Modifications on 997.2 and car insurance

[Fred0224]

Hi
I'm considering some modifications on my 997.2 but the impact on the car Insurance might not be worth it...

Mods I'm considering:
- PCM out and replaced by double DIN modern unit (Wireless CarPlay etc)
- Retrofit PSE (Porsche OEM)
- Sport Seats back painted in Carrara White
- Red seat belts
- DSC Sport V1 Plug N Play Controller
- Sports design steering wheel with paddles (Porsche OEM) or Macan steering wheel (multi function) with paddles

So obviously for
- DSC Sport V1 Plug N Play Controller
- Macan steering wheel (multi function) with paddles
I can understand this could trigger some premium increase although they have no impact on performance really. Can they argue that the DSC allows for faster driving?

However for
- PCM out and replaced by double DIN modern unit (Wireless CarPlay etc)
- Retrofit PSE (Porsche OEM)
- Sport Seats back painted in Carrara White
- Red seat belts
- Sports design steering wheel with paddles (Porsche OEM)
If the PCM is fried there's no point in replacing an outdated piece of equipment for £2.5k instead of being able to have a better modern double DIN unit for 2-3 times less money... Why would they care?
The PSE is an option that was available on this car to spec, no performance increase. Again why would they care? When insuring a similar car with PSE from factory it'd make no difference to the premium.
Is having the seats back professionally painted in the car colour relevant to an Insurance company?
The red seat belts. Well the seat belt mechanism could need replacing as part of maintenance. Doesn't matter if the replacement belt itself is black or red or yellow or pink with flowers... Or does it? As log it's a approved by Porsche as a replacement.
- The Sports design steering wheel with paddles also was a factory option. Same as the PSE. When getting an Insurance we don't indicate how the steering wheel is or look.

Would that be better if this work
- Retrofit PSE (Porsche OEM)
- Red seat belts
- Sports design steering wheel with paddles (Porsche OEM)
is carried out by an OPC?

Just trying to figure out what to do or not

Cheers

 

[Alex]

I wouldn't be telling my Insurance about those mods as they don't do anything to the performance of the car.

 

[veetwin]

I went with AIB Insurance (site sponsor) declared all Engine, Suspension and Interior mods. Price actually went down compared to old provider Aviva

 

[Fred0224]

With AIB Insurance I had to fill in the form online with all details then 2 different people contacted me asking me the same details again... Didn't feel very professional and rather clueless to be fair...

 

[veetwin]

No form, just a discussion on the phone

 

[MrBen]

I wouldn't be telling my Insurance about those mods as they don't do anything to the performance of the car.

Unless you have a very specific agreement with your insurer that they only want to be notified of mods that change the performance of the car, that is a very dangerous position to take. Generally all modifications and changes to your car should be notified to Insurers - it is up to them to decide if that effects the risk such that they will change any terms and conditions of the cover.

OP, if you use an Insurer who specialises in these cars, they should be relaxed on these sorts of changes. Personally I use Lockton on their Porsche scheme, and everything I've changed so far they have simply noted the change on their records.

 

[Slayer]

Best be open with them. These are unlikely to be considered as a modification that’s going to affect the premium hopefully

 

[jonnyspyder]

here is my experience with Insurance companies and mods: I owned a LR Discovery 4 from new, when I ordered it I opted for the upgrade hi fi system as it included sat nav and came with Harmon Kardon speakers. 5 years later, the car has 140k miles on it but is still unmodified apart from the factory fitted hi fi, my missus wrote the thing off. I haven't made a claim for many many years, I call my insurer to make the claim and am literally grilled... they want my driver number on my license (even though I was the policy holder and not the driver when the car was crashed), they want to know the purpose of my wife's drive (I had business cover and commuting so why is this relevant) and the best bit was the question "does the car have any modifications from standard?" No I reply. Next question "does that include any factory options?", I ask what they mean "any non standard options when the car was new?"... I ask if they mean things like metallic paint thinking they would say not... but yes that is the detail they wanted... I tell them that of course the car was ordered with metallic paint, that it also came with a factory fit uprated hi fi. I am told that they could cancel my policy for non disclosure as I was asked about any mods when I took out the policy but on this occasion they would let it pass. So by all means don't tell your insurers about mods that you think don't count, our claim was straight forward but had we been involved in a serious crash that involved vehicle inspections and we had a long list of mods on the car, whether factory fit or after market, the policy may well have been cancelled by the insurer. I did ask how a factory fit hi fi upgrade changed the Insurance risk of a five year old car, apparently it affects the value of the car and hence the Insurance value. You may stick your head in the sand and disregard this oh so true tale but what I the point in forking out for fully comp Insurance then risk having the policy cancelled for non disclosure? And btw if you have a policy cancelled for non disclosure you will find getting a replacement policy rather tricky.

