insurance

[JamieP]

I dont know if this is too personal a question, but I was wondering how many of you with modded s2ks actually report to your insurance company all the extra work youve done on the car? Personally I havent. Ive rang them up annonymously to enquire how much my insurance would go up with the mods Ive already installed and all of a sudden it sky rockets! The thing is, I already have the mod bug and want to keep going. But I worry that if god forbid *touch wood* I get into a crash, they will say my car was unroadworthy and that I didnt report my mods to them and wont pay me out.

Has anybody had any bad experiences with not telling their insurance company about their mods? i.e how low the car is, big the wheels are, etc etc

[STAiN MASTER]

I went with Just cars, i told em about most of things I had on the car, including the carbon bonnet, it was listed but if something happened to the bonnet or it was damaged in an accident I wouldn't be able claim it, they said it would be replaced with a original bonnet. I had exhaust, wheels, stereo all covered, these items all had individual excess.

someone side swiped me and damaged both my driver side wheels and they got them fixed for me, so if i maybe hadn't mentioned it they might not have repaired them.

now im back to stock and told them and now when my insurance came for renewal it was only $50 less..

[blackouT]

Im with aami and they increase my cars value with every mod i do but it also raise my premiums by a little. Im able to have half my cars purchase price in mods.

[vyets]

I claim everything, its like $80 for 4 mods and my car value goes up depending on the mods its awesome :)

I'm with justcars.

[ludecrs]

Why are you paying for insurance, if you know they won't pay you out because you haven't updated your modifications?

You may as well not pay any insurance, and drive around uninsured (don't!). lol.

[STAiN MASTER]

^ I concur, just tell them what mods you have even if they dont insure those particular mods, they should insure the mods and add an individual excess to them, your premium may go up a little.

[ncmx5]

but what really defines a mod worthy to inform them? i.e. would you tell them you have a fibre glass snorkel on the airbox opening? or some strut/x-braces? I wouldn't care whether these bits are insured or not. Wheels, hardtop, bumpers - sure.

[ludecrs]

I'd rather it all be on file, than be denied because its not.

[foowoei69]

^i agree with that.
Whether they fix it all properly is another thing all together. Lol

[SNKS2K]

Only one way to be sure. Speak to your insurence company...

Somehitng tells me the advice you got on Onhonda will not be legally binding.

[VeYzZii]

Insurers are sneaky bastard. Ill go with what ludecrs said. Better safe then sorry. When my dc5r got stolen, 5 months after i purchased it, it had 4 days of rego left on it. The insurers tried to say that i did not have the funds to pay rego, and hence i done a dodgy to get it stolen. They even asked for bank statements, which i didnt show solely for confidential reasons.. There pricks man so dont give them a chance..

[catacaustic]

You need to be careful with insurance, and modifications. Not only does it come down to "You didn't tell us that was modified, so you only get the standard part replaced", but there's the even more aweful "Your car was modified beyond what you told us, and therefor your insurance policy is null and void". As bad as that sounds it can, and does, happen. Insurance companies are there to help, but if they can find a good reason to deny a claim, they will.

Bottom line... If it's modded, tell them. If they know about it, they can either continue the insurance, or they can refuse it, which means that you have to go to a specialist company like Shannons or something.

And always remember... no matter what any insurance company tells you, always read the policy statement carefully! That will soon tell you what you can and can't have, and what you need to do to ensure that there's no problems.

I had a small accident in mine a few months ago, and my insurance company was pretty good. No issues, and the repairs were done without a problem. But I don't have any extensive mods, and everything that I do have was on the policy, so there wasn't anything to be concerned about. :)

[greek_rambos2k]

i kept car under dads name. im paying $880 a yr full comp and im a P plate. (AAMI)

[VeYzZii]

i kept car under dads name. im paying $880 a yr full comp and im a P plate. (AAMI)

WHOA. Does your dad have any accidents or thefts under his name?

[drsilliez]

but isnt insurance still based on the youngest driver? did u not tell them that u were driving the car too? bein dodgy? lol

[ricerockets]

but isnt insurance still based on the youngest driver? did u not tell them that u were driving the car too? bein dodgy? lol

with aami, they ask who the main driver is then they will give the quote, then they will ask for other drivers
so i'd guess greek_rambos2k put his dad as the main driver then him/her as a secondary

[greek_rambos2k]

Helloo

yeah dads got rating 1. Hes set as the main driver and i am an additional driver (but my dad hasn't actually ever driven my car). Justcar bases everything off the younger driver. Shannons only insures to people over 25 and RACV is a rip off. AAMI is the best but you have to put up with their shit sometimes. Best thing to do is do the online quote. Its always a little bit cheaper and then pay by credit card. (also for some odd reason i did it a few times and it lowered the price each time, $880 was the lowest it got and i have no mods apart from sound system and i did list it). When you do it online only list the main driver. Dont put your name on. Drive the vehicle and if something happens when you call up AAMI to claim say you were driving and then you are automatically listed as a driver but if you put it there it makes the quote confusing.

