A friend of mine had an accident involving another vehicle, not life altering but bad enough. He's now having a battle with his insurers as they've determined that his bike was modded for performance which was not declared on his policy. I know a lot of people here mod their bikes for power gains. Do you also inform your insurers? Do you get hit by larger premiums or even turned away? Edit - To add, he was on a heavily modified gsx-r 1000 K5.
Sorry to hear of your friend's accident. I've been choosy in the past when it comes to declaring mods but when I bought the 1299 I chose to be upfront - purely due to the value of the bike. Declaring the Akrapovic cans, tail tidy and carbon bits did not affect my premium but then they are hardly performance enhancing. Depends on the insurance company I guess but any opportunity to wiggle out of payment or lowering it they will take.... Let us know how he gets on pls.
I'm with MCE - they say you can declare what you want but they will only reimburse stock stuff back....ie ive told them the RSV4 had a full system, ecu is in race/custom flash mode etc etc....I give them a value of the bike and they insure accordingly....the only fight ive had with them was with the supermoto where Ive put about 5.5k into it but they'll pay no more out than 3.8 as that's the max for a custom supermoto....so I have to grin and bear that one...
My mate will be fine, a few broken bones but he's more stressed about the damn insurance company! I'm the same, my mods are not performance enhancing and I declare to my insurers. Like @comfysofa they will replace with stock in advent of a claim.
The only non standard item on my Multistrada is an MRA screen, which has been declared along with the wired in bracket for a Zumo. Modding and insurance problems are a minefield I have no intention of stepping into. Life is just too short for the hassle and stress.
Don't have the exact details; full system, track fairings, thumb brake, lots of engine work. He didn't have nitrous though. Is that something you have on yours?
Nope. Mine is pretty standard, with just rearsets and levers changed. I could kind of understand an insurer being unhappy in nitrous was added since it gives a massive HP boost, but the changes your friend had added may have added 5% to the power, which isn't a massive difference.
@Gimlet You did a load of work to your Streetfighter. Did you declare it all? Appreciate you may not wish to say. For my money, I don't think my man has a leg to stand on. He was riding a track bike on the road, he had an accident and was subsequently rumbled by his insurers.
All the parts on my bike including the engine internals are standard or they are manufacturer approved accessories and as far as I'm aware there is nothing to declare. I don't expect the insurers to cover any increase in resale value I may have added but saying that the declared value has remained unchanged for two years and they have accepted that. I probably will declare the Akra Evo exhaust system on the Superduke because its a new and expensive bike. Like RSVRollo I doubt it'll effect the premium but as Comfy says I'd be very surprised if in the event of a claim they'll bung me an extra 2 grand for the pipe.
Insurance companies will look for every single loophole to get out of paying a claim, as I'm sure you are aware. Not declaring a mod (any kind of mod, even if you think it's irrelevant) gives them a bona fide loophole.
Was he at fault? If it is a third party claim then it should not make a huge difference. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
He was at fault. He's a liability if I'm honest. I don't ride with him anymore. But a mate is a mate. @comfysofa You had a load of performance work done on your z1000. Did you have issues with your insurers?
Nope... Told them it had a full system, and had been dyno'd they said as long as it didn't increase by 10bhp...which it hadn't... Just... Also declared crash bungs and other bits and pieces...
I guess he is screwed then. Are the police looking in to if the modifications contributed to the accident? We stopped riding trackbikes to and from the track for this reason. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
This might make a difference... Something to look into..... When I was insuring my last hyper I told the insurance company it had been on the dyno.... He said.... "well, that's going to in increase the premium a lot as it now makes more power than stock..." so I asked him how much they had the evo down for and he said 95bhp. I stated that after the dyno work mine only made 94bhp....said I had the dyno graph to prove it so, the wild claims that manufacturers make sometimes can be in your favour.... My premium stayed the same despite full system, air filters and custom mapping. He conceeded and said as long as it didn't go over what the manufacturer claimed by 10bhp you're OK... Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
I'll be getting more quotes soon as this month mines up so based on this thread I'll double check as insurers and change their tune... Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
I wonder if @MrsC_772 could shed any light on the extent to which insurers can find loopholes from minor mods?
I dont know if bobby law is involved or not. I'll be interested to find out though. I think he's screwed, he should have declared the mods and they have him by the short and curlies now.
It is in their interests to look for reasons not to pay. Any modification, whether manufacturer approved or not (I have clarified this with a few before), is a modification and should be declared. Sometimes your policy will cover the modification like for like (as the policy on my 848 with eBike), and sometimes they just want to note it but will only replace with standard parts (as the policy on my 959 with Ducati Insurance). However, if you crash or it is stolen and they find out there are changes they were not aware of, they are within their rights not to pay. They could cite either that the modification contributed to the accident or increased the desirability to steal it. They are covering a risk that a bike could be crashed or stolen, and modifications can change that risk.
