Insurance for the London area

[wattyfred89]

cheapest for me was Mdirect

Slightly off topic but...

Interestingly, I have found a garage for rent that's 2/3 of a mile away from my flat. But Express (FC = £713 with £375 excess) will not cover a bike that's garaged away from the home address of the owner, and Performance Direct (FC = originally £908 with £500 excess) will for £200 less than their original quote, i.e. £708. I need to get in touch with my current insurer (Motorcycle Direct) to see whether it would make a difference to their quote (FC = £936 with £500 excess), but I haven't even told them I've lowered the bike yet.

As it seems to make little difference to the premium so far, I'm not sure whether to garage or not.

Pros of garaging:
- bike is out of the elements
- will be able to access the bike at any time (currently park with my neighbour's bike, one in front of the other, so I have to get in touch with him every weekend to figure out who needs to use which bike when)
- will be less likely to drop the bike (as the terrain where we currently park is not the best - mixture of badly laid gravel and soil)

Cons of garaging:
- costs £100pcm
- it's a 10ish min walk away from my flat, which could seem like a long way when wearing leathers in the summer!
- it's not within 'view' when I'm at home

What are people's thoughts?

Jo

[wattyfred89]

that walk in your leathers would suck, and make you use your bike less

I believe there is one person from the soho massive that does keep his bike in a garage away from home.

In my view, I believe it would be a bit of a pain for me. Walking 10 minutes wearing gear takes away all the practicalities I got my bike for. If it is just a leisure bike then I guess it would be tolerable for a bike, but I couldn't see myself doing it for very long.

Out of curiosity, did you also get quotes without declaring it lowered? If you did, what was the difference?
With regards to having it garaged away from home, I am very sceptical here. I would prefer my bike to be as close to home as possible so that I knew where it was. If it was in a garage away from the home I would always be wondering if the garage had been broken into or not. Or, is the garage in a well lit busy area where suspicious activity would be noticed?

Thanks guys - pretty much reflects what I'm thinking. It may well be worth putting a couple hundred into sorting out the existing parking area (re-laying the gravel, recasting the concrete step into a concrete ramp etc), rather than throwing money away on a garage that's away from home. And speaking of which, anyone know anyone who might be up for a bit of minor building / gardening work like that?

FGO - lowest insurance quote I got for a standard bike was c£630 with Hastings Direct. But didn't find out what it would be if I had it garaged.

Originally Posted by darkdreamsgal

Thanks guys - pretty much reflects what I'm thinking. It may well be worth putting a couple hundred into sorting out the existing parking area (re-laying the gravel, recasting the concrete step into a concrete ramp etc), rather than throwing money away on a garage that's away from home. And speaking of which, anyone know anyone who might be up for a bit of minor building / gardening work like that?

Why are you spending that much on a rented place? Shouldn't the landlord sort that out?

Originally Posted by Raf

Why are you spending that much on a rented place? Shouldn't the landlord sort that out?

He won't 'cos he doesn't have to. I only got into biking a year and a half into renting this place so parking for the bike wasn't a condition of my tenancy. He parks his bike there too (he lives in the flat above) but isn't interested in sorting the area out because it's not so much of an issue for him (longer legs, stronger, about 22 years experience handling a big heavy bike etc). I can try again, but I am doubtful so I should probably proceed on the basis that I am paying for it and any contribution from him would be a bonus.

[chris8886]

have you got an alarm on the bike? if not have you tried putting that on a quote and see how much difference it makes? i also think renting a garage for that much per month (it was per month wasn't it?) is a bit silly because, your total premium surely won't come down enough to make it worth it. as for where you park, you sound like you've managed with the surface so far, why pay for it to be re-done when you could end up moving somewhere else all of a sudden.

I've managed very badly with the step and cannot count the number of times I've either risked dropping it or someone has had to help me get the bike out! Bike is significantly bigger and heavier than my previous bike which doesn't help matters...

Yes, it's alarmed and the insurance quote already takes that into account