I've had an idea for a car rebody project. Take car A with a body on chassis config, take off body and make a new body using body of car B. Retain identity of car A for the finished car. I'm sure you've seen this before with car bodies on range rover chassis etc but I was wondering if anyone here had done similar. I've looked into the legal side of things but not insurance.

Are insurance companies fine with it and it's a similar insurance cost as the original car A? Or is there a price hike?

Cheers

Edit: just to add I'm talking about a project where everything would be done above board and dvla informed etc. Cross the T's and dot the... lower case J's

[Edited on 31-1-2021 by Benzine]

Mind that you are not allowed to shorten or technically even delete parts of it, although adding to it is fine. Finding a replacement body with the same wheelbase is the key.

As for insurance its just going to be under yet another kit car policy which I've found are generally very reasonable. Just be honest and send them pictures if required.

What's the cars you have in mind? You may find its been done before.

It will need a specialist to get insurance, but plenty about and costs are often reasonable.

My old Covin 911 retained an un modified Beetle Chassis, and was still registered as a Beetle and i had no problem insuring that
was about 25 years ago, though!

Current V5 must describe the car as what it is, not what it used to be. There has been much comment with regard to insurers possibly not paying out if they discover your Beetle is actually a Porsche replica or any other chassis rebodied with a different style body.

Thanks for the replies and info everyone.

One more question I thought of. If I use a salvaged car as the basis (I.e. One that can be returned to the road after repair, not one of the full write off categories) can I use the chassis from that or does the original car need to be repaired first and signed off before proceeding?