Had this one explained to me a few years back when I had a trade policy. Under normal insurance, a named driver and the policy holder can not be driving at the same time and therefore can not both claim at once... With a trade policy you could both be driving different cars and have accidents and claims at the same time... Hence, greater risk and bigger premium

I've just foung that 'Compare the Market' have an LPG option in 'Has the vehicle been modifided'.
I've just got a good price for out Chrysler Grand Voyager.

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Smoke me a kipper, i'll be back for breakfast!

After sitting all day ringing insurance companies and using the Confused lpg mod button on and off, Ive found that you can get insurance at a premium.
With the button off, its cheap on Confused, and has an added premium with the LPG button ON. But when I rang the same company, they didnt want a certificate...only in the event of a claim, and they didnt entertain DIY fitters, and the didnt increase the premium....hmmm.

Yes, Directline and Admiral etc do insure LPG vehicles, ...At an increased heavy premium.

There was no easy option here.

If i went with my cheap non-lpg insurer...Morethan, on confused all is good and cheap. But they will whack on an £80 premium for a conversion.

In the end im settling for a higher premium, which is cheaper than a garage conversion, but they wont touch a DIY converted car. So now im making a loss again, and wondering if it was worth it.

Did you volunteer that bit of information, or did they ask ?

It might be better to simply say it's converted and that you've got a certificate of conformity (I assume you have). It's truthful and sufficient - and if they don't ask you then you've withheld no information from them.

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Land Rover 110 V8 LPG
Land Rover 90 petrol (no longer diseasel :D), still awaiting V8 & LPG
http://www.diy-lpg.co.uk

i take it from this you mean uklpg approved installer. not a just cert made up on a computer like professa gas

some companys say this but when they do ask you will need lpga / uklpg cert to show them. if you not have this they have the right to void your insurance.
all insurance policys say any modifications to your vehicle must be done by approved person or persons. the only approvel in the uk is lpga /uklpg. not an a4 sheet of paper made up on a computer. by some one not properly approved by the govening body. it is only a matter time before dvla will be asking for lpga / uklpg certs. then it will hit the fan.
good luck if you havent got the right one.

Correct - what I would do is send them a copy of the certificate so that they have the opportunity to see it and reject it if they wish. If you can prove later on that they had the certificate and raised no objection, then they aren't going to get away with rejecting it if you have to make a claim. With my insurers, at one point they told me they needed an LPGA certificate, but then they accepted my own certificate together with a copy of my training certificate - ie evidence that I'm (in CoP 11 parlance) a Competent Person.

Where on earth did that fantasy come from ? I have NEVER seen such a clause in an insurance policy (and yes, I always read the small print carefully). Yes, you have to tell them of any mods, and yes, they may ask for some form of report (eg I've been asked for a mechanics report when I've changed engines in the past), but I have never ever had a request that it be done by an "approved person" (usually it's been "from a garage" or "from a mechanic").

Although there are certification schemes for vehicle technicians, that is not absolutely not the same thing as an approved person as various bodies would like it to be (UK LPG isn't the only body that eyes the captive paying audience that the likes of Gas Safe have).

On and off over the years, there have been many suggestions that all our vehicle mechanics/technicians should be registered or approved in some way. Usually it's a call for all work on vehicle to be done by someone trained and registered to work on that make/model - and every time it's thrown out as disproportionate and would kill off the independent trade to the detriment of consumers (both cost and safety).

And lastly, go and take a look at what CoP 11 says about people installing and maintaining LPG conversions. You'll find it says they should be a "Competent Person", which is defined as "a person with knowledge, training and ability to carry out their work safely and with necessary proficiency to ensure the subsequent operation of the vehicle."

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Land Rover 110 V8 LPG
Land Rover 90 petrol (no longer diseasel :D), still awaiting V8 & LPG
http://www.diy-lpg.co.uk

I think we need some clarification in introduction of the right to repair or install laws because reading this thread may put someone off lpg diy. Perhaps legislation would make things worse though. It's all a bit of a mess. It stems from a Labour government who wanted to create work by absolutly making it nearly impossible to do any major diy by anybody who is not a member of a professional body.
Look at half the Gas Safe/Corgie (Can I av a cuppa mate? Me- Are you going to service the gas fire this time as well as the boiler or skive out of it? No, Me-no then.) muppets who I hate letting near my boiler. Most of them are still doing electrical work in prohibited areas of the house ie; where there is water contrary to the building regs.
Or they can do a 3 day course at college to allow them to do electrial work that took me 2 years and numerous extra evening courses to be allowed to do.
It's a bit of a farce, I would say my own vehicle lpg installation is slightly neater than the pro one I had done on the wife's, but I had time to tinker with it. It is certainly just as safe-- now (don't read my install story or you could contradict that.).
I would like to see some decent right to repair/install laws soon because I would like to fit some double glazing again but cannot do that without having them inspected. Still would not want to install my own gas boiler though.
I would say get proof that your insurance company has seen your lpga certificate. My company said on the phone they did not need to see it but then I had a letter from them giving me 7 day's to post them one. Que a big rush to get one and £90 poorer. Still good value though.

And if you look at things like Part P, you get the situation where many of the people involved in writing the wiring regs aren't allowed to apply them in practice !
You are right, the last thing we need is more legislation - with that only ever some more control.

In that situation, I'd be writing back and demanding a copy of the phone call recording. Once they went and got that, and listened to it, they'd suddenly realise they had nowhere to go but back off - because anyone with even a passing knowledge of contract law would know that they had well and truly backed themselves into a corner.

But I;d still be sending them mine even if they didn't ask for it, because as I wrote above, tit then means they can't come back later and say it's not acceptable (when they are trying to avoid paying out) when they've had ample opportunity to say so when you sent it.

