Insurance for a Wheelchair Adapted Berlingo

[patchoulian]

Hi - has anyone experience of insuring a wheelchair adapted Berlingo? All of the wheelchair access gubbins will be removed for camper use, although the changes to the body/bumper would remain. Is it just a case of advising at the point of taking out the insurance? I'd guess they'd want detail about the nature of any conversion - wondering about things like paperwork required and premium bumps.

I've not got one yet, poised - just working through the practicalities of WAV vs unadapted at the moment.

Thanks, Rob

[cancunia]

I've had 2 different WAVs and no issues with insurance. I just told my insurance co (NFU) that it was a professionally converted WAV & that I'd had the ramp removed from so it was no longer a WAV but simply had less seats than original.
When you go to look at a WAV, you can check if it's been professionally converted by looking for a badge somewhere near the driver's door frame.

[Tomcat3]

With mine I just told them it was a professional WAV convrsion from new before I brought it and how many seats it had not including the wheelchair and ive had no problem.

[RattyCortina]

Not related to insurance, but a couple of points about adapted vehicles that I've come across that may be of interest as we have an adapted '08 Renault Kangoo at work.

The rear section of the exhaust is bespoke due to the lowered floor, it has failed a couple of times, I suspect it was not supported correctly from the start. Obviously you can't just go into a fast fit centre to get it replaced.

Likewise the fuel tank has been changed and a aftermarket analogue gauge fitted. This swings about like crazy when you go round a corner. Some people have run out of fuel when going by the original gauge, I have personally not had a problem though...

[patchoulian]

Excellent - thanks everyone, plenty to go on there. I'm still inclined to go the WAV route - not least because there seems to be a load of them available right now. Happy to be reassured about the insurance. The exhaust/tank/gauge issues don't look to be insurmountable if they arise.

[Gryffindor]

When I bought a WAV my previous car's insurers wouldn't touch it, and neither would several others. In the end I asked Gowrings for advice and they recommended a specialist insurers with a piscatorial name containing four letters. They saw me coming and in hindsight, during our friendly natter where they got me to tell them what I was going to use the car for, they were totting up every use and adding it to the policy. The first year's premium was £800! It included new for old cover on the mobility scooter I was going to use it for, but even so, there wasn't a second year's premium with them.

This might help you - it was only when I sold the car that I noticed that its V5 still had it listed as an (unmodified) 7-seat MPV - even though it had been professionally converted by Gowrings t a top spec (£20k list price for the conversion alone, apparently). Had I spotted that when I first bought it, it might have made insuring it a lot easier. Check your V5 just in case.

[patchoulian]

When I bought a WAV my previous car's insurers wouldn't touch it, and neither would several others. In the end I asked Gowrings for advice and they recommended a specialist insurers with a piscatorial name containing four letters. They saw me coming and in hindsight, during our friendly natter where they got me to tell them what I was going to use the car for, they were totting up every use and adding it to the policy. The first year's premium was £800! It included new for old cover on the mobility scooter I was going to use it for, but even so, there wasn't a second year's premium with them.

This might help you - it was only when I sold the car that I noticed that its V5 still had it listed as an (unmodified) 7-seat MPV - even though it had been professionally converted by Gowrings t a top spec (£20k list price for the conversion alone, apparently). Had I spotted that when I first bought it, it might have made insuring it a lot easier. Check your V5 just in case.

Thanks. I've been phoning round, and the best I seem to have got is from <insert the name of a wartime PM> - but it does seem to be very heavy going. About £300 - more than my old car (an Audi S3!) but hey.

[cancunia]

I've had no trouble with nfu mutual on the 2 ex wavs that I've owned. I made the point to them that there's no longer a ramp and they just treat it as a normal car.

[Gryffindor]

Well, maybe the farmer's union is still what its name suggests, and still amenable to the odd 'working man's remodification' being done, such as removing unwanted bits from a professional modification (which might in itself make other insurers weep or grin with glee), because the policy holder knows what he's doing with 'agricultural machinery'!

I should have tried them. Did have a policy with them aeons ago when market trading.

TBH £300 would have been more bearable for me than £800.

[patchoulian]

Hi - has anyone experience of insuring a wheelchair adapted Berlingo? All of the wheelchair access gubbins will be removed for camper use, although the changes to the body/bumper would remain. Is it just a case of advising at the point of taking out the insurance? I'd guess they'd want detail about the nature of any conversion - wondering about things like paperwork required and premium bumps.

I've not got one yet, poised - just working through the practicalities of WAV vs unadapted at the moment.

Thanks, Rob

Well, got a Peugeot Partner Tepee Horizon WAV conversion in the end - there just seems to be a glut of them right now, so it seemed rude not to :-) 

On the insurance front, I used my current insurers (More Than), more as the path of least resistance than being especially cheap. I'd estimate the premium is at/around £300. I'd finally twigged that the WAV modification on the comparison sites is under 'Accessories' - it was quite straightforward after that, and I got several quotes at/around £300.

Thanks for the guidance - now the fun begins!