Insurance!?!
 

Hi all,

I am starting a Europe, Middle East and Africa trip from the UK in July. I am a British Citizen but I live in New Zealand and I only have an NZ bike licence. I need travel insurance that allows me to tour off road on bikes up to 750cc and I also need motorcycle insurance.

I have spent days, no weeks trawling through the web and the Yellow Pages and I've got nowhere - either i can't be insured for longer than 90 days (I'm going for at least 6 months), or I can't ride a big bike, and it seems impossible to get UK bike insurance when I don't live there and don't have a UK bike licence.

I am at a total loss! Is it best to get travel insurance from NZ or UK and can anyone suggest a good company? Also, what do I do about bike insurance from UK? Can I transfer my NZ bike licence onto my UK car licence?

So far this insurance business has been by far the biggest ball ache of my planning. I would be hugely grateful to anyone who could give me any clues about the best way to go. I will be on my way in a week so I'm running out of time.

Thanks in advance,

Butch :confused1:

Hi Butch

Have you tried John Baker Insurance, they do the insurance for Gareth Morgan

John Baker Insurance - Fire & General Insurance Brokers in New Zealand. KEEPING INSURANCE SIMPLE

Cheers

Thanks Hornet.

I tried John Baker, who don't do that sort of thing anymore and they referred me to Nick Baker at Star Underwriters. Nick quoted me a Vero policy of more than $1000...which is a tad over my budget.

I've been told that I may get cheaper insurance in the UK rather than in NZ, so I think I'll risk it and hang on until I'm there.

Thanks again,
Butch

£450/$1000 doesn't sound that bad to me. I live here (and have for the last 34 years, building up 14 years NCB in the process) and have been quoted more than that for a 790cc Bonneville. OK, I can get it down below the £150 mark by careful shopping but you really do need to jump through all their hoops. Insurance in the UK is garbage, I don't know about New Zealand, but if you can get a policy there I'd go for it. Take great care UK companies don't rip you off, there are so many ways they'll take your money and put in clauses that will make the papers useless, the online ones are worse for it.

Andy

Thanks Andy, I'll bear that in mind when I'm shopping around.

You do have to remember the strength of the pound against the kiwi dollar - $1000 maybe only 400GBP but that's a hell of a lot of money over here, and as for an insurance quote - it's outrageous! I pay $300 per year to insure my 3.2L V6 Bighorn fully comp with two extra drivers and they're asking me to pay almost four times that amount for travel insurance just because I want to ride a bike. Maybe I underestimated the cost, but it was still an unexpected shock!

I can get basic travel insurance here that covers me to ride bikes upto 250cc for about $400 for 12 months. I have found out that I cannot get TP,F&T cover here though because the bike needs to be NZ registered. I'm hoping that if I get both from a UK broker I may get some kind of discount.

Can you recomend any particular company, or are they pretty much the same?

Thanks again for your help.

Butch

Hi Butch - you won't be able to insure a foreign registered vehicle in the UK (I tried, and I'm British with a UK driving licence!)...

Your best bet is these guys:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...et-cheap-34822

For Green Card cover in all European (EU) countries.

I used Knopf Tours for my US registered bike, but ended up paying almost 3 times as much! Wish I'd known you could go direct...

xxx