If your car has been remapped, you may be wondering if your insurance company can find out, and whether it invalidates your policy.
Here, we walk you through whether insurance companies can tell if you’ve made changes, what remapping actually is, and whether it increases or decreases your policy cost.
What is remapping?
Remapping a car is when you tinker with the microchip in the electrical control unit (ECU). All vehicles come with their own preset configuration, and overwriting this or tuning it differently is known as remapping an engine.
You may have heard of the term ‘chipping’ before. This was a method used in older cars to pluck the old ECU out and replace it with a new one. Thanks to modern technology, remapping has moved on since then. Now you can rewrite the factory settings and access the on-board diagnostics, if your vehicle permits you to do so.
In essence remapping is a cost-effective method to adjust the microchip and optimise performance.
Can insurance tell if a car has been remapped?
Insurers generally do not inspect each car before agreeing cover. However lying on your car insurance can result in it being invalidated, a big fine, points on your licence and even criminal proceedings.
Whilst it’s not illegal to non-disclose if your vehicle has been remapped, it is a criminal offence to drive without valid car insurance.
This means should you need to make a claim or are involved in an incident, a garage will soon note if your car has been remapped through inspection of the ECU. If it has been altered, they will notify your insurer.
If your insurer is informed that you have indeed been driving in a remapped car, your insurance can be instantly invalidated.
Remapping is considered a modification to your vehicle, which means you must inform your insurer when getting a policy, as they will be able to offer you modified car insurance.
Can you tell if a car has been remapped?
If you have bought a brand new car, then of course it will not have been remapped, but if you are buying a vehicle second-hand, it’s extremely difficult to know unless you have been told, or it is clearly marked by an engineer previously.
Garages will put a sticker on the car to display if they have been remapped. Please note, though, that this may well have been removed by the previous owner.
It is your responsibility as a second-hand car owner to find out if the vehicle has been remapped. You can do this by asking the person you bought it from or take it to a garage to be inspected.
Unfortunately, ignorance is no defence if you later find out after insuring your car that it has been remapped.
How much does a remap increase car insurance?
Remapping or purchasing a remapped car will affect the cost of your insurance. How much it does will depend on what improvement has been made to the vehicle’s performance.
If there has been an increase in brake horsepower, for example, your premium will go up. If the update was made to make the vehicle run more smoothly with little effect to the power of the engine, then the rise will be minimal.
Do I need remapped car insurance?
If your car has been remapped, standard motor insurance will not cover your vehicle. You will need a modified car insurance policy, and it’s best to go to an insurer such as Sterling.
At Sterling NI we provide competitive policy prices for all vehicles, no matter their age or condition.Call us on 0344 381 9990 for a quote, or book a callback at a time that best suits you.
