Adding bench seats

Ok, from reading various threads ive found out that I can add bench seats to the back of a defender 90 hardtop and don't need seat belts. What I cant find anywhere is what this means for insurance. I assume that I have to inform the dvla and my insurers that i can now fit 4 more people in, are they going to take this as a modification and increase my premium loads or can i just give em a seat number and they take that as standard? Anyone had experience of this?

I recently put two seats in the back of my landy.

Lancasters just considered it to be an increase in seats for the landy (as i told them i was going to be putting them back in) - i would suggest (just from a safety point of view) you put belts in as well

The main reason i only put two in was because they were going to put the premiums up a huge amount if i went over 5 seats (mainly because its registered to a London address)

When i phoned round NFU said it would not be a problem to go to 7 seats (and so did lancasters) if it was registered out of London

- To fit seat belts i just had four 4mm steel plates made up to re-enforce the body and bolted them through the wheel arch.

Cool, I heard that seat belts for side facing seats are bad tho because they cause the body to twist if theres an accident. Did you have to notify the DVLA to change the number of seats info on the V5?

My V5 has a empty box for number of seats as its so old that sort of info was not collected when mine was registered

As for seat belts - my thoughts on the issue were - either way sideways facing seats in a crash are a very bad thing and your going to get injured anyway, but in a roll over situation it would be best to be held down with something. The only real way to make it safe would be to put a bench seat going accross and limit it to 5 seats - getting in and out is a pain i guess

your insured with Lancaster? They any good? They quoted me £344 full comp. and didnt increase premiums when mentioned the winch and stuff, and low excess at £100. But, I got another quote from 2g quotes for £295, have you heard of these guys?

am looking for seats also. Do, you think its best to do everything before you renew insurance premiums, or just tell them you got them, as you plan to add them?.

Ie. steering guards, snorkel, etc