Which Insurer out of these will not be a pain in the ass?

[Shinigami]

Just been looking at some quotes for my first big bike (actual bike not decided yet, just did it based on a cb500)

Just wondered which of these I should avoid like the plague?

Swinton Bike
Express Insurance
The Green Insurance COmpany
Kwik Fit insurance
The policy shop
rampdale
h&r insurance

all roughly the same premium (<150 quid) fully comp.

I've heard swinton might be a pain in the ass from passing comments on here?

any help appreciated!
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[MarJay]

Pick the bike first, as price is always the overriding factor. Some insurance companies can be much much cheaper than others on certain bikes.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[iooi]

You will find horror stories on every insurance BROKER.... As that is all your list. NOT insurance companies.

Just pick whichever gives you the best deal.
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[arry]

None of them are actually insurance companies, they're all intermediaries - you should also take notice of the underwriter who will actually be insuring you, as that's just as critical, if not more so - and 110% more so if you have an accident / theft.

Out of the intermediaries you've listed I've used Swinton and didn't have a problem until I swapped bikes mid term and the terms weren't favourable, nor were the cancellation charges - but I knew that before I swapped bikes, because when I took the policy out I read all of the intermediary's terms of business and understood the implications.

I'm also now with Policy Shop and, TBH, my experience of them hasn't been that swell. The quote I got online was to include pillion passengers and the bike is a sports touring bike. When I called them to see if the underwriter they were placing me with allowed riding other bikes they went through my quote again 'to save me money' and said 'and the bike seats one person?' - to which I replied no, it seats 2 - it'd be a funny sports touring bike that's insured for pillion riders if it didn't. 'As the bike has 2 seats the price has increased to xxx'. Effectively they ended up agreeing to waive their policy fee to offset the difference as otherwise I'd not take the policy out. They were significantly cheaper than the rest, though.

Kwik Fit are generally decent TBH, for what they are.

Not used or had any dealings with the others

[Shinigami]

cheers for the heads up, only been riding for just under a year so was just getting some ideas really.

done it with cb500 and a bandit and difference is neglagable and these are some of the bikes i was looking at price wise
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Teflon-Mike]

They are Insurance Companies, in as much as they are a 'Company' that is in the business of Selling Insurance.

If we want to be pedantic, they are Insurance 'Brokers', who retail 'Insurance - Policies' ... to you and I, Joe Public in the street.

Bit like buying a bag of crisps.... people you buy it from is a retailer... might be made by the same company that sell it, but more likely made for the company that sells it, or is a brand-name in its own right.

Like the bag of crisps, there many be many 'Insurance Companies' in the supply chain, who re-package or resell the policy you buy in the market-place, but ultimately the 'Policy-Provider' is selling a contract that is 'Under-Written' by 'some-one' or a 'syndicate' of people who are 'Names' who BASICALLY agreed to stand 'guarantor', to the policy provider, in return for a fee.

However, the 'names' generally 'defray' the risk, by 'under-writing' many hundreds of policies in one go, on an annual basis with a policy-provider, who basically bags up, maybe 1000 individual policies; and manages the revenue from them, on principle that MOST of the time, they will get more income from policy sales than they will pay out in policy claims, and only at the end of the financial year, do they go back to the under-writers, either paying them their fee, or asking them to honor the losses.

So, when you buy a Policy from say Swinton, chances are you will get a policy that says its issued by 'Equity Red Star', and THAT will say 'Under Written at Lloyds of London'

Chances are, if you got a quote from Benets or ASDA on-line, you'd be buying a policy provided by Equity-Red-Star also... BUT may not be underwritten by the same Lloyds syndicate.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Aff]

I've had a pretty bad time recently with Express Insurance.
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Current Bikes:Honda 929RR Fireblade, Honda CD200 Benly (Project), Stomp Z2 140
Electric Bike Project

[hellkat]

Anybody to do with insurance is a pain in the arse.
Everybody wants you to pay them.
Nobody wants to pay you out.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[jb329]

They're all just after your money, so they'll all screw you if they can.
I had loads of shit with Swinton but Bennets have been fine.
Many people will tell you that Bennets are terrible but that's life.
As a rule though, it's the admin charges that they really sting you with.
Bennets are up front about it and say from the outset, that if you change your details ie, move house, pass a test, get points, change your bike or such like, they want more money.
This includes cancelling you policy and as the charges are between 25 + 50 quid, it can work out that if you cancel your policy you owe them money when you thought you'd be getting a refund.
Other brokers do the same and many charge even more but it's hidden in the small print, so you don't find out until you phone up to tell them that you've swapped your 1400cc street racer for 350cc thumper and they say that although the premium is less, once they've added their rip-off fee, you owe them 50 quid!!

The other common kick in the nuts is the small print regarding theft.
If you have cover for theft, you tend to assume that if your bike goes missing in the night, you will get some money from your insurance.
Right????

WRONG!!!!
Every policy I have ever seen contains the same get out clause somewhere.
Basically, if your bike is not locked up inside a brick built garage, with a metal door, you wont be covered.
You can argue all you like about how you filled in details of where the bike is kept at night and that you told them that it was just chained to drain pipe in front of your house, so they should not have accepted your application for 600 quids worth of fully comp instead of 60 quid for plain old third party (which is just about all you get anyway when you factor in the access charges) but you'll still be screwed!!
I look for the cheapest quote, apart from Swintons and tend to go with that.

[TheDonUK]

Swinton and MCE are dire,

Aquote used to be okay, but are bad around renewals time
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]

[StormCrow]

Also make sure that you get everything you want on the policy the first time around.

