'Modified'

There is a table of modifications and insurance costs on

Don't fit a car phone, use a handheld instead. Might not be safer, but the car insurance will be cheaper!

I need to fit a tow bar ...

Different make of tyres than originals. Isn't remapping on the list now?

Adrian Caspersz submitted this idea :

A tow bar has either zero impact on insurance or some even give a discount if one is fitted.

Rear end protection!

[...]

That's not entirely true. It depends on the vehicle, and the insurance company.

Often a rear end collision to a vehicle equipped with a tow bar does more damage than would be the case if no tow bar was fitted due to the forces being applied to areas that were not designed to adsorb impact.

Chris

Indeed, especially for aftermarket towbars. IME OEM ones fit to bumper mountings, but some aftermarket ones don't.

Also, as some insurers want to know about factory fitted options, it's not always clear what the exact spec was from the factory.

On the Focus fitting the Bosal towbar removes the rear crumple bar behind the bumper.

The protection is not necessarily physical.

People are less likely to tailgate you because they know that your towbar would destroy their radiators and other stuff if they ran into you. Hence they (usually) keep their distance.

[...]

Really? I honestly doubt that the vast majority of drivers even know what make or colour of car they are following.

Chris

On most VWs, fitting an OE one (often Brink IME) replaces the bar too. Ti's obviously stronger than the beam it replaces, but I don't know if it's intended to deform if hit. On the other hand, a witter one I had on a Volvo 480 (an almost incredibly shit car) bolted through the floorpan with spreader plates: really quite an ugly fitting.

I saw a TV program a good while back now (years) when a lady had rolled her car into a ditch and the insurance Co wouldn't pay out as she hadn't notified them of the 'modifications'. These were the alloy wheels that were on the car when she bought it second hand from the local Main Dealer and were actually the same as a factory option / upgrade on her car and std on the next model up.

My kitcar is heavily modified in one respect but pretty stock for that kit (using all the parts from the one donor car plus the std bits you needed form other makes / models). So, whilst it is very different from the car it was built from (Mk2 Escort), *it* isn't lifted or running different wheels or tyres for that conversion.

Fully comp on the kitcar is about half the price of the Meriva insurance and about the same for me on 3 motorbikes (the biggest being

800cc).

I fit a towbar to most of my vehicles (inc motorbikes and cycles ) and I always declare so when taking out insurance. I've also mentioned that a towbar doesn't often appear in the fairly lengthy list of 'modifications' they now display. After fitting a towbar to my BM motorcycle I squared it with the insurance Co and they said on the phone that it would be ok. When I asked them to put it in writing they said they couldn't so I suggested I would have to take my business elsewhere. I got an email confirming the cover for the towbar within the hour. ;-)

My point that having a tow bar on a motorcycle wasn't common practice (unlike on a car) and I didn't want to rely on the 'they said it was ok on the phone', should it ever go pear shaped.

Cheers, T i m

Chris Bartram formulated on Monday :

Things have changed a great deal since those days, ALL towbars have to have type approval and have to have mounting points approval. No more DIY welding up your own version of a tow bar as once was possible.

Mine goes into the chassis arm, which itself has to be reinforced. No bumper mount as such, just a crash pad - which has to be removed to fit the bar.

My guess, is that premiums might be cheaper sometimes with one fitted, simply because those driving cars with them fitted tend to have fewer accidents. Someone who tows maybe tends to be a more experienced driver.

The tricky bit is if factory options also count for my model of car from

1995?

It could even be that a higher spec model would be cheaper to insure than a budget model, but with the added factory options.

A tow bar makes the car look less desirable, therefore less attractive to thieves. That's apparently why anything which makes the car look more desirable (in the mind of the oiks), such as go faster stripes, carry higher insurance.

[...]

Theft claims are only a small part of motor insurance payouts. Repairs and injury compensation are the bulk.

As an aside, brace yourselves:

Chris

johannes expressed precisely :

I would doubt that, not much of the premium goes to pay for theft these days, cars have become very theft proof over the years.

A hangover from earier time. You are not allowed to implicate that your car is a higher spec model such as: "De luxe", "Executive", "Ghia", "Gran Turismo", "GT", "GTI", "Special", "SPORT", "SPRINT" or "TURBO".

This looks like a can of worms. Car companies often change the standard fittings, I assume that insurance compaies have this detailted information? Not!

Also, car companies sometimes issue limited specials to clear stock of of outgoing models: "Fiesta Flight..", "Golf Match" and so on. Are these classified as modified standard models? Wonder if anyone is keeping track of all this?