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New Insurance Initiative for Modified Cars

23K views 37 replies 19 participants last post by  Daywick 
#1 · (Edited)
This will be of interest to anyone who has a clean driving record and has been denied insurance coverage because of car modifications or if you have not declared your vehicle modifications to your insurance compay. Please note that this insurance cannot cover you immediately since a list of at least 5,000 applicants (1 driver with 2 cars counts as 2 applicants) has to be compiled before any insurance coverage (of the affordable variety) can be extended to individuals. This post is an effort to spread the word and find out who wants or needs this kind of insurance. Finally, this is not a hoax or an attempt by your insurance company to find out if you have mods - any information you share will be held in the strictest confidence. This is a new venture headed by William Dixon, a Motorsports enthousiast with his own insurance problems and an automotive aftermarket business to run. Just follow the link below to find out more. There has been an article posted about this on the Net Autonet.ca article.

From the SoloCanada Web Site:
If you are using your car for Solo1, Solo2 or have it modified in any fashion, such as lowering, engine swap, rollbar or just "Bling, Bling" we have negotiated to obtain legal insurance coverage for your ride.

If your current insurance company does not know about your motorsport involvment Solo1, Solo2, Rally or your vehicle modifications, you will most likely be denied coverage if you make a claim.

You may even be liable for any damages you have caused an accident or you are found at fault in an accident.

If you are hiding the truth from your insurance company we have an alaternative for you.

We are not just looking for modified cars to insure. We are looking for every day vehicles as well.

Minivans, pickup's, regular cars etc.

We go into full detail at www.solocanada.ca
 
#8 ·
Just wondering, does this include a bodykit?

I'm about to get a bodykit onto my car from acura, the OEM one... do i have to claim this to my insurance company?

If i dont and get into an accident, what happens? as in, when you say they dont cover the accident, you mean they dont cover any aftermarket parts that were damaged right? but any parts that were stock that were damaged will still be covered?
 
#9 ·
888 said:
Just wondering, does this include a bodykit?

I'm about to get a bodykit onto my car from acura, the OEM one... do i have to claim this to my insurance company?

If i dont and get into an accident, what happens? as in, when you say they dont cover the accident, you mean they dont cover any aftermarket parts that were damaged right? but any parts that were stock that were damaged will still be covered?
Chances are if you add a bodykit you will at least add aftermarket wheels and possibly lower the vehicle. There has been some on-line posts that indicate that bigger and wider wheels violate the terms of the insurance policy because it modifies the car enough to make it a higher insurance risk. If you are involved in a crash they can deny coverage altogether - both liability and damage to the vehicle - whether or not you are at fault. Also, if you declare your mods before anything happens they may drop your coverage on the spot. This new insurance make sense for anyone who's ride is modified and their insurance company does not know. I don't think anyone wants to be involved in an accident only to find out your coverage is denied because of mods.
 
#10 ·
Update. Canadian Motorsports Insurance is looking for 5000 potential policies to get started. As of yesterday the numbe was at 2500. If you think you might need this kind of policy please visit the solocanada web site, read the discussion thread, and sign up if your interested (link in above posts).
 
#12 ·
888 said:
I was planning to do a 1.5 inch drop + oem bodykit and stop there.

No wheeles
I am not an insurance expert, but based on the discussion threads I've been following, insurance companies have more issues with modified ride height than wider wheels. Think of the effect of a Ford F-150 4x4 truck hitting a lowered car in a 10kph rear end collision. If the ride height is lower than stock the truck bumper will be relatively higher and may end up hitting the trunk. This will cause more damage and be more expensive to fix vs little or no damage in a bumper-to-bumper hit. If it was just a body kit, then they may accept it and perhaps charge a higher premium if you have replacement value insurance.
 
#14 ·
so far i've installed the OEM kit from the dealer and DC5R rims

anyone have an idea if this will mess around with my insurance? the rims are, after all, an official honda product


btw, someone rear ended me and i had my OEM rear lip damaged. The insurance replaces the entire bumper and lip with OEM parts no problem
 
#15 ·
Krisen Type-S said:
so far i've installed the OEM kit from the dealer and DC5R rims

anyone have an idea if this will mess around with my insurance? the rims are, after all, an official honda product


btw, someone rear ended me and i had my OEM rear lip damaged. The insurance replaces the entire bumper and lip with OEM parts no problem
My interpretation of the insurance threads I've been following is that OEM parts and factory upgrade kits are acceptable to the Insurance company. This is because the manufacturer is required to comply with Canadian road safety laws and regulations for every car and model they manufacture and this includes body kits, suspension, wheels and engine upgrades. Be aware that some of these mods may increase your premiums (engine upgrades in particular) as they effectively create a different model of the vehicle. To be safe consult your Insurance company BEFORE you invest in any OEM mods.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Facility insurace is much more expensive than regular insurance. Facility insurers estimate their clients are a higher claim risk - because of their driving record or simply because they have modified their car - and can charge up to 3+ times more than the regular rate.

I know of someone who had regular insurance with company X and that company decided to get out of auto insurance altogether. They dropped all their customers and suggested to them or their brokers other companies to deal with. This guy's insurance broker then shopped for another insurance company Y and submitted the desired coverage terms. Company Y ran a check on his driving record and found 1 at-fault accident and a few minor traffic violations within a recent period of time. Company Y said that the client no longer qualified for regular rates and offered facility insurance. So instead of paying $1000 a year he wound up with a $3000+ yearly premium on facility insurance.

