Car insurance

sheramber

My car insurance doesn't cover 'vcosmetic' changes and lists what they DO cover, stating they do not cover any others. They do give a list of some of the things they do not cover.

You need to read the policy document carefully to make sure you know what is and what is not covered.

Some companies will restrict what they cover, others may cover at a cost.

It sepends on what you pay for.

aManHe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81971565#Comment_81971565

   

Allianz

aManHe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81971475#Comment_81971475

I like your answer and agree with everything except for the last paragraph. Even if it is based on statistics, there should be space for human interaction, verification and manual amendment. I am buying a car with cosmetic modifications made by the person who owned the car before me. I am not the person who made these changes and I have my own driving history and car insurance history. Why isn't this taken into consideration with cosmetic modifications? Not performance changes, no changes to how the car is behaving mechanically, electrically or sensually (so many sensors nowaday)

It's like with these ladies with big plastic eyelashes on their car's headlights - are they known for speeding? No. Are their cars modified? Yes. Will their insurance be invalidated? Most likely.
It looks like a big net designed to catch all kind of pray, loosely based on some connotation that people who visually modifiy their cars looks, are more likely to cost the insurers some money.
The thing is, modding car is just one of many factors, like drivers age and how powerfull the car is. So if human interaction and manual amendments are no longer an option, why not build in some failsafes into the system and allow modifications of smaller, less powerfull cars, for older drivers? If I am older, drive a 0.9l small city car, why should I be punished for decorating my car with silicone baps and buns on my bumpers?

aManHe

Thank you all for commenting and advising me. I was assured by the dealer that the car will be brought back to the factory specication, so I should be able to change the vehicle on my current policy. I wish we didn't have to remove the black badges because they actually complemented the car's look, but we are not paying £800 for a new insurance policy.

Arunmor

Rage against the machine OP, you won't win. They aren't going to change their systems for you, until it starts losing significant business All you can do is look around for alternate insurers.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972569#Comment_81972569

There is no space for human interaction because mass market consumer insurance is a highly commoditised distress purchase. Even with everything being computerised and straight through processing margins are exceptionally tight… in 2025 the Motor insurance industry as a whole paid out £1.01 for every £1 of premiums it received in. There arent many industries which survive when the main product they sell is loss making and only survivable due to investment returns. In a good year they make a few pennies per pound received, in bad years (like 2023) they paid out £1.13 for every £1 premium

Most my professional life these days is dealing with syndicates in Lloyds, there there is a human option, many policies involve underwriters (negotiation), actuaries (pricing), lawyers (wording) all on 6 figure salaries and a small army of people doing other stuff around the sides because things arent automated. When you decide what the operational cost of the policy is you can't just quote based on the 20 man hours of doing this policy you have to also factor in all the time these people arent working on quotes and also the fact that many quotes dont result in a sale so those failed interactions have to be paid for by the successful ones. There's a reason why my current client's average premium is just under $700,000 and that doesnt ignore the fact they do a moderate amount of volume business unlike most syndicates.

Unless there was a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour and people started considering value or service rather than price alone the direction of travel will continue to go to less human interaction, less personal touch because that allows you to shave money off policies. All indication is things are going in the opposite direction, the masses increasingly buying on price alone. A well known organisation that believes its known for being ethical and good service published that for a price difference of £5 a year that over 95% of customers would switch to an unknown offshore brand, for a £1 price difference it was still the vast majority that would leave.

Goudy

There is another reason they don't like modifications and that's cost of repair.

If you've graphed on none standard parts, the cost of repair is often increases in the event of a claim and if those parts are no longer available then what, write the car off or return is with half a body kit or mismatched wheels?

There's also risk involved with a total loss claim.

If someone has graphed modifications to their car and it gets written off, how is it valued?

I have experienced something along these lines but with a "factory" available modification. My Abarth got stolen and it had on a Dual Mode Monza exhaust.

It wasn't a factory fit on that trim (Turismo) and wasn't an even an optional factory fit. It could be bought as a self fit kit in a massive box.

When it came to the claim I supplied them with the receipt for car and the dealer fitment of some "modifications" like the exhaust. They weren't happy about the exhaust but I argued it was a dealer option rather than a modification, but I had to speak to the claims adjuster around a dozen times. I believe she even tried to configure one herself over the phone with the local Abarth dealer.

There was other similar things on the receipt they were actually happy about, like the Abarth stripes which were a similar afterfit at the dealers (although these were part of the options on their configurator), so why not the exhaust?

They did cave in as they weren't aftermarket but rather a dealer fit option like a tow bar, but it was touch and go for a while and it was a lot of money at risk, the car was only three months old and the exhaust was something like £1300 fitted.

I'd never do it again and I even state I have fitted a dash car to my car these days, I'm not going through that again.