Remap and Insurance

HBC08

I'm looking to have my 163 bhp 2.0l diesel remapped to stage 1.

I'd like to be above board about this.I spoke to my broker and he said you'd be doing well to even get a quote.

I have 27 years full license with full NCB and no points

Does this mean that almost everybody going around with their cars remapped have no insurance (whether they know it or not)

zg3409

Correct. In the event of a serious claim.the insurer will.do everything in their power to deny a claim checking things like engine numbers, annual.mileage, occupation, and any modifications including new radio, non standard map on ECU, any data logs in ECU such as speed at time of accident, were seat belts in use at time of accident etc. They can check things like was a mobile phone being used around the time the accident occurred. Many cars log location and location history, in addition to speed.

That said if you wanted to declare there is probably specialist insurers that will quote high, however you are flagged as "boy racer" will crash from a risk point of view. Some insurers may only quote third party.

Many really heavily modified cars are track use only, others are on classic policies and occasional low mileage usage but it can still end up being specialist weird insurers.

Lots of very slightly modified cars are technically not insured, such as window tints, aftermarket radios, aftermarket wheels etc. Some insurers have no issues once notified, others don't touch "modified from factory spec" cars.

HBC08

Thanks for the reply.

I don't know much about it but I'd be sceptical they can assess your phone records.

However the rest sounds plausible, if you remap the car I'm talking about in the UK it's an extra £20 -£25 on your insurance, here it seems you don't have many options.

I'm surprised to hear about the radio thing,I was planning on having a kenwood put in but I'll have to look into that now aswell

colm_mcm

The only way they’d know about the phone (and I’m skeptical that they would even do that) is if it was connected

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120198280#Comment_120198280

I know you work in the trade Colm,would you have a steer on the rest of it?

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120198349#Comment_120198349

I've been quoted €250.

I believe its a stage one remap.I don't know a whole lot about it.

The car is fast at 163 bhp but for that price to bring it up to around 200 I think is a nice thing to have.

wotzgoingon

I'd say all new car owners are tracked now a days as they have that SOS button in their cars so if they were in an accident or witnessed one they can press that button and call emergency services and they just follow the GPS to your car. So I wouldn't be surprised if the car was tracking you at all times.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120198431#Comment_120198431

Not my car! It's older

PsychoPete

Personally I'd just get the car mapped and say nothing to the insurance

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120198621#Comment_120198621

I'd like to do that (it seems that what everybody else in the country has done!)

Just would be worried in the event of a claim/crash.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199002#Comment_120199002

You’re right to be worried.

Be up front with your insurance, otherwise you could be in a whole world of pain if anything goes wrong.

HBC08

Delete

mobby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120198168#Comment_120198168

Agree with this. Have a serious accident and your Insurance company will drop you big time. you would be left with a serious financial hit at best.

Glaceon

A friend of mine had a GT-R at one stage and had some work done on it, I know it had an engine rebuild but not sure what else. No insurance company would touch it on the grounds of it being “modified”. He had to get an engineers report done by a professional motor assessor in order to get it insured.

wotzgoingon

Just remap it and do not tell them. And don't be listening to these people the insurance company do not go through the ECU after an accident. Well unless you are going to drive like maniac through built up areas and mow down a load of pedestrians then yes they may go through the car more thorough but you'd be in jail anyway so no big deal. But anyway if you drive the way you do now but just have a bit more power on tap you will be fine even if you have a accident they will not go through your ECU.

mobby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199348#Comment_120199348

Rubbish .. You have a serious accident and your insurance will do all it can to avoid a payout. so it's okay if you mow down a few pedestrians "no big deal" wow just wow.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199348#Comment_120199348

It takes seconds to connect a reader to see if a car has been modified, do you want to take that risk when you need it most? The insurance company will pay out 3rd party but will come after you in the courts for the money and win as it's a civil case. The other issue is that when your insurance discover that you've modified your car and not notified them your policy will be cancelled and that's a whole other level of pain.

If you want a faster car buy one or inform your insurance company if you modify your own, otherwise you're insurance is only good for getting past a checkpoint.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199317#Comment_120199317

Often if car is heavily modified such as aftermarket wheels or new aftermarket shocks then insurers need an engineer's report to ensure car is road safe. I got one recently for engine swap and upgrade and new wheels etc. It cost about 200 euro, and was straight forward enough, car is totally legal with new engine vin on paperwork. Insurance was difficult to get but not expensive.

In terms of remap there are loads of reports of people blowing their engine within a month due to "a bad map". Sometimes the map is wrong for the car and causes issues straight away, in most other cases I suspect is the extra power causes extra strain and often the car is old anyway and driven by a boy racer, so the chances of a failure go up massively, particularly if you drive like a lunatic before the engine has warned up, and if you have not upgraded things like the air filter, new timing belt, new water pump, the engine can easily struggle and fail. Certain engines are more suitable for remap as they can handle the extra power easily, other engines can't handle more power without failing much earlier.

chiefwiggum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199348#Comment_120199348

Rubbish.

