Insurance advice

Hubby's insurance is up for renewal and as his Blade was stolen last year and they didn't adjust his insurance premiums at the time but when it was up for renewal. The insurance for the new year has been increased by £3000!!!! The bike (the new one bought - R1 '08) is only worth £6000.

He's decided to SORN it and sell it as insurance is too high. But he'll be like a bear without a sore tooth without his girl, particularly as I still have mine.

Advice? New to the country and still trying to get my head around all this insurace milakey! So, yes or no...

- He can't ride my bike without insurance so he'd still have to get insurance which would be a fortune?
- If he wanted a sports bike (even a 600) I imagine insurnce would still be high?
- What other models etc can I suggest to him to get him motivated to get another bike where insurance won't rip him another?

BASICALLY HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Smaller capactiry, generally equals lower premium as does less sporty.
You need a minimium of 3rd party only insurance to ride legally.
Limiting annual milage can help your premium, as can locks, where the bike is kept and the postcode of that keeping. Security devices are a mixed bag, locks and chains are best on a cost per discount basis and also in terms of actual security. Alarms rarely give a discount worth mentioning compared to the upfront cost. The only exception to this is certain high risk groups may not be insured without one fitted.
No modifications again lower permiums, along with of course advanced training, no claims bonus and sometimes additional well qualified / experienced riders on the policy.
Mostly, shop around. I've personally had quotes varying over £2k difference, everyone has their prefered broker but it really is down to personal circumstance which will be best for you.

Most sports tourers / naked bikes attract less premium than pure sports and for all intents are just as capable, I say most as there's a few exceptions. Don't expect an easy time insuring a Street Triple over an R6 for example.

Cruisers are cheap, but that's because they're boring

 

I know that it might not appeal, but older Fireblades (1998 RRW etc) are cheap to insure and can be a lot of fun. I only pay £70 a year for my 2001 ZX9R E1 and I know that the later ZX9R F1 / F2 models (2003 / 04) are the same insurance bracket. Essentially, enough fun for very little money all round.

Just a thought. Failing that, I'd happily swap my bike for his if he gets really stuck... you know, just as a favour .

 

I ride a GSXR 600 K8 and even after one spill that cost a foetune for the insurance to put right my premium never went over £800 full comp thats with having to tell them of riding ban too..

 

Hi Yappa. Shop around. When I came over from Melbourne, almost no one wud insure me and I'm on a K1300R. Carole Nash finally did and I pay about £500 fully comp with zero no claims as getting UK insurers don't recognize Rating 1,2 3 etc. they want to see how many years.
I'm not 100% sure but he maybe able to ride with 3rd party coverage under his Car insurance. My insurance under NFU allows me to ride other bikes with 3rd party coverage. Just a thought...

 

Dont even think about it!!

 

Oi Face ache!!!

 

Why ? 3rd Party is 3rd party ? It clearly states on my Covernote that I am allowed to drive a car or a motorcycle that does not belong to me, however coverage will only be 3rd party.

Or are your inferring that you should only insure your bike fully comp ?

 

I think the issue is that you can only ride someone else's bike on a 3rd party basis if the bike has pre-existing cover through another insurer. Obviously no good for Yappa's other half since he owns the bike and hence faces a massive premium.

I'm undecided about the virtue of Fully Comp vs 3rd Party. After all, unless your NCB is protected, you'll always face a huge leap in the renewal premium if you claim. So IMO (dependent on the bike's value), it's often cheaper to carry out repairs yourself without notifying the insurer. Theft is the real issue - and both kinds of policies provide cover for this.

The only other little loophole is if someone else took 'ownership' of his bike and insured it in their name, with him as a secondary named rider. It'll still be without any NCB to start with, but at least the premium won't be loaded to quite the same extent due to the claim. But that's a real pain in the arse and he'd really have to place a great deal of trust in the other person (and vice versa).

Soooo, the easiset option is to spend a bit of time on bikes that are cheaper to insure, build up the NCB and then get back to the bikes he likes in a couple of years time. Oh and get a bloody big chain to lock the thing down whenever it's out of sight!

 

Not at all, you're just getting into very complicated areas.

Depending on the exact wording on your policy document, you can/may drive other cars/bikes on a third party only basis (which is all that is required under the Road Traffic Act) however (in 99% of policies) the other bike/car must have current insurance in the name of the registered owner/keeper and you must have there permission to drive it. The other car/bike, again on 99% of policies, must NOT be registered at your address, or to a relative (To make it more complex its normally OK if its owned by your wife/husband! )It was originaly added to allow use in emergency situation but has now been withdrawn by the majority of providers due to people buying an insuring a 1.0 Nova, or similar, then buying a Nissan Skyline, or similar, registering it to a "friend" and driving it.

 

Aha, thank you kind sir. I guess a simples question to your insurer would clear it up...Obviously not to the insurer who is trying load your premium.....

 

It's also been seen that 3rd party sometimes isn't any, or much cheaper than fully comp.

But yes, shop around Yappa... make use of the comparison websites. If you use CompareTheMarket and actually insure through them you can get a meerkat toy! I still need to claim mine actually...

 

The reason for that is simple.... You have your bike stolen or you crash it cost to insurer under £20k. You seriously injure/ cripple another person (s) who needs full time care and it can cost £100's K. You run into a que of people at a Bus stop.............(and a lot of it is down to ambulance chasing Solicitors and the current compensation culture)

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Unfortunately, we're a biking family only and no car

I rang dialdirect (my insurance company) to add Joe to my bike as an additional rider. I have an 02 Hornet and I'm 33 with no claims and been here 3 years (but no claims back home too). My insurance quote went from £120 per year, to £580 per year to put Joe on. They state that HE is a liability even though HE was not stolen, his BIKE was. And no one will steal my bike even if HE is on it!!

So the value of my bike to insure next year with Joe on it, is one quarter the value of the bike...... ((maybe this rant should be under 'what's pissed me off thread!!!))

 

Ive never even heard of dialdirect???? Seriously, have you looked at other insurers, I still cant believe he is being quoted so much. How much did www.insurance2000.co.uk, my main recommendation, quote out of interest. But the other suggestion that hasnt come up is "MOVE". Where you are is much higher premiums anyway because you are close to central London and a crime hotspot. And the fact that you will be keeping your bike in the place it was stolen from again. Not a great solution but hey.

 

Personal - i would not have 3rd Party as its pretty dam basic - shop arround have you loked at doing a fleet policy you can speak to your local brooker but you need at least 5 vechiles to make this work and trust me you can save money - last one i did was 3 bikes 2 cars total £1200 - Any one over the age of 25 with no more than 6 points to driver the car and named peopl only on the bikes