Chipped insurance

[RSAudi]

Been considering Revo as mentioned in previous post.

Would not consider it without telling insurance. In accident where there is a fatality ALL cars are impounded and thoughly checked ie. NO INSURANCE when upgrade found + trouble ahead. Not worth the risk IMO.
Seen many postings where people claim that Audi etc. will not look in ECU and have to send it away to Bosch which is claimed to be too much trouble, don't you believe it - you only have to get caught once!!!!

Looked at insurance and got quotes as high as £1250 (fully comp + protected no claims) with 20% bhp increase. Wouldn't cover with more than 20% bhp (no good for 207bhp revo on my car). This was Admiral and Elephant.

Best was £90 on top of normal premium for +20% bhp and £135 on top of normal for +30% bhp - Tesco Insurance. Very reasonable. My fully comp with them is less than a third of admiral as well. 2001 A3 1.8T sport.

Hope this is useful to you lucky people with chipped S3's

Pays to shop around guys.

 

[Dylarolla]

Thanks for the information. Can you possibly convert those figures into percentages of the overall premium? £90 as an increase in premium is good but then if your standard insurance is only £200 then that represents nearly a 50% increase in premium.

As I live in central London my insurance is very high so an absolute value of £90 doesn't really tell me much.

I spoke with Barclaycard and they will insure me for an extra 40% in premium for chip upgrade (21-30%) + Samco hose + Forge DV. That actually equates to about £300 in real money which is quite a bit but then my standard insurance is already £800.

Incidentally Barclaycard insure up to a 200% increase in BHP. Woo-hoo!

 

[RSAudi]

[ QUOTE ]
Dylarolla said:
Thanks for the information. Can you possibly convert those figures into percentages of the overall premium?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. My premium for standard A3 1.8T sport 2001 model is £430 fully comprehensive with protected no claims (max 2 claims per year protected) and legal cover up to £50,000, excess is £100

 

[G-S3]

Is the £90 - £135 a % of your premium or a standard charge?

 

[RSAudi]

Didn't ask them I'm afraid

 

[lost_it]

Interesting question for you..
If the engine is designed to handle a larger power output then supplied, like the 1.8t which has its power output set based on a marketing segment rather than an engineering limit of the car.
Example is the 210 upgrade to say TT level of225, where the TT has the same brakes etc..
Then arguably you cannot be deemed to have exceede the limits of the vehicle, therefore there is nothing to answer for.
It is the same as the blueprinting argument. if you blueprint your engine to manufacturing specs, then the insurance companies cannot argue that it is an performance improvement.

Therefore if the engine is designed to handle up to 260 or whatever then they cannot complain.. it owuld be interesting to have a test case ?

I think Germany in some ways have it right, I believe Any accessories have to be certified by the road authority (usually by the accessory supplier) once certified the car is accepted as roadworthy and insurable.-

I think sometimes insurance companies will use any excuse-

 

[RSAudi]

I suspect that the key point is the addition of a chip or new software to relaese these extra ponies; clearly a modification. If you could release 50bhp by simply altering a setting then your argument might hold water, however this is not possible and new engine maps are required.

 

[RSAudi]

[ QUOTE ]
lost_it said:
Interesting question for you..
If the engine is designed to handle a larger power output then supplied, like the 1.8t which has its power output set based on a marketing segment rather than an engineering limit of the car.


[/ QUOTE ]

Is this definitely the case? I've been wanting to know if the 1.8T is fundamentally the same engine as the S3 but with smaller turbo and different ECU map. Is it a known fact that the rest of the engine the same as S3 (or TT come to that) and thus severly understressed

 

[audi_girl]

I don't think everything in the A3 engine is the same as the S3. Obviously the Turbo is different but I am sure there are other differences as well.

 

[lost_it]

This is exactly what I meant to say, did say.