Franx

Insurance wise, that is - coz over the weekend, I thought I'd phone up Norwich U about putting a new backbox on the car.

The box itself would be worth ~£120, but they were wanting to charge me £78 on top of the premium...
Not a performance-enhancing back box either, but just a different noise, bigger tailpipe.

Is this a normal kind of price, or is that far too much????
What do they charge you?

Had £88 off me for fitting different alloys as well...

Franx.

m18use

Mines standard

Ex_Pug

Just phoned Greenlight for a quote on the PPP for an STi8. They want £62 for the remaining 4 months or so. I don't think that's too bad, it's just a pleasure dealing with people who know their stuff.

*TopCat*

make sure you get it in writing that all your mods are covered! like for like verbal not good enough.

greg.g

I have a scoobysport back-box.
When i phoned up churchill there was no charge as there is
no significant increase in power. I told them that i was changing
it because the old box was starting to corrode.

Greg

Franx

Greg - what did you have before though?
I was going from the standard box off the GL, to a Rage universal fitment one. I didn't get it anyway - at that price I thought I'd just save the money..

Gridlock Mikey

Franx,

Haggle with them, like you do when you are looking for a quote initially. If they start taking the michael when you call to tell them you have changed the vehicle, ask them things like

I have fitted six pots, how much extra is that? If they ask no further questions, it is fair to assume that they have no idea what six pots are and are quoting on thin air [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] Once you get a price, ask them how making the car safer can possibly cost more money? Then tell them it's brakes. Get them to write to you stating why they intend to increase your premium because the car stops quicker.

As far as the backbox issue is concerned, ask them at which point the power increase becomes significant (Usually they will say 10 - 20%) Now the cances of your backbox producing an extra 43bhp on its own (Assuming you have a UK car with 215bhp as standard x 20% = 43) is highly unlikely. Once they commit to insuring for increase of power, they cannot move the goal posts and then claim that they are increasing the premium due to desirability (Insurance talk for "more nickable" )
I put my car on a Dyno to prove that just the back box made nowhere near enough to call it a performance enhancing mod. They agreed

Wheels. Get them to clarify whether they are insuring for theft of wheels, increased value of the car or increased desirability.
Theft of wheels: Ask if using 2 different sets of locking nuts makes a difference. Sounds wierd but by suggesting it, they were prepared to reduce my premium by £44 per year
Increased value of car: I told them that I had put the oe stereo back in (Which I did) after they told me that the stereo contributed to the cars value (You must do that bit first otherwise they say it doesn't count!) This reduced the proposed hike in premium to just over £30.
Increased desirability: Remind them that you had to have a Cat 1 alarm, tracker etc fitted before they took you on. Your car is just as difficult to steal with 17 inch wheels as it is with 16 inchers. If they do not move on that, ask them to write to you explaining why (SPECIFICALLY otherwise you get a standard letter) you car will be easier to steal with bigger wheels on it.

The only items that I can think that justify an increase are spoilers and scoops because they are fairly easy to remove and leave expensive damage. That said, if you have a high excess (£300 + is not uncommon) you'd end up paying for it yourself anyway so why pay more?

All IMHO based on fact. My policy is the strangest policy i've ever had on a car, but that's because i feel very strongly about how the UK insurance companies seem to have a free for all, make it up as you go along attitude.
Mention the word Impreza and the oik on the end of the phone recognises it because it was the car used as a training example back on the course in Basingstoke (or wherever these people learn how to steal legally)

"Certainly Sir, what vehicle do you have......and how are we spelling that i...m...p...r...e...s or z?.......a OK bear with me..............("KER-CHING") and what model is it Sir ..........WRX?.............that'll be £1,288..............oh it's NOT an import!!....................STi?.............sorry sir, that's all i have on my screen...........we have 22b,...er....Terzo.........STi7.....WRX...and..... er...........A.w.d 2000....and UK........any of those?..........oh I see it's a UK car ok that'll be £1,543"

We've ALL been there and i'm sorry if i've offended any insurancy type folk out there.

Impreza Commisssion

Don't make it easy for them, that's what I say

Mikey

Franx

Thanks for that Mikey.
I just typed out a whole message, & the computer kinda wiped it out..

Anyway, the reason why the premium was going up, was that if I was to write off the car, they would have to pay out more, for the backbox on top of the cost of the car. Might phone them, & try again. No power gains as such, so they can't have me on that one. We'll see....

Suresh

Not really very helpful I know, but over here in Holland modifications only affect insurance premiums if they change the value of the car dramatically. Hence the cost of declaring a custom Ecutek3 remap and decat downpipe to my insurer was a big fat ZERO.

Suresh

SteelX

Mikey, excellent post

I have a Magnex back box. No increase in premium if no performance gain (Tesco). I asked Magnex direct. They said full system will give 250 BHP (dunno myself), they have no figures for backbox only, but said less than 10%.

That's what I told Tesco, so they charged me £102.

ho hum.

Steel

Markus

Well, when I put on the Nur Spec R, Movit Brakes, 17" wheels, and morettes, it did not cost me anything. Might be due to the high loading on the policy anyway though, lol

LanciaChris

For cheap mods like a new exhaust box I wouldnt tell em - maybe if it was a whole system. At least insurance companies have heard of imprezas - the hardest part of getting insurance for mine was getting people to admit it exists -

What car is it? its a lancia beta. No, not a delta. Its a beta hpe volumex. No, not a delta. Its a 2 litre supercharged. No, its not a delta........ ARGH

greg.g

Franx
My car is a turbo wagon and the exhaust was standard.
Before i phoned them up i decieded to think of a reason that they
would accept for changing the back-box, hence corrosion.
Its better for them to think that i am maintaining the car,
rather than improving its performance or nickability
Hope that helps.
Greg

Franx

Thanks for the replies fellas. Excellent as usual.
Much appreciated. I'll try and convince them they don't want to charge me at all, as its replacement cost would be below the excess anyway, and I hardly think anyone would decide to nick the car only due to its exhaust...and as we all know, mods don't enhance the value of the car, do they???!!
C.

( R6 CDW )

Quoted £92 from tesco to add ppp to my 03 wrx, I THOUGHT IT WAS A GREAT PRICE!!.

chris

Franx

Ooo! I just worked out how to make smilies!!

[Edited by Franx - 5/12/2003 3:07:20 PM]

SCOOBY TOWERS

iTrader: (7)

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[Edited by SCOOBY TOWERS - 5/12/2003 3:33:36 PM]