Let the bloodbath commence

8th March signals the start date for my 2nd year of motorcycle
insurance on Mr. ER-5.

On Thursday I did a load of online quotes and gave them the correct
start date for my new policy with all the correct details. Today I
phoned up Auntie Carole for a quote and they is already knocking money
off of their policy. The days leading up to 7th March will be
interesting on the HAVE MONEY OFF PLEASE BUY BUY BUY telephone call
front.

Current contenders quote based on unmodified '02 Kwak ER500-C1 (heated
grips, rear hugger, engine crash bars), 1 year NCB, no previous active
or pending convictions or points, 15,000 miles:

Direct Choice/Equity Red Star £231.45 (£150 excess) inc. 60 days EU
use, CIHAGM & legal cover. [Current insurance company - this is a new
quote not a renewal invitation]

Carole Nash/Highway Insurance £241.20 (£250 excess) inc. 30 days EU
use, CIHAGM, legal cover, breakdown cover & uninsured loss recovery.

On the face of it Auntie Carole looks like the best value cover but it
would useful if I could rip out the breakdown & recovery which the
agent appeared unwilling to do at this stage. My employer provides
full bells & whistles UK & EU cover for me with regards to breakdown
and recovery for a very good price whereas Auntie Carole will only
cover me for my bike.[1]

When I've had cause to ring Direct Choice before it's been just like
ringing any other call centre where the staff didn't know how to apply
FSA regulations or read insurance terms out correctly. Carole Nash
staff seemed to have more understanding of general insurance terms,
material facts and was quite happy to explain and answer questions
from me. They have a claims team that are in on a Saturday (she asked
them for clarification on one of my questions relating to 'uninsured
loss recovery' for an RTA involving an uninsured driver) and the young
lady I spoke to seemed quite friendly.

They chipped down their quote to get nearer to my Direct Choice one
and have invited me to call them back if I ever get a better quote and
say that if I ring them in the middle of the month they may be able to
do a requote taking into account Direct Choice's renewal discount when
I've received it.

Because of the reputation of Auntie Carole, the helpfulness,
understanding and professional yet friendly manor of her staff I'm
probably going to move from Direct Choice to Carole Nash even if she
can't better her quote (which is unlikely) but I'd like to have a bash
at reducing that £250 excess a bit if possible without cutting the
quality of cover.

[1] I forgot to ask them if this included 'homestart' style breakdown
cover but will when I call them back closer to the time. I also need
to clarify whether Switzerland is classed as Europe under their
territorial limits.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Vass belched forth and ejected the following:

Aye, Motorcycle Direct and Devitt have come out well for me in the past,
too.

 

<SNIP>

Try www.insurance2000.co.uk

A mate of mine has been considering getting an R1 for a while and had been
getting quotes of over a grand, which is what I expected a 47 year old with
no no claims and having last owned a road legal bike (1) in the early 1990s
would be quoted at best(2).

£407 fully comp... the ****.

(1) XJ650, iirc
(2) No, he won't listen and get something a bit more sensible for a few
months, much as I reckon he should...

 

Google for biketeam, IIRC both Elly and I saved significantly with these
folks.



--
Dnc

B1200 - +30bhp ~|~ ZZR1100 - faster when upright
V2300 - flat cap and rug ~|~ A6 2.5TDi V6 Quattro Sport

MIB#26 two#54(soiled) UKRMMA#26 BOTAFOT#153 X-FOT#003

 

I have done for their annual policy, but not their pay-as-you-go
they're quoting me <opens spreadsheet> £271.95 (£150 excess) inc.
Breakdown recover & uninsured loss recovery but I'm unsure if they
include CIHAGM cover in that and how much EU cover is included. I
can't easily see if it's a limited mileage policy either.

 

They've got the same odd insurance quote engine as another site I've
used (although I can't remember which) it has options like

How long have you held your licence for? "One Year or Up To One Year"
or "Up to Two Years" I find that slightly unfair as I passed my test
on 8th March and my insurance is due on 8th March. If I go with them
I am selecting that I've had my licence for 0 days up to 365, whereas
if I quoted one day later I would be on the "up to 2 years" bracket.

Insurance2000.co.uk have quoted me £251.18 (£150 excess) inc. CIHAGM
cover & uninsured loss recovery. I can't identify if legal cover is
included. Not a good quote but I've stuck it on the spreadsheet
anyway.

 

I have been with 1st Quote for years, my renewal arrived this morning
for £122 on the FJ. I'm not even going to bother shopping around.

 

I've put in a request for a quote.

 

Chuck them an extra fiver will you so they can afford to make their
website work.

From the speed and reliability of it I'd say it was running on an old
P200MMX with 8Mb of RAM on a 14.4Kbps dialup.

 

<>:

<snip>

I love threads like this.

Just got my insurance renewal:

TPF&T K100; 15,000 miles PA
TPF&T K1100; 4,000 miles PA
Any other bike insured TPO

84ukp

I'm almost tempted to see how much a new sports bike would cost to
insure. Mind you I've little interest in a large bore sports bike 'cos
I know what I would ride it like and where I would risk ending up.

I am thinking that a portion of this years bonus might find its way
towards a ZXR750H1 though, if I could find a clean un-messed with one
and ignore the pending school fees.

 

But you'll always be older than me and I'll always be younger than
you.

 

That doesn't bother me greatly.

Wisdom comes with age. Unfortunately the ability to use the wisdom
seems to still be lacking. I'd like to add that contentment comes with
age.

 

You know that none of the website quotes are a reflection on what
they'll actually quote you if you ring around right?

oh and H&R (that you're talking about here) loved having me as a B12
customer, but were hugely uncompetitive for the ZZR.

--
Dnc

B1200 - +30bhp ~|~ ZZR1100 - faster when upright
V2300 - flat cap and rug ~|~ A6 2.5TDi V6 Quattro Sport

MIB#26 two#54(soiled) UKRMMA#26 BOTAFOT#153 X-FOT#003

 

Usually works fine here, and I'm not exactly using a well supported
browser either.

 

Towards the middle of the month I'll give the better online quotes a
call to see what they'll do but I'll leave my ultimate decision up to
7th March (day before renewal) before I hand over any cash.

 

I've just had another go and it seemed to be working but tells me,
"Unfortunately it has not been possible to provide you with an
automatic quotation

An unexpected error has occured. Unfortunately our transaction server
is not responding !"

 

Ah, that does happen occasionally, if you do a back button and try again
it usually goes through. Weekends are understandably busy on there.

 

BGN scribbled on the back of a napkin:

From my experience dealing with ebike:

- There's no mileage limit
- Not sure about the CIHAGM cover
- They include *EU* cover but no cover in those countries in Europe
that aren't part of the EU. Like Switzerland, for example.
- AFAIK their breakdown cover is only good for the UK, thus no good for
me.

The gave me the best quote when I did the ringaround but the last two
points pretty much ruled them out.

 

snip>

Just leave the bike uninsured for a day so you've had your licence
over a year when you insure it. If it gets nicked when it's uninsured
then report it the next day.