Modifications and Car Insurance

ETHERED

Put an inexpensive (£80) Zunsport stainless steel (black finish) "clip on" mesh grill to my car  
In my opinion no real visual improvement but I believe it greatly reduced the risk of debris (eg stones) from going through large gaps in the original grill and damaging the radiator.  

Informed my insurer and had the modification added to my policy. It resulted in strange changes to my Accident & Theft Excesses that after discussion I have accepted 

I have always made use of comparison sites when renewing my car insurance. 

Will this modification mean that when I when need to renew my car insurance I will not be able to get quotes from comparison sites and have to ring directly to insurers for quotes?  

Sandtree

Most aggregators can deal with common modifications, as long as you are comfortable that it fits into one of the options they offer (eg spoiler/airdam front or body kit non-standard) then its fine, if you dont think any are appropriate then its a long slog

tacpot12

The alternative, presumably, is to remove the modification, get quotes for the cheapest provider and then hope that they remain the cheapest if you reinstall the modification and tell them about it.

ETHERED

Owned several cars and up to my latest car have never done any mods.

So far I have only needed to "tick" the No Modifications option at the comparison quote stage and afterward at any individual providers site.

Your reply implies that if I state that the car has been modified at the comparison quotes stage, most comparison sites can give options that mods fit into to give a list of providers that meet all my declarations including modification.

Have I got that right?

dunstonh

Your reply implies that if I state that the car has been modified at the comparison quotes stage, most comparison sites can give options that mods fit into to give a list of providers that meet all my declarations including modification.

Most comparison sites cater for the main modification areas.   It only becomes an issue if your modification is not one that fits the available list on the comparison site.   In that scenario, you would need to revert to a local broker or a phone based service.

Sandtree

ETHERED said:

Your reply implies that if I state that the car has been modified at the comparison quotes stage, most comparison sites can give options that mods fit into to give a list of providers that meet all my declarations including modification.

Have I got that right?

Yes, most have a list of categories, unfortunately often overlapping, and under the categories will be a list of options. If one of the options is appropriate its generally plain sailing from there on. The only challenge is if your mod doesnt fit any of the options offered (oddly upgrading the stereo doesnt seem a common option)

ETHERED

tacpot12 SAID:-
"The alternative, presumably, is to remove the modification, get quotes for the cheapest provider and then hope that they remain the cheapest if you reinstall the modification and tell them about it."

A bit fiddly but was able to clip the grill onto the car with the car on the ground and nothing to remove from the car.
Un-cliping would be more difficult. Would have to get the car on a jack stand, remove the front underside cover to gain access to the clips to remove the grill.   

Taking on board your suggestion I suppose I could get quotes from comparison sites without declaring the mod to see if some might beat the renewal from current Insurer.
If some look competitive I could ring the most suitable insurers from the comparison list, declare the Mod and see if I could get an updated quote. 

Sandtree

ETHERED said:

tacpot12 SAID:-
"The alternative, presumably, is to remove the modification, get quotes for the cheapest provider and then hope that they remain the cheapest if you reinstall the modification and tell them about it."

A bit fiddly but was able to clip the grill onto the car with the car on the ground and nothing to remove from the car.
Un-cliping would be more difficult. Would have to get the car on a jack stand, remove the front underside cover to gain access to the clips to remove the grill.   

Taking on board your suggestion I suppose I could get quotes from comparison sites without declaring the mod to see if some might beat the renewal from current Insurer.
If some look competitive I could ring the most suitable insurers from the comparison list, declare the Mod and see if I could get an updated quote. 

They didn't mean literally, just "remove it" from the quote if there is an appropriate option and then run down the list of insurers contacting them and declaring the mod to see the impact on price in the hope that those that are in the top 10 of cheap quotes are still the cheapest with the mod.

If there is an appropriate option then no need to do it.

forsythan

Everything will be fine, don't worry.