Rang my insurers up regarding a cover note for a courtesy car whilst the scoob is in in for a repair and whilst on the phone i let the insurers know that i had changed the wheels to gold from anthrite grey..."thanks very much for letting us know and how would you like to pay the extra £150 premium sir" was the answer.Insurer(.....DIRECT LINE.....) has deemed that it will make it more stealable!!!!.Rang Tesco and they ageed that ANY mod would incur an increase in insurance, but their excuse was that anyone who mods their car is more likely to have a accident(i would think quite the reverse).....Dick Turpin seemed to come to mind at this point...told insurers that the old wheels will be put back on asap.So all you enthusiasts out there beware because that little tweek or cosmetic change could invalidate your insurance unless you have a deep pocket and you are Honest.I wonder if any of the stripes,flashes,fancy wheels that ford/vauxhall/rover put on there cars are legal with the insurers
powerman

 

Did you specify that the wheels were gold when you took out your policy? if not then surely they would'nt know that they werent on the car from new (I take it they are subaru alloys)

I hate insurance companies

 

No..standard WRX03 comes with Anthrite grey 17inch and now fitted OZ 18 gold but they never asked what make or size just told them i had changed to gold...i hate insurance companys as well....i wouldnt mind but they are already making a packet out of us Scooby owners.

 

You just need to crash more often

I'm currently net positive Although, for how long that stays, I have no idea

 

That is shocking - Renewal time soon and have done a few mods

 

no you can have gold if you like at no extra cost, thats what i was told when i got mine

 

Of course honesty pays.....just never for the little guys like you and me, that's all!!

 

Crazy, sounds like someone in the call centre getting a bit over zelous - I can't see any insurer giving you a problem in the event of a claim on the basis that you had changed wheel colour...
Is there a category for 'changed colour of wheels' LOL, unlikely, they must have stuck it in the computer as 'non standard alloys' hence the increase in premium.

 

Keep your chin up guys..

I'm somewhat embarrased to be in Insurance when you see things like this...

You guys then associate all Insurers/Brokers with by what has happened to you with your wheels.

All insurers arent that bad, most of our underwriters would note the modification but are realistic enough to realise that a colour change of your wheels does not effect the theft aspect of your risk and wouldn't charge if the wheels were of a similar value.

We have been covering modified scoobies for some 7 years now, originally and predominantly via the SIDC but we did get some publicity on here a couple of years ago.

We're currently looking to increase our subaru profile and are discussing the best way of doing this with the powers that be at scoobynet.

In the meantime, I thought i'd log on and check out how scoobynet was these days.

Having just seen your posts, with both our subaru and Modification/motorsport Insurance pedigree we hope to be able to raise our profile and help you guys again soon.

If youre having troubles with your insurer lacking technical knowledge for mods or feeing hard done by look for an insurance provider with good technical knowledge and a common sense approach to modifications. They are out there...

We've been going since early 1996 and are run by petrolheads. We have always specialised in performance, modified, kit, 4x4 (greenlaners), motorsport & track vehicles since our launch - i'm sure that we're not alone in this regard, so try and seek out the brokers/companies that operate this way, they'll not always be the cheapest but you know their technical knowledge is good and they understand what they're covering.

Kindest regards

Tony

 

When I was having problems with L+V over mods(UK300 lights on a WRX) Greenlight gave a much better quote,but I managed to persuade l+v to accept the lights just until renewal time when I will certainly be calling Greenlight again and perhaps A-Plan as they seem pretty good also.

 

Ive said it before and I will say it again given the vast number of people who seem to mod subarus and given that subaru seem to encourage this (e.g pro drive kits) I don't know why Subaru don't offer their own insurance that hopefully would take these mods into account?????

 

Subaru do there own insurance as when I bought my 01 wrx ppp I queried insurance with the salesman and he phoned them for me and I got quoted £1350!!!.....4 weeks later and a lot of phone calls was insured with grenlight for £757.

Was originally with privelage for £700 but when I double checked that the car was noted as ppp they said 'no' and wanted an extra £280...went off on one and they just offered a refund.

 

There are good insurers out there for Scoobs, I've recently changed to Service through A-Plan, take a sensible view on mods, for me, it was £350 cheaper than I paid with 'quote me happy' after they stung me for wheels/exhaust/springs... if you are going to mod, it seems pretty pointless going with one of the 'big brands', it's just not their speciality...

 

i have gold subaru wheels on my car.do i have to tell them just thought they on as new.

 

remember the title "HONESTY DOESNT PAY" Good old direct line

 

Tony have you got a web site for a quote or a phone number?

 

Click on his name gets you this :-

http://www.greenlightinsurance.com/

Telephone: 08707 53 54 55

Fax: 01277 263773

(9am-5pm Monday to Friday, 9am-12pm Saturday)

Mark

 

Thanks Mark
done it on line and awaiting quotation

 

Also just done a quote online at greenlight however they just ask if the car is modified and what the new BHP figure is!?! Mine's been modified but only cosmetically....

 

they didnt want to know about cosmetics did they ?
strange that , , i got a quote back but i put the wrong bhp by mistake <d'oh>
just re-done the form,hopefully i'll hear summink soon.

 

Tell em to FO!

Say you will put the OEM ones back on and wait till policy renewal comes up, put them back on and take your business elsewhere.

 

I thought that if the gold bigger wheels were optional extras, i.e factory or dealer fit option, then your car is still standard and not modified?

 

We declared every last thing we did to ours as soon as it was done. Just as well as the last mod was only on 6 weeks before the scoob was written off.
PS - Greenlight were pretty quick about sorting that one out for us.

 

Thanks for your kind words Scoob_babe..

I know our industry does get bad press with you guys, but we genuinely try our best to help our clients. If you''ve called us you'll know that we're petrolheads first, Insurance brokers second.

Glad to hear we sorted your claim quickly.

Kind regards

Tony

 

Glad I just insure with LV - Been insured with them for about 4 years and they've never been interested in any mods - just loaded me about £100 for 'being modded' - only thing they would never do was insure increased capacity