[Closed] Roof Racks and Tow Bars - Declare as Car Modification

Anything that is permanently fitted to the vehicle is a mod - i.e the towbar.

Anything that is temporary (roofrack and anything fitted to the towbar) is an accessory.

Exactly my point but probably best to have a chat with them to make sure their policy writers aren't idiots.

The irony being perminant mods that are not generally fitted in a rush by the user are less likely to fall off and give issue.

I had this once over a set of tires I fitted.

Manufacturer approved size and correct load and speed rating by with an all terrain tread.

Apparently an issue when another car has driven into the side of you.

Mean while I could have fitted sun star ditch finders in a road pattern and been within their happy place.

They backed down eventually they just clutch at straws in the hope you roll over I think.

Vehicle graphics can also set them off too. Even on a van or commercial. Had partially wrapped a car which belonged to my mum, idiot who worked for us drove into the back of someone. Insurance co. void policy, £15k claim for whiplash, insurance co. crush our car, took 6 months to sort that out. (This was the short version, it happened about 8 years ago) Ended up with insurance co taking the hit on the whiplash claim, they kept the premium and we lost the car. The crash was only at about 5 mph . We now recommend that all of our customers tell their insurance co when we fit graphics.

"Vehicle graphics can also set them off too. "

To be fair on commercial policies that's one of the first specific questions they normally ask "is the vehicle signwritten"

I always declare I fit a roof rack, purely for the Insurance cover on the object being carried, and it’s potential for failure (which, as posted on the other thread I believe is slim)

Towbars I’ve always declared too, again towing yachts and dinghies has the potential for failure.

Just a precaution mind, never had any problems.

Although years ago, when at uni, I was towing our Student Dinghies down to Plymouth for our nationals... I didn’t tie them down, someone else did and two lasers ended up bouncing down the M5 near Exmouth... early morning (3am) and only us on the road... could have been a chaotic mess, as was it was just scuffed transoms and centreboard boxes. (Student minibus)

My tow bar is detachable. Absolute minefield i can imagine.

Didn’t know about the graphics ....

What about those wrap thingummbobs??

Wraps, treat as a colour change, fill in V5 and return & tell insurance company.

Graphics, tell insurance company, especially on a private car. Had a customer today who wants to promote her business (IFA) on her Audi, we have to go through this all the time..

I always mention that we tow a Caravan, but it’s never made any difference to the quote.

From a couple of off hand comments on here I also discovered my insurer regards a roof rack as a modification.

In my view it doesn't sit with any reasonable definition of a modification. It has no permanent fixture to the car and is in most cases present only for a limited amount of a vehicle's use.

What is needed is a list of questions from insurers that cover the modifications and use of accessories that they perceive to be risk items. The consumer can then declare all the risk generating factory fit items and anything else based on the car they can see in front of them not second guessing the original owners choice of extras .

This is an interesting one. We recently had a removable towbar fitted to my wife’s car for bike carrying duties. She rang the insurer explaining what we’d had fitted and its intended use and the premium went down!

Yet another thread that demonstrates the absolutely shower that the insurance industry really is. An obscenely opaque business that used any excuse to  charge you more, and any other excuse not to fulfil their obligations. B*%#$¥$s.

Or a  business that covers a risk that only you properly know and understand the details of, based on the concept that you will be honest and tell them everything?

Slightly playing devil's advocate there, it was much simpler when underwriters looked at proposals rather than you having to enter data to fit an algorithm.

Or a  business that covers a risk that only you properly know and understand the details of, based on the concept that you will be honest and tell them everything?

Were that were truly the case though, they wouldn’t pull the old ‘lets out the price up and hope he doesn’t notice’ game, requiring active engagement with the shysters every single renewal, just to stop them swindling you by default. Sorry state of affairs.

I tell my insurance about both tow bar, tow bar rack, trailers, roof bars, bike on roof and canoes on roof...

So having been idly browsing STW while on the phone to Esure to get euro cover added I decided to ask them about a roof rack.  They added it to the policy details and it made no change to the cost of cover.

Still charged me £26 admin fee for a £20 policy change that took all of 2 mins on the phone to change.  If only my hourly rate was that good...

I advise my insurers every time I fill up the tank just in case...

Seriously though. Make sure you get them to send you written proof that they have these modifications you advised them of on record.

Mine had no record of anything. Thankfully I was just checking and not making a claim.

