Do Modifications To Your Car Affect Car Insurance Premiums?

As if you are not paying enough in car insurance premiums, had you given any thought to the impact modifications can have on your car? It may be your pride and joy that you love to tinker with, making modifications here and their but did you tell your car insurance company when you put that set of alloy wheels on?

if you have alloy wheels fitted your car insurance premium may rise

Alloy wheels added later may increase your car insurance premium

No – well you should have done.

Depending upon what sort of changes you make to your car can lead to car insurance premiums increasing by as much as 91%. For instance, if you decided to add supercharging or turbo to your vehicle that could result in your premiums increasing by 91%. In fact, even if you had your car engine tuned your premium could go up by as much as 20% because of the additional risk as your car would go faster.

Fortunately, putting alloy wheels and tinting your car windows will not add a great deal to your premium as they are not perceived to be a risk. They do add value to the car and therefore the car insurance company will increase the premium to reflect this fact.

However, if you alter the bodywork by adding the likes of a roll cage you could see your premium rise by as much as 32% or if you created larger wheel arches and altered the bonnet significantly you could be faced with an increase of anything up to 40% to your premium.

You may think this strange but if you were to upgrade your braking system, add a satellite navigation system, a car phone or specialist paint then each of these could result in your premiums going up by as much as 15%.

On the reverse side, if you had parking sensors fitted your premium could drop by anything up to 13%. The addition of a tow bar could reduce your premium by 8%.

It will come as no surprise to hear that young male drivers are more likely to have modifications like improved brakes or a turbo added and ladies more likely to have a sunroof fitted or air conditioning.

It is important that you tell your car insurance company should you carry out any form of modification as trivial as it may appear.