Winter Tyres Insurance
Table of Contents
Winter Tyres Insurance
Winter Tyres Insurance
Can Your Car Insurance Be Affected by the Tyres You Have on Your Car?
Most drivers never give their tyres a second thought beyond making sure they’re legal and have a half-decent amount of tread. But here’s something many don’t realise—your car insurance can be affected by the tyres you fit, and in some cases it can even invalidate a claim. It sounds a bit over the top, but insurers take tyres very seriously, and for good reason.
Safety First — and Insurers Know It: Winter Tyres Insurance
Your tyres are the only part of your car that actually touch the road, so anything that affects grip, stability, or stopping distance will naturally be a concern for insurers. If a crash happens and your tyres are found to be illegal, unsafe, or unsuitable for your vehicle, the insurer can argue that the car wasn’t being used in a roadworthy condition.
That can lead to reduced payouts — or, in the worst case, no payout at all.
Illegal Tyres = Invalid Insurance: Winter Tyres Insurance
This is the big one. If your tyres don’t meet the legal requirements, you’re technically driving a vehicle that isn’t roadworthy. That includes:
- Tread depth below 1.6mm across the central 75%
- Bulges, cuts, cords showing, or structural damage
- Wrong tyre size or load rating for your car
- Mixed tyres that aren’t allowed (for example: mixing cross-ply and radial)
If you were involved in an accident and the police or insurer found any of the above, you could find your claim refused — and even pick up points, fines, or both.
Modifications: Bigger Wheels, Off-Road Tyres & AT Tyres
In recent years a trend has grown for fitting:
- Oversized wheels
- All-terrain (AT) tyres
- Mud-terrain tyres
- Custom aftermarket sizes
These aren’t illegal — but many insurers class them as modifications. And they absolutely must be declared.
If the car came from the factory on road tyres and you’ve swapped to chunky AT tyres (very common in Land Rovers, Hilux, and SUV models), an insurer may see that as:
- A performance change
- A handling change
- A risk factor
- A replacement cost increase
Failing to declare a modification, even an innocent one, can void a policy.
Here at Pellon Tyres we see this a lot — customers upgrading to AT tyres for farming work, rural living, or winter safety, without realising they have to tell their insurance company.
Most insurers are absolutely fine with it once you’ve told them.
But if you don’t tell them… you could be asking for trouble.
Cheap Part-Worn Tyres — Another Risk Area: Winter Tyres Insurance
Many insurance assessors frown on part-worn tyres. Strictly speaking, they’re legal if properly tested and stamped — but many aren’t. If your car is inspected after a crash and it’s found to be on unsafe or incorrectly marked part-worns, an insurer can argue “negligence”.
Again, this can reduce or invalidate a claim entirely.
Seasonal Tyres — Winter & All-Season Tyres Are Fine
A common question we get asked in Halifax is whether swapping to winter tyres affects insurance. The answer is simple:
No — as long as the tyre size and load/speed rating match the vehicle requirements.
Most UK insurers actively support winter tyres because they improve safety in cold weather. Just make sure the tyres are:
- Correctly rated
- Fitted as a full set
- Not oversized
Final Advice — Simple Steps to Keep Your Insurance Safe: Winter Tyres Insurance
To keep yourself fully covered:
- Always fit the correct-sized tyres
- Maintain at least 1.6mm tread depth (preferably 2 mm+)
- Avoid mixing random tyre types
- Declare any upgrades, AT tyres, or wheel size changes
- Avoid dodgy part-worn tyres
- Keep your tyres inflated correctly
Insurance companies want a roadworthy car. As long as your tyres are legal, properly fitted, and correctly declared, you’ll never have a problem.
So, I always find it strange to hear my customers say, “Will my car be insured if I fit winter tyres?” I used to think that they were joking at first. But for some reason, they were very serious. Apparently, it was something that they had read in a national newspaper. When I checked this out, it said that if you modify or change your car from the original specs,. So, then you should inform your insurance company. Subsequently, you could not be insured in case you had an accident.
I suspect that this covers thousands of motorists. Importantly, driving about today, “with what they would consider minor adjustments” to their cars. Of course, such as fitting winter tyres or a “go faster stripe” down the side.
There is no doubt that winter tyres do affect your car’s performance. However, only for the better! By making the car drive with better control and brakes. Especially in winter weather, from rain to ice and snow. As long as you stick to the same size and the advised load rating for your car. Then you should be fine and proud to fit the winter tyres.
Insurance companies should give you “discount” for fitting winter tyres – Winter Tyres Insurance
Even this year, our customers have asked about the effect winter tyres can have on their insurance. So I thought that I would look into it a little deeper and write an article about the subject. In my opinion, I think that you should get a rebate from your insurance company. Of course, if you make your car safer by fitting winters to it. In fact, the big debate for me is, “Are cars with illegally worn tyres insured?” and the answer is no. But I will look at that in a future article.
The problem has also become an issue with the insurers themselves. Consequently, after a deluge of enquiries from worried car owners. Strangely, they thought that they would not be insured if they fitted these tyres to their car. According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the problem has been taken up with its members. So, now over 90% have agreed that they will not increase premiums. Happily, for their customers, they fit the correct winter tyres on their vehicles.
Winter tyres much safer – Winter Tyres Insurance
They also agreed to fit winters to their car. So, it made for better road safety over the winter period. In fact, many of the other European countries make it a law to fit winters between November and March of the following year, so why should the British motorists be penalised?
A statement from the ABI says, “Often motor insurers will not charge an additional premium when their insured customers use winter tyres, provided that they meet and are fitted in accordance with the vehicle manufacturers’ specifications and are in a roadworthy condition.”
If you are unsure about your own insurance company’s stance on the matter, then you can either ring them up or go to the ABI website, where insurers who comply with the “good to fit winter tyres” rule are listed. The web address is “ABI a guide to winter tyres“.
Winter tyres will not incur additional insurance costs.
As I stated earlier in this article,. So, the insurance companies often increased the cost of your insurance if you modified your car in any way and did not inform them; things like an upgraded, modified engine spring to mind. They regarded you as being more likely to have an accident if you had modified your car, and your car may have become a bigger target for car thieves, so an extra premium would have been charged.
At first when winter tyres became more popular, the insurance companies gave out mixed messages, but the ABI can now confirm that winter tyres are a safety issue and are a great improvement when fitted to your car during the winter period.
My own advice would be to inform your insurance company that you are fitting winter tyres. You will not have to pay any extra premiums. Some companies do require you to inform them; a list can be found on the ABI website. Nick Starling, ABI’s director of general insurance, said, “Insurers do not want to penalise motorists who take steps, like fitting winter tyres, to improve their safety on dangerous winter roads. Last year cold weather came early, and there was some uncertainty for customers about the insurance implications of fitting winter tyres. This commitment clarifies the position for motorists.”
Always fit the same size or a size recommended by your tyre dealer if a direct replacement cannot be found.
A good tyre retailer will have a website where you can legally convert important information, and insurance providers ought to accept it.anies. Some insurance companies, such as Tesco and The Co-operative Insurance Company, state that you are alright to fit winters, but you should not oversize them. Oversizing tyres is not a good thing anyway?
Pellon Tyre and Auto-Centre offers car and van servicing and repairs to all makes of vehicles. Finally, we are still the Nokian tyre dealers for the Calderdale area of Yorkshire.
Pellon Tyres is now a member of TyreSafe.org
We also sell General Winter Tyres online from our website, www.pellontyres.co.uk.