Another year passed, and another time I hate with my car. The dreaded car insurance renewal has come forward
What’s changing for me on insurance this year?
One of the prime reasons I hate insurance car insurance renewal is because I most likely have to speak to someone on the phone. Whilst to some degree I have an anxiety about it (because of my Introverted nature, so I get really uncomfortable talking on phones). It’s also because I worked in a call centre for several years. So I despise anything to do with phone calls. I’d much rather text, have live chats, or email, or do things online. Needs must however.
After going through checks, I renewed my insurance on my Audi for £401.97 (+£150 compulsory excess) that covers me for Business Class 1 insurance fully comprehensive. Yey, one of the benefits of being older now. I don’t particularly like sorting out insurance, but it’s a requirement for cars on the UK roads. Just as FYI, I have Business Class 1 because my location of employment is a sub-site of the “main” site, and I’ve had to travel there sometimes which is commuting to multiple places of work. So I got this to cover it. It also had me thinking a lot after my experience so I wrote this post
One of the main reasons I was hunting around for car insurance so much this year (other than it being a renewal time obviously) was that I wanted to get a quote for a modified car policy. With me wanting to develop products to sell on my website for my car, I was wanting to fit them to my car as functional items like a boot build amd carbon fibre parts. Also when I first purchased the car, a couple of years down the line I replaced the front brakes on the car.
At the time of the article, I never knew but my brakes had been upgraded to 315mm items, I used the opportunity to write the article as my brakes needed doing anyway and they were a good make compared to the non existant pads and discs that were on my car. Shortly after I went to a scrap yard and purchased some caliper carriers and took the car back to standard. I knew this was an upgrade that was possible on the Golf MK5 I used to own, however I wasn’t familiar with Audi A3 models and brakes because this was my first car and discovered like the Golf the factory brakes were meant to be 288mm.
After returning my brakes back to standard size, the car has been running on factory sized discs since 2022 and quite frankly, I enjoyed the extra stopping power I had when using 315mm discs. It could have just been the better quality discs I used, but me being me, my car needs new brakes soon anyway I decided to use the opportunity to replace my discs. The scrapyard carriers were looking a bit shit, as they were the only items I never replaced when I did my front calipers and the discs / carriers I removed have been sitting in the shed for a few years now as spares.
So figured may aswell try and kill 2 birds with one stone and thought I’d check with car insurance companies for quotes on my car as a “modified” one, to see how much the quotes would be to go back to it’s previous setup for 315mm since I already had the parts sitting on a shelf and could do a couple of upgrades straight away, and for my age, and the opportunity presented itself. I thought would be cheap
It wasn’t cheap however, for what I wanted to do to the car, and the quotes I was receiving I decided it wasn’t worth it. Which is why Iin the end I thought fuck it and just kept the car as standard. I still needed brakes, the pads are fine but the discs I fitted in 2022 feel like they’re a bit warped now, so just decided to purchase some replacement 288mm ones since the upgrade option is out the window and fitting some better quality ones on the car.
They’ve served me well but their time is up now. Whilst I’m doing it I thought I may aswell replace the carriers since the old scrapyard ones are pretty shit and the threads were messed up ever since I got them. I could just fix them with a Tap/Die set I have, but sod that I prefer replacing stuff since it usually lasts a lifetime anyway and I can simply recon them as a practice, or project.
The main reasoning why I kept the car in standard form though was the costs. I like saving money now and what surprised me the most though is the quotes I was getting from insurance. I decided to try with my existing insurer, since I knew they supported modified cars, but for the mods I wanted. They didn’t. I have read that when insurers so they support “mods” it’s basically the mods that are fitted by manufacturers (e.g Alloy Wheels, upgraded headlights, etc).
So the option was to keep the car in it’s standard form, or find a modified insurer. Surpsingly, a lot of the main stream insurers won’t bother you, and one of the quotes I got was around £650 fully comp + £300 excess for 3 simple mods (interior part replaced, larger brakes, boot build). Like seriously? Does your car have to be seriously modified before insurance companies are interested?
Some people may think why bother with modifications on a car or that they don’t care about it. However I’m old now, and simply wanted to cover my car for the hassle of keeping it correct to form. I pay insurance annually now, so just wanted to pay a lump sum and then have a policy where any new mods (which would primarily be cosmetic anyway) can be added to my policy. In the end, it was a waste of time.
You may think your car is standard, how do you know yours isn’t modified?
Are all UK cars road legal?
First let’s discuss the legality here. In terms of road legality, a lot of cars in the UK are road legal because they have an MOT. For the purposes of this post however, I’m talking about car insurance, and in my opinion, the honest answer is NO. Unless a car has been purchased brand new and has had no repairs, then the car is most likely altered in some way. It’s amazing that when it comes to car insurance, it’s a very grey area, because almost every car in the UK has at some point been repaired which is what also makes them modified in my opinion. Disregarding any actual modifications that are completely unique to vehicles.
What is the definition of a modified car?
If you do a google search for this, the literal definition of a modified car the following :
Any car that has been altered from the original manufacturers specification
Doesn’t seem much does it? Now, let’s think into this further. OK. Say you have a flat battery on your car, a nice simple fix right? Just buy a new battery and check one in. OK great, the cars running again. Was that battery from one of the OEM Suppliers of car manufacturers (one of the most common ones in Varta for example). Same as bulbs, tyres, brake pads, brake discs.
That’s why I feel it’s a very grey area with insurance and modified cars. Most cars deemed as “modified” are normally considered the ones with bigger turbos, bigger brakes, body kits, etc. However, even the simple things invalidate insurances in my eyes.
Maybe that’s why there’s so few insurers who cover modified cars, it’s too much of a ballache to cover or work out, so they work on a simple basis of sod it and don’t cover it. Really they should simplify the T&C’s and say something like consumable items, or items that are used to replace or repair a vehicle as long as they are original spec to the vehicle when built are not considered modifications. Or something like that. Then you at least know anything you have to ring about for insurance, and anything that needs covering. As it wasn’t manufacturer fitted, but was manufacturer spec when produced.
Also there’s the factor of no claims…
Insurance claims and protected no claims bonuses
A lot of insurers also seem to have varying amounts of no claims. Some of them let you claim a couple of times before your NCB is affected, and some of them simply reduce your NCB by a huge amount when your protection is gone. Let’s dig into policies further too. I bet a lot of people work on the basis that if they need to make a claim for their windscreen it’s free on their car insurance (well it’s not anyway because you pay an excess), but do you know they damage your insurance policy?
Any time you claim on your car insurance for a windscreen, it’s considered a claim. You may say it’s not an issue? Ok, read your terms and conditions on your policy. Usually if protected, car insurance lets you claim a couple of times within a 5 year period, then the 3rd claim starts affecting them.
So let’s say a hypothetical situation (which is a real possibility for company car / taxi drivers who do lots of mileage). Let’s say you replace your windscreen 4 times in the space of a year because of lots of stone chips and cracks. If you claimed on your insurance I would dare bet your insurance and NCB would take an absolute hammering come renewal time.
As a general note : If any car insurance companies are reading this article, and you want to say otherwise about windscreen claims having no affect on claims / NCB, then I welcome your input. As long as you contact me in a legal position that I can post a screenshot of the exact wording you advise me in this article with your underwriter name, so that people can use it as a reference for any disputes / legal claims if you try and punish their NCB because they’ve made several claims and lost their NCB. I bet you don’t, and if you do then I’ll also applaud you as a good insurer to recommend
Which companies insure modified cars?
One thing that irritated me with the car insurance, was that they want you to have the car modified so they know what to quote, but you can’t modify your car because it will invalidate the insurance. It’s like an annoying catch 22 situation. The person must have heard me moaning on hold (with the music playing), so they’re probably listening to you anyway. They basically explain it’s because the car has to be covered with what’s fitted at the time to prevent fraudulent claims. Fair enough I guess.
As I’ve never had a modified car, I can’t really compare policies. So pulled up a list from reddit that is recommended in the UK
- Brentacre
- Chris Knott
- Greenlight
- Good for bodykits, as long as HP doesn’t increase much, cosmetic mods are free
- Adrian Flux
- Probably better for highly tuned cars, they’ve been around 20+ years) one of the original
- Keith Michaels
If you personally know any more, feel feel to reach out to me I’ll add them on
Which companies are best for standard cars?
There’s thousands of car insurers really, but here’s a couple worth noting and why I think they’re interesting when I was doing quotes and reading their policies
- Admiral
- Claims for things like windscreen, only need to declare prev 3 years, rather than 5 year claims. This is just a crappy tactic insurers use to get more money from you on your premium
- GoSkippy
- Good NCB protection, 2 claims keep max NCB, 3rd year it drops to 7, 4th claims it drops 5
- Most insurers go straight to 3 years NCB once you’re on 3rd claim. I actually tried ringing them, but they’re sodding IVR kept pissing me off. Hence why I prefer online. If they had a simpler option I probably would have gone with them. As the benefit is if you are unfortunate enough to have lots of crashes, you don’t lose much no claims.
As above, if you know or recommend any more, please recommend and why
What steps forward for car insurance
With regards to my car, just continue as normal. My car is standard, so I just continued my policy with my existing insurer, because I didn’t want to ring around all the other ones. As noted above, I hate speaking to people on the phone, so I’d rather do things online. As I already had an existing policy (and my renewal quote was cheaper). I just stayed who I’m with now
The cheapest quote I actually got was £275, but it was with a £375 excess and most of the comparison sites are shite for passing through details (like protected NCB, cover cars, etc). It’s like they give you a quick quote, and you have to repeat everything you’ve just done.
However it was more hassle, because it meant speaking to people again when I could simply click renew with my existing insurer.
It did get me thinking though, one of the things I’m considering doing is building a site for car owners when it comes to insurance, as I’m based in the UK this would probably be UK specific unless I did a multi-region section of the site. Or at least an idea in my head. It’s probably going to be a list of all the under writers, and if they insure modified cars. Example quotes, postcodes, and also an option to one where you can do quotes / purchases online to support those introverted people like me. So they don’t have to stress about speaking to people
As for my car, I’ll still be using it as a platform to develop items like I originally planned for the Golf, I just won’t be fitting anything except to take sample photos for my site and then remove and refit the original items straight after. Best of both worlds then. I’ll still be planning a modified car in the future, but for this instance I’d probably just get a secondary car so I could go the whole hog. As I’ve been interested in doing track days and means I can keep mine standard, whilst going with a specialist insurer for tuned vehicles. I don’t care much for body styling, I prefer performance.
To another year of motoring.
ADMIN NOTE : Don’t worry about the Audi, the featured image was just a click bait picture I made with an AI image generator. The cars fine 🙂
