[DaveA]

Those of you contemplating engine performance modifications might like to know that, right now, having the BMW M Performance PPK fitted to my car results in a premium quote of almost double the premium that I can get quoted for an "unmodified" car..

I've had my car a year now and the renewal quote I just received was pretty much the same for this coming year as I paid last year.. Back then, when I bought the car new, the difference between modified and unmodified was only coming out around about 6 or 7 percent... So, all in all, not a bad deal...

Anyway, before I clicked "yes" on the renewal, which, to be honest, I am pretty happy with, I decided to do a quick check on one of the aggregator sites to see if I could get a better deal...

I couldn't.. and what I actually found out was that there was now a whopping difference between unmodified and modified...

Now, the difference appears to be at least a full 100% different (£350 unmodified vrs £700 for my modified renewal, and even more for the cheapest quoted on the aggregator..)...

I suspect that the big difference being noted in the unmodified price is the drop in value of the base car from new. I am using, now, in the quotes, a reasonable showroom value for the car...

Quite why the PPK should have such an impact, I don't know... But I did notice that there were a lot of companies that would not now quote back to the aggregator site when the modification was added... so I wondered if there was some issue with that, I shall have to try again later to confirm....

But, maybe, also, there is a move away from modifications in the insurance quotes..?

[Tengocity]

My remap and other mods(suspension and cosmetic) barely made £30 difference to my insurance.

[JustChris]

The insurers know what you modders are like driving

Only kidding, that seems ridiculous, pretty certain others on here have had a minimal up charge. Certainly worth checking out to make sure you know what the full cost would be.

[DaveA]

Well, the cheapest quotes I got were not really 100% relevant in comparing like-for-like as these insurers wouldn't actually quote for a modded car at all... The difference between modded and un-modded on the cheapest of the insurers who would quote on modded was 10%...

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

My remap and other mods(suspension and cosmetic) barely made £30 difference to my insurance.

What % difference does that work out to be (I am assuming our quotes are different in many ways, not just mods, so it's easier for me to understand in % terms... )..

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by DaveA

What % difference does that work out to be (I am assuming our quotes are different in many ways, not just mods, so it's easier for me to understand in % terms... )..

From about £520 to £550, so less than 10%

That's through a-plan brokers- business use, 25k miles, 8 years ncd,

[JohnM]

I am with BMW insurance (Allianz), no increase in premiums at renewal, and classed by them as factory fit option, so normal premium at inception.

[JustChris]

Sounds like time to look elsewhere Dave if they're taking the P1$$?!

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

From about £520 to £550, so less than 10%

That's through a-plan brokers- business use, 25k miles, 8 years ncd,

Mine is a good £150 more than that, for 10,000 miles, no points and 15+ NCD...

I suspect that your postcode and parking arrangements are somewhat less "risky" than mine (despite nobody even so much as scratching my car in more than 22 years of living here..)......!!!!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by DaveA

Mine is a good 150 more than that, for 10,000 miles, no points and 15+ NCD...

I suspect that your postcode and parking arrangements are somewhat less "risky" than mine (despite nobody even so much as scratching my car in more than 22 years of living here..)......!!!!

I've got no points either, parked in a driveway, HP4 postcode, which is a small town in herts.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by ChesterM2

Sounds like time to look elsewhere Dave if they're taking the P1$$?!

Actually, my renewal is bang on the cheapest that I can get using a comparison site... that is including the engine mod... so I am not unhappy with what I am being offered by the existing company...

It's just I happened to notice that I could get a whopping 50% off that price if I took off the power kit (M&S I think offered the cheapest quote)... But those insurers want only un-modified cars... and I didn't see that last year... The uplift last year was only a few % points....

I suspect it's one of those algorithm things....

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

I've got no points either, parked in a driveway, HP4 postcode, which is a small town in herts.

Sorry, didn't mean to imply you had points.. My bad...

Yes, postcode and parking, I suspect...

