Entirely unashamed anti car propaganda, and the more the better.

[Saul Goodman]

Car Modifications and Insurance: What You Need to Know

AXA’s guide to how car modifications can affect your premium.

www.axa.co.uk

Do I have to declare modifications to my insurer?

In a word: yes. If you don’t tell us about any modifications, your policy will be declared void and any claims that you may have made will not be paid out.

Plausible deniability. I'm not a systems analyst. How would I be expected to know if somebody had tampered with the car before I bought it?
They'd have to prove you were aware of the modifications. 99.99999% of people would have no idea what an ECU looked like, far less how to flash one.

 

[teuchter]

Oh come on, you admitted on this thread you had no idea how a zebra crossing was supposed to operate. I doubt you could pass a basic pedestrian test designed for primary school children and should probably not be allowed to walk anywhere without a chaperone.

Nonetheless, easily more competent than 80% of car owners and all of the pro-car loons posting on here.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Is that by trailer bike?

No, ambulance. Do try and keep up.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

More whataboutery

Either you don’t quite get what that term means or you’re even dafter than I suspected.

 

[David Clapson]

HGVs have speed limiters.

 

[platinumsage]

No, ambulance. Do try and keep up.

Presumably a bicycle ambulance, I didn't think you wanted nasty vehicles in our clean and precious cities.

 

[platinumsage]

HGVs have speed limiters.

They take no account of speed limits though, so all they do is create chaos on motorways.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Presumably a bicycle ambulance, I didn't think you wanted nasty vehicles in our clean and precious cities.

So, I can add “doesn’t actually read the thread” to your list.

 

[alex_]

Plausible deniability. I'm not a systems analyst. How would I be expected to know if somebody had tampered with the car before I bought it?
They'd have to prove you were aware of the modifications. 99.99999% of people would have no idea what an ECU looked like, far less how to flash one.

Weak

 

[alex_]

HGVs have speed limiters.

Doesn’t this prove that speed limiters work and don’t cause accidents ?

 

[Saul Goodman]

Weak

But fact.

 

[teuchter]

Doesn’t this prove that speed limiters work and don’t cause accidents ?

They are fake and sponsored by North Korea as part of their secret programme to dupe drivers into relinquishing their freedom so that they can be controlled by communists and made to ferry dissidents to labour camps which do not yet have public transport connections.

 

[alex_]

But fact.

You’d still have no insurance.

 

[Saul Goodman]

You’d still have no insurance.

Nonsense. You're clueless.

 

[Teaboy]

Speed limiters will be standard on all new cars pretty soon. They're already are on some in a baby steps sort of way. The new VW EV range is all limited to 99mph despite being able to go much quicker.

 

[alex_]

Nonsense. You're clueless.

Yes, you are right - insurers love finding reasons to pay out, rather than weaselling out with any excuse

 

[T & P]

For all the stick they get from anti-car people, most Mercs, BMWs and Audis have been limited to 155 mph for decades. The Germans leading the way in car safety as always

 

[Saul Goodman]

Yes, you are right - insurers love finding reasons to pay out, rather than weaselling out with any excuse

It doesn't matter what they do or don't like doing. If you have no knowledge of the modification, you can't be expected to tell them about it.
But you must have known you were wrong when edcraw liked your post.

 

[alex_]

It doesn't matter what they do or don't like doing. If you have no knowledge of the modification, you can't be expected to tell them about it.
But you must have known you were wrong when edcraw liked your post.

Bearing in mind - you’ve gone from “you don’t have to report it” to “I’d pretend I didn’t know about it” you aren’t exactly nailing it.

 

[teuchter]

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

It doesn't matter what they do or don't like doing. If you have no knowledge of the modification, you can't be expected to tell them about it.
But you must have known you were wrong when edcraw liked your post.

Pretty certain you're incorrect here and the onus is - arguably rather unfairly - on the owner to have checked everything. Will message a mate who works in the field and see if I can get an answer...

 

[teuchter]

 

[Saul Goodman]

Pretty certain you're incorrect here and the onus is - arguably rather unfairly - on the owner to have checked everything. Will message a mate who works in the field and see if I can get an answer...

I'm pretty certain that you have to knowingly fail to declare something. If a previous owner had fitted a 2L engine into a 1.8L car, how could the next owner be expected to know?
Actually, when you sign the proposal, I'm pretty sure there's a 'to the best of my knowledge' clause or check box.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Bearing in mind - you’ve gone from “you don’t have to report it” to “I’d pretend I didn’t know about it” you aren’t exactly nailing it.

My position never changed.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Tl;dw

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I'm pretty certain that you have to knowingly fail to declare something. If a previous owner had fitted a 2L engine into a 1.8L car, how could the next owner be expected to know?
Actually, when you sign the proposal, I'm pretty sure there's a 'to the best of my knowledge' clause or check box.

So, I asked, and apparently the answer is an extremely vague and wide ranging "it depends" with a sizeable side order of "fuck knows"

 

[Saul Goodman]

So, I asked, and apparently the answer is an extremely vague and wide ranging "it depends" with a sizeable side order of "fuck knows"

If its something like a hole in the bonnet, with a massive supercharger poking through it, then it would be fairly obvious and would have to be divulged, but something like an ECU remap, the end user wouldn't be expected to know and likely wouldn't be able to notice that it had been carried out. It's impossible to divulge information you're unaware of, and I'm pretty certain an insurance company couldn't void a policy on that basis, regardless of what people are guessing at here.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

If its something like a hole in the bonnet, with a massive supercharger poking through it, then it would be fairly obvious and would have to be divulged, but something like an ECU remap, the end user wouldn't be expected to know and likely wouldn't be able to notice that it had been carried out. It's impossible to divulge information you're unaware of, and I'm pretty certain an insurance company couldn't void a policy on that basis, regardless of what people are guessing at here.

A lot would come down to how plausible any denial of knowledge would be. A remap that just gently smoothed out a torque curve or gave better mpg you’d likely get away with. But if your 1.0 Corsa is suddenly making a noise like a firecracker on every down shift… probably not.

 

[Saul Goodman]

A lot would come down to how plausible any denial of knowledge would be. A remap that just gently smoothed out a torque curve or gave better mpg you’d likely get away with. But if your 1.0 Corsa is suddenly making a noise like a firecracker on every down shift… probably not.

But a speed limiter, where the only way you could know it was disabled would be by breaking the law?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

But a speed limiter, where the only way you could know it was disabled would be by breaking the law?

God knows. I guess the argument would be something along the lines of “well the fact you were doing 50 in a 30 should have alerted you”.