Do You Notify Your Car Insurace Co.?

[OfftourRoadie96]

It's been years, and I mean YEARS, since I've updated my car insurance policy. I carry Full Coverage on my Pathy. I notified my Insurace company about the upgrades, such as the AC Lift, sliders, winch/bumper & lights........I need to send in my receipts for everything, but they said if I never told them about the upgrades, that they would only fix it to STOCK. Has anyone else told their insurance companies about their mods?

[SRN]

I'm no expert, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. BUT from my experiences here in Utah I would not inform my insurance policy about any modifications as if you ever filed a claim, they could easily say it was due to the modifications. This would allow them to give you a much lower amount on any claim. That said, if you don't inform them, they could also say that you never told them about the modifications and therefore give you nothing. Again, no expert, but these are things that I've heard about happening here. it's kinda lose, lose.

 

Maybe someone with more knowledge will pipe up though.

[devonianwalk]

I've had friends in the past wreck modified vehicles in the past. Both cases I'm aware of their insurance companies only replaced the stock parts on one car and totaled the other for its stock value.

[unccpathfinder]

Ive heard of folks getting appraisals prior to wrecked or stolen so the insurance company has a set worth of the vehicle...my pathy is liability only so they know nothing

[SchizophrenicMC]

I wouldn't tell them. They'll screw you and blame the modifications. Even if they don't, they'll only fix to stock or give you the value of it stock.

 

Of course, all our cars are liability-only, because Progressive refuses to insure them against collision damage.

[nunya]

Insurance Co. knows some of my stuff, important things I would want (paid for) replaced with the same thing. Odds are I would do it myself anyway and pocket as much as possible.

[Tungsten]

I carry liability only. Out of all the money you can save, you can buy the mods again yourself.

[Heloflyboy]

My family and I were in a bad accident a couple years ago . The guy who hit us was doing 90 mph ( thats what he told chp) . He came across hwy and hit us in my door . We rolled four times and my wife's leg went out passenger side window . Needless to say she is now handicapped. Rock sliders and full cage saved our lives.

Anyway I had a lot of time with insurance company, since the guy who hit us had NO insurance. The insurance company only paid what a 1985 toyota 4 runner was value at . It had full coverage and about 10k into it . Luckily they let me buy it for $500.

Check into the coverage in your state they are all different . Look into RAISING your uninsured motorized . Everyone who reads this should look into it..We had 50k and it did not pay for 3 leg surgeries and lost wages. Most the time it is not that much more money . A million dollar policy cost me about 150 a year . You never know when SOMEONE else will crash into you . Good luck.

[Tungsten]

Around here, even liability will run you over $1200 a year for a Pathfinder and that's if you are over 25. I was rear ended before and it cost me a tire carrier, which was about $10 from the scrapper. I was hit by an Explorer, driven by an illegal immigrant, with no injuries or damage to my truck aside from the caved tire carrier. I didn't even report the accident because here they will actually jack up your rate even if it's not your fault. If I didn't have to buy insurance, I wouldn't. Insurance is the biggest scam of the millennium. I would vouch for tougher driving tests instead and higher DUI fines. I would also stay away from those tin can Toyotas.

[rwd5021]

Yikes, x2 on the uninsured motorist coverage. I assume most people who don't know how to drive very well also don't have insurance, at least around here.. That's a bad combination and an easy way for you to lose everything just cause someone else sucks. If you want the insurance company to replace your aftermarket parts, I'm pretty sure they'll wanna know what everything is worth before you ever get in an accident. Then in a possible total loss situation yours will be worth more than just an average pathy of the same year and harder for them to just say it's totaled. I used to have a 1976 Monte Carlo in mint condition, all original. In 2010 I was in a head on collision with a girl who had no insurance, no license and no working brain cells either, cause she started to cross and then stopped in the middle of an intersection for me to hit her. Anyways, since there were no upgrades to the car it carried the same value to them as any beat up 76 Monte Carlo and wasn't worth it in their eyes to fix. Luckily I did have uninsured motorist coverage so insurance kept $1000 of the total, I got to keep my car(which needs lots of body work now) and I bought my first pathy with the rest of the check.

[1994SEV6]

As much as I like to be conservative and say "eh, it won't happen to me". I completely agree with you, Heloflyboy.

This really hits home to me here in Wash. D.C. (and most everywhere else I'm sure), because the streets in my neighborhoods are flooded with uninsured motorists.

