Hi
Help please.
We have a 1600cc Beetle engine in excellent condition which we wish to mothball for insurance reasons - its my sons first car and it will be far easier to get the bug insured for him with a 1300 engine which we also have, and which the car ought to have to be a genuine 1972 1300.
How do we go about putting the engine to bed for two - three years until he has built up some no claims bonus and we can afford to insure it with the
1600 in it?Thanks for any help
Tony
I didn't know an insurance company could tell the difference. If the car had a 1300 cc originally, then that is what they should insure him under. I had a mustang with a 4 cyl engine that I replaced with a very potent 302 V8. The car was insured as a 4 cyl. Dishonest? Yes Saved a ton of money? Yes
Thats fine until you have an accident, and an assessor is trying to find reasons not to pay. Thats what you have insurance for, and I dont want to lose his, or my licence, or a load of money if the insurance is declared void.
Dishonest? yes Illegal? yes Advisable? I dont think so!
Tony
Jim P wrote:
Why's that? Is it considered modified and you'll have to pay more? I would have thought just the age of the car should be a huge discount factor itself irregardless of a replacement engine of the 'modern' type. Not like it's a 2672cc type4 conversion or anything fancy..
If slower is better for insurance reasons, would the quicker you to a stop discount your insurance? IOW, would a front disc brake conversion save you money?
IMO, a beetle with front disc brakes is a whole lot safer than those stock drums.
Thanks for your reply.
Trouble is that the combination of a 17 year old and a 33 year old car that was imported RHD from Germany in 1982 is really difficult.
Some honest owner has notified change of engine size from stock to 1600, and the vehicle registration document reflects this. If I insure it as a 1300 and get a stop and produce documents from the police, they dont match. Also I cant get the (free classic) road tax because again the documents dont match.
In 1973 there was not a 1600 stock beetle except a GT or a 1303s in the UK.
Insurance quotes these days are created by computer, and if it cant find the right specification for the year of manufacture, it wont produce a quote.
Classic or modified insurance for my age with a clean record is no problem, but classic insurers will not touch anyone under 21.
So the answer is replace the 1600 engine with a 1300, change the details on the registration document and get insurance as the car is now standard and on the insurers databases.
So back to the original question, how to mothball the engine?
Thanks to all who replied with very helpful information, I will do it properly now.
Tony
David Gravereaux wrote:
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