Bike insurance is INSANE.. or am I?

[jayrc33]

Hey guys,

So I've been riding road bikes for about 5 years now on a full Australian licence, across bikes ranged 800-1200cc, and I've been living in the UK for about 10 months so I'm DYING to get back on a bike..

Buuuut, any bike I want (or, any bike actually) seems to have absolutely exorbitant quotes for me. I'm talking minimum 850 up to 11,000 pounds..!

I'm 25, 5yrs full licence (albeit here will be international licence), 1x speeding offence with 3mth licence loss, living in W2 London, looking for a bike for casual / maybe commuting with a pillion.

I've tried dozens of different combinations of things - including bikes ranging from CB250 worth 1,000, to an ST1050 worth 3,500 as an example quote.. Yet everything is coming up as >850 gbp for basic 3rd party insurance (even if I assume I had no conviction, didn't commute, etc.).

Has anyone else had this problem or is there some dumb-ass law that's prohibiting me from getting any legitimately sane quotes?

Any help or thoughts appreciated guys! London isn't looking good for me long term if I can't get a bike haha =P

Cheers!
Jay

[Bigvern72]

To give this some perspective - I'm a new rider (passed my test early December) and I've got a multi bike policy with a brand new triumph America and a 5 year old xj6 diversion.

£550 approx is all its cost me.

I'm 43 though which prolly saves a little bit......

It's got to be your speeding fine/ban that's adding to the cost

[Tierbirdy]

Foreign licence, speeding points and ban (seeing as it was "only one" speeding offence and caused an instant ban, it must have been pretty severe speeding which I think, though don't quote me on this, has a different endorsement code to "normal" speeding, so the insurers will know!) all add up to pricey insurance!

Also, London! Insurers are going to assume that due to living in London its only a matter of time til your bike is nicked or you're crushed by a mental black cab or speed into a crowd of pedestrians and kittens. Insurance on my dinky little YBR125 jumped from £110 p/year where I was living, to £460 p/year when I moved to London. It then went up to £600 when I passed my test and told them Id gone from provisional to full bike licence for some reason Then dropped down to £340 to insure a FZS600... Im pretty convinced most insurance "quotes" are actually done by a monkey with a random number generator.

TL;DR - Living in London + speeding points/ban = expensive insurance

[Nobby the Bastard]

After a year your license isn't valid unless you change it for a UK one.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[DRZ4Hunned]

Ouch! I'm 20 and I've got a renewal price of £120 TPO on a DRZ400... Try fiddling with all the options until you you figure out exactly what's causing the price hike. (try British licence, not London, NCB etc.)
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DRZ400-SM
FZS600

[Rogerborg]

https://www.gov.uk/exchange-foreign-driving-licence/y/yes/car-or-motorcycle/a-designated-country-countries-with-exchange-agreements-with-great-britain/australia

Once exchanged, I'd consider whether you could interpret the question about convictions / bans as referring to your UK license. Especially if it appears that you've just got it.
____________________
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

[jayrc33]

Hmm ok thanks guys.

Funny thing is I actually removed so many things and couldn't find a cheap quote. The cheapest quote I could find was assuming a 35 year old riding a Honda Cb250 worth 1,500 and that was still $260 p.a.

I removed the driving offence, added rider training courses, removed pillions, dropped mileage, change my age, change whether I was a permanent resident or international, changed parking location of the bike, changed commuter status, changed bikes, changed locks on bikes.. pretty much everything I thought could be a variable and still on another above the Cb250 it was giving outrageous >500 gbp quotes haha..

Anyone know of a place I could maybe call / drop into to ask what it is that's pumping up my insurance, or what bikes / year models I could buy to bring me down in the insurance class.

Man, it's going to be hard coming back from a VTR1000 SP2 down to a <600cc Bloody London...

[Rogerborg]

Open a private/incognito tab to get rid of your cookies and try again.

Not just for porn.
____________________
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

[Dave_R]

I'm moving from London to Guildford in a few weeks, insurance for my ER6 drops from £450 to £120 pa, plus £30 administration fee

Sadly, considering the circumstances, I don't think you can find cheaper quotes, all because you're in London

[rubyhorse2]

i'd give one of the more reputable insurers a ring and go through it all on the phone and see what they say, always better to speak in person plus they may give you some insight in to why its high.