Given the other thread you can see why an insurance company thinks the owner attaching things to the outside of the vehicle to attach other things to increases their risk.

I've declared tow bars and my last 3 cars, it's never changed the premium

I declared my tow bar, until recently made no difference I moved house nice area but terrible postcode due to shunt/whiplash claims, insurance sky rocketed until I asked esure to check my towbar and adding that dropped the insurance back down to the previous figures so worth declaring.

I also gather you need to disclose anything like adding a sticker to a van, change of alloys, dog guard etc.

I bought a car about 6 years ago with a towbar on. had no use for it so did the online quotes with and without it fitted to see the difference. It was £50 cheaper on a £500 policy with it fitted so I left it on there.

I picked up a hitcher yesterday.

But not before phoning to add an extra passenger to the policy.

FYI - DirectLine do not require you to tell them about a roof rack, I just asked on their online chat thing.

FYI – DirectLine do not require you to tell them about a roof rack, I just asked on their online chat thing.

Maybe not today...

I looked into this and found I needed to declare it.

Did it online and avoided an admin fee. It made no difference to my premium.

This was with Aviva (Quotemehappy).

I now declare a tow bar, had a big shunt about 6 years ago writing the car off, as I hadn’t declared fitting a towbar the initial responded was policy was void, complaint process sorted eventually but lesson learned. They also weren’t happy about other factory fitted extras,  bit of a nightmare all round getting a fair payout. Ensure insurance never to be used again!

I asked Esure last week and they said I needed to to declare it too.

"Quite right a Roof Rack is classed as a medication so you would need to make us aware, obviously we would notify it on the policy and leave it on there so you wouldn’t need to contact us every time you attach it/de-attach it."

I advise my insurers every time I fill up the tank just in case…

To be fair I should probably have done that with my old car, it must have doubled in value...

a Roof Rack is classed as a medication

That must have been a bitter pill to swallow!

I once drove under a low barrier with my bike on the roof and trashed the roof of my car. My car insurer didn’t quibble, fortunately, although I never declared the roof rack. Which is good because arguably the rack was the cause of the accident so in an alternate universe I could imagine them quibbling! They covered the roof bars and Thule rack on the car insurance but they didn’t cover the bike (I claimed on home insurance for that).

I wonder how how much cash they make by asking you to declare all these things (E.g. £26 + £20 for a policy update as above) vs the legal precedent if they actually attempted to refuse a payout. Maybe I was just lucky or had a tired claims adjuster.

I'm lucky in that the next time I use the roof rack it'll be to move house, so I've got an update that I need to do anyway, but, yes, it's a dear do.

How does this work with options that were specified at the time of purchase (new)? How does a customer  know which options were installed at the factory and which were "dealer fit"?

A roof rack is probably obvious, but how about a towing pack? Or upgraded alloys?

And how is a second or subsequent owner meant to know e.g. if a car came out of the factory on cheap wheels, and the first owner bought and had fitted some (factory original) alloys (either at the point of purchase or later on) and then sells the car to me - I've bought a car with original equipment alloys, but it's a modification from the spec it left the factory with. Not many second hand cars I've bought over the years have come with the original "build sheet" so I wouldn't know. Are you supposed to contact the manufacturer and establish what spec it originally rolled out with?

Just rang my insurer - yes, tow bar and roof racks are notifiable mods, but nothing to pay.

All this talk of roof racks, are any of you actually referring to roof racks or do you mean roof bars?  I haven't seen a roof "rack" in years, are they considered different things in the eyes of the insurers maybe?

I am specifically talking about roof bars and attracted cycle carriers.

I would have never of thought to notify them of fitting roof bars to my car that has roof rails. Do I have to notify them of every different accessory which I may fit to the bars?

I do - I specifically tell them I carry bikes and canoes and other things, just in case...

iirc there was was a lady who's car insurance didn't pay out as she had covered the car in stickers - and that was a modification she should have declared...!

I checked with Tesco's, they don't consider roof bars etc to be a modification as there are removable. Also found out that their car insurance does not cover whatever is on the roof apart from 3rd party cover for whatever damage the bikes etc might do to car park barriers and other "mistakes".

Thread hijack, I'm selling my Pendle bike rack on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183377747715

Pretty sure this doesn't count as a modification.

Off the back of this thread I've added my tow bar as a modification to my insurance bit there was no where to include roof bars on the Aviva web site.

No charge for the tow bar though.