Insurance question

[john_p]

Just contemplating doing DAS. Been looking at prices of insurance bikes and discovered that I can insure something like a VFR400 for £1800 fully comp, or £600 TPFT. (From H&R using my 5 yr car NCB)

Irrespective of whether that's a good choice for a first bike or not (just using it to get an idea on quotes) do people generally bother with fully comp on a first bike, or stay TPFT? Not sure how much I would want to spend on a first bike but I don't think would be more than £2k or so.

[cazzo]

If I bought a bike for 2k and was going to cost £1800 to insure fully comp then TPFT for me, what's the point of paying the same as it cost to insure it? better to chuck it away if you bin it and buy a new one.

[hertsbiker]

christ that's expensive! I can insure most tackle now for 800 fully comp.

Fully comp is good though, because you *will* crash it one day. hopefully not hurting yourself, but it's part of the learnign curve. Bikes = crashes, unfortunately. Good luck!

[john_p]

Sorry, should have explained better. Not sure how much I want to spend on a first bike but would probably be better to get a much cheaper bike and insure it TPFT so if I do write it off I'm in a better position than if I'd crashed a slightly more expensive bike insured FC ..

Hmm, bit concerned about the whole crashing thing - should I be?

[Gerrard]

just renewed my insurance and I found that on my Bandit12S, value 5K, 1yr NCB, it was £230 for TPO, £360 for TPFT and £580 for FC. Changing the value of the bike altered the latter two quotes but didn't affect the the TPO quote (makes sense if you think about it.) My though process was like this:

The bike's not very likely to get nicked or burnt out, but I am highly likely to have an accident so as I still can't afford FC do I pay the extra £130 "just in case" it gets nicked? mmmmm, not sure, so I'll err on the side of caution.

[Pesty]

I am not suggesting you should do teh same as I did but...

My first bike GSXR-750 was insured 3rd party only for £330

puerley because the cost of fully comp was quite frankly stupid my first year has just come up and I would have paid for my bike again just in insureance fees

now with 1 year NCB just cost £233 with an extra 3 points third party only again.

I am willing to take the risk of losing my bike investment make sure you are if you are taking the same route.

[smeagol]

Quick question/advice I got but not sure, was that for first year I should get TPFT and legal cover rather than TPFT on its own. Have any of you used the legal bit or is it just a waste of cash?

[cazzo]

smeagol said:

Have any of you used the legal bit or is it just a waste of cash?

I had this legal protection for many years and thought it was a waste but a few years back (in car) I was run in to at a red light by an uninsured driver the 'legal' sorted it all for me including hire car during repair etc. only bad thing was that it happened a couple of weeks before ins. renewal so I temporarily 'lost' NCD due to there being a contested claim. I did get the extra refunded eventually but it took a long time.

As it's normally fairly cheap I think it's probably worth it to avoid hassle if things get nasty.

[smeagol]

cheers cazzo thats very useful to know.

[tim2100]

Try going for a not so sporty bike, I've got a Bandit 600S for my first bike, 1 year old value £3700 I'm paying £420 TPFT, The Bandit is pretty quick and you don't need to rev the bollox out of it to get anywhere like a 400.
If you do go for that class, don't bother with the hornet or Fazer, yes they are better bikes but they are 3/4 groups higher insurance.

[john_p]

Not wanting to start a whole "which bike" thread here, but is going straight from taking my test to a 600 a good idea? Or would it be better to get something smaller for a year to get some NCB built up?

Edit: just read your post again Tim and realised it was your first bike too.. so is the engine size not as important when it comes to insuring bikes? With other factors like theft and age of rider being a bigger concern for insurance?

>> Edited by john_p on Tuesday 15th July 12:21

[lancelot]

I'm in my first year of riding and currently have a SV650S. Changed from a 125 a couple of months after passing my test. I'm not a 'youngster' but my insurance, fully comp, is about £240 (from Bennetts).

[Gerrard]

john_p said:

but is going straight from taking my test to a 600 a good idea?

yes. if you can afford it you might as well buy the bike you're going to be happy with for a couple of years rather than a "make-do". You'll lose more in depreciation than you'll pay extra in insurance for the better bike. Just 'coz it's a 600 don't be frightened by it, "what'll do more'll do less"

[mel]

A bit O/T I know but just to show how weird insurance can be try this one.

Mrs Mel passed her test just before last christmas and has just bought a CBR600 as a first bike, she is 2 years younger than me and has never held any bike insurance before. I have held a bike license for 15 years, have got an instructors ticket (but never used it) have raced at national level, own 4 other bikes and insure two of them for the road, I don't have any NCB avaliable to use on her bike but I haven't had any claims for 3 years. Anyway her quote £260, my quote £380 both done having the other half as named rider and both from the same insurer. Work that one out.

Oh yes and if you use Bennetts for on line quotes remember its got 2 T's as www.bennets.co.uk is a very different place indeed

[iguana]

mel said:

Oh yes and if you use Bennetts for on line quotes remember its got 2 T's as www.bennets.co.uk is a very different place indeed

oh yes I can just see ringing them up and telling them I ride a Bandit

[BLOATER]

HAVE A GOOD THINK ABOUT WHAT BIKE YOU WANT AND GO FOR IT. BUT DEFINATELY GO FOR F/C INS, THERES THAT MANY LOONIES OUT THERE "SORRY MATE I DID'NT SEE YOU" TYPES THAT IT NOT WORTH MESSING ABOUT AND I'M SURE THAT THE TEALEAFS CAN SPOT A TPO BIKE A MILE OFF! GOOD LUCK.

[smeagol]

Thanks foir the advice Bloater and welcome to the forum! BTW please type in lower case its much easier to read.

[tim2100]

Engine size isn't as important as you would think, & I'm sure a sports 400 will be quicker than my Bandit 600 but the bandit has more grunt & Power and don't need to sream everywhere.

Before I brought my bike i spoke to my instructor as I was thinking to get a CBR400, He advised me to stay away from 400's as I would get bored of the bike much quicker than the bandit. Plus insurance on my newish bandit was cheaper than a sports 400!!! go figure

[Davel]

As a novice and newly passed bike riding old fart, I bought a BMW F650 GS second hand as my first bike.

Not as fast as a sports bike but great fun with adequate power and not too dear to insure.

I too was advised to buy around the 600 cc mark rather than get a smaller bike and get bored with it.

Whatever you buy - enjoy!

[tl1000gussie]

I have never insured a bike fully comp due to the extra expense, especially as you are looking at that vast a difference. Also on a cheap bike if yyou make a claim early in your riding career, youre insurance will double the following year. Always have fire and theft though as you will be worried to leave it places, only total bike loss is worth a claim.

400 screamer would be a great choice, I had a bandit 12 and GSXR 400 at the same time then sold the bandit as I never rode it, only downside of the 400 it turned me into a Complete headcase. Have fun whatever you ride.