How to value a bike for insurance purposes

[developer]

I'm looking at Ninja H2's and prices are rising.

Prices vary, but if I input the high asking price (which I may still pay) into the quote proforma, the insurance quotes go from ridiculous to decline.

The online quote proforma tells me that the insured value I've entered (the asking price) "seems high"

However, I can get a sensible quote by reducing the insured value to something more sensible.

So - how do people insure a bike when the asking price is higher than what the insurer thinks it should be? Can you set your own lower value?

What database to insurers use to value a bike?

Thanks.

Edited by developer on Tuesday 29th August 08:37

Edited by developer on Tuesday 29th August 08:38

Edited by developer on Tuesday 29th August 08:45

[KTMsm]

If you set a low value and have a claim, they will claim you are under insured and will not even pay you the lesser value but a percentage of that

I bought my mum a car two years ago for 12k the insurers keep insisting it's an 8k car but when I look on autotrader there is nothing comparable less than 12k so that's what it's insured for

Obviously if you insure a 10k bike for 20K they're still not going to pay 20K in the event of a claim

Essentially your best to just insure it for what you paid for it and if in doubt take a screenshot of some comparable ads

Insurers supposedly use cap or glasses guide but they're irrelevant these days when you can see prices on autotrader and eBay etc

Edited by KTMsm on Tuesday 29th August 08:42

[podman]

H2 asking prices have certainly risen of recent but those at the higher end of the scale are not selling….CMC want £30,000 for a 2015 bike which is unreasonable so your not going to get something inline with that craziness…most of the higher priced bikes have been on sale for months .

I would put the question to the insurance company you wish to use as they will have their own process around agreed values, some want some forms and pictures sending in, others will want an idependant valuation by a recognised provider but be prepared you may not get the valuation you want.

H2 insurance is crazy money anyway….what sort of quotes are you getting? My first one was £5,000 , as a comparison, my S1000R was £187…

Adding a tracker to the bike bought the insurance down by a tremendous amount so add one of those to your quote.

[black-k1]

I found I was getting the same responses when I originally insured my H2 SX. You need to phone up the companies and speak to a real human being so you can explain why you are using the value you are.

[developer]

podman said:

H2 asking prices have certainly risen of recent but those at the higher end of the scale are not selling….CMC want £30,000 for a 2015 bike which is unreasonable so your not going to get something inline with that craziness…most of the higher priced bikes have been on sale for months .

I would put the question to the insurance company you wish to use as they will have their own process around agreed values, some want some forms and pictures sending in, others will want an idependant valuation by a recognised provider but be prepared you may not get the valuation you want.

H2 insurance is crazy money anyway….what sort of quotes are you getting? My first one was £5,000 , as a comparison, my S1000R was £187…

Adding a tracker to the bike bought the insurance down by a tremendous amount so add one of those to your quote.

Thanks - the CMC one sold last week and they have another in now at around the same price.

If I state £25000, I get c£700 from Kawasaki and Bike Sure, MCN.

At £30000 it's c£1500.

Edited by developer on Tuesday 29th August 09:30

[podman]

If you havent already,add a tracker to the quote and see what that drops it to. I didnt want to fit one at first but it dropped the price by so much I couldnt argue.

Now im on my second year in, its still making a huge difference in my premium.

Interesting the CMC one sold, would be great to lnow what it went for.

I bought my bike new in 2022 and paid list price (28.5) , the only other new for sale was up at 40k….someone did buy that earlier this year at that price…heres hoping they dont have to claim for a theft/total loss…

[hunt123]

I paid 15.5k for my bike and have it insured for 15k. Costs iirc 1k to insure. Aged 49 no ncb no accidents/claims/convictions.

[developer]

podman said:

If you havent already,add a tracker to the quote and see what that drops it to. I didnt want to fit one at first but it dropped the price by so much I couldnt argue.

Now im on my second year in, its still making a huge difference in my premium.

Interesting the CMC one sold, would be great to lnow what it went for.

