Best Company Car Insurance That Cover Alcantara Dash?

[Lewis888]

Hi everyone,

My M3P 2021 is estimated to be ready for collection in November.

I’ve purchased it through my own limited company and have a fully comp insurance quote of £733 through Churchill - with me down as the registered keeper.

I’ve asked them how the insurance quote would be affected if I add rear privacy glass and they said it only adds £6 per year.

But when I asked about replacing the wooden dash panel with Alcantara (example here:

) they said they couldn’t insure it.

Has anyone successfully switched to this dash and had their insurer approve it (preferably with a company car). If so, which insurer and what did they list the modification as?

Thanks all, looking forward to joining the club soon!

 

[Medved_77]

I have the alcantara dash and never thought to inform my insurance company about it. What makes you think it is necessary?

Suspect it's only items that impact performance, safety or significant value that they're concerned about, otherwise where do you draw the line? Does everyone that's wrapped their centre console need to list that as a modification?

I also suspect the insurance company said they wouldn't insure it because it's technically impossible as no such modifications are listed, rather than it being something that they're not prepared to insure due to risk.

 

[Lewis888]

Thanks for the reply @Medved_77

I agree, it’s tough to know where to draw the line. I just suspect that the insurer would want to be the ones to make that call, not me.

With the dash being quite a major part of the interior I just thought that in the event of a crash and insurer coming to inspect the car, the would use the fact that’s it’s not a factory fitted dash panel to just reject a claim if they hadn’t been informed of the modification.

You may well be right and I’m certainly not that clued up on insurance but I imagine safety concerns like:

- altering the dash which is presumably in close proximity to the airbags.

- the material strength

- flammability testing etc.

would all be things an insurer would want to take into consideration when quoting.

I agree completely that there probably is no specific item to select on their system for this which is why they are just saying they can’t insure it.

Just wondered if anyone had found a way of declaring the alcantara dash to their insurer successfully…

 

[GRiLLA]

I've heard good things about Novo, not likely to be cheap but flexible. Tesla Insurance | Novo Insurance Services | Exclusive Cover

An awful lot of people on here seem to make modifications without notifying their insurer, seems risky to me. Third party boot and frunk openers, wraps, wheels, wheel protection, cabling changes etc.

 

[peige]

I have an alcantara dash and have given no thought to telling my insurers. The "modification" changes nothing about the car apart from looks. If its written off I don't expect it to get a new one with it, nether do I expect the insurance be any way impacted by its existence.
Also struggling to believe putting a third party boot liner is something I should phone them up about

 

[Medved_77]

You may well be right and I’m certainly not that clued up on insurance but I imagine safety concerns like:

- altering the dash which is presumably in close proximity to the airbags.

- the material strength

- flammability testing etc.

would all be things an insurer would want to take into consideration when quoting.

I think that's a genuine concern for any items that can alter the safety characteristics of the car. Aftermarket seat covers would be a prime example.

For the Alcantara dash specifically, there are no airbags directly behind the dash, they're on the A pillars and in the steering wheel at the very front of the car. The part you replace it with is exactly the same, apart from the wooden laminate (~2mm) that has been removed and replaced with the alcantara fabric which has been glued onto the existing plastic dash. No idea about flammability testing but given the existence of alcantara in the door inserts it's probably negligible.

If, God forbid, you were to have a serious accident which resulted in the car being written off then I don't believe it would be reasonable to expect the insurance company to replace any cosmetic modifications made to the car, such as your dash, centre console covers etc. so you carry the risk in terms of financial compensation. I also think if such minor modifications were cause to void insurance then we'd here about far more case where this had happened and there would be any uncertainty. How many cars out there have some form of personalisation in the car? Fluffy dice, magic tree...

 

[Bobly]

Fluffy dice, magic tree..

How hanging an air freshener from your mirror could cost you £1,000 | RAC Drive

www.rac.co.uk

 

[Durzel]

I've heard good things about Novo, not likely to be cheap but flexible. Tesla Insurance | Novo Insurance Services | Exclusive Cover

An awful lot of people on here seem to make modifications without notifying their insurer, seems risky to me. Third party boot and frunk openers, wraps, wheels, wheel protection, cabling changes etc.

+1

I’m with Novo. Told them about my PPF (which is covered, including the labour to redo it if necessary) and my front and rear auto openers. They were fine with both.

I think maybe if the worst came to worst you’d end up having to involve the ombudsman if they used the dash modification as a blanket reason not to pay out, and the ombudsman would have to decide if that’s legitimate.

I don’t agree that mods that are only aesthetic don’t need to be declared. Definitely a risky game to play thinking that imo.

 

[teaston]

There is absolutely no need to include window tints or alcantara dash trim on your insurance if you are worried about insurance payout being declined in the event of a claim, new government rules came out a few years ago to stop insurance companies from declining payouts for arbitrary reasons, the situation was getting ridiculous, such as people being refused payouts because the insurance company claimed their window stickers were modifications!

