shammel

Had a remap done by Andy F yesterday he's done an awesome job feels like a new car !

Was wondering what anyone else has done regarding insurance ?
Do you need to tell them ? Is there anyway they can find out ?

If so which companies are the best for this ?

Not really sure what i should do.

Thanks

ex-webby

Not telling the Insurance Company could invalidate your policy, this making your car illegal on the road.

Regards,
Shaun.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

Keith Michaels and A-Plan are both good at allowing remaps without loading your insurance - but it depends on other factors. But as said, if your insurers find out after a claim that you didn't tell them of a mod, then no only do they not pay out, in theory you could be prosecuted for driving without insurance.

M

Jdub

By law you have to tell about every mod you do! I seriosly doubt they would take out your ECU and check it after a crash, if you are really worried about it, tell them but insurance companies are gits any way and would probably void your insurance for aftermarket valve caps after a crash.

I doubt any one on here will openly tell you to commit insurance fraud, so an answer to your question is Yes you should tell them!

Bug Eyed Peas

Just curious, how much did the re-map cost you? Just that I was going to get PPP, but decided against it. I heard that you can get a lot more power for lesser money.
Sorry for the questions RELATIVELY NEW to all this and after numerous years of ownership have decided on more power and handling. Scoobyclinic??

derek sti

ppp=p-ss.poor,performance,remap=more bhp and more,torque.done,correctly,with uprated fuel pump,is better everytime,scoobyclinic did mine,332bhp 328 lbs torque.02 sti.

bob r

iTrader: (46)

hope you informed your insurance co.

mattpat

iTrader: (1)

As said inform your insurance mate
I'm going the same route as you soon,informed my insurer Keith Michaels and no change to premium and peace of mind I will be covered

cheers matt

bob r

iTrader: (46)

no increase

mattpat

iTrader: (1)

yeah couldn't believe it but no loading
think that changes when you get into big bhp increases though

GC8

The ECU-TEK sticker on the ECU will give the game away...

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Bottom line:

Insurance policies are based on absolute disclosure.

It WILL invalidate your policy IF they find out.

You wanna take the risk?

If your insurance company load the premium unfairly, take your business elsewhere!

Ns04

wrx_driver

BRD remapped my MY99 & Bob didn't lift the carpet.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Yeh ecutek is done via laptop, insurers are not going to find out! it's as simple as that. Well unless they drive it of course

Trout

iTrader: (1)

OK, picture this. You modify your car and then have a serious incident where your car is written off and it is clearly your fault. As a result of that accident there is also a third party claim, perhaps an expensive car(s) also written off so the claim is now £100k plus. And there is a death and a third party claim of £1m plus.

OK, I am taking you to an extreme, but not one outside the bounds of reality.

Do you really think that in this case, or even in a case where only one or two cars are involved the cost of the incident is only £30k or £50k that the insurance assessor who is completely aware of the ability to Ecutek a Suburu ECU is not going to have the wherewithal to have the ECU interrogated.

It's not that difficult to plug in a laptop to an ECU.

If you don't tell them you could be liable and don't assume that insurance companies are stupid enough not to know what 'tricks' Subaru (and for that matter Evo, Skyline, VTS, VW, etc) drivers get up to, to improve perforance.

Indeed one major UK insurer has a special vehicles team and all they do is read car mags and websites etc to work out what and how people modify their cars.

A few years ago I submitted a list of mods for my Scoob and they estimated the BHP to within 5bhp.


At the end of the day the choice is yours and if you do not disclose you take a risk.

Rannoch

shammel

Yeah i see what your saying think i'd better tell them just for peace of mind.

What about if you've added a centre pipe and downpipe with no cats ?

How do you tell them about that cause isn't it sort of illegal !?!

Andy McCord

If you have a mot certificate then your insurance is valid, They are not there to tell you whats legal or illegal, but just to provide cover. Inform them of the exhaust modification.

Im insured with Aplan, told them about the remap..no increase.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

If you've passed the MOT, they can't complain.

They can complain, however, if you don't tell them about the mods!

EVERY mod you do, even non-performance enhancing ones, MUST be reported to the insurance company. Even alloy wheels and a bigger spoiler may increase your preimum as they may regard them as mods which affect the cars attractiveness to theives etc...

