Bike Insurance

[James]

Originally Posted by cooleronthecoast

Don't forget guys and gals, another factor in this insurance lark is how much excess are you having to pay if the worse happens and you do have to make a claim. Obviously the higher the inital excess then the cheaper the policy should be in the first place but does it actually work like that. Then there's the post code lottery, you might expect to pay more in central London than in the wilds of Northumberland but again is that true in practice??

I've certainly found that living out in the wilds of Oxfordshire keep my premiums down compared to friends living in more built-up areas - agree on the excess point too. The more you're prepared to front up the less the risk to the insurance co.

[Paivi]

Well, looks like ebike again this year for the gecko. Not many companies do multibike non-garage insurances for Londoners. An ungaraged Ducati was a no-no for all but Norwich Union, but then they hit me with a steep excess and premium.

Most insurance companies don't even have the 695 in their books, and the bike is 9m old! Get with the program, guys! Ebike put it on their system as soon as I told them I want insurance on it.

Got my Ebike renewal notice at £500 fully comp, called Bennetts (£1,300) who duly told me just to take the Ebike one, as nobody's going to beat it, then had this confirmed by Carole Nash, who could get only Norwich Union to give me a quote but at almost £700 with extra £100 per bike for excess, no deal.

I can still see a ghost claim on my policy details, but at least it's now been changed to no-fault, costs recovered, but still, can't understand how bloody difficult it is to delete this! Hopefully that will knock the premium down another notch.

Still, I suppose £500 isn't too bad for the worst post code in the country (for insurance purposes), two bikes parked on the road, so at any time, at least one is asking to be nicked.

[cooleronthecoast]

Ebike currently have my business too, but it won't stop me looking around for a better deal when renewal time comes round again.

[TinTin]

Can I ask you guys a question? When insurers ask you whether your bike has "modifications", do you tell them about Termis or not? I think the end cans alone are not performance enhancing, but they're still not road legal. So what do people generally say if they only have the end cans? What about the whole exhaust system?

Cheers

[NedLudd]

I think the short answer is that if you want to stay legal you should declare everything, so they're in the know. They might not charge more, or they might charge only a little (or they might charge a lot, and you can walk away next time), but the bottom line is that if you make a claim and they *then* discover any mod they'll refuse to pay out. It's not worth that risk.

Even if you were thinking that in the event of a claim which required an assessor you could stick the stock pipes back on (which is I think what some people think)... what if eg someone else involved had already taken pictures, or eg you were lying in hospital and couldn't do that, or eg the police had impounded it etc etc.

Moreover, if things like Termis are declared they are of course themselves actually then covered. Which is good.

[Laz]

Do Termi's come as standard on any bike ie SP?? I bought an old SP now to my knowledge they (carbon termis) are standard pipes on a SP/SPS or am i full of sh1t?
As i bought the bike that way how would i know to tell ins co, is what i mean!?

I have no idea if its chipped or not!?

[TinTin]

If you have termis then you'll also have a chip, that's needed for the correct air/fuel mix. A friend of mine once tried to stick termis on without a chip and it sounded like chittychittybangbang

But the guy should have given you the original pipes, which he probably sold. In any case there are not the standard pipes. the good thing about termis is that in case of an accident it is a standard ducati part and therefore insurance companies have to pay for it. but i agree, if they find out you have them they might not pay at all.