[Rogerborg]

[rubyhorse2]

ok maybe my wording could have been better...remove reputable

[c_dug]

London is a big place.

Where in London, and is it garaged?
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Alpineandy]

[TheArchitect]

Living in London doesn't always equate to expensive insurance. Obviously relative to the rest of the UK there will be a hike in premium due to higher crime rates etc but it shouldn't be as high as OP is saying. Mine has always been sub £400 and has been steadily dropping every year.

It's worth noting that things not related to the bike can have a massive impact on your premium. I saved £150 by changing my job role from Project Manager to Construction Manager. Shocking I know but it's true! Adding a second rider might also drop the premium a bit, it does on my car insurance.

I also have points for speeding (SP30) which strangely has had no affect on my premium. But as soon as I mention my non-fault accident where TP took full blame the premium hiked £60.

Another strange quirk I've found out recently is that I'm now able to insure a '08 blade for less than my '12 GSR750 (TPFT w/ commuting, no garage, no drive, no chain, just a disc lock).
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GSXR 600 K6 - Stolen
GSXR 600 K6 - Stolen
MT09 - Almost stolen

[Undinist]

I pay £126 TPO in London for a K1100LT.* The broker, Bikesure, is very helpful on the phone - maybe they could explain your mystery loading. Tel 0800 089 2000.

I suspect the problem is your ban plus you haven't lived in the UK for very long. What if you don't disclose the ban? Do UK insurers insist on knowing who insured you in Oz? Maybe it's too late to hide anything...if you've already got quotes using your real name and driving history, maybe your misdeeds are already in the insurers' shared database and you're screwed.

*Bike parked on the street in Brixton, age 54, one SP30, IAM pass, 1 yr NCD.
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Current bike: K1100RS. Previous: CD200, GSX250, GT550, VFR750, K100LT, K1100LT, R1100GS, R1150GS, ZZR1100, Hayabusa, RSV Mille, MV F4 750S, R1, ZX-10, KTM Adventure 950S

[Bigvern72]

London ain't expensive because it's crime ridden and risky - it's expensive because it's London and it makes Londoners feel self important and worthy......

[jayrc33]

Well I think I've tried just about everything now.. incognito tab re-tried, spoken to 2 different insurance companies now and they're all saying probably because I'm new to UK and because of the points on the licence..

I could cop the 1600gbp price for the first year for a vfr800 and it would probably drop to 1300 in y2, then 800 in y3 or something but that would already be the value of the bike paid over basically in 2 years haha so dream is dead!

I now officially hate London. Might spend the insurance money on a one-way ticket home haha

[jayrc33]

Thanks for all the help though guys.

[wr6133]

[Rogerborg]

Indeed, have you tried that? If you were intending to stay, I'd assume you'd have started the process of exchanging your license.
____________________
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

[c_dug]

You could try somewhere else in the UK, I'm told it's nice outside the M25.
____________________
I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Undinist]

You need to get on a company policy. Make friends with a bike dealer and bribe him to pretend you are an employee.
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Current bike: K1100RS. Previous: CD200, GSX250, GT550, VFR750, K100LT, K1100LT, R1100GS, R1150GS, ZZR1100, Hayabusa, RSV Mille, MV F4 750S, R1, ZX-10, KTM Adventure 950S

[Cdb1991]

im 24 and with 4 years ncb but 2 on a scooter and 2 on a bike, my last year quote for multi bike policy was gsxr 600 and cbr 600 and was about 3-400£ then this years insurnce on an r1 is about£640 but they wouldnt allow me to do multi bike insurance with the r1, as for some people saying there getting quotes on drz400 for £120 thats because its a supermoto not sports bike, mad if u ask me because supermoto's and motorcross bikes are stolen alot more often in my eyes and for that reason id say a lot easier to steal, i have a kx250 and my insurance on that is about £180 ish with no ncb (as there on the r1), if you ask my insurance companys are completey fucked up with their prices there all over the shot,

third party fire and theft tends to come up cheaper than just third party, might be worth trying that?

[talkToTheHat]

It could be that some of the cheaper underwriters aren't quoting becasue they just don't do international licences, or there's some other technicality they really dislike. Experiment.

In the wilderness of south yorkshire, in a high crime area, with a high-risk profession i paid about 130ponds for a 92 Virago, and now about twice that for a MKII Bandit becasue sportsbike innit
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Bandit. does. everything.