ABI code of practice- do you need to tell your insurers or not:
http://www.abi.org.uk/Information/Consumers/General/Winter_Tyres__The_Motor_Insurance_Committment.aspx
Excellent link.
But it still leaves a huge area of uncertainty.
Look at Sheila's Wheels, Esure, Sainsbury's and a couple more, there is a different notification requirement if the car has alloy wheels, or they are to be fitted. That should cover most of us.
And more importantly, in my opinion, is that the article only deals with fitting winter tyres, as in the black things that go round the wheels, and makes no reference to changing the wheels themselves.
So, if you have a spare set of wheels for the winter tyres, rather than removing the summer tyres, then you are changing wheels, regardless of what tyres are on them.
So it would be interesting to see a similar article which asks the question "do you need to be advised if different wheels are fitted?". I would expect a different table, as insurers tend to consider wheels (which admittedly are usually upgrades) as modifications to the vehicle, and wish to know.
A lot is hidden in the "Requirement to disclose material information ..........during the life of the policy" clause, quoting from a motor insurance policy wording from a major insurer.
So I'd say, for the cost of a phone call, it's best to check.
Everyone is talking "Winter Tyres" when they mean "Cold Weather Tyres". That is, all except the car manufacturers who only specify "Winter Tyres" and, in Saabs case, they specify the tyres with a speed rating of Q (= 160km/hr or 100 mph).
So, if the insurers want to be pedantic, they have never mentioned the fitting of Cold Weather Tyres. Or All-Season Tyres come to that!! Where do you draw the line?
Quote from: sgould on 06 December 2011, 03:12:50 PMWhere do you draw the line?
Quite. If it came to it and my insurers were baulking, I'd happily go to court to prove that there was no material difference that increased the risk of an accident- indeed the very opposite. What about fitting higher speed rating tyres? Still a change from the original spec that it could be argued would have a material affect.
It appears only all the insurance brands underwritten by RBS and then Provident need to be informed, I for one will be pleased when the forced sale of the RBS insurance brands happens next year! Provident have just been taken over too so let's hope it improves there too.
ISTR HonestJohn in the Telegraph recently saying that case law/the industry/the ombudsman etc had established that it was no longer necessary to inform the insurer of winter / cold weather tyre changes. (Tho caveat emptor...) I'm pretty risk-averse when it comes to this sort of thing but personally I wouldn't bother. It's surely inconceivable that the ombudsman would find in favour of an insurer who refused to pay out for non-disclosure of a winter tyre (in winter).
It's also down to the insurer to PROVE that a modification contributed to the cause of a claim against them, now in my eyes it does not make the vehicle more desirable to steal neither would it make it slide into another as bald tyres would, the only other possible way it could contribute is with a speed rating discrepancy but to be honest I'd have thought even winter tyres would be rated to 120 mph plus and if you start hitting things at over that kind of speed you deserve to have the claim repudiated!
I have to agree with all that, also having spoken to many people in the trade nobody can ever remember an insurance assessor checking tyres for suitability and speed ratings after any minor clout. I think you'd find the police might do it when looking for a cause of a fatal or serious accident but even then if the tyres were suitable for the vehicle and you were going 150mph on 120mph tyres then I'm sure that they still won't find the tyres as the sole cause of the accident ;D
I also feel that given that all a winter tyre has over a summer tyre is a picture of a mountain symbol on it how the hell an insurance company would refuse to pay out given that if they go down that route then they can practically insist all parts have to be sourced directly via the manufacturer which is against EU rules they'd be finding themselves in a very difficult position. When you consider that the winter tyre rating is in *addition* to the normal ratings on the tyre there is no way you do need to inform them. If they really want to argue that then my car should have Pirelli tyres on it all round and what about the M+S marking that appears on some tyres and not others as if the car wasn't supplied with M+S tyres then they'd have to cause problems too, I'd love to see them try and find out which tyres my car was originally supplied with, especially if Saab do go under.
It seems i'm in a minority of one here, i've no problem with that, as my insurers know of the two mods I have made to my car.
What I can't understand though, is everyone's reluctance to tell the insurer, just to be on the safe side, when obviously there are different attitudes from different companies. To my mind it's another layer of insurance - give them no cause to reject a claim, particularly if the size/spec of wheels is changed as well as the tyres.
But then my sig on another forum reads "just an opinion, obviously".
