Lowering Springs And Insurance Companies

[Hogie]

Hey Guys,

For a long time I have been having a debate as to whether I will lower the corolla. The last time I decided I would go ahead and do it my insurance companies ( More Than) said I would not be covered in the event of an accident if the vehicle has been modified in that way. I had just taken out the policy so I decided I would just leave it standard rather than take any risks.

My policy will be up for renewal soon and the though of lowering it has been rolling round my head again.

So on to my question. As you can imagine it is directed at the guy and girls who have lowered their car.

Have you declared your modification to your insurance company, if so what company are you with (this is so I can ask them for a quote in the next month or two) and how much did you premium go up because of this modification?

[Red Yaris 54]

Hey Guys,

For a long time I have been having a debate as to whether I will lower the corolla. The last time I decided I would go ahead and do it my insurance companies ( More Than) said I would not be covered in the event of an accident if the vehicle has been modified in that way. I had just taken out the policy so I decided I would just leave it standard rather than take any risks.

My policy will be up for renewal soon and the though of lowering it has been rolling round my head again.

So on to my question. As you can imagine it is directed at the guy and girls who have lowered their car.

Have you declared your modification to your insurance company, if so what company are you with (this is so I can ask them for a quote in the next month or two) and how much did you premium go up because of this modification?

Regardless of which Insurance company you are with, lowering suspension will normally result in an increased premium as you are altering the handling characteristics of the standard car.

If the modification is not declared, your insurance will be null and void in the event of a claim

[Norfolk n Chance]

Regardless of which Insurance company you are with, lowering suspension will normally result in an increased premium as you are altering the handling characteristics of the standard car.

If the modification is not declared, your insurance will be null and void in the event of a claim

Wrong..... It fully depends on the insurance company.

High street insurers , Swift, More Than etc tend not to like any mods

Specialist insurers ie Adrian Flux, take the view that lowering your car improves the handling therefore making the car safer and will cover the mod without any increase to your premium

[Hogie]

Hey Guys,

For a long time I have been having a debate as to whether I will lower the corolla. The last time I decided I would go ahead and do it my insurance companies ( More Than) said I would not be covered in the event of an accident if the vehicle has been modified in that way. I had just taken out the policy so I decided I would just leave it standard rather than take any risks.

My policy will be up for renewal soon and the though of lowering it has been rolling round my head again.

So on to my question. As you can imagine it is directed at the guy and girls who have lowered their car.

Have you declared your modification to your insurance company, if so what company are you with (this is so I can ask them for a quote in the next month or two) and how much did you premium go up because of this modification?

Regardless of which Insurance company you are with, lowering suspension will normally result in an increased premium as you are altering the handling characteristics of the standard car.

If the modification is not declared, your insurance will be null and void in the event of a claim

Thank you for your reply. I can assure you it is my intention to declare this modification and I am fully prepared, within reason of course, to pay the extra amount required to ensure I would be fully covered in the event of an accident. Not all insurance companies will insure a car with this modification, in my case More Than will not cover a car if it has been lowered.

Maybe I haven't been clear enough with my original post. If this is the case then I am sorry and I hope you accept my apology. I shall clarify the question.

If you have lowered your car, whether this by your corolla or a previous vehicle and declared this modification on your policy what company are/were you with and roughly how did this affect the insurance premium?

[Red Yaris 54]

Regardless of which Insurance company you are with, lowering suspension will normally result in an increased premium as you are altering the handling characteristics of the standard car.

If the modification is not declared, your insurance will be null and void in the event of a claim

Wrong..... It fully depends on the insurance company.

High street insurers , Swift, More Than etc tend not to like any mods

Specialist insurers ie Adrian Flux, take the view that lowering your car improves the handling therfore making the car safer and will cover the mod without any increase to your premium

It is always best to compare the quotes obtained from the "specialist insurers" against those of the "high street" as NORMALLY increased premiums are charged.

The specialist companies do not always offer the most economical premiums.......It always depends on the policyholders circumstances

All insurers are getting tighter on covering the most basic of modifications and premiums continue to rise

[Hogie]

Regardless of which Insurance company you are with, lowering suspension will normally result in an increased premium as you are altering the handling characteristics of the standard car.

If the modification is not declared, your insurance will be null and void in the event of a claim

Wrong..... It fully depends on the insurance company.

High street insurers , Swift, More Than etc tend not to like any mods

Specialist insurers ie Adrian Flux, take the view that lowering your car improves the handling therefore making the car safer and will cover the mod without any increase to your premium

That's great! I must try and get a quote from them. Thank you for your reply.

If anyone knows of any more companies please speak up. All in put is appreciated and Im sure it will help other members who want to go down this route as I see many more posts about modifying the corolla than when I joined 4 years ago.

[Norfolk n Chance]

It is always best to compare the quotes obtained from the "specialist insurers" against those of the "high street" as NORMALLY increased premiums are charged.

The specialist companies do not always offer the most economical premiums.......It always depends on the policyholders circumstances

All insurers are getting tighter on covering the most basic of modifications and premiums continue to rise

I'm gonna have to disagree again...

