Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: iwannacarthatworks on 12 February 2007, 13:41:14
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hi, just made the mistake of calling my insurance company about the cruise control i just fitted and because i did it myself they want an engineers report!
any one else with this problem?
company was direct line
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I wouldn't have told them.....it was an option on the CD and you have used Vx parts.....how would they know it wasn't there from day 1....
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Its a factory fit option so I would be going down the road of 'just replaced the broken components and now it works' line. Its not as though you fitted some Heath Robinson effort you knocked up in your shed over the winter months!
Ask to speak to their engineering assessor department or Underwriting dept and explain what you have done. Note times dates and names and get some reference letter from them.
HtH
B
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Its a factory fit option so I would be going down the road of 'just replaced the broken components and now it works' line. Its not as though you fitted some Heath Robinson effort you knocked up in your shed over the winter months!
Ask to speak to their engineering assessor department or Underwriting dept and explain what you have done. Note times dates and names and get some reference letter from them.
HtH
B
Well I'm not protecting DirectLine, but obviously if you call them up, to the call centre operator what you say amounts to 'I've just fitted the double oomfloong to the speed steering governor ball-joint, it's tripple rated to 23.4 Watts so no problem back there, and the drive-shaft is connected straight to the hall-effect voltage amplitude, so will you insure it'?
So what response do you expect other than 'errr.... can you get an engineer's report please'.
As suggested by Hotel21, you should try talking to someone who actually knows what you are talking about...
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Agreed. The operrators in a contact centre will know nothing about cars - in the same way someone at vx parts desk wont know anything about vauxhalls (joke) ;D
I would just have kept it quiet personally assuming it was standard fit... :-/
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well i suppose it is too much to ask that someone who works in car insurance to actually know about cars. tough on direct line anyway as thay just lost the 5 policies i had with them. if they cant be bothered training their staff i cant be bothered giving them my money.
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well i suppose it is too much to ask that someone who works in car insurance to actually know about cars. tough on direct line anyway as thay just lost the 5 policies i had with them. if they cant be bothered training their staff i cant be bothered giving them my money.
Its the same everywhere.....a m8 of mine works in a call centre covering several makes of cars....ie interested customers wanting info on the new cars. He hasnt got a clue about cars and carnt even drive!
He just tries to look info up that the customers is asking for from huge A4 binder files! ::)
If your lucky and ask the same question as a previous caller and he can remember the answer, then you dont have to wait as he leaves through pages and pages! ;D
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Oh and btw i wouldnt have told the insurance comp either.....ive fitted cruise to my CD and not told them....as said previously how would they know it wasnt already fitted by factory.
Ie Isnt cruise fitted to CD models as standard then? How was i suppose to know?
Lowered suspension/huge wheels/twin exhausts/spoilers/side skirts.....you get the picture...then yes i would then.
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Agreed.
Should I call directline about my when I fit my leather seats to the GLS, or should I just keep it shh?
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Agreed.
Should I call directline about my when I fit my leather seats to the GLS, or should I just keep it shh?
Maybe you should! You've just doubled it's value? ;D ;D
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Talking of Directline....
I had a fall out with them after a break in at my house. They took 3 months to sort out my patio doors so I told them I would be moving all my policies - cars, buildings & contents.
When my car renewal came round I tried Privelage (recommended by a friend) who have all their policies underwritten by... you guessed it, Directline. Anyway, Privelage only costs £220 fully comp with protected no claims & guaranteed loan car. This is about £100 cheaper chan Directline for a better policy!
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Another point worth remembering when it comes to car insurance: if you modify your car and neglect to tell the insurance company about it, and you are then involved in an accident (and they find-out about your un-disclosed modification), they can refuse payment even if the accident had nothing to do with the actual modification.
For example, if you chip the car, and then slowly skid on ice at 10mph into a lamppost, you could argue hat the chip had nothing to do with the accident as you were only doing 10mph anyway. But they will argue that their risk-assessment is based on your profile, including such things as you age, occupation, marital status, and that they have a different risk profile for people who chip their cars because statistically they are more likely to be involved in an accident (based on the premise – write or wrong – that people who chip their cars are more likely to be driving fast and potentially carelessly), so by not disclosing this information you prevented them from carrying-out a proper risk-assessment and as result your premium was lower than it should have been (or they could even claim that they would have declined insuring altogether you based on the new risk-assessment).
This is pretty much in the same way as they could try and evade paying-out if you are caught being un-truthful with any other detail concerning your circumstances - i.e. as mentioned age, occupation, etc.
This is obviously very theoretical, unless you are involved in a real bad crash with serious injuries or property damage they are not likely to spend resources on actually inspecting your car, plus some modifications may go undetected anyway (e.g. retrofitting original options such as cruise control).
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Agreed.
Should I call directline about my when I fit my leather seats to the GLS, or should I just keep it shh?
Maybe you should! You've just doubled it's value? ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D
I never told my insurance about cruise, no point its just something enabled on the ECU and a different stalk.
Never had problems with Direct Line here, always got good quotes and paid out when needed.
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...They took 3 months to sort out my patio doors so I told them I would be moving all my policies - cars, buildings & contents...
That doesn't actually work with big companies - any big company, not just insurance companies - the call centre operator (even assuming he/she are in actually the UK) can't care less... it does however work well when confronting a small insurance broker, but now that everything is doen online these are more and more rare.
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It made me feel better! They did offer me a new customer deal to keep three policies and 25% off combined buildings & contents if I stayed with them but this still worked out more expensive than Privelage(Undercover DirectLine)!
...They took 3 months to sort out my patio doors so I told them I would be moving all my policies - cars, buildings & contents...
That doesn't actually work with big companies - any big company, not just insurance companies - the call centre operator (even assuming he/she are in actually the UK) can't care less... it does however work well when confronting a small insurance broker, but now that everything is doen online these are more and more rare.
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Talking of Directline....
I had a fall out with them after a break in at my house. They took 3 months to sort out my patio doors so I told them I would be moving all my policies - cars, buildings & contents.
When my car renewal came round I tried Privelage (recommended by a friend) who have all their policies underwritten by... you guessed it, Directline. Anyway, Privelage only costs £220 fully comp with protected no claims & guaranteed loan car. This is about £100 cheaper chan Directline for a better policy!
i just got a quote off privelage too and it was £100 cheaper than direct line as well!
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My insurance company always ask if the car is standard and if it has any optional extras. I always tell them that I am not aware what features were standard as I didn't buy it from new - so it may well have optional extras. They seem to accept that. Proof of the pudding would be in the event of a big claim of course.
Always makes me laugh how insurance companies seem to be getting so up tight about any little extra on a production car. My other car is a kit car and the insurers who cover them (admittedly mostly specialists) couldn't give a fig when you phone them up to tell them you've tuned the engine and it's now putting out 50% more power!
Kevin