Ok real talk. Obviously nobody wants to imagine their expensive built and boosted car getting in an accident.

But we're adults and we have to have insurance for a reason.

Does anyone have any experience with insurance in this regard? I just thought about it, read a couple of nightmare articles and it kind of freaked me out.

Obviously Im talking about instances where you might be at fault and cause damage to property not so much if someone else jacks up your stuff... which would equally suck, but one can land you in huge costs and the other could just ruin your year.

 

Is your concern that the modifications would somehow become a liability for an at fault accident? Or are you just concerned about being able to carry a large enough policy?

I've recently been looking at changing my current policy to an "agreed value" policy. So far I only have a quote through Hagerty and it came to $1964 per year, that was 250/500k coverage. I'm not going with this though... that price is ALMOST as much as I pay for 3 cars (full coverage) and home owners together.

 

If you don't have custom parts and equipment coverage, your aftermarket parts likely won't be covered and on top of having CPE you also must have collision and comprehensive for them to be covered, that's my understanding.
You can get stated value, whatever your car is worth plus all of your aftermarket parts is covered but you'll pay a premium reflecting that.

 

ya unless you have a specific rider, insurance company isnt going to cover anything past the cost of OEM replacement. turbo etc isnt oem and isnt calculated into your rates, so it wont be covered. And given most parts are non-street legal (ie basically every aftermarket ems), they can deny coverage on even the oem stuff.

 

Im not so concerned about that. If it happens it happens. Im more paranoid about an insurance company canceling or voiding the policy incase of an accident and not covering me for damage to someone elses vehicle.

Like loosing out on go fast parts is something i can survive. It would suck but hey thats life. But getting sued for damages through the roof because my insurance wont cover me is a whole different story.

Ive read a few instances where someone got in an accident or did damage to another vehicle and the insurance company voided them when they found out the car had go fast bits on it, because the owner hadnt informed them and they were an increased liability.

 

Like if i fawk up, i can handle loosing my built shxt. Frankly i deserve it.

But having my insurance company pull the rug out from under me when i actually need it is a completely different ball game. Injuries and damages can go deep into the 6 digits.

I guess ill just have to look into my policy myself. But i was hoping someone had some experience with it, maybe could reccomend a good insurer. Ive read about haggerty (sp?).

Of course its easy to just say "dont hit anybody" but shxt happens. And im not down to be in that sinking boat if it does happen.

 

More than a few years ago the local owner of a black Z bragged he's spent over $70K on his supercharged Z33. An accident on the west side of town reduced most of it to scrap, but he managed to walk away from the shunt. He claimed the other driver was at fault, but no tickets were issued. I went to visit what was left of the Z at a salvage yard, as he needed help removing his coilovers (not possible on one side as the parts were too badly damaged) and wanted to sell what was left of the Stillen bodykit.

He screwed himself in this shunt and knew it. While his insurance would pay him the base rate for a total, he'd never recover any of the extras. But he also said his insurance would be "changing" afterwards and he "wanted" to get a cheaper car "for a few years". I suspect his insurance (and the Z) bailed him out, but his record was going to cost him for years to come. Not the kind of experience any of us would want to have...but it was striking how casual he walked away from his crushed Z. All the safety and crash systems worked to keep him from serious injury or even death, but he just shrugged it off.

We'd all be well advised to examine the liability limits of our insurance policy NOW. If there's ever an accident that goes beyond our policy limits, the insurance will cover UP TO THAT LIMIT AND NO MORE. I reviewed my policy earlier this year and elected to move both the liability and property damage limits up. Not that I ever expect to use it, but the premium increase was not much compared with the increase in coverage.

 

I mean I get the concern for $ lost on parts, but realistically if you were to sell the car, you really wouldn't get that money back anyway. If I were to sell my car I'd get less than half what I put into it, without a doubt. In the case of an accident, I'd just take that money and put it towards a new car.