Upon doing my renewal recently nobody could get near Adrian Flux..... even Sky Insurance with the 20% TOC discount were still £160 more expensive.

"High Street" insurers do not like mods and will charge an extortionate amount for any mods you declare... Aviva quoted me £1400 with all mods declared that's nearly 3 times as much as my renewal from Adrian Flux.

If you are mod'ing a car you need to talk to a specialist insurer that takes the view that if you are spending money on your car you are more likely to take greater care of it....... High Street insurers still tarnish you with the "boy racer" tag.

Steve, when was the last time you had to declare a mod done on your car??

[Corrolla18]

I've been with Admiral for some time now and they seem to be very good. All mod's declared on my last car and they even covered them with additional insurance. this year renewal was high - got quotes elsewhere and they matched it so stuck with them.

[Red Yaris 54]

As I said, it depends on the policyholders circumstances and LOCATION......If I remember correctly Hogie you were in Ireland but are now in London.

When I last enquired about fitting some non standard alloy wheels I was quoted an increased premium

[Hogie]

Yes I just updated that now, that location has been out of date for some time. Currently the car and I are located in North West London. I believe we met once up near Milton Keynes many moons ago.

[Red Yaris 54]

Yes I just updated that now, that location has been out of date for some time. Currently the car and I are located in North West London. I believe we met once up near Milton Keynes many moons ago.

Sure did!

You were very proud of your car then........Good luck with the modifications

[Daveyonthemove]

SKY

Brentacre

Chris Knott

Adrian Flux

Greenlight

All of the above should be able to give competitive quotes based on a modified car, and you should be able to play one off against the other to get a couple of extra quid knocked off.

I know that Greenlight had an offer on a few years back to cover remaps free of charge, so it made it more appealing to be legal with this mod done.

So its not always about more power meaning more cost, so give the specialists a call and see if they can help.

[Hogie]

I've been with Admiral for some time now and they seem to be very good. All mod's declared on my last car and they even covered them with additional insurance. this year renewal was high - got quotes elsewhere and they matched it so stuck with them.

You were spot on with the admiral tip. £100 more than the standard premium for an unmodified vehicle. £200 more than last years premium with morethan. Ill shop around and see if I can get any better deals but I could live with that.Thanks for your help.

Once again if anyone has their car modified and insured correctly please give your in put.

[dangermooser]

My insurance is no different with the mods declared, however the car is named on my traders policy. The only mods that would affect it is if there were engine mods that made the car more powerful.

I still declared them though as in the event of anything happening I didn't want there to be any grey areas as far as any payout would be concerned

[PaulinhoT]

When I came to insure my SR they told me they didn't make that model in 1999 so put it down as a G6. I then had to get them to correct that and explain that the car was registered early March 1999, and was prob sat around a dealers for a few months before it sold.

I told them it was a 1.6 SR with the TTE options on it, they didn't understand that at all. I explained that the car had 16" alloys, lowered suspension, rear spoiler and front bumper, but all of these were fitted from new by the Toyota dealership, sadly they still didn't understand and asked if I had modified it, and I said "No I didn't Toyota did from new"..

[Norfolk n Chance]

As I said, it depends on the policyholders circumstances and LOCATION......If I remember correctly Hogie you were in Ireland but are now in London.

When I last enquired about fitting some non standard alloy wheels I was quoted an increased premium

That's different Steve, that's altering the visual appearance of a car making it "more desirable" to thieves.

Lowering the car is not viewed the same by insurers

[carlogoldberg]

Have you looked at The Hartford? My dad has full coverage with them through AARP and if I’m not mistaken he’s put his car through quite a few modifications. Ask them for an auto insurance quote and whether they’ll be okay with this particular modification.

[minidoughty]

didn't expect the spanish inquisition...blimey!

[Jamesbelfast]

Most insurers will calculate premiums based on the spec., as it came out of the factory so they see any alterations be they done personally or by a dealer as either add-ons or modifications.

Some insurers don't charge for some mods but if you don't declare any changes that's when things can go belly-up should the worst happen.

[Guest]

I just thought I would put in.

After reading this thread I decided to get a quote from Adrian Flux. Sent all my details over. I'm 26, 1 year ncb, held licence for less than 12 months. Driving a corolla tsport. Only mod is tinted windows. I got a quote last week from my current insurers admiral. They wanted £1189 for 10 months (I'm using them to boost my ncb) Adrian flux came back this morning with a very competitive quote......NOT!! They wanted £3879.92

Bargain!!!

[Hogie]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I ended up going with SKY insurance this year, 7 NCB protected, legal cover and hire car in the event of an accident= £742 GBP.

Mearkats etc couldn't even get close. So if anyone insurance is up soon may be worth giving them a ring.

[Norfolk n Chance]

In contrast Sky couldn't get near my renewal from Adrian Flux.....

[Hogie]

Even if the next car isn't modified and gonna skip these comparison sites and go straight to a broker. Best I could get on a standard T Sport was 1150 with a £500 excess on gocomparethemearkat's , with sky my excess is 250.