Your Car Modifications Are Likely to Increase the Cost of Auto Insurance Premiums

If you are that type of personality who wants to pumper his or her ride, you will most likely make some car modifications. You may fit some new alloy wheels, add some extra headlights or modify your car engine to improve performance. It is essential to consider that any modifications you do in your may have an effect on the cost of your auto insurance. Vehicle modifications in most cases increase the cost of car coverage. There are mainly two factors that are examined when insurer assess how car modifications could affect the insurance policy.

One, the risks of accident is looked at based on the modifications done on a vehicle. Changing the appearance and performance of a car is viewed by insurers as an increased accident risk. Some of these changes may include engine modifications, body kits, sport seats and spoilers. One thing you will be asked when filling your car insurance policy form is whether your vehicle has undergone any modifications.

If you do modify a car to increase its power such as change of the exhaust system, it means that you have to drive fast and from the insurers’ point of view, the faster you tend to drive, the more you are likely to get involved in an accident. The other risk that is examined on a modified car is risk of theft. If you install accessories like phone kits, entertainment systems and other features, this means that you are adding value to your car.

This could be interpreted as potentially susceptible to theft. Your car may be broken into or even stolen. Insurance companies do not want to bear that risk and they substantially pass over the burden of risk on to your premiums by increasing the rates. Probably, a third argument could consider the aspect of adding value to your car through modifications, which means that the vehicle is expensive and you will increase your claims in the event of any damages or theft.

Therefore, modifying your car to increase its value would attract high premium rates. According to an analysis on car modifications and how they affects the insurance cost, MoneySupermarket released a price guide that shows how car insurance will change following a modification on specification parts or accessories.

For example, from the guide, a turbo-charging, nitrous oxide, and supercharging have been noted to produce the biggest impact on the prices of vehicle insurance. These changes can increase the policy cost by up to 90 percent averagely, and this is twice as much as any other kind of changes that you may make in your car.

Some changes that are done to enhance the aesthetic look of a vehicle are considered more benign and therefore may not cause any significant increase in cost of insurance. Things like tinted windows and fitting of alloy wheels are considered low risk.

Apparently, some of the functional modifications could actually lower the insurance premiums for example, when you install parking sensors; it means that you are less likely to bump into another vehicle when reversing. In essence, you need to evaluate the kind of car modifications you are doing on your vehicle and how they will affect your insurance policy costs.