Guide to bike insurance

Whether you’re riding the latest Harley Davidson, a Yamaha or a Ducati there is one essential you can’t forget – bike insurance.

Required by law in the UK, bike insurance is designed to ensure people can cover the cost of riding related damages and injuries, depending on the level of cover they have in place. Here we take an in-depth look at how bike insurance works and how to find the policy that’s right for you.

How does bike insurance work?

When looking for bike insurance the most important factors are the level of cover you need and the risk you pose to an insurance company. This risk level is used to assess your premiums and takes into account:

- Your riding history: Such as if you have prior claims/convictions.
- Your annual mileage: The more miles you travel on your bike the more likely it is that an accident will occur.
- Your personal circumstances: You may be deemed more responsible if you are married or in full-time employment, for example.
- Your address: Do you live in an area with high crime rates or heavy traffic?
- Your bike: For example, is it a high performance bike and therefore more likely to travel at faster speeds?

Almost every piece of information you provide to an insurer will be used to assess how high your premiums should be – so it’s vital to be honest.

What levels of bike insurance cover are available?

There are several types of cover to choose from:

- Third party only: Covers liability for damages or injuries to a third party and damage to their property.

- Third party fire and theft: Third party cover plus cover for your own bike against fire damage, theft and damage from an attempted theft.

- Comprehensive: Third party, fire and theft cover, plus it allows you to make claims for damage to your own bike, subject to policy exclusions. There may also be additional features such as cover against accidental damage, vandalism and medical expenses.

When choosing the right policy for you, examine the policy carefully and look for exclusions – these are circumstances in which you are not covered. For example, are you covered to ride other motorbikes, with the owner’s permission, in an emergency situation?

Also remember that the level of cover you take out will influence your premiums. So you are likely to pay more for additional features such as a temporary replacement bike while yours is repaired, and so on. Many insurers offer ‘optional extras’, which are available for an additional premium on top of your standard rate. These may include: legal assistance, to help you recover legal costs in an accident where a third party was at fault; breakdown cover, including home start and onward travel; and travelling in Europe, which offers insurance cover while you’re overseas as well as at home. 

Is there anything else to look out for?

There are many additional features of a bike insurance policy that should be considered including:

- Excess: This is your contribution towards a claim. Typically an excess is divided into a ‘compulsory excess’ set by the insurer and a ‘voluntary excess’, which is an additional amount you agree to pay in case a claim is ever necessary.

- No-claims discount: For every year you are insured and don’t make a claim you may be able to build up a no-claims discount – this could be worth as much as 60 per cent off your premiums after four or more years. Remember however, that this is a “no claims” bonus and not a “no blame” bonus, meaning that if you make a claim on your policy and your insurer can’t recover its costs you will lose a percentage of your no-claims discount even if you were not at fault for the claim.

So how can you get an affordable bike insurance quote?

Once you have decided on the level of cover you require, the first step should be to use a comparison website to compare bike insurance quotes. Comparison websites look at deals from as many as 25 different insurers so you can get an overview of what’s available.

Remember that reducing your perceived risk will also help to lower premiums. Actions you can take include:

- Boost security: Reduce the risk of theft by fitting a good Thatcham-approved security system to your bike and by parking it safely in a locked garage overnight.

- Choose carefully: While you may want the fastest bike around, remember that you’re likely to pay more for more expensive and powerful bikes that cost more to repair/replace and are more likely to travel at fast speeds. So you may want to keep your bike choice relatively conventional. Also steer clear of modifications as they add value to your bike and are likely to increase insurance premiums.

- Increase your excess: Raising your voluntary excess should lower premiums but keep it at a level you can afford.

- Motorbike use: Consider how often you use your bike. Agreeing to a mileage cap could lower premiums; as could only using it only for social trips as opposed to for commuting or for business purposes.

- Pay annually: If you can afford it, pay your premiums upfront to cut out monthly interest charges.