R.I.P. 2 my Civic & Deer who killed it...need advice w/ ins
 

Hey Everyone,
Unofortunately I must inform you that my EG SI has drove its last km as it met its end when it came head to head with a deer in the middle of the day in a major Brampton street of all places. This is pretty crazy as my dad hit a deer a few days before I did with his new car as well.
Anyways my insurance company has deemed it a total loss and luckily a not at fault claim so insurance will not go up with the claim. However I replaced the d16zc engine about a month ago as it was burning a lot of oil with an almost new d16A which has basically the same specs, but did not notify insurance. Now I'm trying to explain to the insurance company that my previous zc engine had a vtec as they are saying that the VIN# indicates that it did not come with a vtec engine and that the new engine is a "modified" upgrade, but I'm certain it had one. Now I'm trying to fight them to give me the true value of the car with the new engine in it as I have reciepts and everything.
I've never had an experience like this so I'm not really sure what to do. Should I go and take off all my aftermarket parts (ie taillights, rsx seats, speakers, and cd deck) or will they give me the value of them with proof of purchase? Also around how much should I expect to get from them with and w/o recognizing the new engine?
Thanks in advance.

hmm... i dont know bro, first of all i'm glad that you are ok, must have been a hard hit to total the car...

in my expirience is if you didnt notify the insurance company of the upgrades, then they wont cover them... btw, what insurance company are you dealing with?

insurance company is State Farm

I would've said I replaced the engine about x months ago. Here is the receipt. Who cares if it's a vtec or whatever.

They'll take the repairs into consideration and knock off 10% per month.

Here is what I would do, (assuming the totalled car is in your possession)

Replace the parts in your car, i.e. seats re&re, cd deck re&re... etc., parts that you can remove and replace with your old ones or simply remove because it was an addition. File the claim (which you already have) and accept the pay out in one payment.

The thing with insurance company is that if you want them to pay more than they have to, then the extra money will still come out of your own pocket in the next few months to a year or more. Say the vehicle is worth $3000 but with the replaced engine, seats and whatnot which comes out to $5000, then be prepared to pay for that $2000 over the next few years. They will find a way to increase your premium one way or another.

My understanding of how the system works could be wrong, but that’s what I would do.

isnt state farm one of the worst or stingiest especially hwen it comes to mods?? anyways i dont think thye will cover any of the mods since you did not claim it at the time u made them, i would just settle for what they give me instead of trying to squeeze a little more out of the situation as your not exactly in the position to argue since you did not claim the mods and your modding your car which they could use against you as a 'racer'

You should take all the after market parts before you claim to your insurance.They may be right for not paying you all the things You put in. Beside you should tell them atleast you change your Motor. good luck man..

OH MAN ..i passed by that.. i was wondering what happened.. i couldnt see i was on the otherside of the road.. and wasnt wearing my glasses.. it was near bovaird and chin..
but anyways glad ur okay.. yea that sucks about ur insurance.. the best thing to do is just take out all ur aftermarket parts and sell them because even if u claim them they wont return alot of the money anyways u'll end up making more money taking them off and selling them.. and about the engine.. show them ur recept of the purchase of the engine and tell them u were going to notify them as soon as possible ...

you really can't do all that much as you have to notify insurance of any "mods", engine swaps etc that may alter your car's value so they can determine a different premium (often higher). If you can, remove the added parts if you can.

take what they give you... tell them the engine blew, so you replaced it. Trying to convince them that you put a more powerful engien may make them review your policy and conclude they don't owe you a thing.


its called full disclosure. If you do not disclose any modifications to them, they don't have to cover it. Worst case, your policy becomes void.

call statefarm pretending u want to start a new policy with them, give them no info, but ask. If i modify my car, do i need to tell you?

let me know,as this is interesting

Update: Well I finally settled up everything with my insurance company. As per the engine, I sent them a reciept confirming that a lower km engine was installed before the accident. What they did was updgrade the condition of the engine to excellent and thus adding more value to the car, not as much as I paid for but better than nothing. They did not offer me any additional value for the aftermarket parts, so I just took them all off and replaced them with my stock parts I luckily still had (look for aftermarket parts going on sale shortly). Also they reduced the value of the car because of rust on the roof and a scratch on the back bumper.

All in all, insurance company was great, did not get any hastle from them and they were more than fair with me, which was a surprise to me as I have heard horror stories. So now I have until spring to save up and buy a newer more powerful car. I'm still debating between a civic and a 5th gen prelude. Thanks again to everyone for their help.

thats good to hear Richy!