Lowered car and insurance...

CiniO

I got my 01 Fiat Bravo lowered just by installing Eibach springs -30mm.
She actually didn't go down too much or even none, because considering age of car, stock springs were already a bit squeezed...
Anyway I didn't do it for looks but for handling (i'm driving mostly on very bendy country roads) and I must admit it helped a lot. Car is much more fun to drive now.


Anyway I'm thinking what about insurance now. Do I have to notify my insurer about this modification? I don't have any invoices for springs because I got them secondhand from a friend, and I don't have any invoices for mounting them, because I installed them myself.

I'm bit confused, because I'm originally from county where insurers has nothing to do with any mods in cars, but in Ireland most of them has clauses "car is not modified in any way"...

Should I call my insurer and tell that I got lowering springs?
Would my premium go up a lot because of it?
What happens if I don't tell my insurer and then crash?

What is actually considered as modification? Would putting another size of tyres be already a modification? Or alloys, fog lights, etc ?

Thanks for any advice, because I'm bit confused how it acutally works in Ireland?

B00MSTICK

Ring them and tell them. They won't need an invoice or receipt from a garage or anything.

If you don't then they may refuse to pay out in the event of a claim/accident.

Your premium may rise but it won't be anything astronomical.

If your car model has alloys/fogs etc. as standard (for that spec level) then it won't be considered a modification. However changing the standard wheel size (e.g 16" to 18") may be considered a mod. Just make sure you tell them everything that isn't stock on your car.

Remember an insurance company is a business and will often try to avoid paying out any chance they get.

tossy

They may ask for an engineers report,which would involve bringing it to a garage and inspecting the suspension and deeming it to be fitted correctly.

I wouldn't mention that you fitted them yourself in your initial enquiry.

retrothis

My buddy lowered his golf by 35mm....insurance company wanted 90 euro of him. So you should definetly ring them up and tell em. But you might be lucky, they might only want money from you if there's a power increase....