How Car Modifications Affect Car Insurance?

By Author: Siya Patil
Total Articles: 4
Comment this article

When purchasing a car insurance cover, several factors can affect the premium value of the policy. Some common factors include the policy buyer’s age, gender, and driving experience. In addition, anything that increases the risk of car damage or causes depletion in its resale value can impact the insurance premium cost.
However, what you may not know is that the premium amount for your car’s insurance plan can also be affected by any modifications made to the vehicle. Therefore, when taking your vehicle for modification, you might want to rethink the choices and consider their impact before going ahead. Let’s dive deeper into the topic and take a look at what actually qualifies for modifications and may affect your car insurance policy premium.
What qualifies for car modification?
In simple terms, car modification can refer to any changes made to the car’s make and model to enhance its performance or capacity, or to just make it look more appealing. As an insurance plan provides coverage for the risks to your vehicle, any modification made to the vehicle alters the risk associated, directly affecting ...
... the insurance premium.
Depending on the car component that has been modified, the premium alteration (mostly increase) is subjected to a certain percentage. Here are some modifications that can impact the car insurance premium value:
1. Modification to the engine and mechanics: Any modification done to improve the engine’s capacity resulting in higher acceleration, speed, or likes would also increase the risk to the vehicle and increase the premium amount.
2. Brakes and suspension modification: Changes made to the vehicle’s suspension system and brakes alter the car’s performance on the road, thus heightening the risk involved.
3. Modification to wheels: While wheel modification can result in improvement of your car’s looks, it also upturns the value and impacts the premium amount.
4. Change to a non-standard engine: Replacing the manufacturer-backed engine with any non-standard engine for your car also creates proportionate insurance risk, thus resulting in an equivalent premium increase.
5. Interior: Changes to your car’s interiors may interrupt the security features installed by the manufacturer. Further, product quality, as well as wear and tear involved, can have a critical impact on the insurance package and affect the premium.
Therefore, whenever you renew your car insurance policy renewal, or even mid-term during the policy tenure, it is necessary to inform your insurance provider of such modifications and alterations. Note, car insurance covers come with standardised premium value for the same make and model of a vehicle. You can go through online car insurance plan comparison to understand the different pricing for varied models based on design differences to better understand this variation and align your modification plans accordingly.