mgcvk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11969958

Quite interesting. Bit of a storm in a teacup about some insurers counting them as a modification!

tony de wonderful

This country is unbelievable at times, not only do we seem to have the World's most expensive petrol and insurance, but we seem to be run by little officious men with their rules and regulations with almost everything we do.

It's crazy!

alistair

I run winter tyres on my wifes Range Rover & never even thought to declare them - they are the same dimensions as the 'summer' tyres just a different make. I'm sure most cars are running round with a differnet brand of tyres than they were supplied with as new.

I guess it's a slightly different question if you put on narrower or taller tyres as they would affect the cars handling.....

They do make a real difference once it drops below about 5 degrees but as the article says, you really need a spare set of wheels & somewhere to store them.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I've spoken to 5 different companies this week to check the above, and none of them have charged any extra.

Jamz3k

I need new fronts at the moment, I used Dunlop Wintersports last year and they were great! Well they were great in my 120bhp car, may not be so great on a scooby.

stilover

I wouldn't think of telling my insurance company I'd fitted winter tyres. A Tyre is a tyre as far as I'm concerned.

I tried to get winter tyres for mine thins winter, but couldn't find anywhere selling them in 225/40 R19.

Frosticles

iTrader: (1)

They are great on an Impreza.

Bubba po

So you'd put remoulds on, or a 70mph rated tyre?

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Gary, I've chucked a new set of wheels on my car today, fitted with TOYO Snowprox tyres, will my insurer charge me any extra, do you think?

Possibly the best £30 quid I've ever spent, mind.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

The company you're with are fine.

Mind you.... i hear with the amount of snow you've had you should be more worried about polar bears than tyres!!!!

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Shouldn't users get a rebate as they are less likely to cause an accident ?

dunx

P.S. That does reduce the numpty-factor...

SRSport

May be they are thinking that you will drive more rather than leaving the car at home because you have 'special' snow tyres and are now invincible. Just a thought.

My last insurance company didnt charge for anything extra other than something that increased BHP.

SRSport

Why do we have such expensive insurance? When I lived in Spain my insurance was 40% of that in England in addition to all aesthetic mods not occuring a premium and very modest increased rates for engine mods, proportionate to the increase, e.g. 220bhp to 270 was around £60 extra not the OTT rip off quotes we get that really dont reflect the mod its covering.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Exactly right

And also winter tyres can be dangerous in warm conditions, so they will also be worried people will keep them on for the whole year.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Because other countries don't have the same amount of fraudulent injury claims that we have. (USA excluded of course).

tony de wonderful

So why don't Pakistanis from Bradford either have to pay silly premiums or get barred from insurance?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

They do.

Lots of companies will refuse to quote on 'certain' postcodes, and those who do will charge a LOT.

SRSport

Can anything be done about these fraudulent claims? For example get rid of the clear cut case of well he went into the back of you so you can claim. It is a know fact that people are deliberately slamming the brakes on in front of heavier vehicles to get crashed in to. Start asking questions like "why did you slam the breaks on", was it justified and then question whether answers given make sense taking in to account the environment, impact against any skid marks to assess how abbruptly the car in front braked etc.

Im sure there are plenty of good reasons why this wont work, after all Ive spent 5 minutes thinking about it at home on the sofa while professionals have put a lot of thought in to it over many years but is there nothing that can be done to combat this growing issue?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Most insurers are working on it, as it's killing the market.

SRSport

And that issue is a cop out and getting annoying as I have recently moved to this area, Ive never had a claim, crash, anything for 12 years of driving and now Im being penalised because of the idiots that live up here.

SRSport

...another thought, would having an onboard camera drastically reduce your insurance premium as there can be recorded evidence against people doing this? Not just that but it would surely encourage many more drivers to adopt this approach which would mean we would be fast on our way to stamping this out as fraudster can no longer rely on this tactic without getting caught out.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Unfortunatley if you've moved to a higher rated area the changes of you being involved in an accident or having your car stolen have increased.

The stats don't lie, the majority of the big claims come from certain areas.

I understand you haven't had a claim in the last 12 years... but were you in a high rated area for that time?

Whenever someone moans about insurance being high, and tell me they have never made a claim i ask them one thing..... why are you paying an extra 10-15% to protect your NCB, if you know you aren't going to claim?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

It's an idea.... but a very expensive one.
Wether it'd be enough to stand up in court is the question, and if people would be willing to pay to have a camera fitted.

And if you had a fault claim and the camera showed you doing 35mph in a 30mph limit whould you be happy when the insurers threw out the claim, as you were caught on the camera breaking the law?

tony de wonderful

To be fair car owners have to buy insurance from someone by law, so I don't see insurers on the bread line any time soon.

SRSport

I understand why they have increased for these areas but what I mean it is a cop out to have that as the solution and just leave it that. I would hope that it would be a temporary solution until laws and initiatives change and advances in technology improve. Using traffic cameras on roads as evidence for another example. In my opinion tax money would be better spent on these type of cameras rather than Speed cameras as the amount of criminal activity would hopefully be cut. I know that they wouldnt get their regular income but how much money do you think stays in this country after these fraudulent claim anyway?

Edit: Moley WRX are you an insurer?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

We struggle to get Police officers who have dealt with or witness accidents to help the insurers with claims (ie give statements), so getting them to provide film from cameras is even more unlikely.

Unfortunately i can only see things betting worse before they get better, insurers are still talking of another 20-30% increases, and as of Jan the government are taking a bigger cut of your premium aswell.

Insurers are looking much closer at where the claims are coming from, taking into account ages, vehicles, and postcodes.
Subarus, Evos and Skylines have VERY good stats with ourselves, and we're finding the increases on performance cars are minimal compared to 'normal' cars.


Tony - i'm not saying the insurers aren't making any money, but they are a business after all. That said i'm not getting a big enough share of the profits for sure!!!!

hodgy0_2

Ridiculous story, probably filed by a lazy journalist who tried to get a quote from a "call centre" and some poorly trained call centre worker put it down as a “modification” and upped his quote

total 4rsewipe

SRSport

Is that because they know that they are more likely to get battered by someone driving something like the above than when compared to say a Jaguar S type driver.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

We find people with performance cars have them as their 'pride and joy' so treat them with more care/respect than people who don't care if their car gets damaged.

Lots of companies won't insure cars valued under £1500, as someone who drives a '****ter' tends to take no care of it, and aren't too fussed if they have an accident.

SRSport

So are you an insurance company then or a broker? Im guessing the latter from something mentioned earlier.

The above quote sounds promising. My renewal comes up next month, although you probably wont be interested after my comments on where I live. lol. I dont know if you cold call my car a performance car though.