Therefore if an insurance company sees coilovers on a car, they may not care if the customer is already on facility insurance - since the customer is paying the higher rate and they've accepted that risk considering his/her driving record and/or mods.
 
#22 ·
CarNut said:
I am not an insurance expert, but based on the discussion threads I've been following, insurance companies have more issues with modified ride height than wider wheels. Think of the effect of a Ford F-150 4x4 truck hitting a lowered car in a 10kph rear end collision. If the ride height is lower than stock the truck bumper will be relatively higher and may end up hitting the trunk. This will cause more damage and be more expensive to fix vs little or no damage in a bumper-to-bumper hit. If it was just a body kit, then they may accept it and perhaps charge a higher premium if you have replacement value insurance.
so how about all them lifted trucks out there? I myself am in an OEM upgrade mode,dropped my car an inch.
so your bascally telling me that if a lifted Chevy avalanche rear ended me, both of us will have our insurance policies revoked and be SOL? dont make much sense to me.
 
#23 · (Edited)
CarNut said:
I am not an insurance expert, but based on the discussion threads I've been following, insurance companies have more issues with modified ride height than wider wheels. Think of the effect of a Ford F-150 4x4 truck hitting a lowered car in a 10kph rear end collision. If the ride height is lower than stock the truck bumper will be relatively higher and may end up hitting the trunk. This will cause more damage and be more expensive to fix vs little or no damage in a bumper-to-bumper hit. If it was just a body kit, then they may accept it and perhaps charge a higher premium if you have replacement value insurance.
besides the fact that even stock an F-150 bumper would miss the bumper and smash the tails and hatch on a stock RSX? Also considering half of those 150's get lift kits, you get the picture.
This is a problem in general with the auto industry today. Its also why you noticed starting in 2001 that new models of cars became taller, raised floors, higher doors before the window starts etc. They demanded cars be redesigned this way because of the popular SUV's out there. I have read a few articles out there how they wanted to increase weights of cars to compensate the weights of SUV's, what a joke, besides, their research found the opposite was true, reducing weight of the SUV's saved more "lives" than increasing the weight of cars.
It goes both ways though, lowering cars is a problem, but so are the lifted trucks.

Tire width can be a problem too, especially if you go outside the limits of specs for the rim width. 225s on the stock 16s can become unstable in cornering due to flexing, and if the insurer could prove that was the cause? theres a chance they claim can be revoked. It happened to a friend of mine back in Alberta, rolled his car but insrance denied his claim because he had "oversized" tires on his rims and tire failure led to the roll.
 
#24 ·
Zolutar said:
so how about all them lifted trucks out there? I myself am in an OEM upgrade mode,dropped my car an inch.
so your bascally telling me that if a lifted Chevy avalanche rear ended me, both of us will have our insurance policies revoked and be SOL? dont make much sense to me.
Sorry , I haven't bee following this forum/thread much lately. :eek: I'll bet if the insurance company(ies) had a chance to deny coverage on both vehicles it would make sense to them... :p
 
#25 ·
Zolutar said:
besides the fact that even stock an F-150 bumper would miss the bumper and smash the tails and hatch on a stock RSX? Also considering half of those 150's get lift kits, you get the picture.
This is a problem in general with the auto industry today. Its also why you noticed starting in 2001 that new models of cars became taller, raised floors, higher doors before the window starts etc. They demanded cars be redesigned this way because of the popular SUV's out there. I have read a few articles out there how they wanted to increase weights of cars to compensate the weights of SUV's, what a joke, besides, their research found the opposite was true, reducing weight of the SUV's saved more "lives" than increasing the weight of cars.
It goes both ways though, lowering cars is a problem, but so are the lifted trucks.

Tire width can be a problem too, especially if you go outside the limits of specs for the rim width. 225s on the stock 16s can become unstable in cornering due to flexing, and if the insurer could prove that was the cause? theres a chance they claim can be revoked. It happened to a friend of mine back in Alberta, rolled his car but insrance denied his claim because he had "oversized" tires on his rims and tire failure led to the roll.
Agreed about ride height and vehicle weight. I confess that I am annoyed at the popularity of SUVs... Many people who have them simply don't need them. I really don't understand the "prestige" or "status" that comes from owning such large vehicles when you don't have any real off-road or hauling requirements. Someone who could just as conveniently drive a sedan or wagon will easily pay upwards of fifty-sixty grand for large SUV. They could pay the same for a BMW/Mercedes/Lexus/Acura/Infinity/Audi or other luxury brand and have all the "prestige" and "status" they need plus a more fuel efficient vehicle that will get them around town just as well as an SUV.

As for "oversized" tires, the real issue is putting them on the narrow stock 16" rims. A 225mm wide tire is at the narrowness limit on the 6.5 inch width of the stock RSX rims - according to most tire manufacturers. This means that there is more "flex" or tire deflection at the sidewall since it forces the tire inward toward the rim lip at a steeper angle. Thus a tire that is judged too wide, such as a 245mm wide tire, would fail as you described above. However a tire shop should never even consider mounting such a tire on the stock rim - they should know better. Insurance companies set their rates for vehicle and driver based on stock tire size and performance level. If you buy a wider tire you can see how they interpret the modification (anything different from stock) as the cause of the accident... :rolleyes:
 
#26 ·
I few years ago someone tried to steal my SiR, they failed due the alarm I had. When the car was towed to the dealer they broke the OEM front skirt. I didnt relieze this till I picked up the car. The insurance company called me and said they would'nt cover it because the car was too low. THE SUSPENSION WAS STOCK......the conversation got out of control and the insurance agent "had to discontinue our conversation". I was f'in pissed to say the least.
 
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