I know this probably should be in the Insurance forum but I thought it might get a little more coverage here So, I'm trying to get the TB insured. Hastings (who I've been with for a few years now) tell me my current insurance company won't insure the Commander unless it's garaged. They can do me a new policy but it's £371 (they can't explain why the new 1600 I was going to buy was half the premium when I checked last week). So a quick check of the comparison websites turns up Bennetts at £219 and Motorcycle Direct at £229 as the cheapest. People like Devitts and Carole Nash were all over £300. I thought I'd try Triumph's own insurance as they are supposedly specialists I had a long conversation with a very nice bloke who came up with £420 and then told me they only have one underwriter. Hmmm.... not so competitive then ......... I then remembered trying them out for my Tiger and they were double the price Hastings quoted me so perhaps I should not have been surprised. Does anyone actually use Triumph Insurance? Anyone know of specialist bike insurers that you won't find on the price comparison websites? Thanks.
I'm with Bennett's at the moment - but I keep getting lower quotes from Swintons who I have my car with - so when it comes up for renewal I might check out Swintons .
Without knowing your age, riding experience, NCB, penalties, area you live, value of bike etc etc, it's hard to compare. I use comparison sites and go direct to get quotes.... just be wary of the excess .. a low quote may mean a hi excess should something go wrong .... after 18 years no claims I take the risk of a higher excess to have a lower premium. currently I'm with Bennetts. 38yo Daytona 955i 19 years riding with no claims ever clean license bike kept in garden (private property to me and you) (Datatool immobiliser) Just over £100 TPFT.
It's not really about age or anything it's a matter of relativity Chris. Why is Triumph's own specialist insurance DOUBLE the cheapest quote from Bennetts? Why is a £10,700 used Commander DOUBLE the premium for a new £11,700 Thunderbird? I know they talk about relative risks but as the bike has only been out a year do they really have figures that show it's twice as likely to get stolen or have an accident? The insurance industry is not exactly transparent. Perhaps it'll settle down over the next few years. The figures themselves were a bit of shock to a 61 year old with 40 years riding and no claims who was previously paying £81 fully comp for his America And as an aside ....... Look at the figures for comprehensive premiums. Why on earth are the TPFT premiums from Bennetts higher than their quotes for comprehensive (and I do love the near 10k premiums for TPFT)
Wife and I both insured again with Carole Nash. Bennetts offered the lowest quote but we liked the extras that come as part of Carole Nash like European breakdown and recovery. I've also heard good reports about the claims process compared to Bennetts. Also I told Carole Nash about all the extras I had fitted to the Tiger including an Arrow exhaust and the policy price actually came down by £5.00. They are also decent to deal with on the phone
The pricing of all sorts of insurance is really easy to understand - it's because they can !!!! Motor insurance is obligatory, this puts the ins companies in an enviable position of having a market in front of them which is obliged to buy one of their products. I was involved with these companies for many years and I can assure you that the premiums proposed have only a small component and logic and cost-base to them. The operating directors look at the market place and decide who has got money and who has not; so let's say they decide the market they want to approach is over 50, with quality expensive bikes such as Ducati/Triumph or BMW. These owners have money, they are in the socio-economic group A,B,C. Now that we know who we're after and what they ride we need to know where they live. We task our actuaries to evaluate the risk in our chosen market and they provide the figures. We the directors decide how much profit we want to make from this market sector (this is the largest portion of the eventual premium) and buy multiplying one with the other we get a given premium. We don't want 25yr olds for this product so we rule them out by quoting enormous premiums and if they are daft enough to pay - we're all off to the Bahamas next week-end!!!! Bottom line? Do your research, check carefully the details of what is being proposed (read the T &C's carefully) and then just buy what suits you. Yes someone else in apparently similar situation gets cheaper premiums but really the details do matter when it comes to insurance. Just to give you an example: if making a claim for theft of a car, the insurance company will look for evidence of the theft. The car has now been found. The company will inspect the car for evidence that the car was broken into. If it doesn't find any - because the thief used electronic methods to open the car and to drive it away - then they will refuse to pay !!!!! This is becoming more and more relevant with the latest cars having keyless entry and start features. This evidence varies from company to company so it's really important to understand under what conditions they are promising to pay.
Some good points there Dave. The concept of a high-end product (like the LT or Commander) attracting a higher premium than the standard 1600 when there's no real difference in performance is an interesting one. At the same time they companies can always claim the high end product is more likely to be stolen. It would be very interesting to actually see some figures about what bikes get stolen/crashed.
I've just insured through Swinton . Other quote were within £20/30 . I tried saga due to my age! , but some of the loading excesses were higher.
Interesting. I had to insure my Dad's house while it was empty and before we sold it. He was already insured with Swinton so I called them and got a quote for £160 for 3 months. I thought that was expensive but as I had to sort it out there and then and I had no access to the internet I accepted it. When it came up for renewal I hadn't bothered to check fort other quotes and accepted it again. When I got the paperwork through I thought they'd sent me the wrong documents as the figure on the policy from the underwriters was £90. When I queried this with Swintons they said the other £70 was made up of "standard charges". Really? Then to add insult to injury they called again to see if I was renewing the policy and when I told them we'd sold the house they wanted £50 to cancel it (there was about a week remaining). I said I'd think about it and left it at that.
