Sometimes, the vehicle you get from a car dealer just doesn’t fit all of your needs and personal style. It may be impossible to buy the absolute perfect car, and when you can’t, many folks upgrade components. With a new radio here, some chrome rims there, you have a vehicle that truly belongs to you.
Few people are aware of this, but most insurance policies will only cover damage to equipment originally provided by the manufacturer of the vehicle. This means that all equipment that you or others have added to the vehicle after it rolled off the lot is not insured. Such equipment includes:
- Cosmetic equipment: such as custom rims, wheels, paint jobs, decals, fins, spoilers, chrome, etc.
- Utility equipment: such as fog lights, bed liners, trailer hitches, camper shells, and more.
- Entertainment equipment: which includes any permanently installed TV, radio, or DVD player
- Dealer installed equipment: this includes equipment provided by the dealer, but not offered by the manufacturer.
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To protect these assets in your vehicle, you will need to purchase customized equipment coverage. Collision coverage may come with some customized equipment covered, but this varies. Even so, if you have spent a lot of money personalizing your vehicle, you should consider adding customized equipment coverage to make sure you can recover the full amount of your vehicle’s worth in case of an accident.
