Summary
- Modified insurance covers aftermarket additions to your car, providing total coverage for your personalized ride, giving peace of mind.
- Certain modifications, such as wheels, body mods, paint, suspension upgrades, and engine upgrades, should be covered by modified insurance.
- Modified insurance ensures that the parts you’ve spent thousands on are covered and may even lower your premium if certain modifications minimize risk.
Modified insurance is a specialist type of car insurance cover which gearheads everywhere can benefit from, as doubtless so many of us have spent thousands of dollars personalizing our treasured rides.
It’s part of our passion to swap out mechanical or cosmetic parts, especially on performance cars, as we seek to improve the output of the engine, or try to create a more aggressive look on the road.
Mods for sports cars don’t come cheap, and so the logic behind modified insurance quickly becomes apparent, especially to those who have worked tirelessly to create something they can be proud of. Read on to discover the hidden benefits of this specialist insurance cover, and exactly how it can bring added peace of mind to your life.
Information has been gathered from sources such as PolicyGenius and Hagerty, in order to bring you everything you need to know about modified car insurance.
What Is Modified Insurance, And Do I Need It?
Every car on the road needs insurance, as you’ll know, in order to be protected from incidents and vandalism. As any insurance document will tell you before you take out the policy, it’s imperative that you provide the correct information from the outset, or you could run the risk of having your policy voided when the time comes to claim.
That means notifying the insurer of exactly what type of car you own, the type of mileage you expect to cover, and of course personal details about yourself, and any motoring convictions you may have against you. What you may not know though, is that you also need to declare any and all modifications that your car may have.
This is where a modified insurance comes into play as, unlike other insurance companies, they will cover the aftermarket additions made to your car, providing total coverage for your pride and joy. After all, why spend thousands tailoring your ride to you, if it could all be lost in a simple accident, theft, or act of vandalism?
What Counts As A Modification To The Insurance Companies?
This brings into the equation, what exactly does count as a modification to the insurance companies, and what do you need to declare? There’s no need to get carried away, don’t go calling up your provider every time you buy a new AUX cord for example, but if you have exchanged any of the below factory items for aftermarket versions, then after these changes, you should absolutely be considering modified insurance.
Different Types Of Modifications That You Should Cover
- Wheels; we’ll bet this is one of the most common mods done by gearheads everywhere, and it can be quite costly too. If you’ve installed a flash set of new rims to your pride and joy, modified insurance is for you.
- Body mods; a great way to transform the look of your car, whether you’ve fitted a wide-body kit, or simply exchanged your Type-S bumper for a Typer-R style, OEM or not this is something worth protecting with specialist cover.
- Paint; if you’ve gone to the trouble of swapping out bumpers, and fitting wide arches, the chances are you might have a trick paint job too. This is another mod which specialist insurers can protect, which is well worth looking into, as often flashy exteriors can attract vandalism from jealous folk.
- Custom suspension; whether you’ve just finished building an awesome low-rider, lifted your pickup truck, or installed coilovers on your track-toy, suspension can, and should, be covered. After all, suspension upgrades can easily run into thousands of dollars, so imagine how disappointed you would be if your pride and joy was stolen, and the insurer only paid out a stock valuation.
- Engine upgrades; something like a big turbo setup, or custom fuel system upgrade, can easily be protected by a specialist modified car cover.
The bottom line is, modifying a car will in turn modify its valuation, and some insurers may even consider if you carried out these mods on your own, or if a professional company did the work.
Here’s How Modified Insurance Could Help You
The big benefit we have already covered, modified insurance is the only way to ensure the parts you’ve spent thousands of dollars on are actually covered, and will be paid out for in the event of a claim.
Perhaps more worryingly, if you do find yourself involved in an incident, either your or the other cars’ insurance company may not pay out, if it’s revealed that your car has been modified without notifying your insurer. This will of course leave you massively out of pocket!
Here’s something that many people don’t often consider, the fact that some modifications may actually lower your insurance premium. Just think about it, installing something like an upgraded anti-theft device, or reverse camera, will minimize the risk of a claim being necessary. Some insurers will look upon this with reason, and ultimately lower the cost of your premium, as their risk of paying out is reduced. A win-win situation, and a great reason to consider modified insurance.
Modified insurance will usually have higher premiums than standard car insurance, but it’s for a reason, and if the day should come in which you need to make a claim, you’ll thank your previous self for taking out the correct policy. Perhaps even consider factoring in the added cost of modified insurance into the modifying process itself, and then it may not seem like such an additional burden come renewal day.
Here’s How To Buy Modified Insurance
It’s highly recommended to do your research first, before carrying out any desired modifications, as you won’t want a nasty surprise when notifying your insurer after, and occurring a huge increase in premiums. PolicyGenius actually let you estimate the rise in premium before you carry out the work, which may save you in the long-run.
However, the first thing to do is actually check whether your current provider will offer cover for modifications, and if not, you may wish to consider a different insurance company. Here’s a list of companies to consider for modified insurance, although it’s not exhaustive, so still check if your current provider can help first, if you don’t see them on the list.
Top Modified Insurers To Consider
- Hagerty
- J.C. Taylor
- Condon Skelly
- Grundy
- American National
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.