Off The Tracks: Insuring your supercharged car can be quite tricky
Turbocharged cars—and their drivers included—are often seen or portrayed as reckless and monstrous gears on the road. Be it on television, movies, or even video games, these cars most of the time take the bad rap whenever drivers start to hit the pedal to the metal. However, there is another industry which is not so fond of cars whose engines are armed to the teeth with direct injection nitrous oxide, upgraded powertrain, or heavily modded ECU computers: insurance firms. While the previous statement may be a bit biased, especially for hobbyists who just want to insure their heavily tuned cars, insurance policy providers have a good reason to charge more. Here are a few good reasons why they put a premium to modded cars.
Modded cars are more prone to road accidents
It’s hard to resist the temptation of stepping on the gas really hard when you know that your vehicle can accelerate from zero to 100 mph in 6 seconds. While it may be satisfying to know that your ride packs that punch, insurance providers think otherwise. According to price comparison website uSwitch, companies charge more for rigged vehicles because they have higher chances of getting into accidents.
“Car modifications, such as alloy wheels and bodykits, often appeal to young drivers wanting to personalise simple-looking hatchbacks or medium-sized cars. However, avoid them if you want cheap car insurance for young drivers – modifications are known to increase premiums by hundreds of pounds,” said uSwitch.
Owners of modded vehicles tend to omit their alterations from the quote
Knowing that insurance policy providers will charge them extra for several modifications in their vehicles, a lot of car owners tend to bury the truth and knowingly omit several facts about their vehicles. According to Aviva, honesty is still the best policy, and failure to do so will only hinder policy owners from getting their insurance claims smoothly.
“In an attempt to get a cheaper insurance quote people have declared wrong age, wrong sex, the wrong payment method, omitted car modifications or even the wrong car on occasion. The incorrect information is often so blatant that there would be no way they could ever claim on their policy,” said insurance provider Aviva.