Car insurace: report mods?

DanDurusky · **Joined:** Sun Apr 10, 2005 7:31 pm **Posts:** 686

I have GEICO and they have a nifty form for reporting any mods to your car so that theyre covered if needed...

Is it a trick? ie, can they raise my rates if i report mods? i guess it makes for them to increase slightly to cover the increased value, but would they peg me as a boy racer if i report my suspension, etc?

What do you guys think?

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

No idea, but I thought I'd mention that I wouldn't touch GEICO ever since reading in C&D that they finance PD purchases of radar guns.

If I were you, I'd call Cline and see how the rates he can get compare with GEICO. It's always a good idea to shop around every few years. And Cline is a car guy who has had all the "car guy" answers for me when I needed them. Just a happy customer, and glad I fired Allstate to go with Erie.

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:36 am

I read that same article Mike.

You gotta love a company who funds radar detector research and radar detector detector research at the same time!!! Then they supply law enforcement agencies with the most modern detectors out there. That just pisses me off.

I plan on calling Cline to see what he can do for me. I've been with State Farm for a LONG time and they continue to make me mad. I haven't had any major accident in years, but I did have to replace 3 windshields over a 3.5 year period and they jack up my deductible!! That pisses me off!!

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:21 pm

I'm with Mike on this one. Call Cline! He saved me a bunch, on the Mini, my SUV AND the business van. Good guy too, by the way.

clinehall · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:30 am

Aw, shucks :lol:

David Teague · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:00 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

No idea, but I thought I'd mention that I wouldn't touch GEICO ever since reading in C&D that they finance PD purchases of radar guns.

You guys do know what GEICO Stands for right?

Hint... the First word is Goverment

jimpastorius · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:17 am

I am a satisfied Erie customer for the past 17 years (home, auto, boat and motorcycle)! I have had home, auto and boat claims with them and have always been pleased with their service.

I would never tell them if one of my vehicles was modified for competition use. And I would never think about submitting a competition related claim. They are a for profit insurance company and I am sure they would drop me.

Yes, after two windshield replacements, my rate went up a tick. When I called about the slight rate increase, they explained that was the reason.

As for the radar guns, good for them. Try driving on 540 in the morning on a motorcycle and you would be all for more radar on the road. Can not tell you how many times I see yahoos driving 85 plus while on the phone, drinking their coffee or even reading a book.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:37 pm

jimpastorius wrote:

I would never tell them if one of my vehicles was modified for competition use. And I would never think about submitting a competition related claim. They are a for profit insurance company and I am sure they would drop me.

I'm not sure that's the point of why he's asking, though.

Let's say you have a car you occasionally autocross and/or track day with, and you've put $5k shocks on it. So you hit some ice on a morning when you don't realize it's cold enough for that and you go off the road and plant one corner into a tree, shreading a shock. Does the insurance company cover what would normally be a $150 item to the tune of almost $1500 instead? Better read your policy on that one so you know, that's for sure. Is it a "competition" mod? One could argue not, but that's still quite a price bump over OEM for an insurance company to swallow.

--Donnie

clinehall · **Posted:** Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:23 pm

i've more time to discuss this so here goes.

Dan and I have talked, Gieco has an insanely low rate for an M3. They must not have figured out that it is a "boy racer" ( as Dan so succinctly put it)car. All of my companies reconize that and price it accordingly.

As far as the mods, I just wrote a new customer from Gieco who had his collision and comp dropped because he answered that questionaire.

Donnie makes a very good point on mods. The collision and comp rates are based on an ISO symbol (insurance services office) which take into account the price, repairability costs, and number in incidents that particular vehicle are in. So if you have a 1998 M3 the rates are based on the 15-17k or whatever it costs to replace that. So the company owes you for what you paid for and if you have 15 k in mods you are probably going to take a hit. The better companies will try to do the best they can by stretching to the upper limits just like they would with a really low milage car but there is only so much you can do.

Most of the time the biggest problem comes with a total loss, if there is a wreck most of the time the suspension, engine mods, ect are not effected or can be parted out.

Some companies have now come up with an endorsement for customization but it runs about $50 for 1000 of coverage.

On Jim's point. Yeah, Erie would probably drop you with a competion based claim, the have are on of the few companies that still have actual human underwriters that review business and when a report went across their desks and the thought racing they might flip. That being said, my underwriters knows about my customers, I have educated them on autocross and her only question was if there was prize money involved.

I have even been able to insure folks who have had autocross claims because I have other companies that are all computer underwriting and I just feed in the claims info and it is just considered an at fault claim.

sorry to be so long winded but I get excited talking about insurance!!

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