SWMBO collects a Fabia vRS on Saturday and is currently insured with NU Direct. I have just spoken to NU Direct's call centre in India to find out what mods they will insure. Even after spelling out FRONT STRUT BRACE and REAR ANTI-ROLL BAR phonetically, the man I was talking to hadn't a clue what they were. He asked if they were bull bars, side skirts and a number of other things! In the absence of them being on the list he was looking at, or maybe he just couldn't find them, he said that fitting them wouldn't involve an increase in premium. I then asked about increasing engine power by remapping, chipping or adding a tuning box. Again he hadn't a clue what I was talking about and suggested calling again once I had done the mod. When I mentioned that NU Direct refused to insure my Octavia if the engine was remapped, he left me on hold for a while to go and get advice. On returning he confirmed that NU Direct would not insure the Fabia either if the engine was modified. The renewal premium had also somehow increased from £278 to £291 since I queried what it would be 2 days ago, although he was able to reduce that to £284.99 after rechecking. There is a still a £20 incentive in M&S vouchers to renew at least 14 days before the policy is due - in this case by 12 Feb.

The car comes with 7 days free complimentary insurance from SkodaAuto Insurance (Zurich). They (Zurich) have quoted £314 for similar cover to NU Direct and apparently will cover mods, although I didn't ask for for any figures. That quote dropped to £297.28 when I mentioned NU's lower quote. I did do a quick Google trawl for feedback on Zurich and was put off the number of very strong negative comments about their mishandling of insurance claims. Has anyone experience of dealing with them for claims and for insuring mods?

Nothing direct, but I've heard similar reports to your Google from sources it wouldn't get.