New alloys - Affecting insurance/warranty?

Jlawson118

If I was to get new alloys on my car, is this classed as a modification to my car and therefore bumps my insurance up? Also with the car having manufacturer's warranty on it, is this likely to affect it?
(I know different warranties vary but before contacting them myself, I just want to know the likelihood before they put the phone call into notes for future reference if I was to make a claim about the following)

Currently driving a 17 plate Audi A3, which has 18 months manufacturer's warranty left on it. There's no outstanding finance on the car and is paid in full.

Unfortunately I took a wrong turn on an slip road the other night and collided with the curb at almost 70mph. (The slip road I thought I was coming off at usually splits into two and goes on for another few miles) and when I've had the car quickly inspected at Kwik-Fit, they advised me I'm in need of two new alloys and suspension arm.

I did some damage to the suspension arm earlier this year on the other side when coming home from work after a nightshift and slid into the curb at 10mph after heavy snowfall overnight. The bill at Audi was a huge £1600! I know these things don't come cheap but over £900 of it was just labour. So I am a little reluctant to take it to them again this time around, especially if two new alloys are required at this time too.

The idea I've had at the moment is to just buy a set of four new alloys, four tyres and then get quotes for the arm by other garages such as ATS, Kwik-Fit, etc. I also have a friend who's family own a garage and used to look after me with my old car for services and MOT's.

Apart from being gutted, myself and my friend who I was with are okay, the car itself is okay apart from the wheels and suspension. But that is the only work that I think needs carrying out. I don't plan to claim on my insurance as whatever repair costs I pay for this will be a lot better than losing a third year's no claims discount next year

wgl2014

Depending on how bad the damage is you may be able to get the alloys repaired, job for a specialist.

If you fit different wheels it's a modification and you should tell your insurance. The only time it wouldn't matter is if you fitted genuine Audi wheels of the same size as the originals but then you may as well just get replacements for the damaged wheels.

Jlawson118

wgl2014 wrote: »

Depending on how bad the damage is you may be able to get the alloys repaired, job for a specialist.

If you fit different wheels it's a modification and you should tell your insurance. The only time it wouldn't matter is if you fitted genuine Audi wheels of the same size as the originals but then you may as well just get replacements for the damaged wheels.

Seeing if they could be repaired was an option in my head but I do have a feeling they're cracked after the impact. I'll know more when I get the car home. I'm about 80 miles away and I'm hopefully getting towed later this evening or tomorrow where I can start weighing things up

I was looking on a money supermarket page yesterday about insurance and it was saying alloys can increase your insurance by an average of 8% which I suppose isn't the end of the world, but I was put off by the idea that that average 8% would more than likely be added every year. So I am wondering if paying Audi more money now would work out cheaper over the coming years

James2k

do some dummy quotes, doubt its that much. and certainly will take a lot of years to make up the cost of 2 new wheels at audi. they want almost a grand each for mine.

shaun_from_Africa

When I bought my car it had different alloys fitted by the garage as it was one of their demo vehicles and they wanted to tart it up a bit.
I told my insurers about this and they made a note on the declared modifications section of my policy but the premium didn't change at all.

AndyMc.....

Take it to a proper garage before you spend any money.

gardner1

"I've had the car quickly inspected at Kwik-Fit, they advised me I'm in need of two new alloys and suspension arm"

By the time they've finished you'll have new brake pads,discs,full exhaust and air con top up

Jlawson118

James2k wrote: »

do some dummy quotes, doubt its that much. and certainly will take a lot of years to make up the cost of 2 new wheels at audi. they want almost a grand each for mine.

Yeah this was the problem for me, I was guessing they'd charge me £700 at an absolute minimum, and refurbished ones on eBay are ranging from about £350 but it's not something I've ever had to price up before.
Had a look on an Audi website yesterday, my wheel's weren't on there but some others were ranging from about 550EUR so I'm agreeing with you on this completely.

When there's a few alloy companies I've found near by which do sets of 4 for around £400/£500. And look a lot better :cool:

motorguy

Jlawson118 wrote: »

Seeing if they could be repaired was an option in my head but I do have a feeling they're cracked after the impact. I'll know more when I get the car home. I'm about 80 miles away and I'm hopefully getting towed later this evening or tomorrow where I can start weighing things up

I was looking on a money supermarket page yesterday about insurance and it was saying alloys can increase your insurance by an average of 8% which I suppose isn't the end of the world, but I was put off by the idea that that average 8% would more than likely be added every year. So I am wondering if paying Audi more money now would work out cheaper over the coming years

Get the alignment of the car checked - properly (not just a wheel alignment). You could have twisted the chassis on the car. Happened to my wife on a 3 series some years ago (hit a kerb @ around 40mph).

You could try ebay for second hand alloys that are a match of yours? Often they are sold singly.

Jlawson118

gardner1 wrote: »

"I've had the car quickly inspected at Kwik-Fit, they advised me I'm in need of two new alloys and suspension arm"

By the time they've finished you'll have new brake pads,discs,full exhaust and air con top up

Well I did think this too :rotfl: But they weren't even willing to take on the work and straight away advised me to go elsewhere, which made me think "Wow it must be bad if they're not begging me for my business."

I'd gone to ATS first but they were closed for the bank holiday. I'm away from home at the minute and the local ATS down here looked after me a few months ago when I had a little problem with my tyres and they carried out work free of charge. But with them being closed I had no other option to get Kwik-Fit to put it on the ramp and have a look.

Once I manage to get towed home I'm going to get a second opinion but I don't think they are lying this time :eek:

Jlawson118

motorguy wrote: »

Get the alignment of the car checked - properly (not just a wheel alignment). You could have twisted the chassis on the car. Happened to my wife on a 3 series some years ago (hit a kerb @ around 40mph).

You could try ebay for second hand alloys that are a match of yours? Often they are sold singly.

I'll be getting it all checked over the next few days. I can't imagine a twisted chassis will be cheap
I'm watching a few on eBay at the moment, they're about £350/£450 each which I've found sets of four brand new ones for around the same price. So I'm going to try work out the repairs, alloys, insurance and everything else and try figure something out