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+--- Thread: How much information do you tell your insurance company (/showthread.php?tid=77495)
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How much information do you tell your insurance company - Ricky - 26-02-17
My insurance is coming up for renewal, I always tell my insurance company everything about my bike. Having talked to my mates I was surprised to hear that many of them don't mention any mods to there bike like aftermarket exhaust system, suspension etc. My mechanic says that the price of a aftermarket exhaust system is a lot cheaper than a OEM one so why tell them as the performance is not a big difference. I have a R6 shock and a aftermarket exhaust system so will tell them,but from experience you have a right job trying to explain to a sales person what you have and why you fitted it, and half the time it does not fit in side there nice little box of rules.Just wondering how many of you getting on and how much you tell them. No I do not work for a insurance company.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Ricky - 26-02-17
Just went on to a insurance comparison website, but all the details about the bike including the mods and only 6 company's gave me a quote, one being low but with a total excess of 900 pounds on a bike worth may be £3000, the rest very expensive and still with not so high excess. 20 other companies could not quite on line.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Dea-ville - 26-02-17
i'm with Bennetts this year & they allow 16 modifications as standard any not on that list you have to declare, full list & details of mods etc on their website.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - mr self destruct - 26-02-17
I tell them everything and let them say to me "We don't need to know about that", rather than assume they don't need to know then get caught out in the event of a claim.
The even know about the lack of a :faz decal on my fairing.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - mick chiz - 26-02-17
i've gone with bennets this year,moved from mce because got a cheaper quote and mce excess was massive £575/600 ish,with bennets i've getting it down to around £350.
told the lad on the phone that my bike has an after market can and it went up by a whole £8
you can be the most careful rider in world but could be arse ended by somebody who simply didnt see you at the lights junction etc and when the insurance bloke comes to see your bike they're not daft,they know if your bikes modded in anyway and chances are he'll suck through his teeth wash his hands of any malice by saying he's just doing his job.....but your not insured for that aftermarket exhaust etc and so we wont be paying you out.
it pays to be honest imho :angel
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - PieEater - 26-02-17
I'm with Hastings, and have been for several years now, they do the usual of bumping up the renewal price each year but I just phone them up and ask if they can do something about the price and they end up reducing it by at least the difference in the online quotes I get from moneysupermarket. This years renewal was £120 and after the phonecall it was £97 fully comp.
When I fist took out the policy I made an note of every mod that the bike has including the Ivan's kit, I phoned them up and put the phone on speakerphone and recorded my conversation with them so I have on record that I have declared all my mods and that they didn't have an issue with any of them. They did put me on hold when they checked with the underwriters about the Ivan's kit but they said given my riding experience the underwriters didn't have an issue with the 10% increase in performance.
I've had good experience with Hastings when it came to making a claim and also when I contacted Customer Service, which is why I stay with them and am happy to recommend them.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Tmation - 26-02-17
What a lot of people forget is its not just about increased performance.
Some mods like paint schemes cost more than standard to replicate and new flash seats and other goodies can make your bike more attractive to thieves, hence an increase in premium.
Add a rack, top box , side rails, panniers, touring screen, heated grips, crash bars, extra lights etc and you have added an easy £1000 worth of accessories, again not just the extra cost of replacing them in the event of an accident but its more bits for the thieves to sell on. Why do people think the insurance companies should cover this at the same cost as a standard bike?
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Dudeofrude - 26-02-17
(26-02-17, 06:11 PM)Tmation link Wrote: Why do people think the insurance companies should cover this at the same cost as a standard bike?
Because they are already a bunch of scamming bastard that have you over a barrell.
I agree you should probably tell them everything but only because they will use every excuse they can to get out of paying you... "I'm sorry sir but you can't have the £5000 your insured for because you've added crash bungs and they make it more attractive to theives" I tell ya what I'd drop him then and there haha
My argument is it should be your choice what you want insuring for. My bike is heavily modified and has a custom paint job. None of the mods (exhaust, pc3, bars,risers etc etc) really make a difference to the insurance but the paint either triples the price or keeps a lot of them from even giving me a quote. Now if I had the option of insuring it for half the price but only getting a standard one back if anything happened, then I'd happily do that but thats never an option
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - bludclot - 27-02-17
It's a really good question, just how far should we go? Taking it to the extreme, when a vehicle is serviced and a non-factory oil is used (in our case, Yamalube) then that's modified... Worse than that if you pick up a stone that lodges in a tyre tread than that's modified.
Insurance companies have told me more than once that a factory fitted accessory is not a modification - therefore Yamaha crash bungs, touring screens, belly pans and the like don't require declaring. Who's to know when such items were fitted however? They are often many times more expensive than after market equivalents that would need declaring.
In the event of an incident an assessor is extremely unlikely to pull the vehicle apart and check for non-standard internals, there would have to be a good reason for this to happen. By the same token an assessor is unlikely to know the difference between a standard rear shock and an R6 rear shock considering the number of different vehicles and variants on the road. Therefore, in the real world given a reasonable risk level, only external after market bits require declaring.
Considering the above, in response to the question 'any modifications?' I declare my after market exhaust and adjustable levers and then state clearly 'you have to understand that I'm not a vehicle expert or professional, the rest looks standard to me. Would you like me to photograph the bike and send the pictures so that you can see exactly what you are insuring?' To which the answer is invariably 'no.' This is more difficult to convey on-line than in a telephone conversation.
