If there’s one thing that you can guarantee when you take your modified car for a spin, it’s that it will draw attention. Envious eyes will lock onto your drive as you speed past, teenage boys will pull their smartphones from their pockets and snap a picture, and you’ll feel like the king of the road as you watch the world fly by, the thrum of the engine ringing in your ears.
The downside is that modifications have a nasty habit of bumping up your car insurance. Whether it’s alloy wheels, extra headlights, or a tuned up engine, anything that makes your motor differ from the original spec will drive up your costs, meaning that modified car owners have to choose their insurance policy very carefully…
What Counts as a Car Modification?
Lots of people are confused by what exactly constitutes a modification. Clearly, the motors featured on programmes like Pimp My Ride are going to alter how much you pay to your insurers, but so will much more minor changes. Indeed, any alterations that cause a car to differ from its original factory specification will count, and could potentially drive up your costs.
How Modifications Affect the Price of Car Insurance
One of the key factors that insurance providers use to calculate the cost of a policy is risk, and car modifications can impact their assessment of this in two important areas.
Accident Risk
Any modifications shown to affect the appearance or performance of a vehicle are classed as increasing its accident risk. This means that engine alterations, sports seats, body kits and more can all push up your premiums.
Theft Risk
Similarly, modified cars are also believed to be at a higher risk of being stolen. Indeed, studies have shown that specialist paint and decals, ‘go faster’ stripes, and rally numbers, amongst others, all make motors increased targets for theft.
How to Insure a Modified Car
These increased risk factors can complicate matters when it comes to taking out insurance for your vehicle, so it’s more important than ever for modified car owners to choose their policy and provider with care…
Inform Insurers of Modifications
For those who choose to own a modified vehicle, transparency is key to finding the right policy. If you’re not honest and upfront from the start, you may find that your insurance is null and void in the event of a claim. If you make any modifications whilst an existing policy is still live, ring up your insurer and inform them in order to ascertain whether or not your cover will be impacted.
Shop Around
Insuring modified cars can be expensive, but shopping around should still help you to cut costs. Different insurers will assess risk factors in different ways, and this means that a modification that pushes up the price of your existing policy may have far less of an impact if you choose to use a different company. In particular, take the time to approach specialist providers like A-Plan, as these will offer cover specifically tailored to the needs of drivers like you.
Choose the right policy for your modified vehicle today with this handy guide to help you.