i have a few insurence questions about swapping to a sr20det.

around how much will your insurence go up, if you tell your insurence company about your sr20det swap?

what can happen if you say nothing to your insurence company and tey somehow find out?

can they drop your insurence?

say i hit someone, and my insurence company checks my car, and see that i have a sr20det, and they drop my insurence, could the person i hit sue my family, i will be on their insurence?

also, there are no emissions tests here

thankx

From what I heard they cant do anything about it, it would be illegal just like them charging more because you drive a red car or something. I think it goes up if you want to insure the engine, because if you crash or get the car stolen, insurance will only cover stock parts. Thats why some insurance places ask for what you want insured like rims or an SR. Just my opinion.

lol..just do what i did. swap it, paint the whole damn car a different color, take the cat off, and don't tell a damn SOUL. i live in SC, where we don't have emissions either. I LOVE IT! people here wouldn't know an sr20det from a big block chevy motor.~Scott

actually, not to be a **** about it...but it concerns an sr20det going into a car...asking about insurance coverage. yes, it does.~Scott

well, thankx for the replys, and sincei plan on getting a sr20det, and this is the sr20det forum, i would think this topic should belong here. Danuttless, do you have anything to add?

I don't really have anything to add. : ) I personally would insure it under custom items so as to not have to tell them its an engine. If they're like, what item would you like to have custom insurance on, tell them a SR20DET. : ) They'll probably type it in and forget all about it. Of course, most of the people with the swaps don't have any insurance on it, although you are running a bit of a risk that way. Personally, K has provided excellent advice regarding the law in another thread, and I don't ahve the concrete facts to back it up as he does. I know how things generally are, but I don't always have the information, and even then, my stuff is sometimes flawed. : ) He seems to be right on. : )

My father sells insurance, so I fancy myself as something of an expert. This is how it goes for my insurance company.

1.) You do not have to tell them. They WILL NOT cover aftermarket parts anyway. My ins. comapny offers an additional $500 aftermarket upgrade for a few $$/mon.

2.) YES they can AND WILL revoke your insurance. The cars safety and handeling are connected to its weight balance, a smaller lighter engine changes the balance of our car, If they find this out, you are DONE.

the best thing to do is to look into suplimental insurance. I am sorry that I do not have the name of a company to give you here, but I do know that certain smaller companies that mainly provide insurance for "hot rods" will give us import guys help.

good luck, hope that helps.

Actually there are a lot of misconceptions about insurance that people have and a lot have been mentioned here.

I'll try to touch on each one.

#1, it is not illegal to charge mor premuim for a different motor. Consider that you would be putting a more powerful motor in the car. Therefore you become a higher risk. Premiums are based on financial risk.

#2 as far as coverage in a claim itself, it really depends on the wording of your policy. not all policies are written the same way. There are generic policies that are provided by the Department of Insurance in each state, however, each insurer can choose to modify or write it differently to suit their own underwriting style. Substandard insurers(high risk) tend to put much more limititations on a policy. As far as liability, most insurers probably won't have any exclusions for anything like this. As far as Comprehensive and Collision, you will need to look at the policy language. It is your contract with your insurer. I would recommend that you familiarizer yourselves with the wording in each of your policies so you know what is covered or not BEFORE a loss. Some policies do not exclude all aftermarket mods.

#3 as far as not telling your insurance company, this can depend. If they do not ask you anything about it, it's going to be difficult for them to deny any kind of a claim. If they ask you specifically about some aspect of your car and you lie, then should a claim arise, they can rescind your policy based on that lie. This means that they basically give you your money back under the basis that they would not have written your policy if the information you gave them were true. As an example, My friend is an Allstate Agent, and one of the questions she asks is if the car has a Turbo. Regardless of if it normally comes with one or not.

#4 I doubt an underwriter can't figure out the risk for an SR. It's based on a lot of known factors. Weight of the vehicle, power to weight ratio, type of vehicle, in relation to Comprehensive and Collision coverages, the value of the vehicle.

#5 Most agents know very little about handling claims. They work in the best interests of the customers. Agents have good knowledge of underwriting risk and a general knowledge of coverage. And like I said it just depends on policy wording. Agents tend to have a broad understanding, but do not know the intricate details of a specific policies coverage. It's unfortunate as well since it would be easiest to determine if all possible risks were considered when selling a policy. Insureds in many cases just ask for full coverage and end up with less than they expected. When it comes time to submit a claim, the adjuster informs them they have no rental coverage or no medical payments coverage. They tell the adjuster they purchased full coverage. Unfortunately, there is no written definititon of full coverage. Each coverage must be considered seperately.

Couple of suggestions:Read your policy. Make sure you cover all risks that you want covered. If you are buying insurance, ask about coverage for things like aftermarket mods. I would actually try to reach someone in the claims department of the insurer. Or better yet, ask for a copy of the policy or at least to look at it. Most agents have copies in their office.Don't lie about your risks. If they do not write you, they do not write you. It's better then having your policy rescinded and left with no coverage. You don't have to diclose anything they don't ask about. Just don't lie.

BTW, I'm an insurance adjuster. And Cyberkreig, I am not badmouthing agents, but they just tend to lack claims knowledge since most have never adjusted a claim before. I do use agents a lot to help resolve conflicts since they better understand coverages when I explain it to them, so they assure the insureds that my interpretation of the policy is correct.

C-Kwik wrote:BTW, I'm an insurance adjuster. And Cyberkreig, I am not badmouthing agents, but they just tend to lack claims knowledge since most have never adjusted a claim before. I do use agents a lot to help resolve conflicts since they better understand coverages when I explain it to them, so they assure the insureds that my interpretation of the policy is correct.

I Didnt bring up my family being in insurance in that i was offended, just to say that I can give you a *somewhat* more educated view, after all I am not liscensed. I have no doubt you as a claims adjuster know more about this, it is your job. I just wanted to point out that having your insurance revoked is not out or the question (i know so for my company, i would bet so for the others) and we should all be careful.

thank you all for taking the time to type out your replys, that really helped me out a lot.

thankx