LED Tail lights and car insurance

[mrx]

Nope, they didn't even ask what brand they were. All they are interested in is the value, so they know how much to pay out come claim time.

My dealings with Western QBE have been similar. I get the impression they are interested in insuring your mods, rather than trying to catch you for non-disclosure so they can deny a claim.

[Purgi]

Well i'm not an insurance expert, but if your vehicle isn't ADR compliant normally means that your vehicle is un-roadworthy.

Most insurers that I know require you vehicle to be roadworthy

Then potentially by fitting aftermarket LED tail lights that aren't ADR compliant, you're throwing insurance money down the drain in the case of an accident as they can void your insurance... and if an insurance company can find any reason to deny your claim, they most certainly will.

Same deal with illegal tint.

[mrx]

Then potentially by fitting aftermarket LED tail lights that aren't ADR compliant, you're throwing insurance money down the drain in the case of an accident as they can void your insurance... and if an insurance company can find any reason to deny your claim, they most certainly will.

Same deal with illegal tint.

This topic has been debated before in relation to aftermarket HID upgrades. In the end someone who was an insurance assessor piped up, and said that at his company they would not "void" your insurance, but simply would not cover the replacement cost of your aftermarket headlight upgrade. Has anyone on this forum had first hand experience of having a claim denied due to tinting darker than 35%?

[GTom]

This topic has been debated before in relation to aftermarket HID upgrades. In the end someone who was an insurance assessor piped up, and said that at his company they would not "void" your insurance, but simply would not cover the replacement cost of your aftermarket headlight upgrade. Has anyone on this forum had first hand experience of having a claim denied due to tinting darker than 35%?

That's good to hear, Dunno about any claim, But I know that cops have defected numerous people with tints darker then 35%, and a few with aftermarket HID setup.

[datracer99]

im interested too on in the insurance effect

If anyone notified their insurance if they changed their wheels or chipped their MkV?

Much difference in the premium?

Use the online calculator to check for whoever you are currently insured with.
AAMI does not charge extra for either chip or wheels - I checked before I insured with them.

[JustCruisn]

I have not informed them (nor will I) about the ECU edit though, as I strongly suspect that they would either refuse to cover me, or put my premium up significantly.

Your assumption is correct. You just need to add 'they also won’t pay my claim'.
You've effectively committed insurance fraud, and as a result are no longer insured and may find it difficult to get insurance again if you are caught.

[orsegtsport]

Your assumption is correct. You just need to add 'they also won’t pay my claim'.
You've effectively committed insurance fraud, and as a result are no longer insured and may find it difficult to get insurance again if you are caught.

Well lock me up and throw away the key! Isn't insurance fraud when you pay some doggy bugger to pinch your car (that is insured for much more than it's worth), and set fire to it so you can pocket the money?

I would happily notify them if I didn't think they would make a big song and dance about it. I may still make further inquiries anyway, but for the moment, I figure what they don't know won't hurt them (or anyone else for that matter). In the event that I need to make a claim, I will simply revert back to the stock tune (I doubt they would even check the ECU anyway), and no one need ever know.

I don't lose any sleep over it, because I don't believe I'm any more of a liability than I was when my car was stock. The flash has not changed the way I drive, and I'm averaging 5.5l/100km since the flash, so I'm hardly a hoon. In the event that I do need to make a claim the future, I'm pretty certain that it will be absolutely nothing to do with the ecu flash.

[Purgi]

Has anyone on this forum had first hand experience of having a claim denied due to tinting darker than 35%?

While it's not first hand, a mate of mine was denied a claim for his at fault accident stating that the darker tint may have contributed to the accident.

[JustCruisn]

Well lock me up and throw away the key! Isn't insurance fraud when you pay some doggy bugger to pinch your car (that is insured for much more than it's worth), and set fire to it so you can pocket the money?

Insurance fraud is when you knowingly lie to your insurance company when they ask if the vehicle has been modified in anyway.

