Hardtop insurance

Davyhoogy

Davyhoogy

Zorg Guru (III)
Joined
May 4, 2016
Points
148
Location
Sunderland
Model of Z
'98 2.8 z3
My simple little mind was wondering earlier about my car insurance.
I think Hastings value my car at under £2k, but then I thought about the hardtop and fitting kit.
Do people declare these as extras? And do you get to put a parts value on them?
I could potentially lose alot of money if my car was written off.
 
Davyhoogy said:
I could potentially lose alot of money if my car was written off.
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No you won't, after my car got totaled I told the insurance co I would keep it, they paid out and that was it.
I stripped it of all extras, most of which are on forum members cars now, two members have owned my hardtop, @BMBabe owns it at the moment.
Then I sold the car myself to a guy that was/has going to rebuild it and stick a small block V8 in it but I have heard nothing about this to date.

This is all assuming of course that insurance co's work the same way in the UK as over here?
I had fully comp on an Oct 96 and they paid out about 4500.
 
Less than £2000 seems a tad low, might be worth asking next time you insure about agreed values, and bearing in mind some of the silly prices I've seen being asked for hardtops probably best to tell them you've got one, if it's in your garage and the car gets written off then it's fine but if it's fitted at the time and gets taken away then you'll have lost quite a bit.
 
Different insurance companies have different policies on that sort of thing, some allow you to keep what's left, some don't. It'll be in the small print somewhere, always worth checking. My old but very good condition e30 got written-off and taken away for very little damage, was only a bit crumpled on the OSF corner, didn't even break the headlamps, but went anyway. Should have looked harder at the small print, but I'm probably not the only one that doesn't.:rolleyes:
 
the Nefyn cat said:
bearing in mind some of the silly prices I've seen being asked for hardtops probably best to tell them you've got one
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They don't care about your 'extras' they just look on sites like Autotrader and look for the cheapest price going for a car the same age as yours.
This is the sad reality of Z3 ownership, we pump loads of money into them and when they get destroyed you get peanuts back.
Also, I don't think you can get 'agreed value' over here.

My boss crashed mine and was clever enough to get it transported to a repair shop himself, only after that did the insurance co get involved and they could not touch the car as it was locked up at a business premises.
 
Yeah I couldn't tell you about the small print but it's definitely something that I'll have to look into. I have never had a crash of any level (touch wood) so I don't know the deal if it was written off.
I though you had to buy it off the insurance company?
 
As I understand the situation if the car is considered a write off ,you are entitled to the amount of money it will cost to replace with a similar car,in a similar condition. (To put you back in the position you were in before) you will need to prove the sum involved for the replacement and If the insurance play funny games use a Loss Assessor. This is of coarse limited by the value in the insurance documents, but not paying out that amount. I don't understand it but in our insurance the Z3 is listed as being "not over £70,000 " the same as the X1 and Nissan QQ.
 
hard top said:
I got less paid out because I said I would keep it.
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Your cash in hand would be the write-off value less the value of the salvage.

Re hardtops on insurance. Anything over and above the original build list could (I'm not saying "would") be classed as a modification, so you should declare it. If you are lucky, they may just not pay out for that "mod". If you are unlucky, they could reject the claim.

If you declare it (and they add it to the documents), you are definitely covered.

The only way to know is to contact your insurer.
 
Couple of years ago I spoke to our insurers regarding the question of "has the car been modified from standard" because in typical BMW style I had put a lot on in the original build.
Insurers came back and said it means has it been modified or changed from the original build spec. They told me to just say " it's still as originally left the factory" I then asked about winter tyres , they said as long as they meet BMW spec no trouble.
I have these on email.
 
Firstly - I would guess that the risk of damaging the hardtop in an accident is limited. If it is damaged, then you're going to pleased you had it on the car at the time.

Secondly - On the basis that it is detachable and so not permanent, then I would have thought that you would every right to remove it as a temporary addition just like your belongings. If they say it isn't insured, then it isn't the insurance companies to claim if they write the car off. The insurance company can't have it both ways....
 
The only insurer that could give me a definitive answer to this question was Adrian Flux.

They told me that I needed to declare my hardtop as a mod. Did so, and it was free of charge.

Both parties happy!
 
Put it this way, hardtop or not, my car got totaled because BMW quoted 1100 for a new bonnet.
 
Thanks everyone. I'll try speaking to Hastings this weekend see if I can get any sense out of them. I doubt it though.
 
Get an agreed value policy with an insurer that understands and accepts these things - the mainstream are not geared up for this. I have mine with Manning UK and I believe others like footman James, Adrian Flux also offer it on these cars now - you will need a valuation from a BMW specialist garage but in the event of the worst happening things are decided on the agreed value from your valuation not the book (which is comically low these days)
 
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