Quote:
Originally Posted by justatroll
Here is one thing that I am surprised has not been mentioned here:
I am fairly certain that somewhere in your policy it states that you must divulge modifications to the car to the insurance company.
Failure to do so "may result" in non-coverage in the case of an accident.
Simple case: You get in an accident with your new wheels, & $2k in cosmetic mods...Insurance will probably dismiss that and not complain (but they may not reimburse the difference from OEM parts)
Worst case: You get in an accident with your $10k Turbo setup, full race suspension and $5k in brake upgrades. They could argue that your mods are beyond what is acceptable for the rate you had been paying all along - "Violation of contract! NOT COVERED"
and you are SOL...
So if you make mods that would pique the interest of your agent, you had better divulge them in advance.
Cosmetic - don't sweat it.
Full blown race - might spell trouble.
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As mentioned, you would be offered stock replacements in this case or the value of said stock replacements. If you insisted on having those extremely expensive parts that the car did not come with insured, then no you won't get covered for those parts (especially the turbo kit seeing as the car never came with a turbo).
There are insurance companies that offer specific plans for race cars and non-op vehicles, along with collectors cars and such... But a modified car is generally worth LESS than stock car in the used car market, even getting the full value back with said reported mods won't happen. In pretty much any case you are going to loose money.
The BEST scenario as mentioned, is when your aftermarket parts (wheels/suspension/seats/etc.) wind up being less expensive than the OEM replacements. Thats the scenario where the Insurance company loves you to death for saving them money, PLUS you get your aftermarket parts replaced. The same thing can happen with home owners insurance (I.E. replacing a fire damaged floor with carpet instead of expensive wood, or buying a less-expensive computer than the amount you were offered) and sometimes you can wind up with extra money in your pocket too.