 

[jonnyspyder]

Best be open with them. These are unlikely to be considered as a modification that’s going to affect the premium hopefully

All the mods listed may maker the car more attractive to thieves and certainly effect the value of the car

 

[Fred0224]

I requested a quote from Lockton Perfomance on their website mentioning the mods in details and they called me quickly, understood what I was after, were nice and within 1h I had all I needed and a good quote. £100 more than my Admiral one and the excess was quite high (could deal with that) but the missus needed to be off the policy as she has no experience driving high performance car (like 9+ months)... Ouch...

So I went on the Admiral website (as you can edit your vehicle and add some modications - they have a range of mods and boxes you can tick) but what I want to do is not there to select in an obvious way... So off I go calling them.

I was told to use the following:
Styling (Interior Changes) for
- PCM out and replaced by double DIN modern unit (Wireless CarPlay etc)
- Sport Seats back painted in Carrara White
- Red seat belts
- Steering wheel

Intake/Exhaust (Exhaust/manifold-non standard) for
- Retrofit PSE (Porsche OEM)

It cost me £13 in admin fee and the missus is still on the policy so she can build up her pedigree in driving high perf cars!

I didn't ask for "DSC Sport V1 Plug N Play Controller" yet. A battle for another day!

All in the open. Been upfront. They know. Box ticked.

And I have the confidence that I can always go to Lockton Performance as they've been real good.

 

[Neven]

I just renewed my Insurance earlier today. Last year (my first year of ownership) I went with the second cheapest company that came up on comparethemarket. This is a company called Geoffrey Insurance and cost £380 fully comp with protected NCD. Received my renewal from them a few weeks ago and was pleased to see the premium go down to £244. However, I called them to declare the mods I’ve made recently.

Lowered suspension
DSC controller
Front splitter
Mr12Volt CarPlay upgrade
991.2 steering wheel
Miltek centre muffler delete cross over pipes

Initially they offered a revised premium of £378, but then the chap said oh, we can’t actually insure you going forward

I tried comparethemarket again and the cheapest premium came in around £800 with all mods declared. I then tried Locktons via the PCGB portal and they were £900. Finally I tried Admiral directly because they didn’t come up in the comparethemarket list. Surprise surprise, with all mods declared, they offered me full cover woth protected NCD for £354. Happy with that

 

[Slayer]

Hope their customer service is good!
Great result

I just renewed my Insurance earlier today. Last year (my first year of ownership) I went with the second cheapest company that came up on comparethemarket. This is a company called Geoffrey Insurance and cost £380 fully comp with protected NCD. Received my renewal from them a few weeks ago and was pleased to see the premium go down to £244. However, I called them to declare the mods I’ve made recently.

Lowered suspension
DSC controller
Front splitter
Mr12Volt CarPlay upgrade
991.2 steering wheel
Miltek centre muffler delete cross over pipes

Initially they offered a revised premium of £378, but then the chap said oh, we can’t actually insure you going forward

I tried comparethemarket again and the cheapest premium came in around £800 with all mods declared. I then tried Locktons via the PCGB portal and they were £900. Finally I tried Admiral directly because they didn’t come up in the comparethemarket list. Surprise surprise, with all mods declared, they offered me full cover woth protected NCD for £354. Happy with that

 

[DRZ911]

Finally I tried Admiral directly because they didn’t come up in the comparethemarket list. Surprise surprise, with all mods declared, they offered me full cover woth protected NCD for £354. Happy with that

Well done.
In recent years Admiral really do seem to be able to pull it out of the bag with their quotations on a range of high value, high performance and/or modified cars.
Found this myself on the GT3 and GTS.
Must have different risk algorithms?

 

[Slayer]

&DRZ911: is Admiral good in the event of a claim please if you had any experience in the past ?

 

[Neven]

&DRZ911: is Admiral good in the event of a claim please if you had any experience in the past ?

You’ve got me a little concerned now. I haven’t personally heard any real horror stories about them, but I don’t have any experience of claims with them either…