Okay i got two lids now and just thought to ring up bennets about pillion “insurance cover” they demand as they asked me if i wanted it when i told them i got my license.
what a joke…i asked how much it was and the person said…it wont cost you anything but you will incurr a £25 administration fee…what the ****?!
any people here who ride with passengers…is it a legal requirement to have pillion insurance…and if police stop you do u have to have pillion cover? i would have thought a full license and being insured on your bike would be enough!
cant wait till november when i can leave bennets behind for good.
at the outset- they ask you if you intend to carry passengers- if you later add/change anything, they usually charge and “admin fee” to update your records- work has to be done and someone gets paid for doing it.- declare you will be carrying a pillion from the outset is an easier option
yeah i understand but i got my license halfway through my policy and a second lid like 9 months after i started my policy so i couldnt declare it from the start!
Well, if you get stopped and the police check and you are carrying a passenger and you haven’t taken it out, you aint insured. That’s the bottom end of it. The addition cover is incase the pillion is injured and claims off you.
Admittedly the 25 squiddlies for “Admin Fees” is a bit steep as it is only putting a tick in a box on a screen showing your details, but it’s better than a fine, points and a possible ban.
i have had this, when i apssed my test, i rang up about 3 weeks after passing, i asked if i had a pillion entitlement, they said noi didint, but can change it no probs, never charged me for anything:D
Excuse me gents but I understand it to be a mandatory requirement in this country to have pillion insurance just as passenger insurance for a car. Therefore you have the legal minimum cover already built in to your policy right from the start, assuming you are carrying a passenger legally.
Being confused by being asked about “do you intend to carry pillion passenger” the last two times I’ve renewed my insurance I asked the question “why?”
Neither time did I get an answer beyond a lot of flannel and both time “yes” added precisely nothing, £0, to my premium.
Just more Insurance Company flim-flam?
(Or, as we say in south London, a lod of borrocks.)
If you are a new rider you can save a wedge by specifically stating that you will not carry pillions, lowers the risk and reduces potential payout for insurer. I did this after passing my DAS and saved £50 I think, didn’t want to take pillions anyway back then.
I can take pillions now but not met anybody brave enough :w00t:
You are not required to have any liability for anyone in/on your vehicle if you are a private driver/rider in a car/bike on social domestic pleasure etc [mileage may vary]. What the insurers know is that carrying a pillion increases the chances of an accident by about 300%, and the chances if you are a new rider is about 1000% so new riders are encouraged to have insurance that is null if a pillion is carried. My insurance has a no pillion condition, as having a pillion would have added about 40% to the cost. Jackie who has had a license for 25 years had no addition for having a pillion. The theory is that new/young riders show off when carrying a pillion so have far more accidents. The same factors come to play with young car drivers who are more likely to have accidents when carrying young passengers. I believe insurers are looking at restricting the hours of driving and numbers of passengers on your car drivers to reduce premiums as these are key factors with young car driver’s accident rates.
Before people say this is absurd - it is backed up by accident statistics, and this is all about reducing the costs to insurers and thereby reducing everyone else’s insurrance premiums.
I was hoping you’d respond. As I was typing I thought “if I’m wrong about mandatory pillion/passenger cover, there is someone who will know the real score”.
Now even more confused.
1: A few years back when I rode a single seat trials bike with no rear pegs on the road, my insurance went up a fair bit on renewal. When I asked why, the insurers told me it was for the mandatory pillion/passenger cover that had become law.
While playing “hunt the insurance renewal” for my 21 y.o.inexperienced driver daughter a month or so back, no one asked me about passengers.
If you’re carrying a pillion, you need the insurance to cover you in case they claim against you.
My advice…ditch Bennetts and go for someone else. I’m with Adrian Flux for both my ZX6 (insured with NIG) and Yamaha Divvy 6 (insured with Red Star)…they both cover me for a Pillion and for 3rd party riding on other bikes as well as a good Euro/World cover.
When I have been getting insurance recently I have been asked “will you carry pillion passengers?” When I have said “no” I am then warned that this means the insurance is invalid if I am carrying a passenger.
As for pillion insurance being compulsory, what the company may have been talking about is that carrying a pillion can increase the costs for the insurance company as pillions can claim against the rider if the rider is acting recklessly and they are injured. There have been some significant awards in recent years where the passenger can show the rider was riding dangerously and they were a victim of that behaviour. This is of course partly due to the new no-win no-fee culture which means the vultures will encourage friends to claim from one another on the basis that the only people who will lose out from this is the insurance companies (and their premium payers who find their costs go up to compensate!).
Insurance … as far as i am concerned its a joke… any little thing to make extra money for them! i had a similar thing when i insured my car, wasnt working at the time and then 9 months later i get a job that requires car for business use … same thing happened, said it wouldnt cost extra but that £35 admin charge to reprint the blomming certificate and post it out … its a joke aint it… got it for free in the end, cant remember how but it was a long thing. Wait till november and till then jus be careful tho i think the pillion insurance is for medical expenses should your pillion need it as a result of an accident.
The company i get insurance from ask about pillion cover , i have it on both the gsxrs but not the cbr(my choice) they didnt charge me any extra. But they do charge a 25 quid fee if i add another bike but i pay 270 fully comp on the k6 gsxr and the 750 is fully comp so is the cbr i can have upto four bikes on my insurance but if i add a bike i get charged 25quid but thats it:D
Bennetts charged me £25 to change the address on my policy when i moved house. No change to the premium but an ‘admin charge’ to alter 3 lines of an address. I was pretty unimpressed and am no longer a customer of theirs…
