Changing 4wd wheel hubs cancelled insurance!

BorderCollie_2

A BIG warning to all those who have changed their 4WD vacuum auto hubs, to manual hubs.

I have insured my 2003 Kia Sportage XSE 4WD through AutoDirect.co.uk with "Ageas" Insurance company, for nearly the last 9 months.

After changing my front faulty OEM "Warn" 4WD vacuum operated hubs, (an extremely common fault with Kia Sportage 4WD cars since 1995) with the Kia recommended new OEM "Warn" manual hubs, last week, I was advised by an ex-Kia mechanic, that I should notify my Insurance Company of the change, although he knew of no UK Insurance Company who ever had any problems with the change, during his 9 years working for Kia, and he had done over 250 hub changes himself.

I emailed Auto-Direct, only to be emailed back the following day that "Ageas Insurance" had cancelled my car policy w/e from this Friday, as Ageas classified the hub change as "a modification to the original vehicle specification which altered the performance of the insured vehicle, and thus we would no longer be prepared to insure your vehicle..."

Luckily, I have found little problem with obtaining new (Cheaper!!) Insurance Cover, after disclosing in the Quote Applications that I had now manual, not automatic vacuum hubs, but "AutoDirect" told me that there a few other Insurance Companies who, if they find out that you have changed from automatic to manual 4WD hubs, will class this as invalidating any Insurance Cover, and not pay out in the event of any Claim or Accident, and may indeed class deliberate non-notification of the change as Fraud.
:mad:
So, if you have changed from automatic vacuum hubs, to manual hubs, whether the hubs are 2nd-hand, or OEM replacements, best CHECK YOUR INSURANCE POLICY WORDING, as you may not be covered. If in doubt, check with your Insurance Broker.

What a bummer !!

Richard53

BorderCollie wrote: »

What a bummer !!

Oh I dunno - you found cheaper insurance at the end of the day, and your mechanic was clued-up enough to warn you. Some wouldn't bother, and he has potentially saved you a world of grief. A bit of hassle, but at least you know everything is tidy now.

smssms

You can invalidate your insurance in a million ways if you read all the small print. They do it like this so they can always wriggle out of paying out if they want to.

There is nearly always a box to tick when applying for car insurance to say you car is "standard" and not modified; you put the wrong bulb in and your insurance is at risk...

spacey2012

Did you inform your new insurance you had had the old insurance cancelled ?

If not it will Flag on MIDAS database and they will be in touch, probably with a letter to cancel this one as well for fraudulent declaration.

I do hope you informed them.

Stooby2

I think I'd be writing to the insurance ombudsman about this. The change in hubs makes no difference whatsoever to the performance and I'm guessing the person who made that decision knows absolutely nothing about the change and has unfairly penalised you. I assume it's cost you money in cancellation fees etc, as well as all the hassle.

You may need to contact Warn to get some technical info, but personally I wouldn't let this lie. I hate people making uninformed decisions that adversely affect others.

Edited to add: if you can get it in writing that Kia recommend these hubs as a standard replacement, I think the insurance company is on a hiding to nothing.

captainawsome

Stooby2 wrote: »

I think I'd be writing to the insurance ombudsman about this. The change in hubs makes no difference whatsoever to the performance and I'm guessing the person who made that decision knows absolutely nothing about the change and has unfairly penalised you. I assume it's cost you money in cancellation fees etc, as well as all the hassle.

You may need to contact Warn to get some technical info, but personally I wouldn't let this lie. I hate people making uninformed decisions that adversely affect others.

Edited to add: if you can get it in writing that Kia recommend these hubs as a standard replacement, I think the insurance company is on a hiding to nothing.

Most of the time it's pen pushers with no technical knowledge what so ever sitting in an office making these "rules". Wouldn't know what a hub was if it smacked them on the back of the head, let alone weather it improved performance or not.

dacouch

Stooby2 wrote: »

I think I'd be writing to the insurance ombudsman about this. The change in hubs makes no difference whatsoever to the performance and I'm guessing the person who made that decision knows absolutely nothing about the change and has unfairly penalised you. I assume it's cost you money in cancellation fees etc, as well as all the hassle.

You may need to contact Warn to get some technical info, but personally I wouldn't let this lie. I hate people making uninformed decisions that adversely affect others.

Edited to add: if you can get it in writing that Kia recommend these hubs as a standard replacement, I think the insurance company is on a hiding to nothing.

Spot on.

Assuming the work was carried out by a professional, I would be inclined to obtain a letter from the garage confirming the item has been fitted correctly, whether it conforms to Kia specifications, whether it alters the performance or safety of the vehicle and roughly what the purpose of the part does.

sinbad182

spacey2012 wrote: »

Did you inform your new insurance you had had the old insurance cancelled ?

If not it will Flag on MIDAS database and they will be in touch, probably with a letter to cancel this one as well for fraudulent declaration.

I do hope you informed them.

Utter, scaremongering garbage.

BorderCollie_2

Luckily Ageas Insurance agreed to waive any cancellation fees, etc, as it was them who cancelled and not me, plus they said they have logged the cancellation as due to "their own internal policies" which will not affect any future insurance I may apply for, via the information on the Database.
When I applied for my new insurance cover, I informed the new company that the original 4WD hubs have been changed from automatic vacuum operated, to manually operated, both in an online proposal plus on the phone, (using the "Is the vehicle modified in any way?-'Yes' answer) and luckily I was told the change made no difference at all to the 23 policies that were eventually offered to me as it didn't affect either the performance, safety or value of the insured vehicle.

What worries me more, is by reading User's comments on the Kia Owners Forum web-site, there must be hundreds more Kia Sportage owners have have changed from automatic to manual hubs, and never thought to contact their Insurers to see if this was alright, so some or all may be driving around unaware that if they do have an accident, they'll have invalid insurance.
I'm still glad I was honest by telling the company though.

smssms

sinbad182 wrote: »

Utter, scaremongering garbage.

Well, there is always a question when you apply for car insurance along the lines of "have you ever had cover cancelled or been denied cover?" isn't there? And not answering honestly would invalidate the policy potentially.

Stooby2

I'm glad it hasn't cost you and the advice to other owners is spot on. However, whilst the modification has to be notified the insurance companies shouldn't be cancelling the policies for a straightforward replacement that makes no difference to the performance of the vehicle.