RSSCustom cars need custom insurance
Nov 09
Articles Alarm System, Auto Insurance Policy, Carelessness, Common Misconceptions, Custom Car Owners, Custom Cars, Custom Insurance, Custom Paint Job, Custom Vehicles, Customized Cars, Fad, Individuality, Insurance Aspect, Insurance Company, Insurance Policies, Insurer, Lcd Screens, Necessary Coverage, Seat Belt, Totality No Comments
The fad for custom vehicles has taken over the minds of many car owners in the US. And now you can see a lot of customized cars roaming the streets of suburbs, downtowns, highways and even rural areas. This method of manifesting own individuality is certainly very American in nature since we spend a lot of time in our cars, driving to work, university, mall or the club. But after doing some custom paint job or installing a powerful audio system and LCD screens to the car little custom car owners actually take the time to think about the insurance aspect of their new vehicle. And this can really be important.
One of the most common misconceptions people share about their insurance policies is that the insurance company makes all the adjustments on their own in case you change your vehicle somehow. It’s not only about visual customization. Installing an additional seat belt or an alarm system is also considered as modification. Truth is that you are responsible for informing the insurer and it’s your job to keep the policy up to date with all the changes you make to your vehicle. Some of you may think that it’s not a big problem to keep the policy out of date. However, there could be serious implications due to such carelessness.
When you sign the auto insurance policy the insurer takes the responsibility to cover a specific totality of parts, ie all the parts that your vehicle is comprised of. When you introduce changes to certain parts like boost your engine, improve aerodynamics or even simply change the factory installed seats with custom ones the totality of all the parts becomes different from the one you’ve purchased insurance for. In most cases custom parts cost more than factory installed ones. And the insurance company is likely to pay only for replacing the original ones. So if you do not update your policy after customization you risk lacking the necessary coverage for the new more expensive parts, losing the money you’ve invested into customization. Yet, it can get even worse.
Some auto insurance companies can even deny your claim once they learn that you’ve performed customization without informing them and ended up in an accident. Certain types of custom works can really affect the risk factors associated with a vehicle, making it costlier to repair, more likely to get stolen or simply more prone to being involved in an accident. And insurance companies are really fixed on risk, so when you modify the risk associated with your car without informing the insurer they will get really “upset” when you’ll file the claim. So upset that they will accuse you in breaching the agreements of the policy and deny you with coverage when you really need it.
So, the easiest way to make auto insurance adequate to your customized car is to inform your company about all the changes you perform to your vehicle right after you’ve done it. Your rates can be modified depending on the cost of custom parts installed and the overall risk factor changed. However, it’s much better than risking to get denied of coverage altogether, right?