But there are situations where you are legally at fault on the road, when in reality it was someone else doing dumbass chit that caused the accident. I had an incident with a bicyclist who I don't understand what in the fawk he was trying to do speed passing me while I was ahead of him, then turning. I filed a report even though he was ok and literally rode away. But the cop told me I was at fault (still not exactly sure if I didn't explain correctly). Since then I've been utterly paranoid around bicyclists as they don't seem to think twice. Just a month ago somebody got smashed to smithereens on a bicycle, on the CA 1, and he was at fault. Bicyclists, old ladies, douchers in giant trucks. I mean you can only drive so defensively for so long. All it takes is 3 seconds of misjudgment by two parties to fawk everything up. It doesn't have to be lethal to basically ruin your life (or your car). And especially in this area of california, the drivers are totally cracked out or something. I've gotten tailgated in the left lane doing 80+ in a 65, while the guy in the right lane would habitually match my speed next to me.

I primarily want to drive this car at times and in areas where there isn't much surrounding traffic, but eventually it has to go on roads where there are other cars lmao. I have to get gas. I do want to show people the car lol. And shXt can happen, especially when you don't expect it to.

 

Can't live (or drive) in fear...

But you can check your policy and raise your liability limits to match your comfort level.

 

On top of all of that, it depends what state your policy is in. In Texas, anything over 5K in aftermarket parts damage totals the car. I fought high and low to have them repair/replace the OEM parts and I would handle my aftermarket parts. I provided them with my invoice and they covered most of the parts on the invoice. If you are worried about the money you put out on parts, just make sure that you have a reputable insurance company. Otherwise, you may be in for a surprise. I was simply pissed that I lost some fairly rare parts AND would have to acquire another vehicle to start over.

If you take a visit over to the370z forum, you could possibly read about 3 others that had this happen. All different states and different insurance companies. I believe only one other had an abundance of aftermarket parts installed. Forgive me for being vague, I don't want to give details on a subject like this on an open forum. I am willing to speak more freely in PM or other medium........

Rob

 

I thought you might be talking about this instance.
Yes, aftermarket parts can void your policy if your insurance finds out that you didn't inform them that you were going to install them.
I've heard some stories of that happening to people.

 

Anyone look into Grundy?

 

Yes! Grundy is the way to go.......

 

The Liability components of your policy are there to cover your negligence and as such it is very broad coverage, with virtually no exclusions. Your insurance company must pay out to victims of your at-fault accident even if you are criminally convicted of drunk driving, or excessive speeding, bald tires on icy roads, disconnected stability systems and so on. Breaking you state's smog laws with a turbocharger is small potatoes. State law governs auto insurance and no state allows insurance companies to arbitrarily deny payment to victims.

The policy you have will no doubt be written in legalese. Many companies, especially the direct sellers, have all the relevant points spelled out on their websites.

You didn't mention in which state you reside, but it's easy to look up case law in your state to see how lawsuits were decided with circumstances similar to any scenario you envision.

 

Well said!

 

Great responses guys. I appreciate the feedback. I will look into grundy. And yeah the idea that they can void your policy is what scares me if you don't tell them beforehand. Which nullifies their need to do what you pay them for.

Insurance companies are a joke.

As for where i live, its somewhere not modification friendly. But for all intensive purposes this car doesnt exist in the US and I have never brought it in modified state to the united states of America. If anything most of the modifications i write about and post pictures of are purely for entertainment and based either off other peoples cars or purely fiction.



Good to see we have some good members scolling through these boards still

 

just wanted to add my experience which did cover aftermarket parts. I turboed my car and tried adding it to my usaa policy but they didn't have that option. they said they cover up to $5,000 if they car is totaled and I have receipts. well a couple months later I hydro locked driving through a puddle (in hindsight could b classified as a small pond) and immediately shut my car off. pushed it off the road and had to deploy so quickly got Nissan to say it was a blown motor then put it in storage for a year. insurance gave me 3 grand for a motor so I used that money, plus some, and got my motor built by Dynosty. when I got back from deployment I sent my car to dynosty to get the engine installed as well as a new transmission (cd009) and clutch...ect. when they were putting the motor in they said there was more than a gallon of water sitting in the intercooler and they wanted to rebuild the turbo just in case. I called my insurance and they covered the rebuild cost of the turbo and a new intercooler (they couldn't get the corrosion out). so in the end it was completely my fault and insurance had no problem covering the issue.

 

USAA is great!