Car Insurance Modifications ££££ ?????

torrox

Hi all,

This is my 1st post but i feel an important one.

I've just had to replace the Alloy Wheels on my Audi due to damage. To have them renovated would have cost over £100 per wheel. To replace them with Audi alloy wheels would have cost £275 per wheel (without tyres). So i chose the cheaper option of x4 replica Audi wheels at £700 including tyres.

At the same time i've had the windows UV tinted as my wife is UV intollerent.

Due to the changes above I contacted my Car Insurance Provider. They told me that because I had changed the wheels for non factory wheels they were now no longer insured. They also told me that the windows and the wheels would make the car more at risk of theft and so they would be charging me an additional £28 .

Hang on a minute, the wheels aren't insured and your charging me more??

At this point i had something to say and I politely made three points to them.

Firstly The car came with Alloy Wheels and although the wheels had changed they were still Alloy Wheels.

Secondly my insurance premium had already taken into account the cost to replace very expensive (See Above) Genuine Alloy wheels. And so my choosing to replace these wheels with cheaper Alloy Wheels should really mean that the insurance company had less to cover and as such should really be giving me some money back...

Thirdly the UV Tinting on the car would not make the car MORE likely to be stolen as it actually improves the security of the vehicle. It in fact would make the car LESS likely to be broken into by making the windows near on impossible to break and thus stopping any theif from gaining entry.

At this point there was a long pause and then I was asked to wait on hold for a while.

The poor Customer Service Advisor who was only doing her job then spoke to her manager.

He decided that I had made three viable points and as such he would remove the additional charges. He had also said that if the wheels were stolen then as before the car would be covered to replace the wheels as they were at the time of manufacture.

I thanked them very much and asked for written confirmation.

I hope this helps others avoid unecessary charges.:beer: