Insurance issues with putting oversize tyres on a car
Mr Whippy - 8/7/16 at 12:21 PM
Well it’s new tyre time for little bluebird and I fancy a change. Since I have so much clearance round the arches and it rides rather high compared to
modern cars I was thinking of shoving some mild offroad tyres on it instead of the normal boring road ones.
Looking on the web I can easily go from 195/60/15 to 195/80/15 which seems to add 7cm to the overall diameter 
easily accommodated in the cavernous
wheel arches and would probable suit the dodgy paint scheme 
There’s no insurance issues with this is there? I mean I swap tyre sizes at the drop of a hat with my landy having 3 completely different sets and
have never even considered letting the insurance company know as that would be super tedious and I think I’d drive them mad!
I’d use a GPS and some tipex to ‘recalibrate’ the speedo, though it over reads by miles anyway and might actually work better!
I was on a forum where folk seemed to think you could only go by the manufactures recommendation or you’d never get cover or all sorts of horrors
would occur which I think it total nonsense.
Any ideas, cheers.
You can see here I could get some quite huge tyres in those ott arches! (the cars wet in the phote not shiny btw)
[Edited on 8/7/16 by Mr Whippy]
[Edited on 8/7/16 by Mr Whippy]
Chris_Xtreme - 8/7/16 at 12:41 PM
well, I guess to be sure you should ring your insurance company and ask?
I would imagine the answer would be yes.
Mr Whippy - 8/7/16 at 01:39 PM
well I did just phone them and it was quite an interesting reply.
No change to the price of the insurance apart from a £25 fee for adding non-standard tyres to the policy which is fine I suppose. They already know
about the paintwork and that didn't change anything price wise when I first took out the policy.
However I did bring up the point of my Landy changing tyres like the weather and was told that was fine so long as I first told them the tyres were
non-standard when I took out the policy and then could change them whenever I liked! will remember that for next time...
[Edited on 8/7/16 by Mr Whippy]
tegwin - 8/7/16 at 02:06 PM
Thats quite an odd point because I have totally no idea what tyres were "standard" on my tin top as they have been changed many many times
over the years...does this mean that I should declare them as non standard?
Wadders - 8/7/16 at 02:07 PM
Slightly OT but.....
Have always found it a strange when insurance companies ask if a car has been modified in any way.
How are you supposed to know what is 'standard' on a car you have bought second hand ?
Unless the mods are glaringly obvious most car enthusiasts probably wouldn't know what size tyres a car left the factory with
never mind Mrs Jones buying and insuring a 6th hand Nissan Micra.
Mr Whippy - 8/7/16 at 02:10 PM
quote:
Originally posted by tegwin
Thats quite an odd point because I have totally no idea what tyres were "standard" on my tin top as they have been changed many many times
over the years...does this mean that I should declare them as non standard?
it will probably be in the handbook or on a sticker on the car, even the bluebird has a sticker on the back door giving the two factory options.
I've had quite a few sizes so far on it including rally tyres but never thought about the insurance side tbh, I was thinking about it with these
ones as they will be so obviously over size I'd better check.
I also noticed that if you type your car reg into the tyres sites like black circles they come up with the size it meant to have.
I suppose it's also them just covering themselves in case someone fits £5000 wheels to their range rover with £10,000 custom flip paint etc. They
don't really care if someone fits big wheels and hand sprays a £100 car as they'll just write it off for a minor scratch and offer £50 
[Edited on 8/7/16 by Mr Whippy]
adithorp - 8/7/16 at 02:16 PM
So in exchange for filling the arches, you give up some exceleration, braking power, speedo accuracy, handling... Sounds like a bargain to me.
Mr Whippy - 8/7/16 at 02:28 PM
quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
So in exchange for filling the arches, you give up some exceleration, braking power, speedo accuracy, handling... Sounds like a bargain to me.
That's not what that cars about tbh, it is actually a poor overworked workhorse often hauling materials on building sites or dragging trailers
through the quarry (my family builds houses) and even now often grounds out getting over the site. I had contemplated putting the body on a hi-lux
chassis but can't find 4x4 one at a reasonable price. I have a landy but ironically that is too pristine to use for that and lives under a
blanket in the garage!
motorcycle_mayhem - 8/7/16 at 02:33 PM
Whatever 'standard' tyres on an (older) land rover would be.... things were different 50-60 years ago...
Slimy38 - 8/7/16 at 03:40 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Wadders
How are you supposed to know what is 'standard' on a car you have bought second hand ?
It's not just that though. My Mondeo comes with 18 inch wheels, despite it being poverty spec everywhere else. So I guess the first owner asked
for big wheels, but is that 'standard' or not? I can't say it's modified, it came out of the factory with 18 inch wheels. But
they'll cost more to fix or replace in the event of loss or damage.
[Edited on 8/7/16 by Slimy38]
hizzi - 8/7/16 at 03:45 PM
insurance companies are a mystery to me, i drive a defender and there has been a spate of thefts lately, so i coughed up and had a proper tracker
system fitted, almost top of the range police recomended etc, admiral charged me £25 for the modification ! so much for insurance discount for
security
Oddified - 8/7/16 at 09:11 PM
Insurance companies are the only winners, extra charges for anything and everything, and any excuse not to pay out...
Ian
coyoteboy - 8/7/16 at 10:18 PM
quote:
It's not just that though. My Mondeo comes with 18 inch wheels, despite it being poverty spec everywhere else. So I guess the first owner asked
for big wheels, but is that 'standard' or not? I can't say it's modified, it came out of the factory with 18 inch wheels. But
they'll cost more to fix or replace in the event of loss or damage.
Yes, that's non-standard in insurance terms - they've now started asking if it has any non-standard items **even if they are factory
options**.
Bunch of thieving arses.
I'd happily argue that in court though.
02GF74 - 9/7/16 at 09:27 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Wadders
Slightly OT but.....
Unless the mods are glaringly obvious most car enthusiasts probably wouldn't know what size tyres a car left the factory with
.
I would disagree - an enthusiast would know about their car. Nowadays with the interweb it is very quick and easy to go to a tyre selling website to
find out what size tyres are applicable to the make/model/year of majority of cars.
Interesting point about size but also speed rating is something I can imagine insurance companies kicking up a fuss in case there was dispute in an
accident; for example even though you will never go over 85 mph in you shiny porsche 911, you sill need 180 mph rating tyres - madness!!
coyoteboy - 9/7/16 at 11:41 AM
quote:
Originally posted by hizzi
insurance companies are a mystery to me, i drive a defender and there has been a spate of thefts lately, so i coughed up and had a proper tracker
system fitted, almost top of the range police recomended etc, admiral charged me £25 for the modification ! so much for insurance discount for
security
That's not a modification. No more than adding a dash cam or an extra cup holder.
Did you add it part way through a period of insurance? So they are just charging for the admin cost?
[Edited on 9/7/16 by coyoteboy]
morcus - 9/7/16 at 01:02 PM
I discovered recently that for my current car all those "Enter your reg" services like black circles select a speed rating higher than the
one specified by ford and I don't think the tyres I eventually bought (Which are the kind it was supplied with) were offered to me.
£25 to change the details but no extra charge for the modification seems like a pretty good deal.