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Insurance For Modified Cars – Reduce Your Premiums in 6 Steps

January 11th, 2012 admin Comments off

Car insurers view modified cars as high risk and finding affordable insurance for modified cars might be a tougher prospect than insuring your normal standard car.

Some modifications such as the addition of alloy wheels and a new performance exhaust system will increase the value of your car by only a small amount, but those alterations will also attract the attention of car thieves. As a result your insurance premiums may rise by much more than you might expect.

Other changes such as upgrading to a bigger engine or fine tuning the suspension performance to improve handling may increase your insurance premium even further due to the possible risk that you will drive at greater speeds. Even though you can expect to pay more for your car insurance if your car has been modified, you can still keep your premiums to an affordable level by not over customizing and limiting the number of additional modifications that are made to your car.

When you’re shopping for quotes you will need to inform the insurers of all alterations made that increase the value of your ‘modded car’ and in particular all modifications that are performance enhancing, otherwise you may risk invalidating your car insurance policy.

Off course it is also essential to shop around and get as many quotes as you can. Depending on the scale of modifications made some insurers may simply refuse to even give you a quote, especially the larger companies. You may have to look for a specialist insurer who specialize in high performance vehicles and modified cars, so be prepared to spend a few hours researching online. After all what’s 3 to 4 hours of your time when you can make savings running into several hundreds of pounds.

For vehicles that are more difficult to insure (especially those with increased performance) you could ask for advice from people who already drive modded cars. Custom car shows is one place to find a group of like minded people, you could even ask questions online at motoring forums. Its also a good idea to get several quotes beforehand, before you even begin making any modifications to your car. The last thing you want to avoid is any big surprise in the increased cost of your insurance policy

Here are six steps you can take to reduce your premiums. (1) Avoid any extreme modifications such as nitrous oxide systems, these kits are guaranteed to ramp up the cost of your car insurance premiums. (2) Park your car off road and preferably in a garage, ‘out of sight’ is very much ‘out of mind’ and lessens the risk of your car being stolen. (3) Fitting a car immobilizer system is another option which you should consider, this will prevent the engine from running (even if hot-wired) unless the correct key is used.

(4) Driving safely to avoid picking up points against your licence and build up your no-claims discount. (5) Taking an advanced driving course and raising your voluntary excess are other steps you can take and (6) Agree to a mileage limit – If you don’t drive your modified car too often you can reduce your premiums by agreeing to a mileage limit.

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The Significance of Body Kits in Sprucing Up Your Vehicle

January 11th, 2012 admin Comments off

As a car owner, you are evidently thinking of ways on how you can enhance the overall look of your car, and incorporate appealing effects that will make people fond of it. However, the problem is that car modification generally comes with an expensive price tag, which is why one might typically have second thoughts about its practicality. Nevertheless, if you really want to spruce up your car, you may use body kits, which are accessories that can improve the appearance of your vehicle.

Although you have to go to car shops to install the parts properly, you may purchase body kits online, where you can find numerous great deals that are worth your time and resources. Unbeknownst to many, one can find LED lights, ground effects, spoilers, and wheels in body kits, which come in pre-assembled and pre-configured options. If you will thoroughly look for kits online, you may find certain websites that provide you the opportunity to customize your own set, and select specific parts and effects that you want to incorporate.

Once you have ascertained your car’s body kit, you can already order it and wait until the company ships it to your place. Generally, body kit providers organize their sets based on the type of a car, and they customize it to create and develop the parts and functions of a particular car model. For instance, many people want to purchase the stock model of luxury cars such as Acura, BMW, and Volkswagen.

As soon as one has procured a specific car model, he can just get a body car suitable for it, and start enhancing its features. This way, one will be able to spend less than paying for an enhanced model at a dealership. Furthermore, with body kits, one can choose the parts that he wants to modify, and model the vehicle based on his preferences.

What is interesting about body kits is that most of them are created in a way that one can easily assemble it himself. However, bear in mind that the process is difficult, and it is advisable that you look for a professional’s help in altering numerous parts of your car such as the bars and supports. Moreover, it is worth noting that a good number of car body kits come without any color, and this requires you to paint it and complement the paint color of your car.

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