Winter tyres

Gloomendoom

Richard53 wrote: »

If they are the same spec and size as the ones it came out of the factory with, then no. But a winter tyre is not the same as a standard tyre. I read somewhere (quite possibly in this forum) that it could be seen by some insurers as a notifiable modification, and I called them to ask. If I hadn't read that, it probably wouldn't have occurred to me to do so.

But all tyres are different. If you buy a a Yokohama summer tyre, the tread pattern, rubber compound and performance characteristics will bear little or no resemblance to a Linglong Ditchfinder GT of exactly the same size and load rating.

As has already been asked... What is a a "standard" tyre?

Richard53

Gloomendoom wrote: »

As has already been asked... What is a a "standard" tyre?

Well, I would guess something that is not labelled as a tyre for a specific range of uses. If you look at most tyre websites these days, they have a section for 'winter tyres', so they obviously see a distinction.


I am not defending the insurance industry here. I simply gave mine a call, based on something I had read here, and they said they did want to be notified. That was in Nov 2013, and maybe things have changed since then. I'm not saying they are right, or even reasonable, just telling what they said to me.

Gloomendoom

Richard53 wrote: »

Well, I would guess something that is not labelled as a tyre for a specific range of uses. If you look at most tyre websites these days, they have a section for 'winter tyres', so they obviously see a distinction.

But tyres are also labelled as summer tyres. Should we then have to ask our insurers permission to use them in winter, spring and autumn?

I would be OK, because my car was fitted with all-season tyres as original equipment.

I am not defending the insurance industry here. I simply gave mine a call, based on something I had read here, and they said they did want to be notified. That was in Nov 2013, and maybe things have changed since then. I'm not saying they are right, or even reasonable, just telling what they said to me.

Fair enough, but I suspect that if nobody had seen fit to ring up their insurers and ask, there wouldn't be any insurance issues in the first place.