It almost seems like it's easier to steal a car, steal a tag, and drive around without a license, than it is to go the proper legal way.

I mean, seriously. How bad could it be? You don't have to pay for insurance, you don't have to wait at the MVA/DMV and pay for license/tag fees, you get a free car, you aren't accountable for anything.

What's the worst that can happen? You get a slimy lawyer who gets you off with a 4 year sentence? Maybe you get 'your' car towed away, and you get a bus ticket for deportation out of the country?

Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

As unfortunate as it is, I'm not lying, or over-exaggerating, or being unreasonable. It's happened to my dad about 4 times in his life (completely totaled his 720 and multiple other vehicles), it's happened to my mom, and it even happened to me once on my bike.

 

Just take a look at this thread I dug up. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=31177&st=0&p=598124&hl=+uninsured%20+ran%20+stop%20+sign&fromsearch=1entry598124

 

 

As for the original topic, don't bother with your insurance company. You have to remember, their job is to pay you as little as possible. Their business is to keep money. First of all, I doubt the guy on the phone will have any idea what a "calmini 3inch suspension lift with front diff. drop brackets and a panhard drop bracket" is. A lot of the stuff on members' vehicles is purely custom. You can't put a value on that, and trust the insurance companies to not put a value on it at all. Even if they did honor your mods, HOW would they replace them? If you have a stock car and your bumper gets dented, simple. Just take it to the Nissan dealer and get a new OEM bumper put on. Who the hell is the insurance company going to pay to put a new lift on your truck or whatever? They have to send someone out to inspect the damages. This guy may be good at diagnosing smashed doors, but I doubt he would be able to comprehend your swapped Dana axle or something.

 

Besides that, what's the point? Two things might happen. One, they will make you pay more for insurance because your vehicle is now "more dangerous" or "less stable" or some BS like that. Or, they are going to find a loophole in your contract to absolve them of responsibility.

Edited January 26, 2012 by 1994SEV6

[sewebster]

Hmm. I think the minimum underinsured motorist coverage you can have here is $250k. That's our socialist system for ya

 

My fear isn't that any "mods" I have aren't covered, it's that the fact that my truck isn't a piece of junk like many other 1991 Pathfinders... I don't think I'd be happy with the average retail value if something happened to my truck since I've sunk a bunch of money and time into maintaining it. But I think I'm not going to lose much sleep over it.

Edited January 26, 2012 by sewebster

[1994SEV6]

Hmm. I think the minimum underinsured motorist coverage you can have here is $250k. That's our socialist system for ya

 

My fear isn't that any "mods" I have aren't covered, it's that the fact that my truck isn't a piece of junk like many other 1991 Pathfinders... I don't think I'd be happy with the average retail value if something happened to my truck since I've sunk a bunch of money and time into maintaining it. But I think I'm not going to lose much sleep over it.

 

Yeah. that's the other thing. Even if you do report the mods, this is what the insurance company will do.

 

Hmm...ok...$1500 for the vehicle. looks like a piece of crap to us. Glad to get it off the roads.

$100 for the lift you had on it.

$100 for the other stuff you did.

 

Ok, here's a check for $1700. Go buy an EV. Have fun.

Edited January 26, 2012 by 1994SEV6

[rwd5021]

Well I'd say that's better than 1500. They wanna give you as little as possible, so why not try and get a bit more instead of letting them screw you? You're forgetting that if the truck isn't totalled they replace all the parts that got messed up. Sentimental value means nothing to an insurance company. If you inform them of upgrades and their value, that would be accounted for in the total value of your vehicle. I'd assume that most companies would charge you a little more each month but also would replace those upgrades as long as all repairs = less than the (new) total value.

[1994SEV6]

Well I'd say that's better than 1500. They wanna give you as little as possible, so why not try and get a bit more instead of letting them screw you? You're forgetting that if the truck isn't totalled they replace all the parts that got messed up. Sentimental value means nothing to an insurance company. If you inform them of upgrades and their value, that would be accounted for in the total value of your vehicle. I'd assume that most companies would charge you a little more each month but also would replace those upgrades as long as all repairs = less than the (new) total value.

right. of course.

That's the dilemma.

Do you tell your insurance company, and pay more, to get a slightly larger check at the end, or do you not?

That's the discussion.

 

I'm forgetting that if the truck isn't totaled?

At today's labor rates, replacing a bumper and two tail lights would total a WD21.

