Brisk20

I'm sure a discussion has been posted like this before but I didn't really find exactly what I was looking for. My question is this... When someone is calling for insurance for a car they ask if you have upgraded your stereo system and have added things such as rims that would increase the value of your car. If you have then you pay an extra premium on the car for these upgrade.

Supposing however someone has an older car and something such as an engine needed to be replaced but parts were too hard to source. Is the owner of that car allowed to change out the engine for something that fits and still be covered under his/her policy? Is this considered a modification regardless of the fact it does improve performace? I'm not necessarily talking about stuffing a prelude motor into a civic or anything like that... what I'm getting at is at what point do the policy holders have to let the insurance company know the changes that are being made?

Any knowledge on this subject would be greatly appreciated...

imported_t_dot_SiR

after you rebuilt or changed a motor... it is your duty to report to the MTO with proper documentation to update your vehicle information.... after you done that, then it is fully something legal and insurance can't consider that as illegal modification, but if your car is improved in terms of anything (more hp), then insurance will adjust as well.....

but most people don't report anything to the MTO anyways... and unless insurance agents stalk you, they won't know what you done under the hood (most of the time...)

imported_Team Rukus

if u replace ur motor with something of the same displacement 1600cc etc... it doesnt matter if it hads more hp u wont be in trouble but if u start replacing it with a bigger motor u will have trouble from inusrance and police from wat i hear now.

shlammed

Yea cuz they don't ask how many HP your motor has they just ask if it's a 1.6L etc...and besides if anything happens if it's a used car tell em it came like that and pretend you're clueless.

imported_GoldBadge

What about things like rims, stereo, shocks/springs....Is it that necessary to tell the insurance company? I know it won't be reimbursed if my rims get stolen and I haven't told the insurer, but would they get pissed about it?

imported_Team Rukus

the more stuff u put on ur car the higher the chance of them dropping you out even if your paying a higher premium because now ur falling into the high risk category of theft.
ur better of with collectors insurance for collectibles if ur going to let them knwo anyways.

Brisk20

well the only reason i wondered this is for those ppl who buy cars and swap engines... if they were ever in an accident say and hurt other ppl would insurance still cover it? Or would then not b/c it wasn't exactly what was in yer policy?

shlammed

You have two reasons...tell the insurance about EVERYTHING and pay a higher premium but have the security of them replacing anything that is stolen or lost in an accident (from the one year of insurance I did I learned that subwoofers or amps that are actually bolted to the car are considered part of the car and will be replaced if they know about it, also they give you money for as many cd's as your cd player/changer can hold.) OR, don't tell the insurance about anything, don't pay the higher premium, pay out of your own pocket if anything is stolen/lost in accident.

Roacho2

my friend trashed his 350 hp accord.. the beast is dead.

insurance paid him out for stock because he never reported any of it.

dunno if that helps.

Brisk20

hmm that's pretty interesting about the person property.. esp the having the sub box bolted onto the car is considered "part"of the car...

I just wonder about liability... if Roacho2's friend that smashed up his accord drove into someone and say put someone in a wheel chair or something like that typically insurance would pay out ... in this case if they didn't know he had a much faster engine and they found out does that mean his policy is void b/c they didn't know?

shlammed

You could get screwed like that, yes. You can also get screwed if you rear end someone and your car is lowered. I know a few people that were told to **** off but their insurance companies because they said if the car was stock height there wouldn't be so much damage. It all depends, read your policy.

Brisk20

that's the odd thing.. I went over my policy and it mensions NOTHING .. it just explains like different coverages, what liability is etc... it's odd it doesn't get into modifications of any kind.. I really don't wanna call and ask either.. I dunno if calling the MTO would be of any benefit...

shlammed

Call them anonymously and ask them their policies.

Brisk20

I was thinking that but since i've changed companies I have a broker so w/ out a policy then won't talk to me ... unless I want them to put together a quote...

shlammed

If they want to sell you insurance I'm sure they'll answer questions about policies.

bbor-imported

If you wanna be safe , just do a B16 swap instead of B18 etc etc...

punkindrublic

would they actually test the displacement of a motor though? what are the possibilities i could say i de bored/ de stroked an h22 to 1.6L?

and also what about turbo? the displacement remains the same just has a weird looking thing hangin off the header?

imported_Team Rukus

they wont go that intense into an investigation unless police required (ie. racing and killing someone) but common sense still applies. if the original motor was a 1.6 and now u have a 2.2 and got into an accident with another car due to excessive speed etc... you will not be insured.
also you are endengaring urself by modifying a car with a motor that wasnt meant to be in that car ie. structural safety concerns etc...no matter who installs the motor and no matter how safe it is. unless a minimum of 10 crash tests have been done to a car similar to the same mods u might have and get approved by dot you dont have a case.