When I insured my GPZ, I didn't have any rear foot pegs as I didn't plan on carrying pillions. When they asked if I required pillion cover, I told them that I didn't.

Fast forward 4 months, the need to carry pillions necessitated me welding the pegs back on. Called Carole Nash, asked about adding pillion. "Yep, £37 to add to the policy".

When they sent the documents through, £35 of the charge was for admin fees - leaving £1.96 as the 'top up'.

Not best impressed, but then again I should have asked for it the first time around, and they do make their charges reasonably clear.

Still - £35 to tick one box on a computer and email me a form - fucking ridiculous.

[Nick 50]

£150 FC ................. jammy bugger Guess it helps living in posh part of town

Any reason why a CB500 out of interest?
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Current Bikes: ZX7r 97 (Black Beauty), VFR400 NC24 (The banana)
Previous Bikes: Aprilia Tuono 03 (The Beast), CBR600f (97)
First bike: A GZ125 Lemon.......

[P.]

H&R are ok really.

I'm on good terms with them, provide all the info they need, they give me cheap cover.

Friend on the other hand, 33hp.. need all forms of paperwork etc etc...so he is finding it hassle!

[EazyDuz]

1. Select the cheapest quotes.
2. Read fine print
3. Make sure you have filled it in right and added everything you need (gear cover, pillion cover etc).
4. Buy insurance.

If you ever make a claim, its gonna be a ballache whoever you are with, so dont crash
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To shreds you say? Tss tss tss

[metalangel]

Swinton are obnoxious cunts who'll never leave you alone, calling and emailing you. They were fairly okay for my bike, but my dad had car and house with them and found them nightmarish to deal with.

H&R I had a year or two ago for bike and they were pretty decent.
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Previous: 2002 Honda CB500 (sold), 2007 Suzuki SV650SK6 (crashed), 2005 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (sold). Currently bikeless
"A faired bike will get you 10x more clunge than a unfaired one." -Marlboro Matt

[arry]

This may sound as if I'm having a pop at you, and I'm sorry for that - I'm not, but I get this a lot and it really annoys me.

[Tomzo47]

skipped to end of thread to post so sorry if its already been said, but don't fall for shiny extras. How much is breakdown cover/helmet and leathers cover/riding other bikes etc worth to you? It would have cost me over what I paid for most of my riding gear for it to be covered and as I'm restricted the only bikes I can ride are under 33bhp anyway, and was £100 cheaper without riding other bikes. Plus ring up everywhere, and bullshit, they don't know how much other companies offer "whats that, Ebike offer it at £800? Well we can do £750" etc...
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Ybr 125 > Bandit 650SA > GSXR 600 > Triumph Sprint St1050 > CB1300 > Z1000SX + FJ1200 (written off) > VFR750 >FJ1200

[Slacker24seve...]

Swinton were shit for cancellations and changing bikes.

Express nearly cancelled my insurance, despite me sending copies of my licence three times. In the end I scanned it and emailed it; a jpeg wasn't good enough the first time so I had to do it again as a PDF. arseholes.
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Triumph Daytona 675 track bike + girlfriend's Honda Hornet 600
Selling a hack/winter bike for less than a grand? PM me.
Banger rallies are ace

[Shinigami]

Cheers for the help all!

Swinton was cheapest (125 quid for fully comp on a bandit) but sounds like they're the worst of the bunch.

Again was just for general info as looking about for WHEN i pass my test in sep.
____________________
Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[jb329]

[arry]

[jb329]

So you post a document that shows a "SUMMARY OF COVER – 12 MONTH CONTRACT " which contains the following two statements.

Loss of or damage to your motorcycle caused by Accidental Damage, Malicious Damage or Vandalism

Loss of or damage to your motorcycle caused by Fire, Theft or attempted Theft

Both of these are shown as covered under comprehensive insurance.
Nowhere does it mention garages.
That summary is misleading and should be illegal.

We do not all have the time and are not all so sad that we will sit and read through 30 odd pages ("policy document is only 27 pages" but it does come with at least a covering letter and a few other bits that will take it over 30) and we should be able to trust the summary.
You may get a hard on when you are being screwed by brokers!
The rest of us don't so as long as the rip off culture is allowed to flourish, folk will continue "whinge like a little old bitch" and I will carry on warning them of the rip off's and cons that are being used!

There is also the following in your document.

Please note that an endorsement may apply to the policy regarding the storage of your motorcycle whilst at the declared parking
address. If your policy schedule contains such an endorsement and it is not complied with then this policy will not cover your
motorcycle for any loss or damage. Your Broker will be able to advise you whether this endorsement will apply.

Now I would take that to mean that the broker is expected, by the underwriter, to actually warn me if my cover is void without the said garage even existing!!

[arry]

I can't believe how difficult you're finding this.

[johnsmith222]

[Suntan Sid]

The bottom line is, they, the insurers, want our money asap., but when it comes to paying out they will try every trick in the book, legal or otherwise, to withhold the payment.

It's always been like that and will continue that way.

I'll give you an example, some years ago I had a bike stolen, they initially offered me less than a third of the market value. The reason they gave was that the bike wasn't MOT'd, SO FCUKIN' WHAT?
Eventually I got paid out 85% of it's market value.

What I learnt from that experience, was that the insurers were quite prepared to lie to you, (there was no mention of MOT's in the policy), and even when presented with evidence they were quite happy to defraud me out of the money that I was entitled to.

So please don't tell me what wonderful chaps the insurers are, it's a legalised racket, run by a bunch of shysters!
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"