I'm not trying to stirr. Just as long as you know the risks involved, and are prepared to cop it on the chin if they do check and deny your claim.
And yes from time to time they do tend to check, and will deny on anything even window tint.

Worst case senario: you fail to give way and crash into some expensive Lambo etc and end up some $400,000 out of pocket.

Bestter case senario: A Lambo fails to give way and crashes into you. Leaving you alone to chase up his insurance company for $30k to replace your GTI.

I'm sure there are a lot of guys driving around thinking they have beaten the big man by not declairing their mods. Most of the time its all sweet but is it really worth the risks ??

[mrx]

While it's not first hand, a mate of mine was denied a claim for his at fault accident stating that the darker tint may have contributed to the accident.

How dark was it? I can understand that the insurance company might have an issue with 5-15% or something fully pimped.

[Bubu]

While it's not first hand, a mate of mine was denied a claim for his at fault accident stating that the darker tint may have contributed to the accident.

This has been discussed in another section of the forum. They can deny the claim if you say that "you didnt see the other vehicle" in which case it could be because of your dark tints. If your at fault its probably best to say you had your windows down at the time of impact and it happened as a result of lapsed concentration.

[Purgi]

How dark was it? I can understand that the insurance company might have an issue with 5-15% or something fully pimped.

Don't know what it was but I could probably find out in a few weeks.

[The_Hawk]

That little clause that says "Uberrima Fides", meaning "upmost good faith" is in most contracts. It basically means you need to tell them anything that could effect their decidision. You could successfully argue that you didn't know about the chip or tune or window tint IF you really didn't know AND you had recently got a pink slip or RWC so could stand up and say, you recently had an independant check that didn't show up anything.

It would be interesting to see you in court arguing that the 20% tinted windows you were not aware of which technically make your car 'unroadworthy' should not void your insurance, even though you were never aware they were too dark.

If you did it yourself your pretty much boned.

All the things which have been discussed are WORST case, while they could go there it's less likely they will for normal events. If your not at fault, it shouldn't matter, although they will not cover/repair/pay for those mods considered non roadworthy...

If your at fault you start to get into murkier water, chances are your insurer will never notice the ECU reflash or the aftermarket chip unless you break it and they are asked to fix it. At that point they may choose to only give you a stock item or they could void if they believe it was a contributory factor or they could be nice and simply pay for it... (although thats less likely)

Your always going to be better off listing all the mods, and even better if you don't have an accident At the end of the day I would suggest that many of the cars people on these forums have *technically* require an engineers certificate for their cars, although few would have them. Wide wheels (even within the guards) require an engineers cert if they are more than 1" wider than stock... (or so we have recently been told). Same will probably go for most after market CAI systems people use, but do you really think you will get pulled up for those? (and lets not even talk about the legailty of pod filters).

[gerhard]

As an Associate of the Australian Insurance Institute, and having spent 15 years in the industry earlier in my life, I can assure all these people who declare rubbish like "I can always revert to standard tune if I have to make a claim" that they are likely to be out of pocket severely.

I mean, how are you going to reflash your ECU to standard when you are bleeding from the head and have 2 broken arms. Someone else suggests you could claim your illegally tinted window was wound down, when your door is impaled and the window would only be moveable after a porta-power was applied to the door.

I will remind everyone that the purpose of insurance is to return yourself to the state you were in prior to an event - it is not a profit making scheme like many here seem to think. This attitude that fraud is OK as long as the wounded party is a large insurance company is endemic amongst people who think the world owes them.

Anyway, rant over. My suggestion is to declare all to the insurance company, and if they want too much money as a result, get other quotes till you find the cover you need at the price that is fair to the risk.

If you want to commit fraud, you are better off not buying insurance at all. The courts will only make you pay $1.00 per week, whereas the penalty for fraud can easily be gaol.

[JustCruisn]

Anyway, rant over. My suggestion is to declare all to the insurance company....the penalty for fraud can easily be gaol.

Nicely put