If you are thinking "ah but if its under parents name then i wont get a good rating when im older". AAMI do this thing that if you are actually set as a driver for a certain amount of yrs you get the rating off the person your a second. In my case ill get rating 1 when its time for me to put my car under my name. AAMI also insures 'casual drivers' so if u were to let ur mate drive, no matter how old/she he is (over 18 atleast) he/she is still fully covered. I have 4 brothers and they can all drive the car and are covered even though they arnt listed as driver (not that id ever let them drive my s2k). lol i know my way around insurance companies very well so if u want more info or a better explanation as im half sleep and my grammar is horrible then PM me :P

[Emre_2144]

i told just cars about my mods and i got hit in a roundabout. They repainted my enkei's and said they would replace them if they couldn't match the colour properly so id say its worth telling them.

[VeYzZii]

Emre, you from auburn or something?

[JamieP]

Sorry for the late update guys. I ended up adding my mods to my insurance and was pleasantly suprised. I was expecting it to add 100's and 100's to my insurance price but it only cost me an extra $54 to add my K&N intake, 19" wheels and buddy club coilovers to my insurance and thats with AAMI. I couldnt believe how little they charged me.

[greek_rambos2k]

AAMI are the best in terms of price but when you claim they will take you on a magical adventure before they fix it. Took them 2 months to fix my forester (was keyed and stuff) came back in 2 different colours.... If you ever are hit go find 2 pannel beats u trust and get quotes from them both then call AAMI saying something happened (unless it really bad then call them asap and they will send tow truck) fax both quotes to em while on the fone then book a day for them to inspect it. they look at the car then they pick 1 out of the 2 pannel beaters. That way u avoid using their dodgy workers (as i learnt).

[euromandeluxe]

agree with greek, AAMI's repairs are absolute sh*thouse as I experienced twice with my euro. how else could they offer such low premiums.

[greek_rambos2k]

lol funny story... i got hit today. lolz so i got to call AAMI. i was reversed into by a chick driving an accord. apparently its my fault as my car is to low and she couldn't see it (my car is stock height). But yeh called AAMI. did my 2 quotes, they approved. i pay no excess as it wasn't my fault and now its getting fixed (rear bumper paint was scratched off). Did all of this in one day which is why i said before to get your quotes before you call them that way you speed up the process and you dont use their dodgy pannel beaters.

If your in Melbourne. My pannel beater is:

D&S Plose Smash Repairs
13A Metropolitan Ave Nunawading 3131
Phone: (03) (894 4999
Guys Name is Stuart.

Hes very good and he will normally do lots of little things for free else he is much cheaper then other places.

[JamieP]

Lol, I cant believe the chick tryd saying it was your fault because your car was too low and she couldnt see you. The idiotic things people say to try and get out of taking responsability in a crash. I remember when I had my prelude I was sitting at a red light at the toorak road/chapel st intersection on a rainy night. Id been at a complete stop for a good 10 or 15 seconds and this drunk guy in a 4 wheel drive slams straight into the back of me...not only did he not see the red light, but he didnt seem to see me either. He then gets out of the car and says to me "Why did you stop suddenly?!!?!?" and tryd to blame it on me. then after his slightly less drunk friends got him to shut up and admit it was his fault... he says to me, totally ignoring the rear end of my car is totaled, I had a concussion and back problems I still have to this day thanks to him "look at my car! how am I suposed to go surfing tommorow now?!"

P.S sorry to hear your ride got hit. but glad to hear it will be getting fixed up soon

[greek_rambos2k]

bro that sucks that u got injured. i was in a crash start of 2008. car flipped and skidded down the mountain on its roof and i managed to walk away. but yeah similar thing happen to me, was waiting in traffic (this is back when i had my forester) and a skyline comes straight into the back of me. he didnt say it was my fault but his excuse was "sorry mate i wasnt paying attention"....something u usually want to do when driving. meh. my bumper got a scratch. He took out his bumper, grill, hood, inter cooler, and radiator :P

did TAC cover all ur medical stuff?