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Land Rover 110 V8 LPG
Land Rover 90 petrol (no longer diseasel :D), still awaiting V8 & LPG
http://www.diy-lpg.co.uk

I love the new part p regs. When I did my update that will make me a Labour party safe sparky we did a paper exercise and followed the regs exactly for someone wanting to add some garden lights in a certain position and with the cables run a certain way etc, the kind of naff job diy ken does on a sunday and we worked out the cable would have to be so thick that it would not fit in the terminals either end if we stuck to the new cable size regs. Anyway I havn't done the yet another new update yet so cannot even to begin to think about starting back even if I could.
Best bit was I applied for a part time job last year at college asessing the school leaver sparky's for NVQ 3 and was told I don't have enough qualifications even though I have the old c&g 231 and part p apart from the new new new update. 20 years experience meant nothing to them either, I think they took on the ameoba sitting next to me who had fluked the new course as it would look bad on the college if he had failed.
One of my old sparky tutors from 1993/94 told recently that they have had to dumb the electrical nvq course down because the school leavers can't do maths and there used to be lot's envolved when I did it.

Only just seen this post so it may now be too late for you, but I can absolutely and categorically say that MoreThan DO insure LPG cars - they've been covering mine for more than two years!! And not only that, they actually give a 10% discount on the premium for LPG.

See the 4th post down on the first page of this very thread - I posted that in October 2008.

I just rang More Than, asked them what there LPG conversion policy was for modified cars. They didnt know what lpg was.......so who do I really need to speak with?

Also spoke to LVE, they insure at no extra premium and don't ask for a certificate, and don't mention anything about approved fitters.

Just looked on the UKLPG website and those insurers are on there, who have signed up for this online registration. Most main lpg fitter companies arent registered, so how do they get round the no certificate requirement. It's a minefield.
I've DIY converted my car iaw COP11, i have informed my insurer and have a new policy and certificate stating a LPG modification.
Now I'm stuck as to where to go from here to get a valid certificate or online registration (since July 2010, certificates are invalid for LVE), but yet again their own Customer Services don't know about it.

I'm glad my car is old and cheap that I could possibly either repair it myself or buy another car should my insurance be void by this nightmare of an insurance wrangling minefield.

There will always be a insurance company somewhere that will take our money no matter what the big boys do.

To insure an LPG car all you need to do is complete an online delaration for a quote on any of the price comparision web sites or on the insurers own web site. Personally I just went online to the LV web site filled in the form ticked the box for LPG conversion box in the modifications section --- job done. I have been insured for 2 years with LV they don't charge a penny extra for the LPG conversion and are noticeable cheaper than my previous insurer More Than and the terms of the cover are better than More Than.

I live in an urban area and I am currently paying £233 per annum for a 1.8 litre Rover 75.

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"My friend: There's no safer investment than property in Pompeii."

I usually get my annual insurance at c£200 or just under, on a (old - 1996) BMW 520 auto (that's a 5 series 2.0 litre). I am on max discount, and use Confused.com every year. I am 6 months into my current policy with Admiral and am having the car converted next week.

Admiral don't want a certificate, haven't asked if the installer is 'approved' (he is), and want £21, I don't know if that is an increase in the premium or just a charge to vary the policy. They were very easy about it over the phone. It seemed reasonable so I just paid it.

I'll update this post when I get all the paperwork through in case it says something different.

Dave

And yet for me, LV were about £150 per annum more expensive than MoreThan. I live in a suburban area but I do drive a top of the range 3.0 V6 Nissan that's quite rare - I'll bet there's probably no more than about 300 UK-wide these days, which makes the cost of parts high.

That's the thing about motor insurance - too many variables and the fact that they'll squeeze you until you squeak for premiums and then try any way to avoid paying out when they should. Legalised robbery - at least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask

You should send Admiral a copy of the LPGA certificate when you get it. Admiral bugged me for this a few weeks after the voice on the phone said I did'nt need one.

Well it has been a month now and Admiral haven't been in touch - no paperwork. So I'm not going to disturb this desirable state of affairs.

In any case, they would have to wait for the lpg Certificate to come back from the DVLA. I made the mistake of asking the DVLA and this was in the reply I got:

[partial quote]
Although the taxation class of your vehicle will not be affected, you will need to send your V5C registration certificate with a covering letter, to the following address: DVLA, Swansea SA99 1BA.

You will also need to enclose evidence of the modification, which should be in the form of:
* written confirmation from the manufacturer
* an inspection report from a recognised body such as the RAC, the AA
* confirmation from a garage
* registration reciept from the garage/installer that completed the conversion

Regards

Mrs L Beynon
Customer Enquiries Group
DVLA
[/quote]

Well, after I got back up off the floor I decided that Mrs Beynon is worse informed than I am. The DVLA will be getting the V5C changed & signed, the installer's invoice & the Certificate, and that's all! Why the DVLA thinks that BMW or Zavoli would be interested in my old banger is a mystery. And the AA won't repair the lpg installation, so I doubt they would want to certify it.

Cheers
Dave

Is that a list of things they want to see or should the word 'or' be in there. I think they want to see at least one of the above, rather than all of the above. I'm about to transfer a personal plate off my Saab so will take the opportunity to alter the fuel type on the V5 (as it still says petrol). I'll let everyone know what my local DVLA office considers to be sufficient. All I currently have for it is a safety test certificate that was issued before I bought the car.

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'96 Saab 900XS, AEB Leo, sold
'93 Range Rover 4.2 LSE, Lovato LovEco, sold
'98 Ex-Police Range Rover 4.0, Singlepoint AEB Leo, my daily motor
'97 Range Rover 4.0SE, eGas multipoint, a project.....

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