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by JohnM

I am with BMW insurance (Allianz), no increase in premiums at renewal, and classed by them as factory fit option, so normal premium at inception.

Yes, I don't think my postcode and parking arrangements suit the BMW Insurance model well.. They wanted £1500 from me... Best quote was more than 50% less than that...

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by DaveA

Sorry, didn't mean to imply you had points.. My bad...

Yes, postcode and parking, I suspect...

No worries, was just trying to ensure we were narrowing down the right variables!

Parked on the street in a city centre or something?

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

No worries, was just trying to ensure we were narrowing down the right variables!

Parked on the street in a city centre or something?

In a car park outside a flat in a northern town that the Insurance company must think is a high crime zone..

[NISFAN]

I've found that there are a number of insurers that don't regard the PPK as a modification......Bilstein PSS10 on the other hand are clearly only fitted by street racing drifters.

What exactly is the NCD actually for?

[Kal101]

Originally Posted by DaveA

Yes, I don't think my postcode and parking arrangements suit the BMW Insurance model well.. They wanted £1500 from me... Best quote was more than 50% less than that...

That's nothing BMW insurance wanted a whopping 3k more from me for a 320d sport !!!

Incidentally worth checking if parking on street makes a difference. Found it reduced my premiums. Presume because everyone here parks on their drives this results in all recorded incidents result in parking on the drive looking riskier than parking on the street.

Also found its cheaper to insure a 335d xdrive vs a 330d xdrive

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

Bilstein PSS10 on the other hand are clearly only fitted by street racing drifters.

Had to laugh at this bit........"just putting you through to our special insurance drifting team sir"....

[matt666]

Have you tried an insurer who specialise in modified cars? When I had modded cars I didn't even bother with price comparison sites, I had a choice of 3 or 4 I would use including Sky (who are still cheapest even though my BWM isn't modified), Adrian Flux, A Plan and a couple more. You don't have to spend 10 minutes explaining what a remap is to the phone monkey either.

[gtsussex]

I thought I'd have to move but Privilege took it in their stride, everything was fully doc'd and they charged me about 60 quid extra. That covers me if I decide to go to ACS RS.

[Lorcan]

Originally Posted by matt666

Have you tried an insurer who specialise in modified cars? When I had modded cars I didn't even bother with price comparison sites, I had a choice of 3 or 4 I would use including Sky (who are still cheapest even though my BWM isn't modified), Adrian Flux, A Plan and a couple more. You don't have to spend 10 minutes explaining what a remap is to the phone monkey either.

+1.

We recommend Performance Direct. Our guy there, Dave Goodman, is a proper petrolhead and a BMW man and understands what we do. He's cut the premium for more than one member here when going from standard to modified, by over £300 in one case. Even he struggles with youngsters though (under 30) when it comes to modifying, e.g. 360hp modded M135i for a 22 year old...

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by matt666

Have you tried an insurer who specialise in modified cars? When I had modded cars I didn't even bother with price comparison sites, I had a choice of 3 or 4 I would use including Sky (who are still cheapest even though my BWM isn't modified), Adrian Flux, A Plan and a couple more. You don't have to spend 10 minutes explaining what a remap is to the phone monkey either.

Adrian Flux and A Plan were definitely on the list of insurers compared.. Granted, I didn't speak with them directly...

The comparison site I used (confused) took full account of the modifications in the details you input. The main thing is that the companies that would offer the cheapest quote to me "unmodified" would not quote on the modified version of the car.. For the quotes I got the same company to quote on, the price difference was not great between mod and un-mod...

The point I was making in the original post was not that I thought my premium was particularly high for the modification but that there seems to have been a significant reduction in rates for an unmodified car (in my circumstances) since last year.. The modded premium seems to have remained the same but the unmoved premium has dropped significantly.. so the "uplift" can now seem high if you compare the cheapest quote with mod to without mod... If you get my drift...