My uncle was mistaken for someone else, and got the windows smashed out of all of his cars. He had about 7 cars. This included a 1966 Mustang (in terrible condition), and a 1979 280zx (in good to great condition). The two door windows, the rear windshield and the half window behind the door window, totaled the car. Replacing 4 pieces of glass would have cost more than the car was worth. And so it's been sitting under a tarp for 3 years now.

[rwd5021]

Well I get what you're sayin, the truck isn't gonna need that much damage to be "totalled", but if you're paying extra $ every month to insure those upgrades the (new) total value of your vehicle will be higher, therefore harder for the insurance company to just say it's not worth fixing.

[Zibi]

All I know is that when I had my pathfinder in to ICBC (provincial insurance company here) to get damage inspected after somebody hit me and left a dent on my rear quarter, the appraiser took special care to measure and take pictures of all four of my tires from multiple angles.

 

I have an OME lift in with 31" duratracs, so not exactly huge.

 

It was never mentioned during my case, and in the end I won an appeal to have the other driver at 100% fault, but I have no doubt that should it have suited them in a legal battle they would have thrown my "oversized" tires and modifications at me...

Edited January 26, 2012 by Zibi

[alabama_lowlife]

My wife is an agent, so I've asked her tons of questions about this sort of thing. You can add modifications to your policy and they will cover them. Obviously, it will cost a little more, but that's to be expected. Why would they pay you $7000 for a $3000 vehicle? You might need receipts to prove you purchased the stuff. They might want to take pictures of it. They might want serial numbers if it is the type of thing that would have a serial number, like stereo equipment.

 

Is it worth it? To me it depends on how much you've spent on stuff. My stereo stuff is covered. When I was much younger I really worried about my truck getting broken into and my stereo equipment getting stolen. Once it was added on to my policy and I knew it was gonna get replaced it was worth every penny for the peace of mind it gave me.

 

I did specifically ask her if I spent $1000 on a lift kit and added it to the policy would it be covered if it were wrecked and she said yes it would be. Of course I had to explain that it was a hypothetical question and I did not intend to spend $1000 on a lift kit lol.

[SchizophrenicMC]

A lot of it depends on your insurance provider, though. For example, Progressive won't even provide collision insurance to my Pathfinder (sight unseen, I might add) just because it's 20 years old and only worth a couple hundred dollars according to them. I asked to see the highest provided coverage, and they still would not cover it for collision.

 

Some insurers won't cover modified equipment, if the base vehicle is below a certain monetary threshold. Personally, I don't plan to ever use my insurance, and I only keep it in case I get pulled over, because it's required. I suppose it's a good idea to carry liability, so I don't get my ass sued, but I don't think I'm ever going to carry collision. I don't ever plan to buy a new car - no justification for the expense - so there's no reason to insure against collision anyway. If my older car gets smashed, I'll have to fix it myself or get rid of it. The rest of it is just accident avoidance. Quick reaction. Use as much of that as you can and use your insurance for when you run out of luck and reflexes.

[JamesRich]

I have progressive insurance and they would have put collision on my 25 year old pathy if I wanted. I have full coverage on both my other vehicles and my motorcycle with them too. With just basic coverage on the pathy my monthly note went up $8 when I added the pathy on. I guess that's one perk from being 42. Now I'm about to add a 16 year old daughter onto my policy, I'm sure that's going to hurt!

James

[pathybuilder]

I'm a firm believer in running basic liability and build your truck to withstand a small fender bender. I've been rear ended 4 times, one of which would have written off my 95 pathfinder for sure, if it wasn't for my spare tire carrier. It was still $6500 damage. This was in 2005 when my truck was still worth $8000. Guy hit me at 50 mph while I was stopped dead at a light, his ram 1500 was without doubt a total loss. Now with a new build taking place and probably dumping 8K or so into my truck, I'm still going to run Liability only but, between my ARB front bumper, a custom built rear bumper / tire carrier, tube fenders (tied into rock sliders), the majority of the body should be able to stand up to a minor accident that would normally write off a $1500 vehicle in stock form. Don't ask me how I'm going to build tube fenders (I'm still figuring this out). The hassle of paying extra to the insurance company that's just going to blame an at fault accident on your mods isn't worth it. Of course you can't really protect yourself from the speeding drunk or uninsured driver that T-bones you at an intersection resulting in major damage and you getting a cheque for $1000. but the way I see it, If I walk away from an accident bad enough to write of my modified truck, I'm gonna say "thanks for the cheque, that's better than being 6 feet under."