Engine remap and insurance increase

Andru8

Andru8

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I am searching out insurance for when my car arrives. I am 51 with a clean licence and 13 years NCB. I have malicious damage claim for £600 from August 2014.

The best price so far from 6 comparison sites £409 from Google compare. All the quotes I have had all come from M&S bank through the comparison sites.

Out of curiosity I though I would mention on one of the quotes about the possibility of a remap. I had the options of stating the % power increase, I chose 11 to 25% increase. The price went up from £409 to £706!! I think that is scandalous increase.

What type of prices are you paying considering your ages and what companies are you using?
It'll be really interesting to see if I can get it reduced from this otherwise the car will stay standard.
 
Try Adrian Flux - they covered my last S3 with a Stage 1 map and it made very little difference to the price.
 
Haven't sorted it on the new car yet, but when we had the 8P, with map, intake and springs all declared, ours went up by about £110 for the year - I think - we were living in SE26 at the time, car left in communal car park overnight. Hope this helps. I've always tended to insure a standard car (unless it was one of the full-on projects I had) then phone up and add the mods on, seems to be a better result.
 
I guess if you are an insurance company, anyone who is considering a remap is maybe judged as someone who wants to drive faster than someone who maybe doesn't want to remap. Not saying this is a true judgement, but insurance premiums are based on risk. Personally, I would expect a re-mapped car to have been ragged more than a standard car.
 
jaypers777 said:
I guess if you are an insurance company, anyone who is considering a remap is maybe judged as someone who wants to drive faster than someone who maybe doesn't want to remap. Not saying this is a true judgement, but insurance premiums are based on risk. Personally, I would expect a re-mapped car to have been ragged more than a standard car.
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I fully understand that regarding the insurance companies and tuning. What I didn't expect was the huge increase in premium considering my age. I have read many posts where people have said it has made little difference to their premiums. I am just trying to get an idea of the price v's age standard or mapped. I was expecting the insurance to be lower than this in all honesty. I guess I'll keep looking as I keep reading the replies that will come my way.
 
Andru8 said:
I fully understand that regarding the insurance companies and tuning. What I didn't expect was the huge increase in premium considering my age. I have read many posts where people have said it has made little difference to their premiums. I am just trying to get an idea of the price v's age standard or mapped. I was expecting the insurance to be lower than this in all honesty. I guess I'll keep looking as I keep reading the replies that will come my way.
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I am a similar age to you and my premium is around £250. Post Code of course has a massive influence. Probably preaching to the converted but don't just rely on comparison sites, as some companies such as Aviva, Direct Line, Churchill etc are not included. Good luck.
 
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jaypers777 said:
I am a similar age to you and my premium is around £250. Post Code of course has a massive influence. Probably preaching to the converted but don't just rely on comparison sites, as some companies such as Aviva, Direct Line, Churchill etc are not included. Good luck.
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Thanks for that info, I'll check those out tomorrow. I live in a CF33 postcode which I think is a pretty quiet area. Who do you insure with?
 
Andru8 said:
Thanks for that info, I'll check those out tomorrow. I live in a CF33 postcode which I think is a pretty quiet area. Who do you insure with?
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I am with Aviva and in a CW postcode.
 
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Over £400 sounds rediculous mate!

I'm your age and mine is £240 with Hastings, also went via comparison site.
 
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Try Greenlight as well.

They only deal in modified cars and have always given me very decent quotes.
 
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Try admiral or elephant (same company), I'm same age bracket with a mapped 3.0tdi, 270 bhp, rs4 alloys declared. Fully comp protected, just over £200, despite the missus being a named driver ;-0.
I find the usual comparison sites pretty good tbh.
 
Funny thing for me is that the company I'm insured through won't touch modified cars if you approach them direct,but will via a specialist broker,and considering the list of things done to mine £600 wasn't a bad quote at all.
I'm in the same age group as Andru8

Also forgot....Chris Knott may also be worth a call.
 
I use greenlight and with the previous mk6 R my insurance only went up £165 from standard to Apr stage 2+
 
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I'm glad I've asked now, i thought the quotes I was getting were ridiculous. I've been with Hastings off and on for years, in fact i have just cancelled my BMW 125d insurance with them as it's gone against my new S3
 
Andru8 said:
I'm glad I've asked now, i thought the quotes I was getting were ridiculous. I've been with Hastings off and on for years, in fact i have just cancelled my BMW 125d insurance with them as it's gone against my new S3
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They all have their weird little preferences.

A few yrs back when my one of my kids was learning,Direct Line was the cheapest by far.
Next year,same car,same everything,price had doubled.
You just never know what you'll get until you start shopping around.
 
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S3Alex said:
They all have their weird little preferences.

A few yrs back when my one of my kids was learning,Direct Line was the cheapest by far.
Next year,same car,same everything,price had doubled.
You just never know what you'll get until you start shopping around.
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Totally agree.

I've had to change insurers every year for donkeys as I cannot find one insurer who can manage to be the cheapest 2 years running!!

Pain in the **** to be honest but that's just the way it is now.
 
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I think you will find that your premium is high due to the claim in 2014.Someone told me that insurance companies automatically put you in a higher risk category once you have made a claim even if it was not your fault and even if you have protected no claims, also when they ask for extra voluntary excess it doesn't make any difference to your premium...They have you over a barrel I'm afraid..:sadlike:
 
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pburv said:
I think you will find that your premium is high due to the claim in 2014.Someone told me that insurance companies automatically put you in a higher risk category once you have made a claim even if it was not your fault and even if you have protected no claims, also when they ask for extra voluntary excess it doesn't make any difference to your premium...They have you over a barrel I'm afraid..:sadlike:
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I'm tending to agree with you there. I'm starting to feel that a decent insurance quote will be almost impossible and all through no fault of my own.
 
Andru8 said:
Something is not right somewhere, Hastings just quoted me £1127 for a standard S3!!
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Make sure you check all the specs of the car with them mate, they made a total dogs dinner of it with me to begin with!!

.....................£1127!!!! ***...............there are guys in their twenties on this forum who paid a lot less than that!! lol
 
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Andru8 said:
Something is not right somewhere, Hastings just quoted me £1127 for a standard S3!!
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That's crazy.

As pburv says,it may have something to do with the claim,but it would be worth going via a broker like Greenlight as that route often gets around issues like that.
 
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S3Alex said:
That's crazy.

As pburv says,it may have something to do with the claim,but it would be worth going via a broker like Greenlight as that route often gets around issues like that.
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It is crazy isn't it! The claim I had in 2014 was for £600 for a damaged back window on my Volvo C30. Where they are getting their figures from is unfathomable. I'll be ring them up as well as Greenlight to see what they can really do. I've got to be honest I've never heard of Greenlight insurance in all my 30 years of driving, hopefully they will come up trumps.
 
Andru8 said:
It is crazy isn't it! The claim I had in 2014 was for £600 for a damaged back window on my Volvo C30. Where they are getting their figures from is unfathomable. I'll be ring them up as well as Greenlight to see what they can really do. I've got to be honest I've never heard of Greenlight insurance in all my 30 years of driving, hopefully they will come up trumps.
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Never heard of Greenlight either!

I can't for the life of me believe that one malicious damage claim can cancel out a clean licence and 13 years NCB for a 50 year old driver to the tune of a price hike at least £150 over what you should be paying??!!

..............I'd have a fair wager you'll get a cheaper price from somewhere..........
 
I totally agree with you @Simon L , it's scandalous. I've not had a single speeding ticket in 30 years of driving and I seem to be getting crucified for a single vandalism claim almost 2 years ago.
 
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A bit of advice to anyone who has the misfortune to have their pride and joy damaged If you can afford the repair don't claim on your insurance as it would likely cost you more in your future premiums....
:sex:This is what insurance companies are good at.....
 
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Another thing to try is Martin Lewis website - money saving expert. They have a section on car insurance, dealing with lots of the weird little things that can affect the quote.
Eg - name your parents as drivers - apparently this can reduce the quote a lot!!
 
My wife was involved in a minor bump (still a few grands worth though) on a roundabout a few years back. She was already on the roundabout when some twxt came racing on from the right, whilst looking right.

He alleged she had pulled out in front of him although she was almost stationary behind another car but unfortunately no independent witnesses stopped. Anyway the circumstantial evidence was not in her favour and, although we denied liability, I'm not actually sure how the companies eventually apportioned blame.

The long winded point I'm trying to make is that this claim did not cause a price hike on my insurance, she's a named driver, so I'm really surprised that your claim where you are clearly 100% not at fault is having such a big effect.

Not suggesting you withhold info but, purely as a test, try putting your details into one of the sites without disclosing the claim, would be interesting to see how much difference it would make.

Postcode, occupation, where the car is parked overnight, street or garage, recent local car crime trends can all have a big impact on premiums. As mentioned above adding other 'low risk' drivers can help bringing it down, more so for younger policy holders though.
 
Stevieb2905 said:
My wife was involved in a minor bump (still a few grands worth though) on a roundabout a few years back. She was already on the roundabout when some twxt came racing on from the right, whilst looking right.

He alleged she had pulled out in front of him although she was almost stationary behind another car but unfortunately no independent witnesses stopped. Anyway the circumstantial evidence was not in her favour and, although we denied liability, I'm not actually sure how the companies eventually apportioned blame.

The long winded point I'm trying to make is that this claim did not cause a price hike on my insurance, she's a named driver, so I'm really surprised that your claim where you are clearly 100% not at fault is having such a big effect.

Not suggesting you withhold info but, purely as a test, try putting your details into one of the sites without disclosing the claim, would be interesting to see how much difference it would make.

Postcode, occupation, where the car is parked overnight, street or garage, recent local car crime trends can all have a big impact on premiums. As mentioned above adding other 'low risk' drivers can help bringing it down, more so for younger policy holders though.
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To add to this, I had a non-fault, non-claim accident in 2012 amounting to about £500 in damages. Guy hit my car while I was parked and left a note (still shocked to this day that he did...!). Had to declare it the last few years and didn't notice any significant increases in my premium. I was told that some insurers use it as a substantial increase in risk, whilst others don't. I used Admiral and Direct Line, so seems as though they don't from my limited experience. Thankfully I don't have to report it anymore, as its more than 3yrs old.

While not a modification, I did recently move from a A5 to a S5 and my premium only went up by about 30%...I'm nearly half your age too! As above, I think those other details play a far bigger role....
 
I have paid around the £400 mark on a standard S3 with a few cosmetic mods declared for the past two years since I got the car. Have wheel spacers and rear wiper delete declared, didn't increase by much, less than £70 from memory. Getting a load of stuff done to the car so this will soon increase, but haven't called to discus by how much as of yet!

I have been with eSure for both years as they were able to offer the most competitive renewal on both occasions. First year was renewed at 6 years no claims from previous car and insurer and I was 24 at the time, clean license from new (one speed course taken, no points!) and never been involved in an accident. Renewed last year at 25 with same mods and price dropped a little as my no claims was up. Most expensive I've ever had was M&S Money!
 
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Andru8 said:
It is crazy isn't it! The claim I had in 2014 was for £600 for a damaged back window on my Volvo C30. Where they are getting their figures from is unfathomable. I'll be ring them up as well as Greenlight to see what they can really do. I've got to be honest I've never heard of Greenlight insurance in all my 30 years of driving, hopefully they will come up trumps.
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Here you go...

http://www.greenlightinsurance.co.uk/

I've gone through brokers for all of the modified cars I've owned,starting back in the Cosworth era,when the only people who could actually find insurance were brokers.
 
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Over a grand at 51 regardless of a previous claim is mental! My 8p s3 at 22 was £600 for the year with admiral and the 8v s3 is slightly cheaper now at 24. That's all with an LS postcode which is apparently one of the worst.
 
Jtaylor said:
Over a grand at 51 regardless of a previous claim is mental! My 8p s3 at 22 was £600 for the year with admiral and the 8v s3 is slightly cheaper now at 24. That's all with an LS postcode which is apparently one of the worst.
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I cannot honestly understand it either. I've had a good few suggestions on this thread for companies so i'm going to spend the next few hrs on the phone and more online quotes. I'm sure when I first did a online quote I found it for £296, I just wish I had taken a screenshot of the quote.

The next few quotes I'm going to do I will omit the vandalism claim to get a price then go back and add it to see what the difference is.
 
Of course there is one glaringly obvious factor we might be overlooking................. the recent flooding! Insurance companies will have likely taken a hiding in the last few weeks, particularly those that cover both house and car insurance.

Could be just a bad case of wrong time wrong place?
 
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Andru8 said:
****** !!!

Greenlight have a maximum price on their cars they insure, 20k
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Mine is clearly worth less....LOL

As a whole car for sure,but in parts.....probably a lot more.
 
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S3Alex said:
Mine is clearly worth less....LOL

As a whole car for sure,but in parts.....probably a lot more.
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Don't forget all the modifications done to your car over the years and the info you have shared on this forum makes your car priceless in my eyes Alex:friends:
 
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