>Message text written by "John Macartney"
>>With due respect to Dan and other submissions on this thread to one
>side, surely a conversion of this sort would be of the greatest
>interest to the company currently / likely to be insuring this car?
>To the insurer, installing a V8 will mean only one thing - greater
>power, acceleration, higher top speed and all of it a lot sooner -
>with the assumption such features will be used to the full?
>Why would anyone want to install a V8 if it wasn't to 'better' the
>car's performance?
Dave Massey replied:>
>With all due respects to Mr Macartney, insurance companies set their
rates
>based on demographics.
They do in the UK as well but this isn't the only thing.
Technical issues do not enter into the equation
>primarily because they do not understand technical things.
Having never dealt with US insurers, I wouldn't know about that. With
the exception of the drip that came to see me about CG, IMHO all the
claims loss adjusters I've met in the last 40 odd years were highly
technical - some of them uncomfortably so and many qualified by work
experience and exam to Institute of Mechanical Engineers standard -
which speaks for itself. The proposal forms for 99.9% of UK firms ask
"Has the car been modified in any way from its specification when new,
apart from a change in colour?" If you answer 'Yes' - then no cover
until the car has been inspected by the insurance co engineer. Then,
having obtained your policy and reading the fine print you'll find
some helpful remark along the lines of "changes to the car's
specification and equipment during the lifetime of a paid up policy
may render the policy void. The policyholder is recommended to advise
the insurer of all changes to the vehicle in order to keep the policy
current."
The fact that
>the folks most attracted to the V8 powered vehicles are the same
folks they
>are least interested in including in their coverage pool is the main
>motivator for the increase in rates.
But do you have insurance companies and brokers catering especially
for classic cars? Your comment suggests you don't. We do. As an
example, I pay GBP101.00 for CG with unlimited mileage, GBP75 excess
(deductible?) and other clauses. These are identical terms that apply
to my 1996 Eurobox which costs GBP325 and is smaller, slower and less
powerful. Thus there's a strong argument for using CG as a daily
driver.
We, as a group, represent a much
>lower risk (risque?) as we care more for our vehicles than does the
general
>public.
Care of the vehicle by an enthusiast is a foregone conclusion in any
country but that's irrelevant in western Europe. As has been debated
previously on this list, we have to *put up with* independent
technical tests for each car, truck and bus over three years old
before it can be licenced and this is an annual requirement without
exception. The test requirements and conditions are far-reaching,
thorough and make little or no allowance for the actual age of the
vehicle. While this may be seen by many US enthusiasts as rubber
stamping what they already know about their cars and an infringement
of personal liberty, it has done much over the last few years to
finally rid European roads of terminal rustbuckets that would be
dangerous being driven round a junkyard. This means overall, that the
vast majority of cars using our roads and more than three years old
are in a reasonably good state of repair and operational efficiency -
almost regardless of their age because they all meet the same broad
standard - which gets tighter year on year. On top of this, a car
found to have serious deficiencies during the lifetime of an MoT
ticket usually voids the insurance and leaves the registered owner
open to immediate court action with discouraging penalties. Classic
cars *generally* are attractive to insurance companies here because it
is automatically assumed they will be cossetted by their owners and
driven with care and consideration for the vehicle itself and other
road users as well - thus they tend to attract substantially lower
premiums.
But fiddle with other technical aspects of the car and you are legally
required to tell the insurer before taking the car on the road with
its modification - and a V8 lump certainly comes into that category!
I suspect we're coming at this subject from different directions <g>
John
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