That pretty much says it, I have 20% all around and am paranoid that insurance may not cover me in an accident since the tint is not legal in my state. Any thoughts/experiences?

 

May be a good idea to make an anonymous phone inquiry to your insurance company to ask about the 20% tint to hear from the horse's mouth

What about other insurance companies in your area who may cover for you for the 20% tint if your current one doesn't?

My advice is to take aggressive action if you smell any hint that the insurance company may not pay. Talk to the adjusters if possible. My experience with Insurance companies is that they are quick and ready at swallowing recurring premiums... provide exclusions and exceptions in small prints and when come to claims, they will fight tooth and nail to find reasons in their exclusions and exceptions clauses not to pay you or not pay in full

I would be extra careful if it involves automobile insurance because the liability can be sky high... if I get into an accident (God forbid) and rendered a pedestrian invalid for life and if I am sued in the millions $$ and if my insurance company has grounds to not pay.. then I will be on the hook for the million $$ law suit... the rest of my life will be.........

If I am in your shoes, not knowing if my insurance will pay me if I need them...it is just like me playing Russian roulette, not knowing if there is a bullet in the chamber... sorry if I sound dramatic....as I am a paranoid person and just want to provide some advice to play it safe if you don't have control of the $$ liabilities that you may be dealing with.. :-) and our actions or non-action will impact not only us but the lives of our love ones around us. I am not ready to "gamble" with their lives as well

My 2 cents

 

what someone tells you over the phone vs what they really do can be completely different. Always ask to get that info in writing, if they wont then you know they may or may not back it up.

Insurance companies will almost always use any excuse under the sun to get out of paying. They also like to write minimal checks in hopes you cash it, once you cash it you accept it as payment in full. So in those cases always get estimates and show them your highest before cashing any check of theirs, assuming your estimates are more than what they gave you of course.

As far as tint, its a grey area that can go any which way. Depending on the accident, chances are they wont take any special notice of the tint. I mean if you get Tboned, rear ended..etc, its not like the Tint itself had anything to do with it.....though if you wreck and its your fault, they could possibly say it was due to your inability to see clearly. I actually know a guy whose home insurer refused to pay for a streamlined wind ripping the roof off his house by saying "it was an act of god". So he had to get a lawyer to get his money, some of which went to the lawyer....that just goes to show the stupid excuses some try to come up with.

if its not in writing, its fair game either way.

 

soulfly has a good point about getting something in writing from the insurance company if they agreed to pay for any future claims even with your 20% tint

 

I'd also worry about another party slapping you with a law suit if you slam into someone... they could claim you had impaired vision as a result of illegal tint.

Is it really worth the risk?

 

Laws in my area stated that we cannot have tint on the front windshield and front passenger windows.

Hence, my FIT is only tinted on the tailgate glass and the back passenger windows

 

to be fair, people can sue you over any excuse for any reason. They could say the same for you wearing sunglasses, dim headlights or a crack in the windshield though it doesnt matter the reason, the fact of who is found at fault is the bottom line regardless of reason or how it occurred. So even without tint or reason if you got sued to pay hospital bills or whatever the result would be the same.

technically you can if you have medical reason but yeah that sucks, even Cali has 70% limit and i thought that was strict. in my state the legal limit is 30% VLT and 25% reflection.
Though what i use is far different, 2.5% front, 20% sides and 5% rear. amazingly the cops never pay attention to me.

 

Personally, I'd rather not give them any additional reasons to cause me grief hence the reason I run Texas legal tint on my Fit.

Having anything illegal on the vehicle just adds fuel to the legal fire... and it can and often does get nasty.

 

that it can. though i really enjoy dark tint for privacy and so no one can see my expesnive audio system, things like that.

 

I have 15% on my 04 civic in Colorado and haven't had any problems. I've had two minor fender Benders and neither time was an issue with a claim. The first one wasn't through my insurance but the second one was. My car slipped on black ice and slid into the car next to me. Only did $2k damage on my car and around $4k to theirs (was a brand new Highlander) which was all mostly paint, dented fenders, broken mirrors, etc. But my insurance covered it all and never said a word about the tint. It was claimed through Geico.

 

Good to hear zmancbr and your previous claim went through without any problem despite a 15% tint.

I think each claim is dependent on which insurance company we are dealing with, who the insurance adjuster is and how strict they are in following the book or otherwise.

The other factor is the value of the claim eg a $1,000 claim versus a $1 million injury claim. The higher the value of the claim, the more impact it is to the insurance company's bottom line and chances are the insurance company will have a team of lawyers, accountants and senior people to go thru the fine print of the contract to find legal means not to pay out......

... and it will the $1 million dollar injury 3rd party claim that we have to rely on our insurance company to pay out...

 

Read your policy. Right?
You have a contract with your insurance company. It is governed by the words of the contract and your state's law.

So read it. If it explicitly says that modifying the car in a dangerous manner may affect your right to be reimbursed, then that's that, isn't it?

If it's legal to have that tint level, then I'd guess it's not considered dangerous.

If it obstructs your view of the world, which I'm guessing it does, then the insurance company would have a legitimate right to withhold payment if you caused injury or damage because your reduced view of the world did not permit you to see danger.

You want to know what I would do?

Put it in writing. Send the insurance company a letter in which you detail what you've done. Make sure you get a signature at the other end (express mail, return receipt, whatever). Then, if they don't pull your policy, you should be good.

If they pull your policy, then either take the tint off or drive with worries.