When declaring mods for insurance purposes I assume decat exhausts are incuded and accepted by insurers.

My question then is how is this as surely the car isnt road legal?

 

my understanding is that its not road legal if its not capable of passing a MOT or roadside emissions test.

 

That would be my understanding too. If it’s not road legal & not stated on insurance then it won’t be insured. Doubt that de-cat is option on insurance modifications cert.

They are even talking about changing the law now so that if your car had 3 cats from new then it must still run 3 cats. Could cause a few problems. I went from 2 cats to 1 single sports cat which means my car will automatically fail its MOT when this is enforced.

 

So from reading both your replies it pretty much confirms what was in my mind, that a decat isnt a mod that an insurer would cover? Therefore a car involved in an accident would technically be uninsured.

But in the real world is this likely to happen, does anyone know what stance insurers would take - are they likely to try and absolve themselves of any responsibility for repairs to the car, though a decat is unlikely to play any part in causing an accident.

Does anyone declare it as a mod?

 

I believe insurers will not pay out if the modified part contibruted to the accident/incident. Example: if you reversed into a post and claimed on the rear-end damage, then the decat shouldn't be an issue.

That said, insurers, as we know, will invariably try to use anything to get out of any claim - so, if an assessor noticed an undeclared decat (or whatever), they probably would say "Sorry, that decat is a modifeid part - your claim is invalid."

 

Replies all make a lot of sense. We all know though that in eking out a bit more performance the exhaust is one of the first things to get changed.

At the moment I'm running a sports cat and resonated centre section, but have been thinking about a complete decat. Now I'm not so sure depending just how **** insurers get about these things.

 

I'm sure Moley will be along to join in shortly!

 

When you declare your decat the insurer will ask for confirmation of a emissions test to ensure your car is still capable of passing an MOT emissions test and therefore road legal. If it can pass an emissions test in this situation (as it currently stands) they would be happy with that.

Pete

 

Deepy - What sort of power are you looking at then? I’m running a 2.5” system, 200 cel sports cat MOT friendly downpipe, resonated centre pipe and got 334/381.

Will also depend where you get your car MOT’d. Harvey was quite sure he could get my car through an MOT and emissions test just fine with a fully decatted system.

 

Well its a UK MY 97/98 Terzo, currently running 255bhp with just a 200 cell sports cat, green filter and remap. I'm going to be fitting a VF23 and 440 injectors, so hoping for somewhere around the 280 - 300 mark. I dont know how much difference a full decat would make and if its worth the extra power if the insurance would be invalidated.

But from the number of people on here that do run fully decatted systems, I assume there must have been claims in the past, but since it doesnt seem to have been raised as an issue maybe I'm being too paranoid.

 

To be honest, for that sort of power there is no need to go full 3” system at all. You can get that easily from a good 2.5” system.

 

No I wasn't thinking of full 3" - that might even have a detrimental effect at those levels, more 3" to 2.5"decat downpipe then 2.5" rest of the way thru. I guess I'll see what it makes with the sports cat and whether the mapper thinks there's any worthwhile gain to going full decat 2.5".

 

They shouldn't be!

In theory at least, the car is still illegal even if it passes an MOT without a cat. The rule is, if it had a cat as standard, it must still have one.
These rules are valid NOW!
My son took his EVO IX for MOT and asked the guy his interpretation of the new regs and he said that if he see's a cat in the system he's happy. Of course, it's still got to pass the emissions test!

JohnD

 

This is something that crossed my mind too, although if you are declaring a decat, surley the insurance company would refuse at that point rather than go ahead with the cover. Would be useful to have an 'expert' opinion as I hate to think how many uninsured cars are out there if that was the case.

 

Insurance Co's tend to use their approved garages as the assessors, at least for repairable claims. Do you think the repair garage will scan the car for non declared mods, when reporting any might lose him the repair job?
I had the bizzare situation a few years back when I had to claim for some front end damage and I got a call from the repairers saying that the ins. Co. would not replace the front splitter like for like as it was an aftermarket addition, they did however, authorise a genuine STi splitter to be fitted at three times the price of the cheap and cheerful thing I had on it!! I was quite prepared to get the car back without a splitter!

JohnD

 

Yeah, good point. They do indeed.

So probably not then... Which is good for the car owner!

 

Nope, and I know as just had mine repaired and I am running a full decat, at the moment. Looking for a nice sports cat to fit just so I don't need "friendly mot tester"

 

As long as you've declared the de-cat you'll be fine.

Some insurers could refuse to quote, but many will be fine with it.

Mine's de-catted, and the insurers were fine with it (even i have to refer my mods!)

 

Most of the companies i deal with cover all mods like-for-like, so the above isn't an issue

 

Cool! Sorted! Thanks for clearing it up!

Knew you’d find the thread eventually! lol

 

 

the new regs not just for vehicles from that date onwards?

or suddenly just apply to every vehicle?

 

Cheers Moley