Insurance Companies

[Tango]

Got my renewal for the IS250 in the post this week from Livingstones Warman...so decided to see if the Nodding Dog could quote me cheaper. ...

Good news was that like for like (fully Comp/Protected no claims/Legal Insurance/Excess) the noddy dog was £56.20 cheaper :D ...and that included uprated courtesy car to match mine if I was ever without

Bad news was when I mentioned the modifications, particularly the new rims . That'll be £65 more then sir 'cos you've added to the value of the car....no I haven't says I, I've taken 4 wheels off and replaced them with four more of approximately the same cost.

'No..you've spent £1700 more on the car so it's worth more, and what's more they're more attractive to thieves so are higher risk'......

'You're no help to me Noddy Dog..bye bye' :doggy: :tsktsk:

Longer conversation with Livingstones Warman on the same subject and checks back with the Insurance provider (NIG) with end result...no change to renewal quote of £320.75 :D Result..

[IanCornwall]

I am with The damn annoying dog and I can beleive what they said as they said the same to me about wheels and tyres while I was discussing fitting nitrous to my GS300

I talked over the mods with their tuning specialist to check out what extra insurance for what I was planning, 150bhp+ Nitrous kit and they quoted an extra £95 a year

This was as long as I don't change the wheels and tyre sizes or fit wheel spacers or change the suspension set ups

According to their statistics, tuned cars with different wheel or suspension combinations are a massively higher accident risk, apparently changing the wheels, tyre sizes or suspension messes up the ABS and braking and they don't like cars that differ in that way

Like all insurance companies they all have differing views on what is bad for them

I mean to say, some companies even reckon girlies are better risks than men, where do they get that idea from

Havent they worked out yet that the wives have the bump and as they are sat at home all day doing their nails and hosting bodyshop and summers parties, they get the mail first and fill in the insureance claim forms stating their hubby was driving the car that hit the other car as he was doing his make up or he was distracted as he was digging into the cavern of his handbag to answer his pink mobile phone

[Tango]

According to their statistics, tuned cars with different wheel or suspension combinations are a massively higher accident risk, apparently changing the wheels, tyre sizes or suspension messes up the ABS and braking and they don't like cars that differ in that way

That's crap..the overall diameter of the wheels stays the same and doesn't make any difference to the ABS or braking. Their statistics mislead them due to the number of young male drivers who purchase their first car, probably a low end and fairly old model and the first mod is...a set of non OEM wheels...and (unlike the people on this forum ;) ) don't take any care in correcting the geometry for the change in suspension and wheel size.

NIG through Livingstones have a different view and look at it in terms of the value of the rims against the overall value of the car i.e they don't like it when peeps pay 20% or more of what their car's worth on new alloys.

[IanCornwall]

Tango

I had the same thought as you, if the diameter is the same etc etc, how can this affect stuff, and I do agree with you that the first "tuning mod" is a set of wheels that look cool, are bigger wider and as much good as a trap door in a canoe, but psychologically they must make me go around corners at least 10 mph faster add a go faster stripe and your now 30mph faster in a straight line

Then I put on my thinking head :duh:

There is more to changing the wheels than the diameter, there are also changes to the weight and sometimes offset of the wheel, the design and manufacture of an alloy wheel can often be a lot more or a lot less than the steel rim that it replaces, this does affect spring and shock rebound rates and handling can be seriously changed, sometimes not for the better

Also many people who change to alloys, spend a small fortune on the look of the alloys, then find they have no money left to fit a decent tyre, so they buy a cheapy deal set of 4 tyres and wheels, and the only way they can do them at that price is the tyres are rubbish for performance.

As well as changing the diameter of the wheel there is often a change in width of the wheel and tyre, a wheel / tyre combination places a certain footprint of rubber on the ground, in the dry or on softer ground there is no doubt that the bigger the footprint the better

In the wet though things change, a bigger rubber footprint spreads the weight of the tyre across more of the road, this means that the water is not under so much pressure and doesnt get dispersed so efficiently by the tyres and aquaplaning is technically more possible

As you say apart from the more knowlegable among the driving fraternity, there is more to be gained by having the geometry set up correct, and a really good set of tyres than just new wheels

[Tango]

That was my point...unless you find a knowledgable, understanding Insurance Company you end up paying for those contributing to the accident statistics. The noddy :doggy: wouldn't/couldn't understand the changes made, i.e. cast alloys changed for forged, suspension stiffened, tyres and geometry improved etc.

Just wondering now with the forecast blizzards if I now need to tell the Insurance Company that the OEM alloys will go back on for a couple of months with winter tyres.... ?