Parking sensors/insurance

fishpond

I have been thinking of having front and rear parking sensors fitted to a 08 plate mondeo.
It was suggested by a friend to get in touch with my car insurance company for a small reduction in my premium, as potentially, having them fitted could save them a lot of money.
I have just spoken to them and they do not and have never heard of anybody else that gives a reduction in their premium for these if they are fitted.
In fact if anything, it would go up because they (sensors) are retro fitted accessories.
What do you all think?

jbainbridge

I wouldn't expect a premium reduction either. Not sure I'd inform the insurance co. at all. Fitting them could save _you_ money though - less likely to make a claim for a minor bump!

notanewuser

I think if you need parking sensors (or even think they are a good idea) it should flag you as a higher risk to your insurer. If you're not prepared to use your eyes when reversing, when else won't you bother using them?

Limey

jbainbridge wrote: »

I wouldn't expect a premium reduction either. Not sure I'd inform the insurance co. at all. Fitting them could save _you_ money though - less likely to make a claim for a minor bump!

But if you had a bump the insurance company could refuse to pay out because you'd modified the car and not informed them.

I wouldn't be surprised if they increased your premiums because the car had been 'modified'. :rotfl:

Splott

notanewuser wrote: »

I think if you need parking sensors (or even think they are a good idea) it should flag you as a higher risk to your insurer. If you're not prepared to use your eyes when reversing, when else won't you bother using them?

You've never driven a MK4 Mondeo have you?

I could reverse a 55ft long 44 tonne artic to within inches of something. In my MK4 Mondeo when I pull up behind the wife's car at a point where I think I'm about to touch the number plate, there's typically a 3ft gap. To the rear I can reverse to the point I can't see the door mirrors of her car in the rearview mirror. Get out and there's a 6ft gap. The bottom of the rear window is so high off the floor it makes it almost impossible to judge. The mirrors are worse than useless for judging reversing distances.

I've done 15k in this car. Previous to it I owned a MK3 Mondeo I did about 80k in. The difference in size between the two is 2 inches yet I find I need to find a far bigger gap to park the MK4 in.

londonTiger

notanewuser wrote: »

I think if you need parking sensors (or even think they are a good idea) it should flag you as a higher risk to your insurer. If you're not prepared to use your eyes when reversing, when else won't you bother using them?

that's silly. Most of the times your eyes do jack !!!!. You can't see the bumper - that's the point. At best you estimate how close/far the car is - but really you have no idea of knowing exactly how close the car is unless you know the car well and can estimate if the bumper is near or far.

I park without sensors. the cars behind always seem close than they really are. From the driver seat ,look back it feels like you're just inches away from touching, and then you go out to have a second look and it's a whole foot away!

This is paticularly bad these days when modern cars have taller and taller rears for some reason and smaller rear windows.

I believe parking sensors would save a lot of time parking. - it's just that it's costly. You'll have to get the bumper resprayed, insurance premium will go up because it's a mod and if the car wasn't designed to have parkin sensors it might not be easy to retrofit them. Because the angles might be wrong or there may not be a suitable location to plug the sensors in without ruining the aesthetics.

Gloomendoom

notanewuser wrote: »

I think if you need parking sensors (or even think they are a good idea) it should flag you as a higher risk to your insurer. If you're not prepared to use your eyes when reversing, when else won't you bother using them?

What a lot of rot. That view may have had some merit years ago when screen and door pillars were as thick as matchsticks. The visibility out of modern cars, in all directions, is getting worse every year.

Arfa__

They're a mod, you should inform your insurer, or potentially find your policy null and void in the future when you come to make a claim...

As to the difference in premium, that depends on the insurer and the number of other mods your have declared. Some insurers are cool, just "yep, fine, thanks for letting us know, same price, nothing more to do." But at the other extreme, some insurers throw a right paddy, claim the car is no longer standard, you must have some bonkers crazy sooped custom roadster that's surely going to fall to bits/crash on the first corner - and completely deny you insurance, leaving you with the hassle of cancellation fees and finding another insurer!
Others fall in between, and don't care until you have more than 6 non-performance enhancing mods.

The only mod you can generally get away without informing the insurers is the radio...

notanewuser

If I, a mere female, can manage to park all 3 of our cars, one of which has virtually no back window and another is a 4x4 in spaces a foot bigger than the car without need of parking sensors, then a mondeo driver with sooooooo much experience should be able to!!! Learn how big your car is and you don't have a problem!!!

fishpond

Besides being "a mere female",do you have a disability?

phill99

Splott wrote: »

You've never driven a MK4 Mondeo have you?

I could reverse a 55ft long 44 tonne artic to within inches of something. In my MK4 Mondeo when I pull up behind the wife's car at a point where I think I'm about to touch the number plate, there's typically a 3ft gap. To the rear I can reverse to the point I can't see the door mirrors of her car in the rearview mirror. Get out and there's a 6ft gap. The bottom of the rear window is so high off the floor it makes it almost impossible to judge. The mirrors are worse than useless for judging reversing distances.

I've done 15k in this car. Previous to it I owned a MK3 Mondeo I did about 80k in. The difference in size between the two is 2 inches yet I find I need to find a far bigger gap to park the MK4 in.

As a truck driver, you reverse on your mirrors. Surely you do the same in a car? And not the internal rear view mirror. So why is the bottom of the rear view mirror an issue?