Friend of mine had an accident in his car. Was worth about 40k at the time. Was to meet the insurance assessor at the the place it was recovered to. The assessor was there first and had done his job. He had been through the Ecu and had a print out of what the spec was and what it was remapped to,about and extra 50bhp. Assessor shrugged his shoulders and said insurance won't pay out .that's exactly what happened.

Mate bought the car three years old and says he wasn't told by the guy he bought it off that it was remapped.

It's now heading for court!

I just wouldnt bother for the headache it could potentially cause you.

Hellrazer

In 29 years and having dealt with hundreds and possibly thousands of insurance claims including "serious" claims involving serious in jury and even a car in which someone died NOT ONE insurance assessor Ive dealt with has plugged a code reader into a car to check if its been in any way modified / remapped.

Read that again - not one single assessor.

However cars which "look" modified have been scrutinised more than ones that dont look modified- ie stupid looking body kits, massive wheels that dont really fit the wheel arches - that type of stuff. One thing the assessors I dealt with were particular on was those window stickers / visors with some ridiculous slogan on it that covered half the windscreen with regards to visibility.

Ive had heavily engine modified cars through the doors - supercharged Type -Rs @ 400+ hp, Hondas which had engines changed completely from factory in for insurance claims and again not one was plugged into a diagnostic. I had a Fiesta with a 2.5 duratec fitted to it involved in a serious accident and it wasnt even looked at sideways because the engine mod was the only thing that was done to it - the rest was factory standard. You couldnt even tell it had the engine upgraded from looking at the car - I dont even think the assessor opened the bonnet.

The OPs car will gain maybe 30-50 more Hp in a stage 1 remap. Fairly light mod in the grand scheme of things. If it was Id fire ahead and go for it without notifying the insurance company but thats just me - Im not telling the Op what to do.

Theres worse mods that can cause serious crashes than 50 more horsepower ie suspension not setup correctly, visibility issues, oh yeah and those wheel spacers used for fitting wider wheels - one claim I handled was refused because the wheels were held on with literally 2 threads and were loose on the day of the assessment. Wheels that are too big and rubbing on the arches was another one i had refusals for.

What I usually found was that mods that were carried out incorrectly, that is by the owner without any type of training usually were questioned more.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120200254#Comment_120200254

Great advice. OP this is the only post I would take seriously

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199002#Comment_120199002

Wouldn't be one bit worried personally, we've dealt with a lot of insurance jobs in the garage and never have I seen an insurance assessor plug a car in to check what's on the ecu. The insurance company wouldn't have a clue if it was mapped or not. Each to their own but I'd say nothing

Allinall

A lot of recommending illegality here.

Not cool.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120201003#Comment_120201003

In a lot of theft cases they ask for both keys, if the have the car they can query it to see if key was present. Modern cars have more and more info easily available. In cases where the car breaks to cause an accident the brand of car are very worried about manufacturer liability and they can pull all data. The whole "unintended acceleration" cases the manufacturers usually prove it was driver error and not a car fault.

Turner

Insurance is based on engine size, price of the car etc.

By remapping a car you are not altering that. You are tweaking how the engine runs to improve efficiency with respect to mpg and how the vehicle uses the torque created by the same size engine.

In no way does it mean you do not have insurance. Once you have your policy you are legally covered.

If you remove the spare wheel and back seats to decrease weight and increase mpg, does that mean the insurance wont cover you in the event of an accident? No

blackbox

It is ridiculous to suggest that changing the radio counts as a modification that will invalidate your insurance.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120201094#Comment_120201094

Think you need to read terms and conditions that you sign when taking out insurance.

Eoinbmw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120200207#Comment_120200207

Bull a reader can not tell you how much bhp was gained in a remap lol!

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120201139#Comment_120201139

It impacts the risk of theft, which is part of insurance. The question asked is car modified in any way from factory spec. It may seem stupid but it's used as a way of getting out of paying claims. Be upfront on any changes. It may not impact the quote.

Eoinbmw

I've had insurance pay out for cars fitted with coilovers and exhaust systems undeclared no hassle from insurance company!

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120199884#Comment_120199884

I just have to come back to this. You changed what I wrote as if I said mowing down a bunch of pedestrians is ok. Maybe I worded it wrong. But what I meant was if he drives like a maniac and mows down pedestrians then yes they may look through the ECU, but that is his own fault for driving like a maniac. But he would also be in jail for killing or injuring them and since he is already in jail it will be no big deal for them to go through the ECU as he is already doing time so they cannot do anything else to him but give him more time. Any debts he may get do not pay them and he will just get more time. Simple.