Car insurance with tow-bar

Moneyer

My wife's car has an after-market tow-bar fitted; I'd have thought this was common, but rather to my surprise this seems to be an issue for insurance purposes. For example, confused.com can't cope with it: a tow bar is not in the list of possible modifications, but declaring "no modifications" is clearly dishonest. And some of the cheapest online operators just refuse to quote unless you declare that the vehicle is unmodified. Anyone encountered problems with this or have tips on how to get cheap quotes? (If it makes any difference, we don't actually tow anything, but we use it for a bike carrier.)

rs65

Get a quote using 'no modifications' then phone them to double check.

comeandgo

We have always had tow-bars on our cars and never even thought it would come under a modification. It will be interesting to see the views of others.

mills705

Key word you used after market!
If anything has changed from how it left the factory then your insurer should know about it.
You can do a quote on confused and then ring up the cheapest one and they can pull through the quote for you and add it in.
Several modifications such as tow bars or parking sensors are classed as normal terms and as such don't affect a premium.

forgotmyname

I have started to mention it when i get a quote now. One insurer asked me if my car had any factory fitted optional extra's???

But they could not tell me what it should and should not have as standard or extra. I just thought your never going to payout are you... Even if they were free i wouldnt have gone with them.

My current insurer said err.. a few taps on the keyboard later he then said no problem. Not an issue did not need to be declared.

k12479

forgotmyname wrote: »

I have started to mention it when i get a quote now. One insurer asked me if my car had any factory fitted optional extra's???

What's so surprising about that? Some optional alloy wheels cost thousands, as do some paint options. Both could affect repair costs, risk of theft, vandalism, etc.

InsideInsurance

k12479 wrote: »

What's so surprising about that? Some optional alloy wheels cost thousands, as do some paint options. Both could affect repair costs, risk of theft, vandalism, etc.

Because traditionally you dont state optional extra included at build directly but just build them into the current valuation.

A few insurers do want to know about optional extras though in addition to post manufacture items. Can be a bit of a pain if you've added a couple of "packs" to your car because they want to know the individual changes rather than just you've added the "sports pack".

Because of the vast range of possible modifications you can make most websites aren't good at dealing with them and so you will often find yourself needing to phone to deal with them, including towbars.

forgotmyname

k12479 wrote: »

What's so surprising about that? Some optional alloy wheels cost thousands, as do some paint options. Both could affect repair costs, risk of theft, vandalism, etc.

Because its a car thats almost 5 years old and they didnt just want to know about expensive alloys, They wanted to know about ANY and ALL factory fitted options.

I have footwell lights were they options? I have rear power sockets were they options? rear seat has an armrest, What about that? Is my stereo the same as should be fitted to the base model or has it been upgraded?

If it was new and i was ordering all the bits fair enough. But it was almost 5 years old when i bought it.
If they couldnt tell me what should be fitted how would the average person know?

spacey2012

They should give a discount, the fool that runs in to it needs a new bumper, you need a new chrome cover for the tow ball, this one has a scratch...

InsideInsurance

spacey2012 wrote: »

They should give a discount, the fool that runs in to it needs a new bumper, you need a new chrome cover for the tow ball, this one has a scratch...

Which is offset by the damage you do by reversing into things forgetting the car is now a couple of inches longer and rather than a bumper scuff that can be polished out the TP claims a new bumper from you.

spacey2012

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Which is offset by the damage you do by reversing into things forgetting the car is now a couple of inches longer and rather than a bumper scuff that can be polished out the TP claims a new bumper from you.

SHHHHH ! :eek:

I got away with that :rotfl: