Insuring a highly modded car

[rexload]

So I have been thinking about something. I have the Integra now as my fun car and I've been daily driving it a lot as well. Bought the car for 5.5K and put 2.5K into it.
I have full coverage insurance on it right now - so I know I will not lose all of my money should the car get stolen.

Now, suppose I put another 5K into the car. At that point I'll have a total of around 13K invested(cough*wasted) in it. So if the car gets stolen, I only get maybe 5K from my insurance and I lose 8K.

So here is the question - is there a way to insure a modified car for more than what its value is? How expensive would it be? Would the car have to go through some type of inspection, etc...?

Thoughts?

[h22sparkle]

So I have been thinking about something. I have the Integra now as my fun car and I've been daily driving it a lot as well. Bought the car for 5.5K and put 2.5K into it.
I have full coverage insurance on it right now - so I know I will not lose all of my money should the car get stolen.

Now, suppose I put another 5K into the car. At that point I'll have a total of around 13K invested(cough*wasted) in it. So if the car gets stolen, I only get maybe 5K from my insurance and I lose 8K.

So here is the question - is there a way to insure a modified car for more than what its value is? How expensive would it be? Would the car have to go through some type of inspection, etc...?

Thoughts?

It depends on the company. Yes it will be more it depends on how much invested and how much the company wants to pay you back. Seriously from my point of view it is a flip the coin toss issue here. Even if you do pay more, there is still no guarantee if the insurance company feels obligated to pay you for the amount that you invested. That is the risk you take my dude. Every car is an investment that you are not likely to get back even if its stolen or sold off. This hobby is a take it as they come and whatever happens happens.

[sideswipe]

I'm insured through State Farm and I have mod insurance on mine. For every $1k in mods it's only an extra $1 a month on my policy. Well worth it just in case something was to happen to it.

[deevergote]

You'll most likely have to disclose the amount of modifications in detail, and perhaps even provide receipts to prove that the car has that much money into it. They'd have to be willing to cover it, as a modified car (in their eyes) is at much greater risk for theft AND for accidents.
Modifications are also something that an insurance company can't accurately assess and depreciate. If you crash your brand new $20,000 car after a year and a half, and 15,000 miles, the insurance company has a formula to tell them how much money that car is worth to replace.
However, what's the depreciation value of a turbo? Of a fuel management system? Of a custom suspension? That can get tricky!


You WILL be paying more, obviously.
I would call around to OTHER insurance companies and see what they can do. My insurance company doesn't know (and will never know) that my car isn't completely stock. I don't want them to know, lest they drop me, or attempt to raise my rates.

[h22sparkle]

You'll most likely have to disclose the amount of modifications in detail, and perhaps even provide receipts to prove that the car has that much money into it. They'd have to be willing to cover it, as a modified car (in their eyes) is at much greater risk for theft AND for accidents.
Modifications are also something that an insurance company can't accurately assess and depreciate. If you crash your brand new $20,000 car after a year and a half, and 15,000 miles, the insurance company has a formula to tell them how much money that car is worth to replace.
However, what's the depreciation value of a turbo? Of a fuel management system? Of a custom suspension? That can get tricky!


You WILL be paying more, obviously.
I would call around to OTHER insurance companies and see what they can do. My insurance company doesn't know (and will never know) that my car isn't completely stock. I don't want them to know, lest they drop me, or attempt to raise my rates.

Your exactly correct deev. Not only that they put you on a more risk assesssment and try to sneak shit up on you too. every situation and location varies from state to state on the charges. Not only that some insurance companies not all can literally shit on you once you try to make a claim and change shit around as they see fit.

If it gets stolen and they do cover it they can do a claim assessment. This is where they charge you interest and raise your rates so they get the money back anyway,basically your paying them back slowly through your higher rate charge.

[9DUBWISE]

Insurance Company = The biggest scam artists EVER! If they don't want to pay for it then they will not. They have better lawers and don't give a rats ass about anything except you paying them. I used to do Geico work and they would say "that is previous or unrelated damage" when clearly it was from the same accident. It's all about the numbers to them. So when they get audited if they have a low number of payouts they look good. But do what you can to cover your ass.

[deevergote]

I wouldn't say they're scam artists. They're not in business to give you money. They're in business to make money, and pay out as little as possible.

[rexload]

Sounds like most of you guys don't think it is worth it. I will have to talk to my insurance and see what they say without telling them that the car is modded.

When I had my Saab, I just had the cheapest insurance I could find, liability only, ~15 a month. So I saved a few thousand that way over the years by not having full coverage on that car. I wasn't worried about it getting stolen and I knew if I hit a deer, there is probably not going to be much damage because that car was a tank lol.
With my Civic I used to have, I followed a similar strategy because the car wasn't very valuable.

Now I pay nearly 60 a month for my Integra for full coverage. Main reason is because there is so much deer around here. I wouldn't mind paying even more... but you guys are right, there is probably no guarantee that I would get my "mod money" if something happens to the car.
Maybe it was a dumb idea. Because I should be able to remove at least some valuable parts from the car if say it gets totaled. And if it gets stolen.. well maybe I should just get crazy with kill switches and call it a day.

I'm insured through State Farm and I have mod insurance on mine. For every $1k in mods it's only an extra $1 a month on my policy. Well worth it just in case something was to happen to it.

Interesting - an extra $1 a month for every 1K in mods... But does that mean that if you have 10K in mods and somebody hits you and totals the car, you get fair market value + the 10K? or a portion of 10K?

[deevergote]

Wow... I keep forgetting how cheap insurance is elsewhere in the country. I've paid over $100 for liability, and I have a clean record.

[Ralphie]

What I want to know is how you paid 15 a month for insurance and 60 a month for full coverage?

were paying 60 a month for liability on the 02 accord.

[rexload]

Clean driving record maybe?
My insurance used to be $2200 a year when I was 19 and had a brand new car.
Then it just kept dropping and dropping. I was paying under 200 a year for my Civic when I had it.
And when I had a Mustang GT yearlier this year - it was 170 a year for that car. Nobody believes me but that is what it was. Liability only, no driving during the winter months, plus multiple car discount. 170 a year lol I don't have that car anymore though.

[sideswipe]

Interesting - an extra $1 a month for every 1K in mods... But does that mean that if you have 10K in mods and somebody hits you and totals the car, you get fair market value + the 10K? or a portion of 10K?

Just like you said...........if the car gets totalled I get fair market value and then the amount I have insured on top of that for the mods.......which in my case is $2k and will soon be changed to $3k. They took several pics of the car and also asked what some of mods were that had been done. Couldn't pass it up considering that trade-in value on a stock, clean CB is right at $2k if not less already. On a side note, I do have full coverage on the car (always have ) as well and I believe that's a requirement for this extra mod ins.

[HondaB18]

Clean driving record maybe?
My insurance used to be $2200 a year when I was 19 and had a brand new car.
Then it just kept dropping and dropping. I was paying under 200 a year for my Civic when I had it.
And when I had a Mustang GT yearlier this year - it was 170 a year for that car. Nobody believes me but that is what it was. Liability only, no driving during the winter months, plus multiple car discount. 170 a year lol I don't have that car anymore though.

You must be under your parent's name or you are old.

[Accrdwgnguy]

agreed value, ask your agent about it

[h22-accord]

when i had my show cb7 i need to get apraise and give the spraise to the ins company