Well I am the mug. Talking to direct line about my wife’s other car asked if the change of front grill needed to be declared . (standard to Lockwood). They said it did and charged me £28 pound for the pleasure! This is a £15 admin fee and £13 for the mod. I think I will contest this when I get the paperwork but they said had I not declared it any claim might have been null and void. If I had known this I would not have fitted it. Beware when considering any mod from standard. Interestingly I have now changed two of my cars from direct line to Saga with substantial savings.
Seems SAGA are the way gto go, I have both my cars with them plus house and contents.
My thoughts are, if you’re not bothered about claiming for a more expensive grill if you ever make a claim why bother actually mentioning it. I mean it’s not making the car more powerful or altering it’s safety in any way. I bet an original grill would cost more from the dealer anyway if you had to source one.
I bought a new car last year, it didn’t come with a spare wheel, I added one to the order. Do you think I should have told my insurance company that I have a proper spare now instead of a can of foam. Or, I fitted mudflaps, they were extras. I mean every little add on, do we tell them.
And to add, I found Direct Line arrogant when I questioned there renewal price a few years ago. Never go near them now.
I do not understand how people find this so complex, quite simply you have a contract of insurance and they offer insurance to you on the basis of the car being standard (unless you declare modifications at the start). Therefore, if you change the car in anyway technically you altering the car from what they originally took on as the “risk” - i.e. your vehicle requiring consideration (contract law basics here of offer, acceptance and consideration).
Some might say that okay changing tyres but the modifications are based on altering for the majority of insurers (my caveat) the car from “factory specification” factory specification being as the car was specified when ordered (there are a few odd ones who will even take alloy wheels smaller to bigger from the OPTIONS list when ordered as a modification).
Now for certain things there is some sensibility I know my insurer bases some of the external things on whether they are “removable”. It might sound crazy but I always query them over the craziest things when altering anything, and am always determined really to get the actual item as a non modification or modification without cost (as mine get funny over even changing an alloy wheel to the same size alloy wheel for my winter wheels however it is a modification without cost).
Essentially my advice when doing anything to alter the car from factory specification (read your terms and conditions throughly when you go to insure your car and then if you do alter the car from factory specification (taking into account if they base it like this) is to:
1) Ring them up, get a definitive answer, make a note of the time and date you called them.
2) Decide whether to go ahead or not on that advice - basically from my experience they fall into three categories - no modification, modification without increase in cost, modification with increase in cost.
- Do what you want from there - I have found a few get outs for modifications with mine and the previous car - change of colour in alloys little bits that change the car visually but are not a modification.
Overall, you need to understand that insurers are taking on a risk of you in offering insurance cover you alter the car in anyway essentially the risk they are taking on changes. So by changing the grill you effectively to some insurers make the car more attractive to thieves or potentially the cost for them.
As I said above though in regards to modifications on cars some are more willing depending on whether they are more “mainstream” or specilised in regards to the risks they take on board. An example of this would LV a mainstream insurer Vs a specilised insurer used to modifications such as Greenlight insurance that regularly deal with modified cars.
Anyone who says not to declare a modification or in fact even a non-fault claim is an idiot in my book. Because ultimately what could happen if the insurer gets wind of it is they could refuse to cover you for any incident, they will pay any third party but will come after you for the costs, and potentially cancel your insurance. From there you will find it VERY difficult to get any insurance what so ever as most have conditions that you must never have had insurance cancelled on yourself before.
So have I! At renewal, there is a price promise, if you can find a better like for like deal we will beat it. I simply go on a couple of comparison sites and quote the cheapest. I am sure they know the prices of rival companies, they ask for details, disappear for a minute, to check I presume, then offer me the same price less a pound. I am paying less for insuring my MX5 than I did in 2007. Not a great deal of use for the under fifties, but there has to be some compensation for growing old!
Regards Geoff Peace.
I have just insured my mx5 mk2 1.8i sport on classic car insurance with adrian flux £290 fully comp access £200 well pleased.
Direct Line have a very aggressive and friendly looking advertising campaign, but I don’t know directly (no pun intended) anyone who has saved with them, including me.
A very interesting subject this, definitely NOT clear cut, and one I have crossed before. Not necesarily with Direct Line but applies to all Insurance companies.
The question is: What is a modification and what isn’t? It is not as simple as some are saying and that you should declare everything that is not factory spec! … That can get ridiculous.
OK - who has declared a tax disc holder for instance? It’s definitely not factory spec, or what about floor mats?
Is a non Mazda replacement exhaust a modification or a consumable maintenance item? What about new tyres of a different make?
How about a child car seat or booster seat which is often removed when not in use?
Sat Nav or Phone mounting anyone? Maybe.
How do you know what was fitted in the factory from new when you buy a second hand car? My 5 has a few genuine optional Mazda fitments - factory or after? - I have no idea!
The insurance company reps will try to count anything to charge you an extra premium.
I’m going to be silly now - or am I? When I was talking to the insurance company about this their stance was that you should declare anything that makes the car more desirable (to steal). So I said that if my car is dirty and I wash and polish it, it will make it more desirable. So should I declare the polish as a modification? Well err, but, maybe, yes, err no. Seriously they were not sure. Commom sense out of the window me thinks!
Here’s a good one: I stupidly mentioned I had a hard top, they wanted to charge me an extra £58 … but I said I never use it on the car - yes but you might they said - I definitely won’t I said. At that I hang up and insured with someone else but didn’t mention the hard top which I haven’t had on the car and used after 4 years.
They also wanted another £14 because I’d fitted a pair of plastic mudflaps, ha ha ha, that’s more than I paid for them!
My view is that you must declare things that:
a) enhance the performance of the car above standard figures (eg, Induction system or turbo, etc), or
b) significantly enhance the value of the car (eg, alloys, spoilers, a hard top but actually used on the car, etc)
I haven’t got anything like these (see my signature below).
I have had a claim on my insurance for a damaged wing on my Ford Focus and when the assesor came to inspect the vehicle he had a look at the damage and took a photograph of it, and of the valid tax disc (I think if it had not been taxed that would have been a problem). That’s all he was intested in, he did NOT look around for any minor or cosmetic modifications. Which I had done (mudflaps, mats, ipod aux, footwell lights, etc). These did NOT invalidate my insurance.
BTW - I saved £250 with Direct Line on a 2 car multi policy.