http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...eadyToPay.aspx

 

Good Read! I hope that Canada example doesn't start happening in the states!

josh

 

What a lot of people don't realize is that many of the mods people do to their cars are already illegal, but states let them slide. For example, here in MA, it's illegal to alter a vehicles ride height by more than once inch, or modify your exhaust if it causes it to be any louder than stock. Windshield banners are also illegal (tint strips and wording included) but you'll almost never get a ticket for any of this. None of these are new laws, but because of the way people are driving and acting now, they are just giving police the excuse to actually enforce these laws.

 

I'm in Canada, and it really is a crappy situation. To be honest, my insurance company has never known the extent of my modifications. It bothers me, too... but my record is spotless, and it kills me to know that if I want to list it as modified, I'll get my insurance cancelled. My previous insurance company wouldn't of cancelled it, but they'd throw me into a whole different class. It's not as simple as adding 5000 in coverage for collision/theft... they'd insure my car as 'modified' and I'd be in a whole new ball game.

I don't think this should happen, when my record is clean. I'm not fast, or furious... [:'(]

 

The example about a car running into a crowd, while a bit extreme, is vary valid. If your modifications aren't reported to your insurer, the insurance company can literally tell you, "sorry about your luck" and not cover you. It's a crappy deal, but it is reality.

 

How about your mods making your car unsafe and that's why you ran into the crowd? These kids cutting/rolling their springs, then putting huge wheels and rubber band tires on them, bouncing all over the road and not fixing their camber.

 

In reality, I would say the above situation rarely, if ever happens. I've been in insurance claims for 29 years and have NEVER seen a denial of liabilty coverage for an insured due to vehicle modifications**. The insurance company would face the posibility of a breech of contract suit, with punative damages hanging over their head. It is usually far easier (and cheaper) for the insurance company to take care of the loss, then non-renew the insured.

** Note: the situation I'm referring to is one 'as described' which would not include involvement in a 'speed contest'. There's usually some specific wording in a policy about losses where a 'speed contest' is proven, so if that's the situation, the insurance company has an 'out'.

 

So in your opinion, does the article have a lot of holes in it? What would you recommend to most of us who are doing modifications to their vehicle?

 

It's in Canada, they have different laws up there

 

Yeah, they are harsh. My agent asked me questions like such:

She's reading from her book, "Has the vehicles center of gravity been altered in any way."
I sit in silence, she looks up, interprets my silence as ignorance and proceeds to explain: "What they mean is, if you had like a lifted truck or something. Your car is obviously not lifted, right?"
Me: "right ma'am."
Seriously though... I don't want to say that it's lowered and have them axe my policy. It's pretty hurtin'.
I baby my car, I rarely speed (and when I do, it's not excessive) so I don't want to lose my policy because of what they think that I *might* do.

I see where they are coming from... but I hate that it has to be this way. I can only hope that if I do ever get into any kind of accident, I can argue that my car was in no way unsafe as a result of my modifications.