I had an interesting conversation with bell direct last night as was looking at switching my policy.

I have a late 99(v) 20vt(6) with leather bucket seats, plus alloys etc.
I was asked if there were any optional extras on my car and I mentioned the 6 speed box. I told them this was standard fit at this time but they said this was a transmission change and tried to up the policy by £100 hmmmm
I stopped the call and went on the net to play with my quote. Adding interior changes on top of trans would only add another £10 to the policy and I definitely want the interior covered.

Phoned them back to discuss this further and was told that I would have to declare these 'optional extras' but in the case of the claim they would not be covered. Only the base standard would be covered.

"What if someone broke into my car and slashed only the drivers seat? Would they replace it with the cloth option"
"yes if that is the base standard fit"

Now admittedly I was only speaking to a couple of phone monkeys but they were trying to increase my policy without covering the extras.

Took policy out on standard car (as far as I'm concerned what I have) on the net but was surprised by this exchange .

The late 20VT (6) is its own model on a lot of insurance quote engines. This would cover whatever standard options that your car came with, including the plus alloys, colour coded sills, etc.... If Bell direct don't have this option then you should let them know their database is missing a model. It seems like they're trying to endorse the standard 20vt details with the 20vt (6) options which they shouldnt do.

It is a bit of a grey area regarding factory fitted extra's like say leather interior on cars that come with cloth standard. I personally don't go listing every factory optional extra when taking out insurance, although if you add something obvious (say a dustbin K&N filter, or stainless exhaust) then you should obviously declare this. I've not heard of an insurance company getting arsey over paying a claim or honouring a policy due to an optional manufacturer fitted extra like a sunroof/Air con/Leather or stuff like recaro seats. The after market add-on stuff is really what you should be careful on and declare.

Quote engines do state that you should list all extra's (sometimes even factory fitted stuff) so its up to you what you do, but it is going to increase your premium. If your car has a list of obvious extra's (possibly factory fitted) like a factory bodykit (zender/even an LE kit on a non LE/Plus) or say a bigger wheels option then you should probably tell them. No assessor is going to single out recaro sport seats over standard leather seats IMO, especially on an unknown car like ours.

Its a bit like having pagid blues or any other upgraded pad on your car, you should really tell your insurance co about it, but the likelyhood of anyone being able to prove what they are is very small. Unless you kill someone whilst drunk behind the wheel they will not go over your car with a fine toothed comb to find any bits wrong with it, but it's your risk at the end of the day (have to say that as I'm an Insurance Underwriter, and I know that my claims team will not want to pay out for any claims which they don't have to).

The soloution to your problem is to get your car insured as a standard 20VT (6), not a 5 speed model with optional extras.

Im with Bell Direct and I have "interior changes" on my certificate as the previous owner decided to get the Factory Fitted Leather option.............. I argued that this shouldn't cost extra but the policy was still very cheap so just went with it..

In my experience there is no issue if the options are factory fitted. I have been asked in the past if car has alloys and replied yes but factory fitted - they have therefore not been interested, although these may have been a factory fit option.

Basically unless you change factory spec you should not have to mention as long as you quote correct model and registration number. Sounds to me like they are trying to "cash in".

i am insured will Bell, they had a fit initially about the 6speedbox on my LE. but once i spoke to a human being (difficult these days i know) things were resolved to the tune of £260 fully comp for a 38 year old fart.

Thats £60 less than me and Im a 28 (albeit soon to be 29) fart..

Funny this had a similiar conversation with NU yesterday regarding a FIat Tipo 2.0 16v they tried to say that the side skirts and alloys were extras despite every Sedici coming with them. Lost patients in the end and told em to forget it. They went as far to say that it would not be covered, neither would the ABS and Recaro interior all factory fitted they are a joke!