Insurers + 33BHP Restriction.

Hi all,

Well the day has come to look for new insurance on a 650 with a 33bhp restriction. you'd think insurers would be kind to you for following the law and restricting it and tell them it's restricted.

WRONG THINK AGAIN

I got a quote from Bennets and it seems fine for a 650 at 33bhp at fully comp, so I decided to give them a ring and tell them it's 33bhp and see how much it came down. Look who's the idiot, it managed to go up £1000 because it's classes as a "Modification" to the bike.

So I rang Carol Nash thinking they would do me a decent price on fully comp WRONG, I then found CIA Insurance (Compare The Market) and found that the guy on the phone (Jamie) was actually one of the best guys to speak to about this. I got through to a human in a matter of seconds, rang twice picked up and put me through. I asked "When I put my details in the system does it automatically know I'm restricted" & he replied "Yes" so I thought why then when I call Bennets it goes up yet they know I have to be restricted and when I do the right thing to tell them it is they try and squeeze another £1000 outa' me.

I spoke to CIA for around half an hour and got the most I could out of them with regards to asking for all the cover prices and all the extras you can get, turns out that TPFT + Everything Coverd = £750. Yes I know that my bike isn't coverd if I crash, but thats the price you pay when you try and save £700+ for Fully Comp. Luckily for me CIA are a Specialist Suzuki Insurer so parts for me are straight forward to get hold of incase of a crash.

Now I know Fully Comp is the way to go but with what I'm hearing from Bennets and Carol Nash and other big bike insurers your looking at £2k+ for it. and for a saving of nearly £1000 on insurance I think that TFPT looks more like the way to go about it, and if in the event of a crash I'll have to do what I can to save and replace parts which are broken.

(I'm not the best rider out there but I think paying an extra £1000 just for you to be coverd, you've got to think, the bike value + Excess is about £1500/£1700 so is it really worth it if I was to crash.

Would like to hear what others have had to go through to get insurance and if they have told there insurer about their restriction.

I don't ask for you to share your Insurance prices in this thread just thoughts on it all, I'm using the correct prices for me, but are just quotes at the moment.



What should I do,

Should I get the insurance and hope that the insurance company don't ask if it has been restricted and hope they allready know that I have to be restricted.

Or

Should I tell my insuer that it is restricted, but then my insurance jumps up another £1k???

being on a restricted lience i feel like i should comment on this.

most insures that i have spoken to (mine being carol nash) were ok with it being restricted as according for me to be insured i needed to have it in. i told them this and they said it was fine but did not list it as a modification. as modifying it with a restrictor is no different then having better brakes, wheel exhuast engine etc etc.

they just noted the fact i was on restricted licence and the appropriate action had been taken. although my restrictor time of two years is almost up. WOOOOHH!!!!

price guide on how much i payed.

sv650s 2003 0 NCB TFT = £800
sv650s 2003 + sv650s 2005 1 NCB TFT = £500

carol nash are good in my experience and i live in london so much premium tends to be a little higher

Originally Posted by kiggles

price guide on how much i payed.

sv650s 2003 0 NCB TFT = £800
sv650s 2003 + sv650s 2005 1 NCB TFT = £500

carol nash are good in my experience and i live in london so much premium tends to be a little higher

Yea I totally understand.

Bennets and Carol Nash are listing it as a modification

Carol Nash Fully Comp = £2210.65
Bennets Fully Comp = £2110.38

CIA Insuance Full Comp £1500
CIA Insurance TFPT = £750 + Everything Coverd

(CIA Insurer is a Suzuki insurance company and to me are the best that I've spoken too. they told me that Bennets do understand it as a restriction but catch the rider out by saying it's a modification.)

I'm tempted to go with TPFT but I will be riding alot this year as I have now moved up from my Aprilia and is cheap (Kinda) but I want full comp because of the bike and what it's worth.

Looking it at the insurance company's point of view,by the fact that the rider is on a restricted license in general this would also mean they are inexperienced in road craft even if they had been driving a car for ten years.I think most riders would agree that biking requires a higher perception of what is going on around them than the average motorist has.
Secondly,and before I get jumped on it comes from this forum,people have been known to remove or tamper with restrictors,or even fit dubious units and perhaps these two points alone have a bearing on the cost of the insurance

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

Looking it at the insurance company's point of view,by the fact that the rider is on a restricted license in general this would also mean they are inexperienced in road craft even if they had been driving a car for ten years.I think most riders would agree that biking requires a higher perception of what is going on around them than the average motorist has.
Secondly,and before I get jumped on it comes from this forum,people have been known to remove or tamper with restrictors,or even fit dubious units and perhaps these two points alone have a bearing on the cost of the insurance

Don't get me wrong. I will follow the law, whats the point in potentially harming your NCB over a 2year restriction?

I'd rather have the restriction and pay through the nose than have 3-6points on my licence and still be restricted and get raped by insurance.

1st years insurance is always a ripper but atleast its not as stupid as car insurance, around 2k for a male on a punto worth 400 quid.

Bike insurance for me
aprilia rs 125. £800 tpft. with 50 to 125 insurance
sv 650s k4. 550 tpft restricted with 2 years ncb. dial direct insurance
sv 650s k4. 400 pft restricted 3 years ncb. Adrian flux
gsxr 750 k5, 500 4 years ncb, h and r insurance

I change insurance every year now as i always get a better deal shopping round

It's my second Year insurance and 3rd riding year so I've been and done it before it's just a massive shock to be told it's a modification yet it's a legal requirement.

Hi Azzer, it's LazyDaysRider. Good to see you here matey.

I'm paying £278 this year for my SV with Equity Redstar and that's with 2 years NCB. Got my policy through a company called WickedQuotes who have always been the cheapest for me with every quote that I try. It might be worth giving them a ring and seeing what they can get for you. I've recommended them to friends with the same licence but their quotes have varied quite a bit; maybe I'm special?

Given that it sounds like your insurance is already fairly high, I'd save your money and go for TPFT.

The way it seems to work is that they make an assumption you are riding a machine is legally compliant with your license, so it may not be your job to explicitly state that (if that's when you get hit for modifications).

I say this because I had a full power RS125 on my provisional license, it was insured as the FP model and I did not go to the trouble of claiming it was restricted, I guess that was an assumption of the insurers.

In terms of prices, I paid:
~600 RS125 (MCE)
~300 SV650s K6 (1yr NCB, Adrian Flux)