Toyota - I'm not selling it

Henry Ford III

eireal wrote:

I know it didnt make sense at all,I recieved a letter a week after the phone call stating i had increased the value of the car and with the new value i gave them over the phone for said mod's.There was no mention of additional premium with the letter though.

I have since cancelled my QD policy and changed companys but my current car isnt modified of yet altho it already carrys a higher premium for being classed as "high performance" by the company.

I enquired about adding an induction kit/exhaust/suspension to which they said would not carry an extra premium once deemed safe by an assessors report,even though the above mod's can improve power to the car,they didnt mention a higher premium.

To my knowledge this is happening alot now and i think its a good thing,companies are asking for cars with said mod's to have an assesors report filled in from say a simi approved or main dealer.Ive yet to hear of any cover being declined and only rising in the case of where an engine has been converted to one of bigger displacement.

It's still confusing, but at least you've left them now.

They valuation thing still bothers me. You increasing the value really means nothing. They'd still pay book value and no more, unless you had an "agreed" valuation. If this was higher than book value, an additional premium would presumably have been chargeable.

An assessors report is a good idea I agree, but an expensive one.

The best advice, as always, is to leave your car as it was built.

Seanie M

optiplexgx270 wrote:

I mailed the Guards as i was on lunch and nothing to do at the time and here is their response:

Dear [edit],
Thank you for your email.It is an offence for a vehicle to have incorrect number plates.We can not take a report of a crime via email.Please make your complaint in writing to a Garda at a station of your choice.
Regards,
[edit]

And will you?

5500

@Layke im with FBD now.They still kind of baffle me,it says on there site that they dont cover Vtecs/Gti's/sportscars.I went into there office and they quoted me on the civic there and then insured correctly as a Vti.

I think it depends on who you get on the phone half the time,you would nearly want to ask for a letter to be issued each time you ring up because the next time you rings its probably going to be a different story

bspoke

Henry Ford III wrote:

Well put bspoke.

I'm not so sure about some of your theories.

Why thank you I do try. Im not sure about some of my theories at times either:o

Any mod which is "material" to the reasonable to the assessment of a risk is very relevant. Even a set of alloys/tyres on an otherwise standard car. They may be targeted by thieves. Likewise the bodykit/faux roll bar/induction kit/dustin exhaust crowd. Thieves could easily steal the car and cherry pick the valuable parts, perhaps to order.

Anybody worth their salt in the modified industry has a top of the range alarm with proximity sensors, black jax, tracking devices etc. From spending a lot of time on modified forums I have seen that most of the cars that have been reported stolen are either sh!tboxes with fart cannons, which quite frankly the thieves are welcome to take at least its another death trap off the roads or in unfortunate circumstances you will get properly modified cars stloen where the owner has negelcted to have an alarm installed.

Yes a bodykit and big flashy alloy wheels will make the car more attractive to theif but in general the owner will know this and will take the necessary precautions to stop their pride and joy been nicked during the night.

M5's and AMG Mercs for example are factory vehicles supported by the relevant dealer network. They already have their own higher insurance groups - higher value and performance - and if they are further modded the insurer needs to be notified and a higher value/premium agreed.

I should really stop using M5's as an example!Not exactly in the same category as an M5 but a Civic Type R/ Sir/ Vti have a higher premium than a bog standard 1.6 civic due to the performance of the car.

As you rightly say if you make further modifications to increase the performance of the car you should notify the insurance company but there are some modifications which in no way increase the performance andan in fact hinder it. An example would be swapping from the standard 15' wheels to 18' wheels.

Vegeta

bspoke wrote:

but there are some modifications which in no way increase the performance andan in fact hinder it. An example would be swapping from the standard 15' wheels to 18' wheels.

assuming the same tires are on both pairs of wheels, wouldn't 18' wheels give you a higher top speed.??

Fair enough they ruin acceleration

SouperComputer

assuming the same tires are on both pairs of wheels, wouldn't 18' wheels give you a higher top speed.??

In most cars its the tyre that touches the ground, not the wheel. So assuming the circumference of the tyre is the same (ie usuing a different profile\sidewall to compensate) is the same on only difference is in mass.

Seth Brundle

Vegeta wrote:

assuming the same tires are on both pairs of wheels, wouldn't 18' wheels give you a higher top speed.??

Fair enough they ruin acceleration

not if low profile tyres were used giving the same rolling radius

Vegeta

kbannon wrote:

not if low profile tyres were used giving the same rolling radius

that's why i said using the same tyres

maidhc

The point is though that you are supposed to disclose everything which is potentially relevant to calculating your quote, and let the insurance company decide what is relevant and what is not.

