LT and insurance question

Hi all,

Don't know if anyone will have an answer for this or not, but I'm curious as hell.

I've read a few horror stories of some folks' LT kits breaking (particularly due to not re-tightening certain bolts after install and driving for a bit), after hitting such things as speedbumps at very low speeds. So, my question is, how would a LT kit affect an insurance claim? I'm not really talking about "well this bolt broke, so I want to have insurance pay to fix my aftermarket suspension", but rather, what if this happened while driving on the freeway, and you end up slamming your truck into another car, or the divider for example. Would insurance companies just say "well the aftermarket parts failed, so we will not pay for any repairs to the vehicle"?

I'm obviously hoping the answer is they will still cover serious damages, but I'm not sure.

thanks very much.

 

^Hmmm IDK that is tricky. What if the BFG's you were running were not DOT approved? They are off road tires but still have to be approved for on road operation

I think the main thing is did you notify your insurance of the change on your truck? Most of the time if you notify your rates will go up. But if you get an expensive pair of rims, don't tell your insurance, and then they get jacked I think your screwed

 

I dont know how that would work with something breaking and you crashing but I know that when I talked to my insurance company about what if my truck got stolen they said they would cover everything as long as I have pictures to show I had it on the truck.

 

Different insurance companies do things differently. I know when I had Geico, they would NOT cover any aftermarket parts. With USAA, they will cover up to $5000. Any more than that and I would need to purchase a different type of insurance policy.

 

Im pretty sure your right for smaller things. But I think if they are really expensive parts you have to notify because the overall value of your vehicle went up (higher value vehicle = higher premium). Its tricky with offroad stuff cause unfortunately you dump thousands of dollars into our trucks and the value doesn't really change. I think I am more on the line of people that get $2g's worth of rims. Part of the reason your insurance goes up is the risk of those types of rims getting stolen is higher

 

Good discussion so far.

I talked with my (future) insurance agent on the phone today, and he said that any suspension lift less than or equal to 4" is "okay". This meant that nothing would change with the policy- rates stay the same, but coverage (and payout in case of totaling/stolen vehicle) stay the same. So, basically no "coverage" to replace your money spent on the aftermarket suspension if something happens, but at the same time, you can still get the same coverage at the same rate. He said there was a possibility of paying a higher premium, and having the aftermarket stuff be covered to some degree (so they'd pay some extra), but he didn't know the details, and I wasn't as curious about this aspect as I maybe should have been.

At any rate, I have no doubt now that it varies wildly company-to-company. But, it certainly is doable to find a company that will continue to insure you if you get a "reasonable" (not 10" body lift) lift on your vehicle, and it still meets all applicable laws (center frame height, etc), without raising your rates or changing your coverage. The insurance I'm likely getting/talked to is AAA (or their preferred provider locally, but basically just AAA).

 

Well when I called I asked if I needed to bump my insurance. I said I had about 6-7k in suspension, 1500 body mods, and about 1500 in interior then 300 in performance. They said there was no need to bump my coverage. I bought most of my parts private party or made the parts myself so I dont have receipts for anything. They said that was fine. But I do know I have REALLY good coverage compared to most.

I have state farm

 

Yeah I think the main thing is talk to your insurance. All of them have different coverage in certain ways. Ive heard State Farm is really good

 

like a good agent.....

 

Lol @ State Farm being a good insurance company...

They are good compared to idiots like Progressive, Geico and The General...

My dad is an attorney and mainly defends people when Insurance companies screw you over. On a scale from worst to best of the popular insurance companies:

The General, Geico, Allstate, Progressive, State Farm, Farmers.

If you're stupid enough to get insured by a company that uses a cartoon military General to advertise on daytime television, you deserve to get screwed by your insurance company. They're so bad, that they have a policy that the only thing on your car covered if you have full coverage is the "initial point of impact" meaning the bumper. Anything else on the car isn't covered.

 

I got hit once by a guy with progressive. They tried to fuck me over so bad. I ended up saying screw you and went through state farm and the body shop I wanted to deal with. My agent has been really good to use.