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It really comes down to whether the illegal modification contributed to the accident or not. Things like slicks in the wet etc. They're not gonna void a rear ender because you have a hollinger.

10 hours ago, Birds said:

It really comes down to whether the illegal modification contributed to the accident or not. Things like slicks in the wet etc. They're not gonna void a rear ended because you have s hollinger.

That's the way I understood it when I joined them. If you have done nothing illegal and did not cause the accident your claim should/ would be paid. Has it changed in the past 2 years ??

Comprehensive insurance is compreshensive - even if you caused the accident / were at fault they will pay you out. This includes losing control of the vehicle, which unless they can prove an illegal or unroadworthy modification was responsible for, you should be fine with.

The secret with insurance is to check your product disclosure statement - every legal condition is written in there and that's the wording they will base a case on should a claim ever be challenged or should you ever have to take your insurance company to court over not paying you out. Make sure your vehicle/behaviour complies with the PDS and you're good.

14 hours ago, Ben C34 said:

Has that ever happened?

A friend of mine recently had an accident with his GTR. He is with RACV and it's currently under investigation. They're going through everything with a fine tooth comb. I'm of the opinion they're looking for a chance to get out of paying. Insurance value is 100k. 

They're questioning the mods. I'm interested to see what happens. Investigator mentioned that anyone with this policy is subject to their investigation which included a 5 hour questioning of the incident. 

3 hours ago, Birds said:

Comprehensive insurance is compreshensive - even if you caused the accident / were at fault they will pay you out. This includes losing control of the vehicle, which unless they can prove an illegal or unroadworthy modification was responsible for, you should be fine with.

The secret with insurance is to check your product disclosure statement - every legal condition is written in there and that's the wording they will base a case on should a claim ever be challenged or should you ever have to take your insurance company to court over not paying you out. Make sure your vehicle/behaviour complies with the PDS and you're good.


I'm pretty sure most policies state that your covered provided your car has "legal" modifications. Even things like an aftermarket ECU is not legal. if they want to get out of paying you, they can. You can't trust any of them really. 

19 minutes ago, ShortCircuit said:


I'm pretty sure most policies state that your covered provided your car has "legal" modifications. Even things like an aftermarket ECU is not legal. if they want to get out of paying you, they can. You can't trust any of them really. 

They just wont cover the cost of replacement of the said illegal or non agreed modifications in the case of a claim. I posed the question to my insurer about an un-engineered roll  cage i have in my car, their policy clearly states they don't cover roll cages. That was the answer i got. Unless the insurer can prove beyond reasonable doubt that your modification caused the accident/incident, it will have no impact on a claim. 

 

 

  • Like 2
6 minutes ago, ShortCircuit said:


I'm pretty sure most policies state that your covered provided your car has "legal" modifications. Even things like an aftermarket ECU is not legal. if they want to get out of paying you, they can. You can't trust any of them really. 

This is usually to account for a situation where that illegal modification contributed to an accident, or cover replacement/cost of modifications when making a total loss claim. Like I said, the interpretation is in the exact wording of your individual PDS as they all differ.

I don't trust insurance companies either, but rest assured they have reputations to look after and still have to operate within what you can rationally argue in a tribunal. Your car making more power from an ECU isn't grounds for denial of a claim any more than a Ferrari over a Hyundai because the former is capable of going faster. Most exhaust systems are illegally loud but cannot possibly contribute to an accident because of this. The illegal modifications they are concerned about need to have an impact, e.g. your non factory HIDs blinded an oncoming driver; your slicks made you slide out in the wet; your car being 8cm off the ground made you smack your chassis on a speed hump; your locked diff made you lose control around a corner; your aftermarket drift handbrake caused the car to roll back into another; your car blew up because NOS; your car was in gear and your remote engine starter sent it rolling into the car/object in front. 

If you look hard enough every car on the road over 10 years old is unroadworthy and therefore illegal in some way. However, I do agree with you that the only 100% sure way to play it safe is to avoid illegal modifications. But 99% of the time you'll be right. Unless you take out a million bucks worth of public property, they aren't gonna be scrutinizing your car too closely, only the damage.

  • Like 3

When applying for the policy, they ask you to list all your modifications, so it would certainly be very unfair if they said " your illegal modification" - which you listed and they accepted in the policy caused the accident and therefore is void.

In fact, i'd say you would have a legal case you could fight.

That said, if there was a modification that was not listed on the policy - you would have no leg to stand on

This is why I have listed and advise my insurer of every single mod, part replacement, upgrade, downgrade, whatever no matter how insignificant and asked for written confirmation that this will not impact the insurance coverage for the car / premium / etc.

This won't be foolproof but should go a long way to establishing a pattern of me giving the insurer every opportunity to change the terms of the policy or advise me that my car can no longer be covered.

  • Like 1
18 hours ago, Robzilla32 said:

This is why I have listed and advise my insurer of every single mod, part replacement, upgrade, downgrade, whatever no matter how insignificant and asked for written confirmation that this will not impact the insurance coverage for the car / premium / etc.

This won't be foolproof but should go a long way to establishing a pattern of me giving the insurer every opportunity to change the terms of the policy or advise me that my car can no longer be covered.

Yep 100% agree. I've listed every single item right down to the Ztune style side skirts and even my dash cam

  • 2 weeks later...

Guys I just tried the same with NRMA Vintage, pushed hard. They are flat out refusing to change any existing policies and mentioned we have 1 year left before they stop insuring Skylines altogether. So that pretty much leaves me with a useless insurance policy. Will try Shannon's next.

  • Sad 2

VVC apparently has been dudded by some extremely high HP 32R and 34R owners on the drag scene...
...spoiling it for everyone else.

GT-R values over the past 18 months have been rising on the world stage along with rare Porsches.
No such restriction on Porsches seems to be happening at the moment. Nor are Hakos or Kenmeris

  • Sad 2
21 hours ago, r32-25t said:

At what point is it considered to much of a high powered car for them to insure?

The point where tools stack their cars, sometimes on purpose and it flags the model as high risk / unprofitable for the scheme

Same thing happened with club rego and RWC in Vic.

Some twits made their own car clubs just for cheap rego and no roadworthy / pink slip required, as it was up to the club to deem it roadworthy...started driving their highly modified and race cars on the road so the cops and Vicroads put a stop to it.

They should insure the cars for what they're worth and not what they've spent, I have mine insured for what it would cost me to go buy another one. which needs to increased again this year cause i couldn't buy one with its current value 

So it looks like I'm back to square one. Being from Perth WA, I'm struggling finding an insurer that will insure my 99 vspec for a reasonable amount. Shannons won't because I don't have a lock up garage.. any recommendations?

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