Which insurance lets you chip?

[Timbo]

Rechipping is not legal

Crap! As long as the engine meets EPA regs it's legal.

And it's insurable. The issue from the insurance co's perspective is much more about full disclosure by you, the insured owner, than the type or effect of the mods (except if they're patently unsafe mods, obviously).

The problem today is that "young" people tend not to disclose, have accidents, and then the insurance assessor 'discovers' stuff; as a result, insurance companies have become pretty gun shy and, if you < 25, just give a blanket 'no'

[Bug_racer]

Rechipping is not legal.

Im curious as to what is not legal about it ?

To me all chipping is is changing the air/fuel mixture , spark and boost on a turbo car .
You could tune an old car by changing the jets in the carby , and advance and retard the timing . I dont think this was ever illegal .

If its to do with emmisions , we are on Euro 3 I'm pretty sure that most of the chip companies will be within this spec , especially with FSI now .

[Bug_racer]

To void your warranty they have to prove that the chip caused the object to brake / dysfunction.

-
Kai

Thats a hard one to prove on VW's part , mainly cause if there is an issue with the programing it turns out to be a whole heap of cars and not just the one . Ive run into this a few times with customers cars that have been chipped . Its fine stock but has issues when chipped . Then I have to spend hours , sometimes days going through making sure everything works fine , data log and send back to Giac who go through the logs . So far all issues have been resolved and most of the times they are a one off that doesnt happen again . If it start happening regularily then Giac spend the time to find out whats wrong and all Giac dealers get notified of the fix . If it is the software then you'll get an issue like this :

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=915672&page=1

I dont even know if this issue has been resolved yet ??

[mikinoz]

FWIW - I'd suggest to say that it is a grey area and it is an 'at your own risk' thing to do to a car, and each accident it unique - if you happen to get the wrong assessor and you were involved in a high speed crash, they may investigate the car to that length.

On the whole, if you don't call it a 'chip' but a timing and mixture recalibration, Bugracer is right - that becomes no different to my Hillman Imp running different needles in the Weber!

Goodluck!

[ryan_GTI]

APR claims that the chip is undetectable by any diagnostic tools - if that's the case how would the insurance company know? any input?

[Guy_H]

Completely undetectable by diagnostic tools - and of course you can switch it on & off by the cruise control lever so even on the test drive, the tech can not feel the power increase.

I am sure if your insurance company wanted your ECU removed & sent to a tuner to confirm its chipped they could do so, but in our 10 years in chipping cars I have never heard of it being done.

Mind you, its always best to disclose everything to your insurer (all though I am sure a lot of chipping goes un disclosed )

[Bug_racer]

Completely undetectable by diagnostic tools -

Funny that , I know when a car has had the trial program

VW doesnt really care about chipped cars anyway . If an engine was to blow (which I doubt ) then they may start examining the ecu , but usually they would just replace it if it was suspect .

[syncro]

Im curious as to what is not legal about it ?

To me all chipping is is changing the air/fuel mixture , spark and boost on a turbo car .
You could tune an old car by changing the jets in the carby , and advance and retard the timing . I dont think this was ever illegal .

If its to do with emmisions , we are on Euro 3 I'm pretty sure that most of the chip companies will be within this spec , especially with FSI now .

Changing jets or any emissions mod is illegal.
Although you can pay lots of money to have it tested and approved, which would make it legal.

[theStainRemover]

Hoyhoy.
I'm with a large mob & I might be an old fart with a good driving record.
Cost me $388.00 for $30,000 cover. So I'm staying shuuuuuush.

Mate, $388.00 is a damn good price!!! I'm getting to the old fart stage as well, and was wondering, if you don't mind telling, which insurance company you are with?

[Eddy]

Mate, $388.00 is a damn good price!!! I'm getting to the old fart stage as well, and was wondering, if you don't mind telling, which insurance company you are with?

Hoyhoy.
PM with the info.

[SoVeReIgN]

With the flash uploader - Only the cars tune has changed, not the chip.

I call it 'tuned'

[Glide_GTI]

Hoyhoy.
I'm with a large mob & I might be an old fart with a good driving record.
Cost me $388.00 for $30,000 cover. So I'm staying shuuuuuush.

*cough* 1900 for me lol