Motorbike Information

Motorbike insurance can cost you a lot of your hard earned money each year. In this article you will find out about 8 different ways you can cut the cost of your motorbike insurance. The savings you make may add up to quite a bit of money over the years so it is usually worth the effort involved. So here are the ways to save on your motorbike insurance:

1. Well first of all, for those of you who have not actually bought your motorbike yet, you have an opportunity of getting your motorbike insurance down from the start by getting quotes for several different motorbikes that you are considering in order to find a motorbike with lower insurance costs. This is because motorbike insurance premiums can vary considerably depending on the type and model of bike that you go for. Another benefit of doing your homework before you buy your motorbike is that you avoid buying a motorbike which you later find out you cannot afford the insurance on.

2. When deciding which excess level to go for on your motorbike insurance policy, the best thing to do is to go for as high an excess as you can afford to pay in the event of claim as the higher your excess the less you pay.

3. If the bike you are insuring is an old one or does not have much value, then you can save some money by opting for third party fire and theft insurance cover instead of comprehensive insurance cover.

4. Some insurance companies take into account your credit record when deciding on how much your insurance premium is going to be, so make sure you keep a good credit record which is a good thing to have anyway.

5. It always pays to shop around different insurance companies to find the best deal and also bear in mind you may get a discount for buying online.

6. Avoid adding a young rider to your insurance policy if possible and keep the number of riders on your policy to a minimum, you pay the lowest amount by just having yourself on your insurance policy.

7. You should only have guest passenger liability on your policy if you actually do have guest riders on the back of your bike. If you ride alone always, then you can get your insurance down by not having the guest passenger liability on your insurance. However you must be aware that you must never have a guest rider on the back of your bike in this case as you will not be insured for this.

8. And finally it is a good idea to only make a claim when it is a large claim and try not to make smaller claims as this will keep your future insurance premiums down.

Statistics say that 10,000 bikers in the UK cancel their insurance policies over the winter months every year.

Many bike owners will lock away their two wheels but unfortunately, even when locked in a garage, their bikes remain at risk.

Thieves are quite aware that many motorbikes are stored in garages over the winter months and over 600 bikes are stolen every month.

If you have cancelled your policy and your bike is stolen you cannot make a valid claim. However, it should be possible to reduce the cover, save money and still maintain the essential minimum cover against fire and theft over the winter.

An annoying feature of existing motorbike insurance policies is that discount bonuses are not able to be accumulated over time. You may be able to get some form of discount should you remain claim free for a certain period with the same insurer, but this is a rare occurrence.

There are a few types of motorcycle insurance policy, Specified Rider Policy, Specified Bike Policy, Third Party Insurance and Comprehensive Insurance. A specified rider policy will specifically cover the rider and not the bike. The benefit of this policy is that it will allow you to ride any motorcycle up to a specified size.

A specified bike policy is directly the opposite and will only cover the motorbike and not the rider. This would be a suitable policy if you wish to insure a number of riders on the same bike.

Unfortunately for motorbike riders, particularly younger riders, they will have to pay higher premiums for their insurance policies due to the increased risk of their chosen method of transport.

Third Party is the legal minimum type of insurance and the cheapest. The ‘third party’ is any person you might injure or property you might damage. You will not be paid for anything else and you will still have to pay the excess.

Comprehensive Insurance is the most expensive and the one that pays for repairs to your motorcycle if it is damaged in an accident. It also means that if the accident was not your fault you do not need to wait for the other party’s insurance to come through as your insurance will pay anyway. However, you will have to pay the excess but you will get it back when the others party’s insurance reimburse your insurance company. These policies often include extras such as breakdown cover included.

Some of the key factors affecting premiums are age. Young motorcyclists have an alarmingly high accident rate and, according to statistics, are far more likely to be involved in an accident than more mature riders. The damage they can cause to themselves is very often costly and long lasting.

Occupation is also a deciding factor of premiums. Workers who spend many hours on the road travelling from one location to another will be subject to much higher premiums the more hours that are spent on the road the more likely accidents occur.

If you have made any claims in recent years for driving related accidents you should expect this to be reflected by a higher than average premium.

Security devices such as immobilisers, alarms, steering locks and other security devices are only useful if they are activated. However their presence will result in a significantly lower premium, particularly in inner city areas.

As with any motor insurance, the more powerful the bike, the higher the premium is likely to be. The make of the bike may influence the premium also. Expensive bikes are also likely to attract higher premiums.

As with cars, most motorbikes will depreciate quite rapidly. In the event of a material damage claim, insurance companies will only pay the current market value of your bike. In these circumstances it may not be worth paying the additional premium for comprehensive cover over third party, fire and theft only.

If you get points on your license for speeding, dangerous driving etc your premium will go up, if you are disqualified for a period you will find insurance is very expensive when you get your license back.

You can sometimes get discounts because of the training you have done, passing an advanced test will usually get you a discount.

All of the above affect your premium, but it will also vary when the insurance companies are trying to balance their risks and you will usually find big differences in prices. Do your research though and don’t just go for the cheapest as sometimes, insurance company’s try to reduce premiums by reducing the cover.

Remember it is illegal to ride without insurance and always remain honest with insurance companies. If they were to discover that you have not told them something that they should have known, you may find that your insurance is invalid. Aside from the fact that they would not pay a claim, this could also leave you to prosecution for driving without insurance.

If you have recently learned to ride a motorbike, or are looking for a cheaper way to commute to and from work, you may likely be looking at the range of 125cc motorbikes available on the market. However, one of the things that put off many potential motorcyclists is high costs of motorcycle insurance offered by most insurance companies. This article will discuss where you need to look and which of your details will affect your insurance quote, helping you slash the costs of your cover.

When first beginning to look for a decent 125cc insurance quote, a common mistake is to search through the mainstream automotive insurance companies. Unfortunately many of them don’t look into much detail when offering motorcycle insurance meaning you’ll often end up paying over the odds. They see the risk involved in covering a biker as too much and inflate your premium accordingly.

The secret is to look at the insurers that specialise in providing cover for motorcyclists – these are the ones that will have the greater experience in insuring bikers and so can afford to make their quotes much more competitive. To give an example of this wide gap between the two kinds of insurance providers, a 23-year old male looking to get fully comprehensive motorcycle insurance on a Cagiva Mito can be looking at anything up to £1600, while the exact same level of cover offered by a specialist insurer can come in at under £400 – over 4 times cheaper.

Another area you can look at to help reduce your insurance quote is by selecting the right level of cover to suit your needs. Insurers will offer 3 levels of cover – third party only, third party fire and theft, and fully comprehensive. Third party only covers you for damage done to other vehicles in a collision while third party, fire and theft offers the same level of cover plus any damage caused by fire or theft of the motorbike. Fully comprehensive additionally provides cover for damage incurred to your own motorcycle in the event of an accident.

As you can probably guess, the more cover you are after, the more your motorcycle insurance quote will come out at. However you may find when starting out riding 125cc bikes that a lower level of cover will suit you just fine. Many learners start out on relatively cheap motorbikes, meaning that if you were to be involved in an accident the cost of the damage to your bike is unlikely to be much greater than the extra cost of fully comprehensive insurance cover. If you’re also in the position to be able to keep the bike securely locked away in a garage, you’ll probably find third party only cover to be sufficient.

Finally there are the usual insurance factors to consider – your personal details and that of your 125cc motorbike. There isn’t much you can do to change these but it is certainly worth bearing in mind details such as your age, your address and the type of bike you’ll be riding have a big impact on the cost of your 125cc motorcycle insurance quote.