As an aside, I don't like the attitude often shown 'insurance companies are robbers' any more than 'banks are robbers' or any other organisation for that matter - it's always owned and staffed by people and far more often than not everyone does their best. We all know that they are there to make money for their owners / shareholders, they are not a charity run for the benefit of their customers. Would you rather take away the need for and concept of insurance altogether? Probably not.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Ricky - 27-02-17
I have a aftermarket exhaust and the price of it is lot lower than a OEM,one so if I have a accident and it is damaged it is a lot cheaper to replace than the OEM, so why are they charging more for my insurance? And the R6 shock is a much better quality shock than the OEM one and properly safer to ride to. It seems to me that it is a sort of black mail, that thay are going to get everything thing out of you and at a price if you don't tell them every thing.
Is there any one out there that has had the misfortune to have had a accident and claimed, did you have problems?
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - PaulSmith - 27-02-17
My wife used to work for an insurance broker, this is her advice.
If you try to claim £750 for the Akrapovic that you didn't tell them about, not only will they not pay it, but they will say your policy was overvalued by the cost of the standard exhaust that wasn't fitted, deduct that from the insured value and pay only the pro rata amount. If the bike was stolen, they may deem that the after market exhaust increased the bikes appeal to thieves, and that you need to share some of the burden, and again, reduce the pay out pro rata. If this sounds complicated, just remember that insurance companies are just bookies. You are asking for odds based on the information you supply, if you don't tell them something that changes the odds, don't expect a bookie to do you any favors.
The rule of thumb is if your mod changes the value, the replacement cost, or the risk (of crash, theft etc) and you don't tell them before the claim, then don't mention them on the claim. If they find out some other way, expect a problem.
The most common mistake on household policies is under insuring. If you pay a premium for £10k cover, and your property is worth £20k, then you have only covered half the risk. Even if the claim is less then £10k, you will only get half the payout!
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Fazer99 - 27-02-17
I'm with Carole Nash and I get asked if I have any performance enhancing mods, as far as I'm aware I don't have any but, I do have a Scorpian can but don't declare it as I don't see it as a performance modification. it came with the bike when I bought it so I have nothing to compare it to but I can't see how just putting a can on will enhance performance other than making the bike breath better.
Am I wrong and should I declare it or just carry on as I do?
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Ricky - 27-02-17
Just been ringing around for insurance quotes, Bennetts where fine with my R6 shock and end can and gave a good price. Bike sure again where happy with mods, but I am with Hastings Direct and when I told them about R6 shock said after being checked by there underwriters would not insurer me, so any one out there beware, does this mean if I had not told them about the shock I would not be insured?
This is a joke ,some insurance company's seem fine and others don't have a clue.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - PaulSmith - 28-02-17
(27-02-17, 01:35 PM)Ricky link Wrote: ...And therein lies the problem. As Ricky says, many brokers and underwriters just don't understand what you are telling them. I would never detail mods on a price comparison site, because once it goes online, it stays online. Instead I would use the site to get a short list of brokers and ring them to 'confirm' the quote and nail down the details.
This is a joke ,some insurance company's seem fine and others don't have a clue.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - celticdog - 28-02-17
(27-02-17, 01:14 PM)Fazer99 link Wrote: I'm with Carole Nash and I get asked if I have any performance enhancing mods, as far as I'm aware I don't have any but, I do have a Scorpian can but don't declare it as I don't see it as a performance modification. it came with the bike when I bought it so I have nothing to compare it to but I can't see how just putting a can on will enhance performance other than making the bike breath better.
Am I wrong and should I declare it or just carry on as I do?
I hate foccin insurance companies, a necessary evil. As far as you're aware you don't have any mods then you're not lying, but I guess insurers look for anything they can not to pay out. It seems like the buggers make it up as they go along and can pick and choose what to exclude you on if it suits them. Another thing, it's not just mods that they can get you on. They can ask you if you've any points on your licence and you have to tell them. What if they can ask you if you've had to attend a 'speed awareness course' what do you say? They shouldn't be able to penalise you for this. if you refuse to answer, they'll assume you have had to attend one.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - BBROWN1664 - 28-02-17
Mines completely standard.
As far as I know, all Fazers have heated grips, boxes and scorpion exhausts.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - ptolemyx - 01-03-17
In 2010 I totalled my heavily modified B-King :'(
I had declared the obvious like change of exhaust but had not declared aftermarket levers, rearsets, handlebars etc. Nor had I declared modified airbox, decatted header pipes, Power Commander and dyno tune. They apologised as they could only pay out stock bike value of £6500. I replaced with a similar B-King that cost £6000.
My Fazer is currently stock......with rearsets, bellypan, Renthal bars, folding adjustable levers and R6 shock. Declared to insurers resulting in no change in premium as mod's not deemed to increase performance or value significantly. I'm with Principal Insurance, underwriters are Equity Red Star. 2014 Hayabusa, 2008 B-King and 2001 Fazer100 fully comp' for £196.95 Excess £450.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - teecee90 - 01-03-17
I dont declare anything. If they find out and decide not to pay out in the event of a claim or pay a reduced amount...who cares? Its not as if the bike is worth a fortune.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - Ricky - 02-03-17
I know what you are saying but if they say you should have decalered something and did not, they can say you're insurance is inveled and 1 that is against the law and 2 if you are at fauilt you could have a big bill to pay to a third party.
Re: How much information do you tell your insurance company - teecee90 - 03-03-17
I very much doubt that un-declared modifications would invalidate third party cover, but what do I know.....nothing probably.