Malcolm
Because why would I want to spend half an hour on the phone to someone who doesn't understand what I'm telling them who will most likely try to put my premium up when I've not actually made any modification to my car and then have to spend another hour on the phone to sort it out. I'm sure if it would suit the insurance company they'd lose the record of you having winter tyres or try to use it against you (i.e. no snow on the ground when you had an accident) if it meant they could try and get out of paying a claim.
I mean, what it comes down to... is you don't tell them when tyres are all at 2mm and when you put new tyres with 8mm on you don't call them up and get a reduction in premium for making your car safer, you don't get the same benefit when you put new brakes on, so why would you tell them that you've put tyres on your car that have an extra marking on the sidewall?
OK, you win, only trying to help.
So let's sum up - if you're right, I've lost nothing. If I'm right? I've still lost nothing....................
Malcolm
eh? sound a bit up tight there old chap. I'm not trying to "win" just giving an opinion. *sigh*
i would say its your choice if you want to tell them,
i personally did i'm with Axa and have been for 3 years and they where very happy when i informed them even though they said it wasn't nessary, only comment from them was the tyres have to be either manufacture recormended or rated to your car spec. ie 225-45-17 94v xl or whatever the 9-5 runs.
so what winter tyre are we all using
im on falken hs439 225-45-17 94v xl with rim flange protection, its my secon year on them and they are quiet great wear rate even in current temps tyres have been on since end of oct. and great performance in snow and ice.
I managed last winter OK on fairly well-worn Conti SportContact 2s..... but I live in South Bucks, and virtually all the roads I drive on are salted. If I lived somewhere where snow or ice could be a problem - north of Watford, say - I'd get a set of spare wheels and put winter tyres on them. And I'd inform my insurers, just in case.
BOF
Oh no - do we need to put winter tyres back on again..............my friend near Tibshelf woke up to around 2-3" of the white stuff this morning
I'd have said it wasn't time to take them off quite yet, when I realised that I was going to be taking them off at the end of April and the car would only have them on for 5 months of the year I figured I was better off just using winter tyres all year around.
My guy said take them off as he could see mine were wearing in the warm weather - when off you could see he was right as well compared to when they went on
Ours are still on the cars. The Germans use the rule of thumb "O to O". Oktober to Ostern - October to Easter. And GB is further north.
I'm keeping mine on until the end of the month when I get back from my holidays.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 05 April 2012, 04:14:09 PM
My guy said take them off as he could see mine were wearing in the warm weather - when off you could see he was right as well compared to when they went on
Well the ones you swapped with will be worn too when you change back over in the winter ;D
I've noticed with the Nokian WR G2 that are on my car that wear has so far been really good, I've done over 10k on them over 2 winters and 1 summer having swapped them once and they are all worn to around no less than 6mm, when I swapped the backs to the front last autumn it was only the fronts that had worn significantly. I figure that this wear pattern should suit me well as with another swap front to rear they'll most likely all be 4mm by next summer and I can wear them out and replace with new all round for the following winter.
Thas Easter tomorrow Will.. :)
Mine went on Nov and had a smidgen under 8mm and now have approx 6.5mm and I've done around 3k on them in that time but that does include my car trailer trip to Wetherby and back so I'd assume that gave them a hard time in temp above 7.
Wow :o which tyres are they? They don't sound very long lived :( Of course with my Nokians I'm concerned that they will get accelerated wear over this summer and be below 4mm by January :-\
I've run nokians all year for a few years now. I do 22k pa and noticed little difference between summer and winter wear.
Mine are Avon IceTouring ST and were absolutely fantastic in the snow and ice we did have. I also found them superb in very heavy rain when roads awash - they felt very steady if a little noisy but that could have been the amount of water they were dispersing as I noticed far more spray in my rear view mirror than my Conti's
Surely if the manufacturer of your car specifies a wheel and tyre spec for summer and one for winter (whether just a lower speed rating winter tyre or a narrower wheel/winter tyre combo), then these are manufacturer approved equipment and not a modification and therefore no notification is necessary.
That's true because you are only doing what manufacturer says but some insurance companies will try and cop out if you don't actually tell them you've swapped over - they may be the ones that check the ambient temp on that day and say - wow it was 12 deg so your tyres suck. They are the companies to avoid. Thankfully I've never used one of those.
Nothing hurts a simple call just to say 'I've swapped my wheels over for the winter...'. Mine just said thank you for telling us but as they are spec'd for your car then you're fine anyway'