shirty

Just completely fecked off with the insurance companies in this country.
I put some winter tyres on my S at the weekend and they've been great. Someone at work mentioned I'd have to tell my insurance company because it's a modification to the car and I didn't really believe him. Last night as my girlfriend was watching "I'm a celebraty" I decided to read the small print on my policy (policy was more interesting), and true enough, the guy at work was correct.

I gave the insurance company a call this morning, and after 2 hours on hold, they eventually picked up, and now they're charging me an extra £63 because it's a change to my policy and modification to my car!!! I thought the policy would go down becuase it's a saftey feature. I tried to argue that if I had my summer wheels on I'd be claiming a for a new car by the end of the week becuase without the winter wheels I can't drive in a straigh line.

What the hell is this world coming to?
My insurance is with a big supermarket

Petron

I've heard this with other insurers as well, from £35 increase up to 'sorry we can't insure you'. Seems ridiculous if you ask me

Rob88

I find that pretty damned odd.
I'm almost certain that you don't need to tell your insurer when you change your tyres because if that was the case than people would need to pay extra money every time they went to quick fit and didn't fit OEM.

Sounds to me like you insurance company is having a bit of a jolly with you.
That cost is probably a £55 admit fee, + vat + something else.
No change to the premium, but a charge for updating the records.

If I was in that situation I'd be back on the phone and asking to speak to a manager there, I'd demand a refund.

In fact, the last time I spoke to an insurer about swapping wheels (not just tyres) for winter they told me not to bother informing them unless the new wheels were more expensive and I'd expect to claim more for them if stolen.


(I'm not saying you didn't read the smallprint, sorry if it comes across that way, I'm just shocked at the attitude of the insurance company)

GavB

Personnely I would not have told them. Mainly because you'll have to tell them again when you change back to summer tyres and incur another admin fee.

Nobody tells their insurance when changing from the tyres supplied with the vehicle, to different brands / compounds or profiles, so why for winter tyres. I don't doubt that the small print says you must tell them, but if everyone followed small print to the letter you wouldn't have time to live your life.

shirty

I changed my wheels to smaller 16"s for the winters so it was technically a modification to the original spec (its says to inform them of any changes to the wheels). The only reason I told them is because the chances of having an accident in this weather is probably 100 times greater than in the dry, so I wanted to comply to their T&Ds.
I asked about what happens when I put the summers back on and she said that I wouldn't have to call back because I was taking my car back to factory spec again.
Lesson learnt for next year

I told them about the new wheels because I expected the policy to drop

lovegroova

Ah, the picture is becoming clearer. The insurance hike was for the wheels, not the tyres. Had you used the same size wheels there would have been no need to contact them.

If you're insured with a supermarket, then it's very likely they only want to cover standard, non-modified cars. They will actively discourage modifications by charging a lot for them.

This is what's happened in this case.

Rob88

Going back to my previous post when, I was told by my insurer at the time that they didn't consider changing the wheel size as a mod either.
I can't remember the exact words, but it was something like 'So long as they are designed for the car and they aren't extra wide or anything like that then it'll be ok.'.

The insurer wanted to know if I changed them, but there would be no charge – it would just be a note on the file.

Although, if it was stolen or exploded they would only cover the cost of the OEM wheels, not the new ones, unless I actually added the new ones to the policy iyswim.

lovegroova

It's dependant upon the insurer. A more mod-friendly, or "non-standard" insurer would probably not have charged any extra, the supermarket insurer in question most likely has a one-size fits all approach to these things.

WinFreak

So if you don't tell them, would they really be able to stand a chance in court when they claim not to pay you because you have put winter tyres on?!?

Bundle of Mayhem

Had similar conversation on Wednesday with BIL who has put winter tyres on his BMW.

You think the insurance companies would like the fact that you are taking all precautions but no, anything to get money off you.