Bike Insurance!!

seamus

What's the story with bike insurance in this country?? It's just as bad as the cars!!

I was looking for a bike yesterday, and found the perfect one. Yamaha Tu-x, 2 years old with 1800 kilos on the clock. €2,200. Couldn't believe my luck. Group 2 insurance (with Aon) was €2,388 TPO. Quite high, but hey, only for a year. So the guy double-checks, and no, it's Group 3, which raises the insurance to €3,434 TPO, because this bike has a power rating 0.4 KWh over the Group 2 max!!!!! An extra €1,100 for an unnoticable power increase!! I was fuming - the whole reason I'm getting a bike is 'cos my car insurance was too high.

So, I go hunting again, find a Suzuki GN125, but it's 98 and with 24K miles on the clock, ugh. Anywho, insurance on this is the same, €2,388 TPO, for a bike worth €1,900 (not even).

So I do a little experiment. Aon are just brokers for Hibernian, who have a deal set up with bike dealers for cheaper insurance. I go, however, directly to Hibernian's webby, and get me an online quote for the GN125 above. Costs: TPO - €3,500 Comp - €5,400!!

WTF?!?!

Anyone got any recommendations?? What about the Carol Nash crowd? Someone told me they only do Fully Comp for over 25's. Are Hibernian the only bike insurers in Ireland?!

I need a bike. 125cc Minimum. I would go and get a second-hand one in the buy and sell, except that I can't get affordable insurance. And I visited/rang 15 bike shops yesterday, none of whom had a decent condition, affordable 125 for me.

I'm 20. Have a full car licence. Obviously my road experience doesn't matter too much to Hibernian.

/me is MAD!

Stephen

I bet you live in Dublin eh? Its a killer for insurance

seamus

Yeah, but if its Third Party Only, surely it shouldn't make a difference how likely my bike is to get stolen! Besides, how much damage can I possibly do to someone else? Afaik, the 'Pedestrians are always right' rule doesn't apply for motorbikes - My brother hit a woman who walked out in front of him and broke her arm. An off-duty Garda saw it happen, and told him to head off, that he saw her walk out in front of him, and it wasn't his fault, ie he wasn't liable.

If I hit a car at 60mph, how much damage can I do?? A damaged body, boohoo!! €2,000 maximum. FFS...........

Stephen

Try to pull a Kegser and get insured down the country

I think he used his granny's address in sligo or something to get cheaper insurance on his CBR250RR.

krinDar

First off, cars have nothing to do with bikes.
The experience you have in a car is irrelevant.
You might have some roadcraft, but it is a completely different discipline so car based knowledge is not worth much, and if anything it could lull you into a false sense of security.

Carole Nash will only insure you Comprehensive, or
TPF&T (Third Party, Fire and Theft) if you are
over 25 or have at least one years no claims with
them. Otherwise you should be able to get TPO insurance that is comparable to Hibernian. These
appear to be your only choices.

Personally, I don't think that comprehensive cover
is worth it, especially as the cost of cover approaches and exceeds the value of what you are covering. Why pay more than the price of a new bike to cover a relatively small risk? If you do claim, they are only going to give you the value you are insured for, and you will more than pay it back in about three years by having your premium loaded. The same goes for theft.

What I think you should do is find a range of bikes that you like, and find out how much it would cost to insure all of them. This does not mean you should stick to 125ccs. You may find that some larger bikes (250cc cruisers perhaps)
might be a little cheaper to insure for varying
reasons. Obiviously the main expense is going to be insurance, so let insurance costs dictate the bike you will buy.

logic1

Originally posted by Stephen
Try to pull a and get insured down the country

I think he used his granny's address in sligo or something to get cheaper insurance on his CBR250RR.

Shhh...

.logic.

Mailman

Flame me if you want but I'd suggest you get a Yamaha RXS 100.

Performance is better than most commuter 125cc bikes but much cheaper to insure.

Had two of them and both were ultra reliable and both handled safely if not sportily.
Downsides are that the brakes and lights aren't up to much and they look unappealing but still better than an AX100.

Wear a helmet and nobody will ever know it's you riding it.

Stephen

The RXS is a durable bike, but mailman's right about the unappealing looks - its an utter dog in that respect. Real ugly little machine

2-stroke isn't it?

Mailman

2 stroke so keep mix in it and it'll last forever.

2 stroke so keep up the revs and it's very very nippy

very, very nippy.

I actually fitted a micron exhaust to one of these and it really made it fly but made it gutless at low revs.

Yamaha durability is always nice too.

seamus

Never mind. Got me a cheap 01 Marauder with TPO for €2400. I'll just lump it.

krinDar - I completely disagree. Driving a car is totally different to driving a bike, yes, but road experience counts for a lot of driving in anything. By this I mean how the roads work, experience at roundabouts, dealing with irregular road conditions (stopped cars, roadworks, etc), knowing sequences of lights at junctions, etc etc, I could go on and on. You have to admit, I'm not in the same category as someone who has never driven on a public road in anything before. I know (and follow) the golden rule - expect the unexpected which no-one understands until they've been driving for a few months.

Stephen

Post up a photo of your new bike when you can

krinDar

Seamus: yes, previous road experience (road craft) counts for something, previous car experience does not.

My main point is that just because you have driven a car, you should not think that you can ride a bike. Of course this will vary from person to person. Some car drivers understand the nature of bikes and therefore transfer easily enough, others do not.

Also, from the point of view of an insurance company, your experience on a car, the license you held etc says nothing about you.

seamus

Originally posted by Stephen
Post up a photo of your new bike when you can

No can do . Hibernian won't give me insurance until I show my licence (which I kinda have - long story), so it'll be a week or two on the buses for me .

krinDar - I see your point now, although I still think I'm entitled to *some* recognition for my road experience.

batman_oh

id say get a tsr125 if u can find a 98 or so model, they cost about i dunno new(were 3500 when i was lookin at them a year ago) so a couple of years old shouldnt be too dear(i think)
they are group2
u can get a honda ns1, should be cheap for a few years old(95-98) and they are group2
emmm kmx, dt etc scramblers are an option, so are cruisers like honda rebel, yamaha virago(group2)
or do like me and get insured on an rs125 in athlone!!

batman_oh

that should be tdr!!

king of fifa

move to the bogs and drive without insurance!!!!!!!!!!!!!

che

start going by push bike.