It is very common to see more and more cars on the road with a special paint job or a specific exhaust pipe… In any case, it is essential that those extras with which we have improved our vehicle are declared in our car insurance. Let’s see why.
Car insurance extras
When we buy any car, when it comes to budgeting for auto insurance, one question is a must: “Does your vehicle have extras?”
This question is asked because, if an extra is not included in the policy, this will happen:
- They break a tinted window, and even if we have the glass coverage contracted, they will only put a normal one unless we declare the cost of this extra in the insurance.
- We have an All Risk and we crash with our brand new car to which we have applied a beautiful matte paint. No matter how much All Risk we have, if that paint that could have cost us 4.000-7.000 € has not been declared, they will apply a normal one, or we will have to pay the extra cost.
- If we have a Third Party insurance with theft, and they break the window and steal the integrated sound system that you have just installed, the policy will not cover us unless we have stated the cost of that extra.
These examples serve as a reminder of the importance of declaring the accessories that we add to the model that comes standard from the dealer.
Peculiarities of tuned car insurance
As we have pointed out, it is clear that these improvements should be discussed with our insurance broker or our auto insurance company. But, it will be essential, that the tunning that we have done to the vehicle is legal, if we do not have a serious problem.
There are certain modifications to the car, which must be “approved”. The Vehicle Modifications Manual, regulated at European level, states which changes must be homologated, which takes a series of steps (different according to the relevance of the change made).
It will be important to have your trusted repair shop help you with this to make sure you have no problems, because if you do not comply with the law:
- Insurance will not cover the repair
- You could be fined for it
Our advice is to count on a reliable workshop to help you with the improvements and their homologation, as well as on an insurance broker to guarantee you peace of mind and to be well covered if something should happen to your car, which has cost you so much money to tune.
If you are looking for your first cheap car insurance, here are the keys.
