Insurance

[shiftin_gear98]

OMO
Ok so my insurance lapses in 2 days. Who do you guys use?
I was with Bennetts, but after being told my policy would be £290 fully comp I have jogged them on. Not to mention I don't really like them anymore. Final kick in the nuts my renewal letter came minus this years NCB, even though they know my accident wasn't my fault. Gits.


thebikeinsurer search engine comes out with fully comp from £100.
However I've never heard of most of them.


Please name and shame the naff ones. Likewise recommend a good one.


Hastings Direct
Wicked Quotes
Performance Direct
Devitt
Entire Cover
Bikesure
Motorcycle Direct
AA
Grove and Dean
Principal
Rampdale
Just Motorcylce Insurance
Hastings Premier
MCE
Carole Nash


It goes on and on.

[timwilky]

Years ago. I had a no fault claim that Bennetts pulled my NCB for.

A call and the lady said she would talk to the underwriter and ring me back. As if thought I.

Well she did, called back and my NCB reinstated plus an extra year. The new quote made me a happy bunny and I renewed on the spot.

I had recently a poor experience with Hasting direct. I couldn't beat their quote so allowed it to auto renew as their letter said I didn't need to do anything.

A few months later a letter from the DVLA advising that I was committing an offence by owning a non sorned uninsured motorcycle. Bollox thought I and checked on ASKMID which confirmed I had no insurance.

Called Hastings who confirmed that they had not autorenewed. But that the had not recieved any instruction not to do so. So issued a new quote on the spot. Cheaper than their original. I did ask what would have happened if I had been in an accident and she said they would have been liable as I had not told them to cancel the policy. Yes, as if. I am not that trusting of an insurer. I now check all my autorenewals etc.

[Littlepeahead]

I just renewed with Hastings. I've gone from multi bike to single bike. Been with them a few years and got a good deal on their premium insurance which covers you to ride other bikes, offers protected NCD, legal cover and £700 helmet and leathers cover. I didn't have the gear covered before but as I'm about to shell out up to £600 on a new helmet I thought it worth it this time.

They seem OK on the phone. I paid £112 FC for my 2010 F650GS. But I am an old bint which helps and the bike is garaged.

[shiftin_gear98]

I'm 40 this year so as good as old. Or I'm starting to feel old anyway.
The bike being garaged was mentioned too, so was the 11,000 miles a year commute....


Bikes gonna be dead in another year or so..


Thanks for the replies.

[ophic]

Problems with Hastings. Had to claim and they have a "no buy back" policy, so if they write off your bike (which they tried to), you lose it.

My bike is now back on the road with the sum total of £15 spent on it, after I refused to let them write it off and issued my own quote for repair, which they agreed to - most of which was cosmetic damage anyway.

Since then they've ignored almost every request for documents for the legal case.

They suck.

[Red Herring]

I had a bit of a falling out with e-bike. I was with them as I had several bikes and it just wasn't practical to have them all insured at the same time, but originally with e-bike I could decide which one I wanted to ride, go online and five minutes later had cover. The on-line service then hit problems with more often than not the server being down, and then the final straw was when I read the small print and it said any bike without a current MOT wasn't covered. I rang them up to clarify the position with regard to cover going to an MOT station for the purposes of a test (a legal exemption to not requiring an MOT) and they told me that any bike without a current MOT was in their view unroadworthy. Being the argumentative git that I am we exchanged quite a few e-mails on the subject but they wouldn't budge so I cancelled the policy mid-term.

Not even sure they are still in business but if they are I'm not going near them.

[PyroUK]

I was with Hastings, their renewal was much higher this year on the new bike and wouldn't budge so ended up going to carol Nash. Sales peeps were pretty good and did a lot of back and forth to get a better price.

They were trying to get me on a special policy but my work parking wouldn't make me eligible for that.

[embee]

FWIW I deal with Aviva directly for a multi-bike policy. Never had to claim but nearly always had pretty good service when changing bikes or declaring mods. Could probably get cheaper but .............


I did get one snotty nosed kid on the other end of the phone one time who kept asking how I took the panniers off the bike, only after a few minutes of head scratching did I realise he wanted to know if they were locked with a key (why didn't he ask that?), but usually a nice sensible northern lass answers.

[yokohama]

It's only when you have to make a claim when you find out how good insurers actually are. I think you've already discovered that with Bennetts.
I haven't had to claim yet so can't comment on that aspect. But, FWIW, I use Hastings Premier, which bundles in the legal protection and helmet and leathers cover. Pay about £126 FC for a street parked SV on < 5000 miles a year. They seem OK with mods on the bike as long as performance isn't increased. (without the legal/leather cover, it would be below £100)
They try to put the price up each year but on the past couple of occasions, I've done price comparisons and managed to haggle them down, bizarrely enough, based on their own online quotes.
The most important thing is don't pay for what you don't need. Carole Nash have a good reputation but they include European cover and breakdown, which I already have so it's not worth paying the extra to go with them.

I used Bennets last year. First road bike in over a decade so no NCB, garaged, rural location, 36 years old, 3k mileage per year, didnt say it had an alarm as didnt have a clue which make / model it was (bike wasnt delivered until following day). TPFF came in at a shade under £80. FC almost doubled the price and on a £1200 bike I didnt see the point as any kinda of bump would write it off anyway.
When I was a full time rider, Adrian flux and Swinton were the ones I used. Flux were great for modifications and Swinton somehow linked bike and car policies so were cheap.

'Touches wood', never had to make a claim on bike or car insurance so cant comment on service levels.