Insurance & Excess

[_matt]

Hello folks,

Thinking of picking up a little 1985 Suzuki GS550E for £400.

Just checked out insurance on it, bike value put down as £400, nice cheap quotes (under £100 a year, Hastings & ReNew) however, every insurer I try wants at least £250 for compulsory excess, even on 3rd part F&T.

That's most of what the bikes worth, so if someone nicks my bike, I pay them £250 and get £150 back, So i'd be down a bike and £100.

Which is a bit silly.

Any ideas what to do and/or good insurers that are still cheap with no excess?
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1990 Yamaha XV 535 (Alive Again!) / 2007 Jinlun Texan 125-11 (formerly 2k3, wrong details, now going rusty in the back garden )

[Benson_JV]

Go TPO and don't claim?
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Willson - "If you go out on that CBR600 in the winter, you're going to do more miles on your side than on your wheels."
Riding: CBR600FW Driving: Audi A6
Previous Bikes: '96 Bandit 600, '96 GPz305

[johny2bikes]

I think with the bike only costing £400 the way i would look at it is, the insurance is covering you against the cost of hitting someone else, not covering the cost of getting the money back for your bike.
Also at only £400 would it be worth claiming if you binned the bike or it got nicked, as you could loose you no claims?
I think most companies want some kind of excess, and i think £250 is about normal.
I understand what you mean however.
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Current bikes - CBF-125 / R1250GSA
Old bikes - Triumph Speed Triple R

[_matt]

Currently with Hastings, under last years policy I have £0 Excess on the 535 Virago, however since that's dead for the time being I need a stop-gap replacement, ideally that i can sell in a couple months when the Virago's back on the road.
That and given all the trouble everyone has had with Hastings lately i'd rather not renew with them

Problem with that is, it's summer, lots of kids in summer... if some little scrot nicks it in that time i'm down a big wadge of cash.

also I have zero No claims, not that i've ever claimed, i've just never had an insurance policy run a full year in the 7 years ive been riding lol
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1990 Yamaha XV 535 (Alive Again!) / 2007 Jinlun Texan 125-11 (formerly 2k3, wrong details, now going rusty in the back garden )

[Rogerborg]

I wouldn't voluntarily claim on a vehicle worth less than about a grand, because I'd be paying extra on 3 policies for the next 5 years. Heck, I'd hesitate to report it stolen to the fuzz, other than to persuade the DVLA that it's someone else's problem now.

£400 is a no brainer, that's TPO or max the excess, even if that mean listing it with a value of £501 and a £500 excess.
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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

[Hetzer]

All I could glean from all the above is insurance companies are criminally fraudulent scum I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.

But I'm not saying anything eveyone didn't already know.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Scootaloo]

RogerBorg is right.

Don't pay anything extra with insurance as these days.. it buy's you NOTHING. In fact, it's more of a guarantee of a higher cost to you!! anyway you look at it.

Use the money saved to invest in security
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(CBF125 - 09) (CBF125 - 11) (CB-1 - 89) (CBF500 - 06) (Push Bike) (CB-1 - 90) (XL125 - 01) (VF500 - 83) (GPZ500 - 94) (GPZ500 - 95) (GPZ500 - 87) (XV535 - 94) (XV535 - 94) (GPZ500 - 87)

[GREENI3]

So just to clarify, you only pay the excess if YOU claim, not if its just a claim by a third party?

[Rogerborg]

[harscot]

might be a silly question, but have you tried one or two comparison sites !
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First bike R reg Suzuki 125 GT twin in 1978:
2nd bike X reg Honda 650 Deauville in 2011:
Wish bike a Triumph Thunderbird: Dream bike Triumph Rocket........

[Biker101]

But you don't pay £250 and get £150 back. Say they agree with the £400 value, they just give you £150, you don't have to pay them anything.

But as said, it's not worth claiming for that.
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Past: 06 Runner SP50 >>> 01 Varadero XL125 >>> 08 Kwak ER-6f >>> 05 CBR600rr
Present: 99 FZS600 Fazer