After tripping over a few horror stories about insurance coverage
being declined or withdrawn due to performance mods I've read about
here, I knew I had to do a bit more research.

One guy at Tire Rack was obviously a bit eager to sell me a
suspension kit, as he proceeded to tell me that he had worked in auto
insurance for 17 years and had "never heard of" an insurance problem
resulting from suspension mods. That included all his time at the
Tire Rack, how ever long that was.

Sounding entirely too convenient for comfort, I decided to call my
insurance company, USAA. I was told that tires, wheels and shocks
were not a problem, but any suspension mods that raised the car or
lowered the suspension would have to "go to underwriting".

I've corresponded with others who assure me that asking permission
from underwriting is the "kiss of death" for anything you might have
in mind. That's the "NO" department.

I've read plenty of posts about people that informed their agent and
saved their receipts, pictures, etc. Some claimed there were no
problems, and others have horror stories of being notified weeks
later that their coverage would be dropped if they did not undo the
mods and have the car re-inspected.

This "no man's land" of insurance coverage makes me pretty uneasy, so
I'd like to hear from people that know specifically that the
UNDERWRITING department said OK to custom spring, struts, engine mods
that upped the horsepower, or what have you.

In particular, I'd like to hear from drivers with clean records,
about the type of car they wanted to mod (can be a big factor), the
location of the insured vehicle, miles driven, and age of the
insured.

I would love it if we had a resource that you could reference and
thereby have an advance clue as to the specific mods you could get by
individual insurers. Or it might turn out that it had much more to
do with other factors (age, location, miles driven, auto).

While I'm at it, I've picked up on another "vibe" that I'd like like
feedback on. Many performance mods are garish, brightly colored
things that scream out for attention from insurance adjusters in the
event of a claim. If you look at a wreck, and see red springs, pink
shocks, and something else that's purple, I bet that really sets off
alarm bells for an underwriter.

For people persuing a "don't ask, don't tell" policy about mods to
their vehicle, I'd bet that there would be a big benefit to finding
parts that performed well but looked as stock as possible.

-- CL.

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