Ns04

Noki

Yes, declare all mods.

I'm with elephant.
I declared exhaust cat-back that I had - came under manifold section cost me an extra tenner.
I put morrettes on - this came under rally/sport lights with elephant cost me an extra tenner.
I put EGR bodykit on cost me and extra tenner.

I did have a bump and an assessor came and asked if all mods were declared I said yes. I have reciepts for every mod and they are declared.

The next thing he asked has the ECU modified in anyway. I answered no.
They know every mod you can make.

Assessors are looking to find away out. So the insurance company does not have to pay out.

My mate had his car stolen from his house. On his insurance certificate it said he kept the car in the garage yet the car was stolen from his drive.

The assessor took pictures inside his garage to make sure the car could fit in and asked why the car was outside.

Its not worth it if something does happen to your car for the sake of £30-£40 or whatever a ECUTEK does to your insurance.

andythejock01wrx

Had an any f remap on Mnday. andy made the point that the remapped ecu was difficult to detect - there is no ecutek sticker on the ecu and the remap cannot be detected by simply connecting up a laptop - andy reckons even the dealers cannot detect it - the ecu would have to be reurned to ecutek !

on the otherhand, i have been working in insurance claims for 15 yrs so reckon its better to disclose any mods (even though I never came across a case when we spotted an ecutek apart from one poor sod that was daft enough to tell the repairing garage, who promptly phoned the insurers !)

Trout

iTrader: (1)

So if any ecutek mapper interrogated the ECU and found boost targets of 1.4bar that would not look like a modified map?

Tone Loc

iTrader: (1)

I thought only the orginal 'mapper' had access to the maps?

If not does that mean i can look at the boost targets (and other things) on my PPP ecu??

Tony.

Jamie120182

ok, how does it work if the car (second hand) has had a remap but you were not informed when you brought it tricky. is it not there responsibility to try and prove you had the work done, surely you dont have to persuade them you are innocent?

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Let's put it this way - I have had someone look at my car who was not the original ECUTEK mapper.

We can see total advance, WG duty cycle, boost targets, etc, etc.

You can see what the engine is doing as it runs. I am not sure how much of this data is saved/logged when it is not running that may be the difference.

However with boost targets as high as 1.45 bar it would not take an idiot insurer too much to work out it probably had been modified.

I also thought there was a flash date date - any Ecutekkers care to confirm?

Rannoch

andythejock01wrx

Ok, so bit the bullet and informed A-Plan of my mods today.

The car's an 01 WRX which I've had for a month, apart from the essential headlamp conversion, it has Prodrive springs, Whiteline ARB and droplinks, decat centre pipe and WR backbox plus the all important Andy F remap which brought the car to 273bhp last monday - Yippeee !!

Anyway, they only wanted another £95 , which I reckon is worthwhile.
The guy explained that they normally add 20% for this level of mods, although it goes up if the horsepower is a lot higher.

So, notify your insurer, it doesn't hurt that much !!

Andy

MaDaSS

I am insured through Greenlight, and they certainly looked after me pricewise. Obviously yet, and i hope never, i have not had to claim through them for anything, but all my mods are listed, and i got the copy of that list too with my insurance certificate.
For me, they saved me 190 quid on my renewal anyways, so i am more than happy

andythejock01wrx

Good point - make sure you get a list of what is and isn't disclosed to save any arguements at the point when your beloved Scoob is lying in bits in a reparer's workshop !

Dave Thornton

It's not just mods that insurance companies take note of. Cars with an excessive value of optional extras can also attract higher premiums because they are more desirable. Sat nav and leather as options could be enough to tip the balance.

st3v3

Even if you put graphics on the car you have to inform the insurance and that goes' for ANY mod at all.
If any one thinks for one second they wont go out of their way to check the ecu,you need to think again.
Lets face it they only need to phone the subaru dealer and he could quite easily give them a list of possible mods and we all know if they found the cats missing they more than likely check the ecu for a remap,im sure there will be date stamps in the remap.

ade_sti

iTrader: (2)

What happens if you buy a used impreza which apears to have a de-cat exhast. How would you know if the car had been remapped. What is the deal if you have no idea if the car has other engine mods apart from the obvious ones you can see like the exhaust.