I bought my bike new in 2022 and paid list price (28.5) , the only other new for sale was up at 40k….someone did buy that earlier this year at that price…heres hoping they dont have to claim for a theft/total loss…

The CMC guy said they got the asking price (though he would) - there's a few photos of the new owner on their FB page. I'll input the tracker and see what it does, ta.

[Tango13]

I have an agreed value policy and most brokers will do them, as others have said, phone up and speak to a human being.

[hunt123]

I paid 15.5k for my bike and have it insured for 15k. Costs iirc 1k to insure. Aged 49 no ncb no accidents/claims/convictions.

[KTMsm]

hunt123 said:

I paid 15.5k for my bike and have it insured for 15k. Costs iirc 1k to insure. Aged 49 no ncb no accidents/claims/convictions.

Bear in mind that if it's gone up in value, you might be under insured

[podman]

developer said:

podman said:

If you havent already,add a tracker to the quote and see what that drops it to. I didnt want to fit one at first but it dropped the price by so much I couldnt argue.

Now im on my second year in, its still making a huge difference in my premium.

Interesting the CMC one sold, would be great to lnow what it went for.

I bought my bike new in 2022 and paid list price (28.5) , the only other new for sale was up at 40k….someone did buy that earlier this year at that price…heres hoping they dont have to claim for a theft/total loss…

The CMC guy said they got the asking price (though he would) - there's a few photos of the new owner on their FB page. I'll input the tracker and see what it does, ta.

Just found it on their FB page…wow…PXd 2 bikes to get it…commited!

During my search last year I found a brand new, in the crate, 2015 bike at a dealers in Essex which was cheaper than that.

Let us know how you get on anyway…The premium will be worth it anyway.

[tedblog]

KTMsm said:

Bear in mind that if it's gone up in value, you might be under insured

Insurances will pay out market value, never known anyone to undervalue, in fact most think their value is more.

[srob]

tedblog said:

KTMsm said:

Bear in mind that if it's gone up in value, you might be under insured

Insurances will pay out market value, never known anyone to undervalue, in fact most think their value is more.

Surely depends if it's agreed value or not?

In older bike terms, anything valued over a certain amount tends to be agreed value. So you have to supply photos or evidence from an independent 'expert' to prove what it's worth then they'll base their premium on that. Can't imagine they'd ever pay out more than you've declared as you've not been paying them enough to cover that risk...

[KTMsm]

tedblog said:

KTMsm said:

Bear in mind that if it's gone up in value, you might be under insured

Insurances will pay out market value, never known anyone to undervalue, in fact most think their value is more.

Not recently - lots of cars and bikes have massively increased in value and if you have declared it as less, than they will pay you a percentage less, even than the amount you have agreed

It seems ridiculous to me but I went through this after I built my house, it cost me 100k and I would have taken 200k to do it again so that's what I was going to insure it for

I was forced to insure it for 400k (market rebuild cost) because otherwise if it burnt down they would have given me 100k - as it was 50% undervalued, in their opinion

[DirtyHarley]

I had to claim back in September last year for a total loss (other party fault) - I'd insured the bike for what it cost me plus a few minor modifications totalling £8,200 bike +£600 in declared modifications - initially the insurance wanted to just pay the 'book price' of £6,200

Took a lot of back and forth to get it resolved and adjusted to £8,300 agreed by providing about 30 adverts of similiar bikes; most were a few years older, in lesser condition, but less miles (not many HDs cover 15-18K miles a year) but eventually via arguing with various active listings and a long 'recently sold' listings I managed to get them to agree that anything below what we settled on would not put me back to the situation I was in prior to the accident.

Ridiculous situation but I'm currently insuring exactly the same model bike, with the same modifications, 5 years newer, at a value of £10K with the same insurers, for only £12 more a year!

Long winded way of saying - get yourself armed with a bunch of current listings and scoure various sites for the recently sold listings of similiar too as that makes insurers more amenable to buding from the 'book says X' responses.