Seth Brundle

Vegeta wrote:

that's why i said using the same tyres

I don't follow you - same tyres on each wheel or the same tyres from the 15" wheel?
If the latter then they simply wouldn't fit!

Kimbot

What he means, i think is if you go with a 50 wall on the 15's and carry a 50wall over to the 18's then you will lose out on acceleration!!

Vegeta

jonny24ie wrote:

What he means, i think is if you go with a 50 wall on the 15's and carry a 50wall over to the 18's then you will lose out on acceleration!!

exactly but your top speed will be greater

Seth Brundle

bspoke wrote:

As you rightly say if you make further modifications to increase the performance of the car you should notify the insurance company but there are some modifications which in no way increase the performance andan in fact hinder it. An example would be swapping from the standard 15' wheels to 18' wheels.

True, but they may alter the risk of theft. Furthermore, some can decrease the roadworthiness of the car.

Seth Brundle

Vegeta wrote:

jonny24ie wrote:

What he means, i think is if you go with a 50 wall on the 15's and carry a 50wall over to the 18's then you will lose out on acceleration!!

exactly but your top speed will be greater

fair enough, I see what you mean. However, hances are that these would not fit within the wheel arches, but thats different.

Vegeta

kbannon wrote:

fair enough, I see what you mean. However, hances are that these would not fit within the wheel arches, but thats different.

yeah my bro has 18' alloys on his car and the tyres (that fit in the arches without rubbing) are insanely expensive 200 euro each, the alloys themselves weigh a tonne as well so he is going floggin em and going back to 16 or 17' inch

Seth Brundle

whats he using? Good year Eagle F1? Mine are about that price
Also aftermarket alloys tend o be heavier than OEM.

Vegeta

kbannon wrote:

whats he using? Good year Eagle F1? Mine are about that price
Also aftermarket alloys tend o be heavier than OEM.

they are chrome ones which are very nice with a low pro tire (not 100% on brand actually) they looked gorgeous on the car before it was sprayed, now with the new colour they look awful so he's going for something that suits the colouring a little better

Lord Nikon

So did I. If I was going to do it properly, I would put the fake one on the back.

Henry Ford III

Why would a bigger rolling radius wheel/tyre combo give a higher top speed?

To do so the car would have to still pull peak power in top gear, which it won't.

If it did pull peak revs, the original gearing would have been too low.

Confused

Seth Brundle

Henry Ford III wrote:

Why would a bigger rolling radius wheel/tyre combo give a higher top speed?

To do so the car would have to still pull peak power in top gear, which it won't.

If it did pull peak revs, the original gearing would have been too low.

Confused

A wheel/tyre combo with a larger rolling radius will travel further per rotation.

Henry Ford III

kbannon wrote:

A wheel/tyre combo with a larger rolling radius will travel further per rotation.

Granted, but the engine may not have enough torque to pull peak revs in top gear.

I'm still not so sure on this theory.

maidhc

Henry Ford III wrote:

Granted, but the engine may not have enough torque to pull peak revs in top gear.

I'm still not so sure on this theory.

True. I don't know since I have never tried, but I suspect most cars max out before they come close to the limiter in top gear.

Henry Ford III

In theory isn't pulling an 1:1 effective gear ratio and that coinciding with peak engine power the best way to top speed.

High overdrive gears cannot get to peak revs.

Vegeta

Sorry Henry I didn't mean just top speed,

If you put on a larger wheel/tyre combo on you will actually travel further per revolution of the wheel.

Think about a penny farthing bike and a bmx, gearing aside, if you put the wheels on the ground and rotate the wheels one full revolution which one will travel farther. The bigger wheel

Now if they had identical gearing (i.e. on the same bike/car) the bigger wheel would travel a greater distance in the same time or same number of revolutions by the gears. The speedo on the car will read the same regardless of wheel size (i think) but you will actually be going faster than the speedo says when using bigger wheels

milltown

Now I'm confused.
Not so sure nowadays, can't imagine it has changed too much, but in a five speed box fourth gear was usually closest to a 1:1 ratio and fifth, as you point out was an overdrive gear aimed at improving fuel economy. I don't think you will meet many people with cars of any age that will tell you it goes faster in fourth gear than fifth.

Also not quite sure what you mean about "effective" gear ratio as the final drive will divide the revs again by anything from 2.8 to 4 depending on the car.