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Insurance With "illegal" Modifications

R33 Sleeper

By R33 Sleeper,
in South Australia

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R33 Sleeper Community Regular

R33 Sleeper

Posted
Posted

Hey guys, I know there is an insurance thread but i was after some specific advice on insurance and defectable mods.

A good mate of mine had a prang in his pretty stockish S15 (insured with Just Car).

A lady was at fault, pulled out of a side street and T-boned his front right quarter panel. Damage is moderate however he had a set of Cusco coilovers and the front right was damaged.

Just Car are saying they won’t replace it because they’re not legal? Which is true I guess…Has anyone had any experience in similar situations? Any advice on where to go from here?

Should we start looking for a used pair of front coilovers?

Cheers

Sunkist Grand Master

Sunkist

Posted
Posted

sorry to jump into another state...

but if the lady is at fault, then their insurance repairs the vehicle, not just car's.

just fight it as much as you can with just car though. threaten ombudsman. if worse comes to worse, they will atleast cover the value of the damaged coilover.

Just car fixed mine when I had my supra, without any questions.

darksky34 Mentor

darksky34

Posted
Posted

so Aaron, as a general 'thought', do you mean that most insurance companies will try to pay you as little as possible - and therefore you should try and fight it as much as possible? Though this obviously should change if you have illegal mods right?

may be a stupid question to ask since we ARE talking about insurance...

Nathan1066 Proficient

Nathan1066

Posted
Posted

I am pretty sure but don't quote me... As long as the coilovers cannot adjust the height of the car below 100mm regardless of what height they were set at the time of the accident then they are legal. Also as long as they also have at least 2/3 of the original travel.

I think that is how the ruling is interpreted :)

Like the quotes before... You just need to stand your ground a bit. Just cars insurance will on charge the costs to the at fault drivers insurance anyhow so in the end they wont get affected. They may be pushing back because they know that the other insurance company will try and fight them behind the scenes on the costs of the coilovers.

Sunkist Grand Master

Sunkist

Posted
Posted

so Aaron, as a general 'thought', do you mean that most insurance companies will try to pay you as little as possible - and therefore you should try and fight it as much as possible? Though this obviously should change if you have illegal mods right?

may be a stupid question to ask since we ARE talking about insurance...

Generally an insurance company will try and get out of paying out/covering damage on modified cars, be it just cars or whoever else. They specifically say, they do not cover ilegal mods, but if you scare them enough by standing your ground and threatening with FOS etc, its much cheaper for them to just fix the damage, rather than fight it.

Just Cars are assholes /thread I have my reasons also due to lack of payout to say the least I cancelled my policy that day

^^ This. Shannons is a much better insurer and will help in majority of cases, i havnt heard anyone complaining about shannons yet..

its funny that Shannons/Just car/aami all fall under the same "suncorp" body, yet they all take different approaches and procedures.

Like the quotes before... You just need to stand your ground a bit. Just cars insurance will on charge the costs to the at fault drivers insurance anyhow so in the end they wont get affected. They may be pushing back because they know that the other insurance company will try and fight them behind the scenes on the costs of the coilovers.

^^ yeh that.

This is all they are worried about. i have to come home and hear these stories from the missus all the time, she works for IAG which handle all of the disputed claims via Aami just car etc..

at the end of the day they'll do whats cheaper. if you threaten FOS, they will(should) fix your suspension, or pay you out for it.

initial charge fee is something like $658 for FOS, and the insurance has to pay for it - regardless of who's favour it is granted in. I used to work for FOS. insurance/banks hated us lol and will try to avoid us at all costs

R33 Sleeper Community Regular

R33 Sleeper

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Pretty sure Shannons don't insure under 25's with imports or atleast they didnt when i rang for a quote 3 years ago.

Did your mate tell Just Cars that the car had aftermarket coilovers when he bought the policy? I make sure I tell them everything ive done to the car and they add it to the policy.

It can be added to the policy but doesnt mean they'll cover it i.e. if it's defectable, as per their disclaimer.

writeoff Mentor

writeoff

Posted
Posted (edited)

Shannons is a much better insurer and will help in majority of cases, i havnt heard anyone complaining about shannons yet.

I have been having an ongoing battle with Shannons about an accident that occurred in June 2008 and they still have not paid me back all the money that they owe me.

The list of complaints I have documented about Shannons is quite lengthy and this is just an extract from an email I wrote to them on 28 October, 2011:

"To say that I am unsatisfied with how this claim has been handled would be a gross understatement. Overwhelmingly incompetence would be closer to the mark.

To write up an entire summary would take me many hours and I have already spent WAY too much time trying to get my car fixed, a job that I believed I paid Shannons to do."

This email was written in response to four phone calls I had made in February, April, June & August of 2011 regarding the reimbursement of funds for reports and repairs that I had paid during May-August 2009 and had given to Shannons on 20 August, 2009. After that email I finally received a response from Shannons and in November, 2011, I was finally reimburse for most payments. I am still waiting on $1274 from 14 August, 2009.

