hugh wrote:
|| In message <
[email protected]>, Richard Brookman
|| <
[email protected]> writes
||| Mother" <"@ {mother} @ wrote:
|||
|||||| If you run it without telling them of such a major modification
|||||| you are potentially driving uninsured.
|||||
||||| No 'potential' about it. All insurers, in the event of a claim,
||||| will refuse to pay if they find _any_ modification that they have
||||| not been informed of. Someone mentioned recently, although I
||||| have no idea how true it is, that a central database will shortly
||||| include modifications that have been notified.
|||
||| I meant "potential" in the sense that mods are always a grey area -
||| most would ignore a GB sticker on the back, most would refuse to
||| pay out on a Ford Fiesta re-engined to 6 litres if they had insured
||| it as a 1.2. Kinda thing. LPG would seem to fall somewhere
||| between the two. I would regard it as a major mod myself, if only
||| because of the fire and other hazards of a botched amateur job.
||| But I'm not an underwriter - hence the "potential". I still think
||| the OP was a bit foolish to carry out the conversion and then start
||| asking if he needs to inform anyone.
|||
|| An LPG conversion is not performance enhancing and I don't think a
|| claim can be dismissed purely on the basis of an unnotified
|| modification unless it is material cause of the claim. After all do
|| you notify your insurer that you have fitted a spot lamp?
You should, as it enhances the value of the vehicle, and hence the amount
you would expect them to pay you in the event of a claim. OK, most people
don't, and take the risk that the spots would not be covered in the event of
loss or damage. But an LPG conversion involves major changes to the fuel
system and the installation of a potentially explosive gas with the
associated tanks and pipework. At the very least, the insurer would want to
know that the conversion had been carried out to an acceptable standard.
Hence the need to notify. In theory, any change to the vehicle you
described to them at the outset (and hence what they based the contract of
insurance on) could be used to refuse a claim, whether the modification was
material to the claim or not.
Best practice is to notify _everything_ then you know you are covered.
|| What they will refuse to cover is any additional cost incurred in a
|| repair as a result of the presence of an unnotified modification.
That as well.
|| Unfortunately the LPGA has done a good job of spreading FUD around
|| the insurance industry, so it is simply a matter of being safe
|| rather than sorry, so notify your conversion and if necessary shop
|| around for your insurance.
Agreed.
--
Rich
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I don't approve of signatures, so I don't have one.
