Denied insurance as a new driver due to spoiler?!

InsideInsurance

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Seems completely pointless IMO. Surely an integrated system would be less attractive for someone to try to steal than a Garmin left on the dashboard (which in effect is the same thing)

Just because you have to declare it doesnt mean it will increase your premium.

My car had a mountain of optional extras which had to be declared to Admiral when I first got it. Only the lowered suspension generated an additional premium. The adjustable suspension and transmission possibly also should have but the agent really struggled to understand how to classify the mods and so put them under "other" which had no impact on premium.

Crazycatlady15

My fear here is that nobody Is going to want to insure me. Direct lines policy is all down to the time you've held your licence. They want 5 years of having a licence to insure you with a spoiler. So someone aged 22 could be insured if they passed at 17. I'm 27 and can't be insured because of something that forms part of an additional pack. so far the spoiler is spoiling the fact that I can drive finally. My OH has said he will look at getting multi car insurance for him and adding me as an additional driver, would this work? I've been up since 4am worrying about it, we pick it up on Monday

Aretnap

Direct Lime are one insurance company out of dozens. Churchill are actually the same company as Direct Lime - it"s just a different brand name. Insurance companies have wildly different approaches to who they'll insure, and you really need to get quotes from more than one of them before you start concluding that you won't be able to get insurance. Saga won't insure me because they only insure over-50s - it doesn't mean that I'm uninsurable.

Just get some more quotes. When you're asked about modifications, check whether the insurer wants to know about factory fitted optional extras, or just after market modifications. As above most (not all) insurers will only want to know about the latter, meaning that a factory fitted spoiler won't make any difference.

xHannahx

This topic has interest to me. As a bangernomics user, I don't know what was standard or optional on my 12 year old £800 car but it seems very high spec. Am I at risk of having not declared potential options and extras?
An obvious one to me It has a factory fit spoiler, but I don't know whether this was standard or optional on this trim level.

GwylimT

Crazycatlady15 wrote: »

My fear here is that nobody Is going to want to insure me. Direct lines policy is all down to the time you've held your licence. They want 5 years of having a licence to insure you with a spoiler. So someone aged 22 could be insured if they passed at 17. I'm 27 and can't be insured because of something that forms part of an additional pack. so far the spoiler is spoiling the fact that I can drive finally. My OH has said he will look at getting multi car insurance for him and adding me as an additional driver, would this work? I've been up since 4am worrying about it, we pick it up on Monday

So you've only tried two companies out of hundreds.

If you're that worried why aren't you applying for insurance?

He can get multicar insurance as long as you are named as the main driver on the second policy for your car.

rs65

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Surely an integrated system would be less attractive for someone to try to steal than a Garmin left on the dashboard (which in effect is the same thing)

Probably.

If you paid £1500 for an upgrade to an integrated system, would you want that taken into account in a theft or write off claim? Its not just about theft of the nav unit.

rs65

xHannahx wrote: »

TI don't know what was standard or optional on my 12 year old £800 car but it seems very high spec. Am I at risk of having not declared potential options and extras?

Probably. A bit of research of same trim levels on autotrader will help to guide you as to what others have. Also, if you check the manual, it will often describe how to use something 'if fitted'. That will tell you whether it was standard or not. If you don't have the manual then google for one.

dacouch

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Seems completely pointless IMO. Surely an integrated system would be less attractive for someone to try to steal than a Garmin left on the dashboard (which in effect is the same thing)



When I disposed of the car, the original sales documents were given to the buyer. I do appreciate that these could be lost by the buyer, hence not be available when the car comes for resale, but I am generally organised.

Thanks for letting me know that, as it's interesting to see different insurers takes on it.

With many modifications it's not so much about the theft risk when it comes to young drivers (Theft is a relatively low risk for an Insurer).

It can be more that the Insurer takes a view that a young driver with modifications to their car is more of a risk for accidents which is a very high risk for an Insurer. Everyone is away young drivers have a lot more accidents than older more experienced drivers. As well as having more accidents, the claims they're involved in tend to be for much higher value than older / more experienced drivers. This is due to a combination of over confidence, driving more aggressively and very importantly they tend to have drive around with more passengers than other drivers. When they have an accident these passengers are able to sue for personal injury which can be very expensive especially as their passengers tend to also be young so the bigger accidents they have a tendancy to have can result in very large claims for an insurer when the passenger or passengers have life changing injuries that require compensation to reflect the impact for the rest of their lives and possibly nursing care for the rest of their lives.

The OP needs to look around at other Insurers for quotes rather than just select two Insurers

Crazycatlady15

Well of course im going to look at more than 2 insurers, if you read the thread you will see it was only upon ringing them that the discovery was made with 2 insurers that they wouldn't cover me. I have looked into dozens of insurers, used comparison sites, added drivers etc. It was only when coming to buy it yesterday and checking detail there was a problem, so now I have to go back and research all again with phoning them, as I have previously mentioned DR didn't have this information readily available online. It was only when I called them.
It's stressful being told a company won't insure you 2 days before you are due to pick up a car. How many companies am I going to have to call up and explain and see what their take is on it...

Is it a modification they need to know about or not?
It's something over and above the standard spec, yes.
It's fitted in the factory by the manufacturer, yes.

Crazycatlady15

So Apparently Admiral are happy to insure me with the extras for a couple of quid more on the insurance, so whilst it was mentioned they require to know modifications, they aren't too restrictive. I double checked if they had any restrictions for new drivers and there aren't any.