Buying/owning an older modified car

[Supa Dexta]

For those of you who have done this, I just want to see whts involved..

A car 15yrs and older needs an inspection, is this a one time thing, just at the time of sale, or does it become a yrly thing?

how deep do they look? if has cams an idles slightly ruff, would they make a deal out of it? Back in NS, it's body condition, lights, brakes, make sure the suspension/steering is tight etc... same thing here? (because I see some major hunks of crap on the road that would never pass in NS)

If a car has engine work, bigger turbo and whatnot, do you tell your insurance (you have to for it to be covered I know) if so does the rates go thru the roof? And if you dont tell them, its just not covered should something happed? I ask because I think it has something along the lines of:

" a policy can be canceled or refused for incomplete or incorrect information"

Any info would be great, so I know what I'm getting into..


:thumbsup:

[natejj]

The inspection you get, is only a one time thing, when you get insured. If you want to see whats covered, go down a local mechanic shop and ask to see a copy of the inspection page, they should provide one.

How unstable is the idle? When I had my old modified Scirocco the Idle would sometimes go from 1k-3k, and they said an unstable idle was an instant fail. That was just one shop though.

I wouldn't lie to your insurance company... because if you get into an accident, they come look at your car, see this giant turbo, who knows, maybe they will revoke your coverage right there, and you could be liable for 100% of the damages. As for how it would affect your rates, dont know. Do your best to get the seller to pay for the inspection before you sell, and make sure its all good.

[Sparx]

I dunno if this is going to help you out much, but from my experience most insurance companies dont really ask what exactly has been done to your car in terms of modifications. As far as i know they just look at the inspection sheet and see if it's modified or not and go from there. Pretty sure they dont really go into detail though

[Supa Dexta]

thats the thing though, I approached my agent wondering what to expect.. I have to give him a call back though.. It was just a general question, not about a specific car, so the exact mods wouldnt be known...

[EK 2.0]

My mods are all insured. Most insurance companies from my understanding only will not even go near heavily modded cars. As they have this thing in their head that you will be using the car for racing and track purposes.


It's best to be upfront from the get go as it can come back and bite you in the ass down the road.

[A790]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
For those of you who have done this, I just want to see whts involved..

A car 15yrs and older needs an inspection, is this a one time thing, just at the time of sale, or does it become a yrly thing?

how deep do they look? if has cams an idles slightly ruff, would they make a deal out of it? Back in NS, it's body condition, lights, brakes, make sure the suspension/steering is tight etc... same thing here? (because I see some major hunks of crap on the road that would never pass in NS)

If a car has engine work, bigger turbo and whatnot, do you tell your insurance (you have to for it to be covered I know) if so does the rates go thru the roof? And if you dont tell them, its just not covered should something happed? I ask because I think it has something along the lines of:

" a policy can be canceled or refused for incomplete or incorrect information"

Any info would be great, so I know what I'm getting into..


:thumbsup:
My mods are covered. I pay $270 a month for insurance on the MR2, which has plenty of mods.

[canadiandaytona]

Apparently the Insurance companies cannot deny coverage to a modified car anymore under the allcomer law thats now in place in Alberta.
I was 'denied' coverage until I mentioned this, then they just asked value of mods and estimated HP

[anhthanh]

sorrie to jack ur thread , but wat abt extiror mods IE . Body Kits and rims do u declaer that with ur insurance ???

[GTS Jeff]

When dealing with insurance companies and mods, I tell them all my mods, but in a manner that doesn't imply racing.

"Yes, I did an engine swap. The old one blew, so they swapped in an engine out of a newer Toyota. It's nothing crazy, it's just another stock engine."

"I have a lightweight clutch and flywheel to improve fuel economy."

"There are upgraded brake lines and pads to improve safety."

[Supa Dexta]

heres the breif description he gave me:

"Mods - This one gets a little messy. We have two lists of modifications that affect your insurance. The first list are smaller things like height adjustments (lowering), changes to original rim / tire size, exhaust or any other performance enhancing mechanical changes. For these to be an issue you need to trigger at least two things from the list

The second list is for bigger stuff like aftermarket supercharger / turbo, nitrous or engine swaps. If you trigger anything on this list, it needs to be dealt with."


Have to call him on monday to discuss it further...

[Sparx]

What insurance company are you dealing with?

[Supa Dexta]

ING

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by anhthanh
sorrie to jack ur thread , but wat abt extiror mods IE . Body Kits and rims do u declaer that with ur insurance ???

This is quite possibly the best sentence I have ever seen written on this forum.

AFAIK I don't think you have to declare them but if you crack your front bumper or bend a rim, don't expect them to pay out.

[stefan.bounket]

i asked my insurance about having some aftermarket parts and they said it didnt matter... price wise anyways. probably a good idea to tell them anyways though.