I’ve just got my renewal, no claims another years bonus, and it has gone from £175 to £250. As the bike is on a sorn, I can’t ride so I’m going to can the insurance tell next year.
It is worth bearing in mind that the only time the excess becomes an issue is if you have a crash that is your fault.
If you have a crash caused by someone else, then your excess is covered under the claim for special damages and the uninsured losses part of the claim as you are claiming off the third party and not your own policy.
Cornmarket/Surety used to have a policy, to IAM members, to match the content of a competitors policy and beat them by either 10% or £20. They did not do that in the last 2 years, and as such, have lost my custom as I got a better price elsewhere.
But, surely your excess will become an issue if your bike is pinched? Especially if it’s happened to be recovered and the damage amounts to less than your excess. Then you’ll be doubly whammed, as without exceeding your silly excess, there is no claim, so even a separate excess insurance policy won’t cover you. (that was my understanding at least, but do correct me if I’m wrong)
my insurance is due, the renewal quote is actually quite reasonable but as ever I go and do a check… and what the actual f*&k all other renewals are at least 50% more.
I’ll probably end up staying as is, but I still think that is a little high…
That being said, I was waiting for it to go up was only a matter of time.
One option is to whack the excess up on your bike policy then take out an excess protection policy.
My house buildings and contents insurance covers my pushbikes as well. They were all pretty expensive and insuring them costs a fortune.
My insurance company put a high excess on the policy which allows them to cover the bikes under your house contents without having the ridiculous premium that they attract. When you buy the hous einsurance you take out an excess protection policy which essentially insures your excess. if you claim on your insurance and have to pay the excess then you use the excess protection policy to claim back your excess.
It’s all actually much simpler than it sounds.
I’ve just had a claim for a pushbike and the insurance paid out nearly £3k. My excess protection policy will now pay out my £350 excess that I’ve paid. The excess policy only cost about £50!
One word of advice though if you do this, don’t take the excess protect policy through Direct Group, they’re absolutely bloody useless, and that’s me being nice about them
“Whilst I accept that theft is an issue, proportionatly, bike thefts account for a very small percentage of claims, but I take your point.”
Do you have a cite for that? Not disputing that may be the case but I would love to see the breakdown. It was my understanding that theft was the main issue in London these days? (Hence my insurance quotes in MK being £600, in London £3200.)
I was specifically told by my insurers a few weeks back when I wanted to upgrade my bike that they would not be willing to insure purely on the basis of theft.
Just had my renewal through from IAM’s Surety:
£235 for a 2007 FZ6 (£2.5k value), TPTF, £250 excess, class 1 biz use, 10k/year mileage. I’ve 7 years no claims, 1 fault incident (from a car prang) and on drive parking in Dagenham. Last year it was £200, but that was my older 2003 FZS600 with a value of £1.5k.
On MCNCompare I get:
£230 from MCE (who I hear are crap if you claim), but £1k excess and no riding other bikes.
£350+ from everyone else, with ~£800 excesses
So, TBH I’m probably not gonna bother shopping around any more and just renew with Surety…
Well, just paid up with Surety, but get this:-
Stuck wife back on policy as named rider (had to remove her when it was dual bike policy) - premium dropped £25.
Queried how much Fully Comp was, just an extra £50!
So, I’ve just paid £257 for FC cover, £250 excess, 10k mileage, class 1 biz use and £100k legal cover, for a £2.5k bike with zero security devices parked on drive in Dagenham. Not bad at all I thought.
