should have declared even though it was in standard factory trim??

As

 

factory tinted windows that are standard to that car are not a modification

 

again,

 

an insurers definition of a modification(give or take)  is 'any deviation from the manufacturers standard specification'

 

So if the xr3i as standard came with tinted windows and a bodykit....its not a modification

 

if the xr3i did not come with factory tints or bodykit and they were specced as an option....it would be classed a modifcation as its a 'deviation' to the standard spec.

 

make sense?

make sense?

No. This mess is over complicated and beyond what an ordinary person can be reasonably expected to fully comply with.

There's an excellent pic in the meme thread of a spider web on a wing mirror, with a caption like 'Need to declare to insurer or not?' which sums up this quite nicely.

what so in essence.....any change to your cars standard spec is too hard to understand :think: ?

 

ok then...good luck with that

Of course I get your point, I said the same as you earlier in the thread, but that doesn't mean I agree with the way things are.

There should be more room for what is reasonable. On a used car there generally is no way to know. No use asking the salesman as half the time they can't tell you what's standard on a new car they have the brochure to. It's just a get out clause gamed against the driver by the insurers. Oh yeah, your window tints weren't standard on that car in that year, so because you didn't declare them were not paying out for that car you clipped while parallel parking. Thats bull****.

I know on bmw's you can get a list of what was fitted from the factory

I assume insurance companys can get access to most car's build date spec

If you pay for ErWin access, you can get a build sheet for your car from VAG.

lol, no worries

 

I know you are arguing the devils advocate!

 

I too don't agree, i remember asking the question in my training 'what happens if someone buys a secondhand car and doesn't honestly know there are modified parts on it'?

 

And the general approach was that they would have to prove that you knew....so a kinda common sense approach basically.

 

I doubt you would get away with lots of mods that were obvious to the average person however.

 

This was with a mainstream UK insurer.

 

Thats why i suggest using a specialist, one that understands the cars, and if you do have a few mods to a lot of mods they can cater for this and cover without extra cost or penalty.

The average punter has no idea what is standard or a dealer or factory option..oppps modification!

When insuring the vehicle and they ask has it been modified "the average punter" would not know if the windows tint was standard/factory/dealer or "tints are us" fitted.

So why on earth would they even think it was worth a mention.

In fact come to think about it should I declare my front parking sensors as not sure if they are a modification or standard item on a 2012 Octavia vRS? This is the level it is going here.

I have caught a few dealers out in the past on standard spec/options of a second hand car because I'm so,so sad and read up on every single item on the various levels of trim/spec for every freelander2 to the point I knew an S,XS,SE,HSE without even looking at a badge or any other part of the car for a certain year but Joe blogs wouldn't have a clue!

And if you are a year out on the build the spec/trim changed but the uninitiated would not know.

So yes it is silly to expect MR AVERAGE to know every item on their car and what was an option or standard depending on year and trim level.