Nooby Insurance Question

Hey guys and girls,

I'm a noob but haven't been on here in about 10 months. I signed up before getting a Cat to do research etc and life has just got in the way!

I'm back to looking at getting one again and have a querie on your insurance:

Is it worth getting fully comp over 3rd party,fire & theft?

My thinking is that if you have a small off you'd probably just fix it yourself and not go through the insurance. If it was a big off will they just write the bike off and pay out half it's worth? And then put your premium up as well.

Does fully comp cover you for injury/loss of earnings or is it just the bike?

Obviously fully comp can also cover your gear and helmet, which could be very expensive to replace. I guess that's also worth considering.

So I thought I'd put it to you lot and see what you have and recommend.

Thanks in advance,

Mike.

Might be worth looking at breakdown/recovery as well.
Within a few weeks you'll probably find yourself going further and further afield and it'll give you a bit of piece of mind.

As usual it's worth shopping around since you might find some are offering FC for the same price as other 3PF&T and a fraction of what others are adding for breakdown and recovery.

Something also worth noting: It's becoming more and more common that insurers will automatically renew your cover every year (something hidden in the small print) and that can be expensive.
I ran into the issue with my car insurance last year and the renewal 'quote' was £250 more expensive than I could get by switching.
I didn't even know they'd automatically renewed it since they sent a policy with the 'quote' and I binned it, so I ended up having two policies on the same car and the issue didn't come to light until the new insurers tried to get my No Claims proof.
Luckily the old insurer agreed to cancel their automatic renewal with a refund, but it could have been a major problem.

Carole Nash include recovery, so worth seeing what they can do.

You're right that anything more than a very minor drop will result in a write-off. But as Wooster says, comprehensive is often not much more, and sometimes even less, than TPF&T. The argument I've heard is that people who take out TP or TPF&T are a higher risk. On the other hand, some bikes (imports, heavily modified ones) may only be insurable with basic TP. The ways of the insurance industry are unfathomable.

Helmet, leathers etc. cover is almost always extra. I've never heard of a policy that covers loss of your earnings, though there may be some out there. But generally you do what you do, (ski, ride a bike, whatever) so you take the risk.

They will try to sell you legal expenses, but some say you can get equal, or better, legal advice elsewhere for free.

Just shop around, do the sums and make sure you compare like-with-like, especially when it comes to compulsory and voluntary excess.

A final word - if you are a complete nooby, or even a born-again biker who hasn't ridden a modern bike, do get some additional training BEFORE you fall off. You can do one-day courses with Bikesafe, Rapid Training or just talk to your local bike trainers. Or sign up to IAM or RoSPA. Any advanced training should help to reduce your future premiums.

The consistently best quotes I've had have been from eBike, probably been with them three years in the last seven, the others being Nash, Bennets, Aviva and one other I can't recall (may have been ASDA it was AXA).

Re: Breakdown cover.
Bear in mind that a minor drop could result in a bent/broken clip-on or lever that renders the bike unrideable.
It's one of those things you might never need, but for an extra forty or fifty quid it's worth it.

-Edit- My premium this year from eBike was £192 fully comp with Legal and Breakdown cover included, which isn't exactly free (since I'm paying for it somewhere) but it was still cheaper than the others I looked at.
(This year they're also throwing in a voucher for free Classic Bike insurance, which is handy if you have one sitting in the garage.)

Thanks for the replies,

I've got RAC cover through my bank which covers me regardless if I own the vehicle or not. So I'll check if it will cover bikes as well.

The average quotes I've got so far using a certain meerkat website is £265 fully comp or £175 TPFT. Excesses vary between £50 and £600!!!

I suppose if I total my bike it'll be good to get some money back from the insurance. So I suppose £100 isn't too bad.

That's with me being 30 and having no no claims as haven't had bike insurance for over 12 years. I'll definitely be doing a refresher course too.

Thanks for the advise. Any more info/advise is greatly appreciated.

Mike

ive got hasting cover £96 fully comp also have RAC cover for car & bike

kwakkat wrote:ive got hasting cover £96 fully comp also have RAC cover for car & bike

you've also got a few years head start on the young fella too m8

watch out for limited milage too. Depends on wether you use your bike for commuting to work. Mines limited to 3000 but i think i will have to extend that More expense!!!

I have Class 2 business insurance for my car and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference between 30,000 miles and 60,000 miles a year (I can only class it on the previous years mileage, hence the diff)
You'd think that twice the mileage = twice the risk..

Insurance co's are a bit weird on how they work shit out.
I think they make it up.
..it's just a punt at the end of the day though, a legally required gamble you have to put a stake on.

Wooster wrote:I think they make it up.

..it's just a punt at the end of the day though, a legally required gamble you have to put a stake on.

Yup,

Tell the punter X£ . . . . see if they pay? . . . If they do . . . Tell others the same . . . . and pray we get more dosh in than have to pay out on claims. Oh and get ourselves insured against claims . . . . just in case.

bet-in-sewer-ants.com

Hmmm,

Now there's a thought ?

Walk into William Hills (other bookies are available), and wap £250 on the counter and wager NOT to have an accident or claim within 365 days of the wager. . . . . What are the odds ???

If you do ! they pay the out coming claims.

If you are accident & claim free 366 days later . . . you collect the winnings, . . . where upon you Re-bet on yourself. . . . or go to Bet Victor and get better odds.

Phone Carole Nash with that pearl and Farquar their heads

The trouble with RAC cover (which I also have) is that they will no longer recover your bike after an accident & they advise you to use your insurance for recovery, Its worth being economical with the truth when ringing them, One example I've used for a snapped off right hand footpeg was 'rear brake failure' which was the truth as the rear brake pedal was hanging off, Luckily it worked that time [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

From hard experience I got a very good payout offer more my Cat when it was written off so don't be too quick to think they will only pay half, watch your excess.

I sent the best photo's I had of the Cat (just after polishing) with my claim and it seemed to help with arguing the case.

I wouldn't go any other way except fully. The inclusive breakdown tends to be limited to taking you 10miles from breakdown point so check this first as it maybe worth doing your breakdown separately and getting better cover.