UK insurance help

[RaisorR1200GS]

Good day all.

I'm facing an insurance deficulty and I need help.
I'm Greek, and I bought a bike in the UK from a felow traveler. The bike is registered in the UK. The problem is that I need to get insurance for this bike just for three months using my credit card through the internet. You see I live and work on a ship for the time and the time I go out in the UK (Dover)is not enough to go and insure the bike in person.
Can someone hook me with an insurance broker that can help me with that?
Thank you all for your help.
See you at the meeting.

[illustratedman]

Hi Raisor, im a uk resident, i think you may have some difficulty insuring the bike without a permanent uk address. If you could use the address the bike is registered to then try carolenash.com they include full european breakdown cover with most of their policies or ebikeinsurance.co.uk are cheap as well. If the bike does'nt have an M.O.T you will need to get one done to be legal and also tax.
You will need to show your M.O.T certificate, insurance and registration documents to tax the bike. Which you can do at most post offices.
Most motorcycle shops can do the M.O.T test for you if you havent got one but you will probably need to book it in advance.
Good luck

[RaisorR1200GS]

Thank you for the reply.
The bike is registered in the UK into the former's owner address.
I have get a few quote from some insurance companies but in order to get one for just three months I need to have a bank acount in UK.
They don't axept credit cards with the monthy payment packages.
Pay 500 BSP for an insurance I will use for just 2 months is weast of money don't you think? It must be an other way to do it.

[illustratedman]

Unfortunately insurance in the uk can be expensive Raisor. Most companies require proof that you havent made a claim, length of time you have held a licence etc. I should imagine they probably up the price for non uk residents as well. You could try to find a bike rental company to find out who they use for their insurance. I know uk residents who in the past have been quoted £1000 plus for a years insurance.

[Tigerboy]

Originally Posted by RaisorR1200GS

Thank you for the reply.
The bike is registered in the UK into the former's owner address.
I have get a few quote from some insurance companies but in order to get one for just three months I need to have a bank acount in UK.
They don't axept credit cards with the monthy payment packages.
Pay 500 BSP for an insurance I will use for just 2 months is weast of money don't you think? It must be an other way to do it.

Is it possible to simply get a longer term policy for 6 months - 1 year maybe, and then cancel it, getting a pro-rated refund on the unused portion?

Or is this really needed?

I'm not sure of your intention. Do you plan to export the bike back to Greece so that you can register it at home?

I'd have to think there would be a company set-up to insure these one-way trip cases, because that would be pretty common in the EU. Buy a vehicle in one country, and then register it in another.

What am I missing?

[illustratedman]

Probably not as common as you think in the uk tigerboy. For a start, with regards to cars we drive on the other side of the road to the rest of europe so our cars are right hand drive, we use mph on our speedometers, its kph on the continent, headlights dip the wrong way, Motorcycles here do not have a bhp limit imposed but in france for instance i believe they do, etc. There was an issue a few years ago with uk residents buying new vehicles abroad cheaper then importing the vehicle back to the uk, i believe most of these buyers employed an agency to do this for them due to the paperwork involved. It must be easier on mainland europe i would have thought but we are a bit more awkward in the uk unfortunately. It must be do'able but it's not common knowledge.:confused1: