I installed a JWT chip recently, also added in some 1.2mm welding tips for a bit more boost. Anyone have any idea how this will affect insurance? When I added the induction kit it didn't make much difference to my premium but this could be different I reckon.

 

Is it even worth telling them? I mean exhaust and air filter is easy to spot but a chip is more difficult to detect.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Darren.

chips can add a lot if you do decide to declare it

It may make quite a bit of difference. I had some companies that refused to quote once I had it chipped, but were fine with filter and exhaust.

 

You also hear stories about insurance assessors checking ECUs on these sorts of cars if there's an accident. Whether that's just an urban myth, I don't know, but I wouldn't want to risk having any claim refused. :(

Thanks for that.

 

If say, it wasn't declared. And say you wrote someones car off (as well as your own probably). Then they discovered the chip. Would that invalidate your third pary insurance too? Or would they just refuse to pay for your own car but pay out for the third party still???

 

Probably no definate answer here eh. Guess I should just bite the bullet rather than take the risk.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Darren.

I'd be suprised if they checked if a car is chipped, but its possible...although Im not sure how easy it is to tell, for an insurance investigator not experienced with that particular car.

 

I've had two previous cars written off by Insurance (one my fault, one third party fault). Both cars had Exhaust, Induction and Alloy upgrades, neither declared... :slap: ...I was really worried when they came to view the car...but they never said anything and paid out fully. Although I would always reccomend declaring modifications such as those, I may have just been lucky. :nono: :x:

Mine wanted another £320 ish for it so I forgot the idea. If you dont declare it you are not legally insured. If you try to plead ignorance it doesnt matter. A neighbour who had a Escort cossi with a wiring loom fire found that out. When he bought the car he believed it to be totally stock and not chipped and he knows modding as he also had a totally OTT GTIR but the insurance assessor went straight for the ecu in the cossie and opened it and found it was actually chipped. Instant cancelled policy, at least he got his premium back but he had to pay the damage himself. The real worry is if you injure someone or worse. Its no good some clever clogs saying you can quickly rip out the chip and the boost jets before the assessor sees it. Assessors know exactly what to look for with all cars in order to escape a claim if they see a need to.

 

Maybe a low value claim will get by unnoticed but big money I'm not so sure.

Insurance Co will have to cover third party liability always unless they 'void' the policy (write to you to say 'you aint insured because....'). Any undeclared mods will make the policy 'voidable' but if they dont know they cannot make it void.

Your problem will be if you try and claim for reimbursement on your own policy.

Say you have a bit of a crash, into a tree, the assessor arrives and sees you have mods which are not declared to the underwriter...he /she will report that to them and the underwriter will say thats not the car we insured, no chance...check your policy schedule and terms and conditions that they send out each year...and when you renew they ask if it has been modified....blah..blah

I guess they could spot boost jets quite easily but how could they tell if it's chipped? Will a conZult show this up?

Only early zeds had a socketted ecu. Once you chip it you need to get the ecu socketted to plug in the new chip so if its not socketed its not chipped but if it is it might lead to suspicion that it most likely is chipped if you see what I mean. Then its not so hard to prove.

Yeah, I guess so. They would still have to prove that the chip is not a standard one though. I mean the car could of been chipped and then replaced again with a standard chip, unlikely eh, but possible.

You can just have your ECU re-programmed so there's no socket or chip. And who's to say if you chipped / remapped it or if it was done in Japan before you got the car? Surely they can't tell when an ECU was re-mapped can they?

It would not matter if its chipped before you got it, or by yourself, and indeed wether you knew about it or not, its your reponsibility to know if its been modified in anyway and to declare it.

 

Thats the Insurance companies view anyway. The last point being a little unfair, as its not very easy for you average owner to tell and especialy with imports the exact details on modifications can be sketchy.

Of course it is worth telling them FFS ... It will invalidate your insurance and they arent that fookin stupid.

 

And while I am at it ... why are you on TPFT? .. If you can't afford the fookin insurance what are you doing driving a zed FFS? ...

 

I am amazed at the amount of people driving around with TPFT ... that is soooooo fookin scary .... At leat you have some sort of insurance I suppose .....

Who's on TPFT??

Think of it this way...

 

TPFT is 400 quid.

Fully comp is 1400 quid.

Car is worth 4 grand.

 

Therefore, if you own the car 4 years and don't claim on the insurance, that's 4 grand in your pocket.

 

Of course, if you stack it after two weeks, you've lost a load... but all this is really about is who carries the risk.

 

By the time you've factored in the 450 quid excess and the loss of NCB for the next 4 years if you DO claim (which adds up to another grand at least), it makes even more sense. And then add in the fact you'll get a couple of grand back for the chassis bits if the engine dies or the engine bits if the chassis dies, you've only really lost 2 grand. So you're quids in after two years.

 

And then with a Z the risk of expensive mechanical problems is much bigger than the risk of an expensive accident anyway...

 

The only reason I had fully comp was because it was a second car, and insuring it that way with Houghton's was cheaper than TPFT with anybody else on a "normal" policy. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered and would have gone TPFT.

 

You're right in principle though - people quite often forget to include insurance costs when they think they can go and buy one because it's only 4 grand.

 

I agree with you from another perspective though - if you don't have a contingency fund that's almost the value of the car, you probably can't afford a Z anyway...

Apologies to Daz-zed. For some reason I thought you just had TPFT. Must have got mixed up with another post.

 

I see your point Zevans. I guess having another car does help if you can then put your Zed on a classic policy, saves you ££££££