Insurance and mods

For the first time since I had an SV650 about 8 years ago, I'm thinking of changing the exhaust on my bike, a Monster 1200, just an aftermarket slip on rather than a full system.

Back when I had the SV, my insurer was quite happy with mods. Looking online now however, many insurers don't seem so keen to quote unless the bike is standard or want a fair hike in premium. Is this normal nowadays?

[Flip]

I think it depends on what they class the mods as. For example it could be argued (and was often classed as) that changing just the 'silencer' was a cosmetic modification rather than a performance one.

Suspension and brakes were 'safety' items, obviously there must be limits of what is allowed or we enter a world of type approval where a change from the specified brake pads or even tyres would potentially infringe the policy.

[Darren69]

Its a bit of a grey area really Do they, for instance consider Ducati Performance items as modification or just factory extras?

I have declared all my mods, crash protection and cosmetic, IMHO a slip on can is Cosmetic the increase in performance is negligible if any on my bike. No problem, no increase in premium, but you won't get your money back if you damage or have them stolen, the Ins company will only cover OEM stuff.

[Dukedesmo]

My understanding of it is that if you don't declare mods then you should still be covered for standard parts only which is generally fine because standard parts usually cost more than aftermarket anyway.

However if you take the ****, as in the bike is almost not standard any more then you might have a problem with a claim, for that reason both my Ducatis are insured as 'custom' with all mods declared.

Initially it didn't cost much more than a standard policy but, as is the norm for insurance companies, they gradually ramp it up each year until it gets expensive in the hope that you can't be bothered to change - and this is where they get you because whilst I'm quite happy to change insurance for the better deal (do it most years for my car) it is more complex with a 'custom' policy as you can't do it online.

Instead you have to spend hours giving the same info to every insurance company just to find out that most want to charge you more, or won't cover you anyway, so you lose the will to keep trying (or to live) and stick with them ...

[Flip]

Oh and of course those of us with older bikes can go for an 'agreed value' policy which will perhaps offer a more realistic value should a claim be submitted. In particular a total loss one where most of the Ducati Performance parts on my old '97 900 for example are no longer available and commanding silly prices on eBay and the like when offered for sale.

Keep receipts, save auction and sale price details and be prepared to argue.

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by Flip

Oh and of course those of us with older bikes can go for an 'agreed value' policy which will perhaps offer a more realistic value should a claim be submitted. In particular a total loss one where most of the Ducati Performance parts on my old '97 900 for example are no longer available and commanding silly prices on eBay and the like when offered for sale.

Keep receipts, save auction and sale price details and be prepared to argue.

Indeed, both my Ducatis have agreed values on the custom policy as does the Guzzi, all three are obsolete models and therefore difficult to replace so this also bumps up the policy price.

In the event of them being stolen/written off the insurance company would have to shell out quite a sum of money, so I suppose you (sometimes) get what you pay for...