New analysis from insurance broker Adrian Flux suggests that declaring mods on your car insurance can actually save you over £1250…
We’ve heard it before. Drivers not wanting to declare mods on their car insurance through fear it’ll sky rocket their annual premium. Not only is that breaking the law – if your car has been modified, you must declare the changes to your insurer or your cover is likely to be invalidated – it may also affect how much money you could actually save.
Analysis from insurance broker Adrian Flux shows that declaring mods can actually lower the cost of your cover by more than a whopping 60%. And for a heavily-modified car on comprehensive cover, that saving can even be greater than £1,250.
How can declaring mods on my car insurance lower my premium?
Gavin Hill, standard and niche floor underwriting manager at Adrian Flux, said: “It’s become a bit of a myth in different car communities that modifying your car will hit you in the pocket twice.
“While it can cost a lot of money to make these alterations, when declared they can actually make a massive reduction to your insurance premium. That’s because we know someone who has modified their car will take even greater care than usual in driving and looking after their vehicle – as well as the financial investment in modifying their car, these drivers have also invested their time.
“Claims statistics from insurers back up the fact that these genuine enthusiasts are less likely to make a claim as a result. A lot of mods don’t affect performance but almost all will affect your insurance if you don’t declare them and then make a claim. It really doesn’t pay to hide your mods.”
The study, which can be read in full here, found that with the right criteria, a 24-year-old Seat Leon Cupra owner could see their annual insurance plummet from £1,960 to £699 by confirming they have made the following modifications: suspension, exhaust, induction kit, tinted windows, remap, uprated brakes, intercooler, manifold, alloy wheels, interior changes and vinyl wrap.
Something as simple as declaring a dump valve could even save £50 for a plumber aged 43 when insuring a Vauxhall Astra.
Out of more than 20,000 car modifications declared in a month, the most common are alloy wheels, exhaust system changes and uprated, lowered or stiffened suspension springs.