Third Party Only on a £1500 bike?

[jimmyd]

Right, bear with me

Insurance quandry - doing my head in somewhat!

I currently have 1 Vespa PK and 1 Vespa 90 insured via AVIVA on a multi-bike policy, TPO for £200 a year, 1 year NCB.

I have just bought a Honda VRX 400 (1995) for £1400. It has been well looked after and is a great looking bike so despite its age is possibly of interest to thieves.

I am taking the Vespa 90 off road to do a full restoration.

I have to park my bikes on a quiet residential street in SW18 London, very high (F) risk area.

I have done a quote for the VRX 400 with 0 NCB (as it is in use on my other policy and can't be used on two) TPFT which comes in at around £450 for the year with £250 excess.

I have also enquired how much it would be to add the VRX 400 and remove the Vespa 90 on my existing TPO policy - this would be £120 to take me up to renewal in April.

My quandry is this: Do I pay for TPFT, knowing I live in a high risk area, and knowing that I stand to lose £700 (premium+excess) (though I could protect my excess for £25 on one of these 'protect my excess' sites = £700 loss then £225 refund) AND risk a large increase in premium due to the claim?

Or do I just simply pay £120 to add it to my TPO policy, take matters into my own hands and put the money into physical security? I could get an Almax chain and BikeTrak for about the same as the TPFT policy...


Would love to hear your thoughts!

[Rogerborg]

Good work on the sums, I approve of your calculations.

Me, I'd spent on the security. You're high risk for a reason, and physical security is an asset rather than money down the drain. I hope you're sitting on it, tooled up, while you're asking this...
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Joncrete Cungle]

I would pay £120 up to April and invest in a couple of quality chains & padlocks and a decent disc lock. Perhaps only declaring the disc lock to the insurance company. My chains & locks will hopefully secure many of my future bikes and last as long as I do.

[DrDonnyBrago]

If your bike doesn't get nicked:

TPFT -£450
TPO -£120

+£330 better off with TPO


If your bike DOES get nicked:

TPFT = £1400 - (£450+250) = -£700 + a claim on file
TPO = -£1400 - 120 = -£1520 + no claims intact

£820 better off with TPFT at the expense of a theft claim... That would EASILY get clawed back in premiums over the 5 years that you have to declare it.


Personally, I'd probably* go TPO and spend the £330 on security.


EDIT:* How close to it are you at night? Anything to chain it to? Can you get it off of the road? Lots of people around?

[Matt-]

[fozzym]

Or move house and save money every year

[jimmyd]

Thanks all - think we're all of the same opinion here!

[DrDonnyBrago]

If I were you:

TPO insurance
Almax through the FRAME of the bike and around a lamppost.
Cover - tattier the better
Cheap alarm, maybe an alarmed disclock too just to make as much noise as possible.
Never wash the bike, make it look shit.

Should get all of that for £330 with change. Also consider that the ins company wont give you full value, making TPFT even less cost effective.

Make sure you can park it securely at work too of course.

[Joncrete Cungle]

Just to add if you spend some of the £330 difference on a couple of chains & padlocks, heavy one for home, lighter one for on your travels you can always sell them and get circa £150 - £200 back. £400 spent on one insurance policy will be gone forever once the 12 months are up.

[natefz6]

SW18 High risk pfft.

I have lived and had a bike there for 5 years and never had a problem..... But then who would steal a GS500 that looks like its been ridden through a hedge.
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[map]

[ThoughtContro...]

Try Wicked Quotes (Ramasis) and ask em about a multi-bike policy.

You might find that you'll pay for the most expensive bike and get the second bike free. I had a 125 with 3 years NCD, and an SV with 2 years, so I transferred my SV insurance to them and told them I intended to add the 125 later, and they said OK. When the 125 was up for renewal with it's 3 years NCD, they added it and gave me 5 years NCD on the policy for a small admin fee. That makes it as cheap as chips.

It might only be a problem if the insurer don't want to insure a particular bike. Last time I spoke to them they said they were reviewing "sporty" 125s, and that the little CBR may be affected at renewal (4T, 12hp "sporty" ) It wasn't so everything is cool. I think you can have up to 4 bikes on the policy.

Cheers to whoever put me onto the wicked quotes multi-bike thing on here a while back. It paid off big time.
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Prize cunt
--
"In a world of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act" - George Orwell

[.Chris.]

Bit pedantic, but there's a small error in Donny's calculations. The £450 TPFT price is for a full year's insurance, whereas the £120 TPO is only until April, so only 8-9 months.

I'd still agree with his conclusion, though, with the proviso that you could afford to replace the bike if it got nicked. Yes, you could pay more overall over the next 5 years due to a theft claim on your record, but that has to be balanced against how much trouble you'd be in if you were suddenly left with no transport, if the worst were to happen.
____________________
Chris
1985 Kawasaki Z550F

[natefz6]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[jimmyd]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[bikertomm]

[natefz6]

Listed as off road private drive or something like.

I am 31 and have been riding since I was 21 never claimed and no endorsements. I don't even bother shopping around any more as last time it only saved me £20 and took me a couple of hours.I looked at prices for a Triumph 675 the other day and that was considerably more £300 with £400 excess. Still tempted though.
____________________
"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[Zen Dog]

[DrDonnyBrago]