Although many general insurance companies simply don't understand modified cars, some companies specialize in modified car insurance and can find the best value policies.
In general, insurance companies are not keen on car modifications. Some modifications may help to increase the likelihood of an accident occurring with the vehicle, others may make the car more likely to be targeted to be stolen.
There are many things that can influence car insurance premiums on a modified car. The main two risks to an insurance company are the extra value in the vehicle and the increased performance of the car.
Modifying cars can be taken to many different levels, small changes such as the addition of alloy wheels are not likely to impact your insurance premium, especially if the alloys have locking wheel nuts. Similarly, blackened out or smoked windows, (which is still considered a modification) might not affect your premium.
The value of any modifications is often taken into account when calculating the insurance premium and therefore a major modification of your car, such as to the engine will undoubtedly cause an increase in your car insurance premiums. It may also mean that an insurance company will only quote with a higher excess when covering the risk of theft or accidents. Other modifications such as changes to the exhaust, bumpers, the addition of spoilers, changing or lowering the suspension or the addition of, or changes to the vehicles lights are likely to incur an extra cost to the standard premium for the car, but these will be looked at and priced on a case by case basis.
Insurance companies can provide quotes for a wide range of cars with minor modifications. We have a number of schemes which will provide insurance for such vehicles. Insurance companies also have some schemes which can accommodate cars with more extensive modifications.
Unfortunately, kit cars and cars with extreme modifications cannot be accommodated on some insurance companies panel of schemes.
Remember, if you have made modifications to your car you must inform your insurance company of them. By failing to do so, it could be difficult to make a successful claim should you need to do so and could even invalidate your insurance policy.
Drivers should try and avoid modifying cars if they wish to keep their insurance premiums down. The risk that insurers associate to such vehicles for younger drivers is often prohibitive and could make insuring a car extremely expensive. For further top tips of how to reduce your car insurance premium as a younger driver, please click here.
Nice car man, are you selling?
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