Do Custom Grill Inserts Improve The Value Of Your Vehicle?

For you as a motorist, adding a custom grille insert to your Panamera GTS or your Focus ST, for example, is of course going to be wholly beneficial – your car gains a touch of added panache and individually and your cooling system is better protected from potential damage. But does it increase the value of your car should you decide to put it up for sale? And could it affect your insurance premium at all? 

But first of all, we should take a look at what custom car grilles improve and why they might be more desirable to buyers if you sell it on. The hand-woven steel mesh imbues your car with a touch of class and style, but also gives you massively superior protection from damage compared to the rather flimsy stock parts. 

A custom grille is a beneficial upgrade to your car, but will your insurance provider feel the same way? 

Insurance for high-end luxury or performance cars can be the double-edged sword of having a fast, desirable vehicle and we know that you don’t want to be paying even more for the experience. Modifications can potentially dramatically increase how much you pay, but not all changes you make to your car come under what insurance companies describe as ‘chargeable modifications’. 

The most obvious of these are modifications that boost performance – swapping out your Nissan Micra for a billet-block 2JZ engine will definitely sky-rocket you into a much higher insurance group. Performance brakes, transmission upgrades, engine modifications et cetera are all definitely chargeable. Body modifications are not quite the same though, and whilst overtly ‘sporty’ additions such as side-skirts, bonnet scoops, spoilers and diffusers full under chargeable, custom grille inserts do not. So, you can add a custom steel mesh grille to your 911 Carrera S and enjoy the extra protection and subtle styling flair without paying through the nose for it.

When it comes to selling your car on, modifications – especially dramatic body-kits – can make them harder to sell. But, for our grilles, this isn’t the case. Being such a subtle yet effective addition to the car's styling and also adding to the car’s durability means that this is a modification that won’t hurt the value of your vehicle should you decide to part ways with it. In fact, an appropriate and subtle body modification such as a custom grille can actually make the car more desirable to potential buyers and could actually increase the resale value. 

If you are having doubts as to whether a grille would affect your insurance, then we would recommend that you speak to your insurance provider directly. But you can rest assured that having one fitted most definitely won’t cost you anything more than the cost of the grille itself.