I always fit M Performance kits to my BMWs and never tell insurance, I have made a number of repair claims and always been paid out without issue.

If you want to insure them so that they are covered for replacement, that is up to you, but I’d rather just leave my car as “unmodified” in the eyes of insurers, especially as just ticking that “modified” box on the price comparison site will hugely decrease the number of insurers willing to quote come renewal time, which could vastly increase your premium.

 

[EVMeister]

There is absolutely no need to include window tints or alcantara dash trim on your insurance if you are worried about insurance payout being declined in the event of a claim, new government rules came out a few years ago to stop insurance companies from declining payouts for arbitrary reasons, the situation was getting ridiculous, such as people being refused payouts because the insurance company claimed their window stickers were modifications!

I always fit M Performance kits to my BMWs and never tell insurance, I have made a number of repair claims and always been paid out without issue.

If you want to insure them so that they are covered for replacement, that is up to you, but I’d rather just leave my car as “unmodified” in the eyes of insurers, especially as just ticking that “modified” box on the price comparison site will hugely decrease the number of insurers willing to quote come renewal time, which could vastly increase your premium.

Interesting. Would that apply to vinyl wraps as well?

 

[teaston]

Interesting. Would that apply to vinyl wraps as well?

If you mean external wrap then yes your insurance company needs to be notified of a vehicle colour change, as does the DVLA so that your V5C can be updated with the new colour.

technically not a modification though, it is just a colour change.

 

[btc1k]

There is absolutely no need to include window tints or alcantara dash trim on your insurance if you are worried about insurance payout being declined in the event of a claim, new government rules came out a few years ago to stop insurance companies from declining payouts for arbitrary reasons, the situation was getting ridiculous, such as people being refused payouts because the insurance company claimed their window stickers were modifications!

I always fit M Performance kits to my BMWs and never tell insurance, I have made a number of repair claims and always been paid out without issue.

If you want to insure them so that they are covered for replacement, that is up to you, but I’d rather just leave my car as “unmodified” in the eyes of insurers, especially as just ticking that “modified” box on the price comparison site will hugely decrease the number of insurers willing to quote come renewal time, which could vastly increase your premium.

Absolutely agree with the approach here.

In the eyes of the insurer, what they don't want is a car on the cover of the old "Max Power" magazine (anyone remember that?), being insured as a bog standard car when it's clearly something completely different. The valuation of a highly modified car can change, and risk of injury/accident can change if the suspension is slammed to the floor with wheels scraping the arches.

Insurance underwriters are reasonable people, you just have to use a bit of common sense.

 

[teaston]

Absolutely agree with the approach here.

In the eyes of the insurer, what they don't want is a car on the cover of the old "Max Power" magazine (anyone remember that?), being insured as a bog standard car when it's clearly something completely different. The valuation of a highly modified car can change, and risk of injury/accident can change if the suspension is slammed to the floor with wheels scraping the arches.

Insurance underwriters are reasonable people, you just have to use a bit of common sense.

Yes if you lower the suspension by more than 30mm it definitely needs to be declared to the insurers. Also performance increases, and anything that physically changes the dimensions of the car such a wide body kits or larger wheels.

As you say, use common sense, if you fit a front splitter and you have a front end crash then the insurers will likely repair the damage, not including the splitter. But if something hits the splitter, which in turn rips the bumper off, then you likely won’t be covered.

 

[GRiLLA]

If you mean external wrap then yes your insurance company needs to be notified of a vehicle colour change, as does the DVLA so that your V5C can be updated with the new colour.

technically not a modification though, it is just a colour change.

... and several insurers will refuse to insure you at that point, e.g. Direct Line, Churchill, LV. It's not reasonable of them in my opinion, but is still the case.

new government rules came out a few years ago to stop insurance companies from declining payouts for arbitrary reasons

Source? I can't see that any rules have been changed, however the Ombudsman has probably sided against some more extreme cases where payouts have been refused.

It is a grey area, and entirely up to you to make a call on the risk. Personally I really couldn't see an alcatera wrap being worth notifying, same as self attaching some stickers to cover shiny plastic consoles. I wouldn't connect anything to the electrics, or anything that would alter the suspension, wheels etc. I'm going to need new tyres soon, insurance will expect that I should have manufacturer approved tyres but really I fancy some new wheels.

 

[teaston]

... and several insurers will refuse to insure you at that point, e.g. Direct Line, Churchill, LV. It's not reasonable of them in my opinion, but is still the case.


Source? I can't see that any rules have been changed, however the Ombudsman has probably sided against some more extreme cases where payouts have been refused.

It is a grey area, and entirely up to you to make a call on the risk. Personally I really couldn't see an alcatera wrap being worth notifying, same as self attaching some stickers to cover shiny plastic consoles. I wouldn't connect anything to the electrics, or anything that would alter the suspension, wheels etc. I'm going to need new tyres soon, insurance will expect that I should have manufacturer approved tyres but really I fancy some new wheels.

I can’t seem to find it now, could possibly have been ombudsman’s decisions.

Of course, like anything, YMMV.