I can prove all of this.

This was not my first claim with Shannons and not the first time I had encountered issues either.

Edited by writeoff
ahhbee Community Regular

ahhbee

Posted
Posted

wrote my stagea off with justcars. had coilovers. got paid out. as long as they know about them they dont care

but im guessing in just cars mind the coilovers did not affect the value of the car at all. ie they wouldnt have paid you more because the were on. its a little disheartening to know that if someone crashes into me and im not at fault they would still argue over "illegal" mods that had nothing to do with the accident, mind you new suspension from nissan would probably be more coilovers.

Sunkist Grand Master

Sunkist

Posted
Posted

I have been having an ongoing battle with Shannons about an accident that occurred in June 2008 and they still have not paid me back all the money that they owe me.

The list of complaints I have documented about Shannons is quite lengthy and this is just an extract from an email I wrote to them on 28 October, 2011:

"To say that I am unsatisfied with how this claim has been handled would be a gross understatement. Overwhelmingly incompetence would be closer to the mark.

To write up an entire summary would take me many hours and I have already spent WAY too much time trying to get my car fixed, a job that I believed I paid Shannons to do."

This email was written in response to four phone calls I had made in February, April, June & August of 2011 regarding the reimbursement of funds for reports and repairs that I had paid during May-August 2009 and had given to Shannons on 20 August, 2009. After that email I finally received a response from Shannons and in November, 2011, I was finally reimburse for most payments. I am still waiting on $1274 from 14 August, 2009.

I can prove all of this.

This was not my first claim with Shannons and not the first time I had encountered issues either.

thats a little worrying...

have you actually made the complaint with the Ombudsman? I would strongly suggest it, especially if you have the grounds to prove it on.

writeoff Mentor

writeoff

Posted
Posted

I've been in touch with the Ombudsman several times.

Until Shannons actually refuse to deal with you - which they haven't done - the ombudsman can't do a hell of a lot.

The threat of getting the ombudsman involved does nothing to insurance companies. I'm sure they hear that from everyone who gets upset with their claim.

As usual their is so much bravado on internet forums but it's not until you are actually in an extended fight with an insurance company that you realise that you don't get a lot of help and that you need to document everything. That was my initial mistake and it took me over a year to realise that nothing I did over the phone was of any value as I had no evidence of it. I had to put everything down in an email so I could refer back to it and keep persisting.

My phone calls were generally ignored. My emails were not.

Sunkist Grand Master

Sunkist

Posted
Posted

yeh keeping things in writing does help.

i used to work for the Ombudsman, and 9/10 times they would shit themselves and buckle when I had cases with insurance. I'm seriously suprised with what you're saying. usually the only things we would decline cover for was when we had proof that one panel(for instance) was damaged, and that panel plus 3 other panels with previous damage were fixed under the same claim.

as soon as you get the answer 'no we are not refunding, or reimbursing this amount' the Ombudsman HAVE to take on the case, and it IS within their terms of reference.

FOS then give the insurance company a further 45 days to sort it out internally, and if YOU arent happy with the outcome, then they will further dispute it, given that you have evidence(as you said earlier) they will fight it.

writeoff Mentor

writeoff

Posted
Posted

as soon as you get the answer 'no we are not refunding, or reimbursing this amount' the Ombudsman HAVE to take on the case, and it IS within their terms of reference.

That's what said before - Shannons have never stated they they wouldn't refund anything. They just didn't refund it. There is a difference.

They have dragged this out over 4 years now. In that time I have continually paid interest the money (I have a line of credit mortgage) where as they have not.

Sunkist Grand Master

Sunkist

Posted
Posted

That's just f**ked. If I were still doing the ombudsman stuff I would've helped you out. I'm pretty disappointed in the fact that fos won't take on the case even after explaining that to them

Martin Donnon Mentor

Martin Donnon

Posted
Posted

If the part isnt ADR complied for road use then its lucky there is any insurance payout at all. The PDS will state quite clearly that the vehicle has to be in a fully road legal state to be covered. In nearly all instances coil-overs are not road legal.

elir32 Proficient

elir32

Posted
Posted

When I took out a policy with just car I lists every single mod down to the finest detail. They stated they will ensure a car that's highly modified and you are required to list the mods, but if they deem that an "illegal" mod was the cause of an accident they can opt to not cover you. For instance- if u have a 15% window tint on your vehicle and u hit someone and they can prove that the illegal tint was the cause of you not seein them then they will opt to not cover you. However stated when I took the policy they said that they were very reasonable when it comes to accidents/illegal mods. I walked away from my accident with a large list of mods with my agreed figure payout in hand shortly after the incident.

I think the main thing is to list everything, and and pursue it and don't take no for an answer-especially in this case when it's the other party that should be paying up not ur own insurance.

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