[JamieP]

Lol, at least he was honest about not paying attention and didnt try and make up some bullshit. although that doesnt make up for not paying attention while driving lol.

thats intense that you flipped your car. thats something Im sometimes a little conscious of with our car. If we were to roll, we're screwed because the "roll bars" arent actually roll bars at all. So you just have to hope you have a thick skull.

TAC was going to pay for part of my treatment, I had to pay like 600 or something like that out of my own pocket for treatment and then they would pay the rest. But at the time I didnt really free up time to go to physio and only went for a few sessions. which is probably why I still get lower back pain now. My own fault really.

[euromandeluxe]

Im sometimes a little conscious of with our car. If we were to roll, we're screwed because the "roll bars" arent actually roll bars at all. So you just have to hope you have a thick skull.


there are steel roll hoops under those plastic covers, but they're way too short if you're near 6" tall like me

[euromandeluxe]

have you tried seeing the physio recently? there's probably still a lot they can do for you, even if the accident was a while back

[JamieP]

oh serious? I didnt know their was steel hoops under the plastic covers. People always used to correct me over and over again when I would refer to them as roll bars so I just assumed they werent. Im only 5'9 but I still wouldnt trust them to save my life lol.

I used to go to the physio and it helped alot, but the pain/swelling always came back eventually and Im a bit of a tight ass. Id rather just spend the money on my car instead and put up with the occasional back problem

[greek_rambos2k]

yeh i have a bit of pain in my knee from the crash (knee smashed into the dash) they said nothing can be done. usualy its fine tho. My crash was basicaly due to 1. i had my license for a month and lack of exp. 2. driving a non road worth mitsubishi verada. Basicaly what happened was i was coming round a corner going down the mountain, wasn't racing or anything but going 60 in a 50 zone. came around the corner and got biggg oversteer so i counter steered and held the rpm and the car then understeered intot he mountain, flipped the car over and we skidded pfttt like 10m down the mountain on the roof.

Basically the cops rocked up and told me it wasn't entirely my fault, i was like :| um lol wut? apparently the road has this big strip of special stuff on it designed to clean tires (to stop you taking weeds down) and cars go over it and lose grip. I am the 5th car for that to happen to in the last yr says vic police. I got fined for doing 60 in 50 zone (they could tell from skid marks) but that's it. worst part was i had mates in the car who were ok, thank god. we crawled out of the broken windows as the roof caved in and couldn't open. engine was still running but huge amount of black smoke coming from it. we crawled out and got away from the car as it was leaking something (we first thought fuel then discovered it was only coolent) but then this guy runs over to us and you know usually u would be like "are you ok? nah its this guy in his hmmm it say 50s comes over reeming at us "you ****ing little shits, your lucky i don't call the cops! your lucky ur not ****ing dead, im sick of you people doing this shit bla bla bla". you know the stuff you want to hear after near death :P i wasn't hooning i just didnt notice the speed (first time i ever drove an auto)

ambo rocked up checked us, cops rocked up and the fireys rocked up to clean up. then we all got talk walk home (they didnt give us a lift :( )

[jrstyles]

Damn dude, maybe you should start going to the physio again. But back on topic, my insurance is $500 with my mods and im also on my p's. Why is it only 500? Not sure really, but my car is insured with our business and the flat rate for all our cars is the same. Not sure who the insurer is though i'll need to ask my parents but if any of us or our staff gets into a bung then the premium increases. Thats pretty much all i know

[greek_rambos2k]

just check that your covered for drivers under the age of 25. Contracts for businesses are different. Dads merc is under the same thing and i cant touch it. u dont wunna get ****ed ova laterrrr

[YLDS2K]

hi guys, i just thought i would give you guys some info on how i went today with calling insurance companies as my insurance is due for renewel. Now, the information is obviously only relative to me and my circumstances but am willing to share this as it might prove a rough guide what some guys should be expecting when receiving the quotes. I will put it in point form from what i remember from todays phone calls.

1. Allianz wouldnt cover me at all due to age (im 24 turning 25 in may 2011)
2. Just Cars said $2200 for excess and $1800 p/a premiums (i dont remember the excess)
3. GIO also woulsnt cover me at all because of age
4. Youi wont cover me because of age
5. RACV wanted $2275 p/a for oremiums a monthly installment of $200 p/m and a excess of $950
6. AAMI has insured me for the past 12 months with a $1400 premium, excess of $950 and a monthly repayment of $121 The only issue is that they have devalued my car from $29,500 down to $25,200 which i am really upset about and am going to try and argue a point (if i can find 1) to see if they will raise my "agreed" value back to its original state but i know i barely have a leg to stand on. Also the vehicle is in my mums name who has a rating 1 for life and i am a secondary driver which basically explains why i have to pay the extra $400 because i am below 25.

Now for the bit that really upset me.

I called Shannons insurance to receive a quote and i have to admit that i felt interigated with the amount of questions they asked. I am happy to answer questions like occupation although i dont see how 'marital status and prior criminal convictions' are relevent to obtaining vehicle insurance. After spending a fair amount of time and i that i disclosed the nature of the charges that i have, his tone of voice completely changed from happy chap to nasty bastard and was crued and just simply said 'we wont insure you'. Now dont get wrong, i havent spent time in jail or anything along those lines but i find it pathetic that you cannot receive vehicle insurance because of prior criminal convictions. I can understand if you have been charged with frued or charges along those lines that it might inhibit from those obtaining insurance, although i was not involved with anything that would pretued that.

As i said, i understand that everyone's situation and circumstances are different althogh this is what happened with me and hopefully this can be used for those thinking of insurance costs with an S2K.

[euromandeluxe]

interesting info, thanks :thumbsup:

[JamieP]

I had the exact same dissapointment with Aami the other week when I told them about my mods. 9 months ago my agreed value was 29,000. Now, a mear 6 months later it's at 23,000. How can it depreciate 6 grand in under a year????? After telling them about all my mods it bumped it back up just under 29.... But I felt quite disapointed, I was expecting my agreed value to go up from what it originally was. Not down

[YLDS2K]

yeah i also mentioned that i might be modifying my car with things like an upgraded roof with glass window, exhaust and little bits and pieces and surprisngly they didnt say that it would definetely go up, although it 'might' increase the premiums.

[greek_rambos2k]

i paid 25k for my s2k and when i called up AAMI they told me my car was worth 20. if you tell them to ensure it for the price you want then they will coz they changed mine to 25k coz i told them too

[YLDS2K]

i paid 25k for my s2k and when i called up AAMI they told me my car was worth 20. if you tell them to ensure it for the price you want then they will coz they changed mine to 25k coz i told them too

yeah ofcourse they will, although your annual premiums will go up because your asking for a higher coverage rate.

[greek_rambos2k]

premium is only 880

[JamieP]

Your paying about the same as I am

[Emre_2144]

Emre, you from auburn or something?

Yeh brother u too?

[AHMARNI]

Hi guys,

The first year I had my K, I was insured with Justcars. It was a competitive quote since I'm under 25 and my K has mods. But come renewal time, they decided to drop my "agreed value" by $15000 (without consulting me!) "due to a drop in the market value" whilst still expecting me to pay them the same premium, even though I'd notified them of additional $$$ modifications. So I shopped around, and found that almost all insurers wouldn't even insure me for the value of the car due to it's long list of mods including pearlescent paint which immediately meant that most companies couldn't cover me, and also the fact that I'm under 25. So I was ready to accept signing with Shannons who couldn't give me cover for the agreed value I wanted to be covered for over the phone, so they set up an inspection, and were very happy to insure me once they'd seen the car in it's immaculate modified state for whatever value I wanted; of course, my premium was going to be a few thousand more per year than it was, but I felt like it was my only option.
Until I found The Buzz Insurance! They were relatively new then, and I worried it was all online, but they are underwritten by Insurance Australia and I needed to speak to one of their staff in order to apply to have it insured because all of my mods aren't even available to select on their online options when you apply. So I spoke to their staff over the phone a few times, and they were very helpful, and allowed me to give them very specific details of all my mods and prices paid and they were happy to increase my value to more than what their upper limits would allow (based on standard year/condition/kms of the car) because mine has new mods, low kms, in great condition. So the fact that I know they are actually 'real people', easily contactable, and they cover my K and all of its mods for a value I am comfortable with, for a reasonable premium meant I went with them.
And as everyone has already said- always declare all mods, and be specific too. :)
Cheers guys hope that helps! :)

[Engin09]

you guys must live in areas that have really low prices for insurance as location is used as a major factor in the price you pay PA, my insurance is $2500, its under my mums name and she hasn't had a claim or crash in her fault ever, shes never lost a point on her liscence either and shes got that star 1 rating or whatever its called, i tell them that i park in an undercover area at the back of my driveway and i only drive to uni and back and the occasional weekend spin (well my mum did as im the designated driver :D ) but still the price is fkn shit... and that was like the cheapest price .. but i guess the good thing is, its covered for $31000 and as a 02 model :) it doesn't have the glass window tho and no tweeters, but when the car sold to the first owner it was an '02 and registered with the RTA as an 02.. clueless about that but still i guess if anything happened i get good claims. (I'd rather it didn't tho lol )