Useful, helpful broker
 

Just a word for the UK based insurance broker shown below.
I have had excellent service from them over a number of years (for European breakdown cover), and you deal with humans by telephone - the latter are always polite and helpful and do not try to use "pressure sales" tactics.

Specialist Insurance from Graham Sykes|Buy Online

Their charges for mid-term alterations of policy details are reasonable (£10 last time I checked with them).
I have not had to make a claim at all via them, so I can't speak for that part.

A growing practice?
 

Making a mid-term change of a policy (actually at the 9 month point) with one of the large UK brokers and doing this by telephone, it was stated that there was no refund due for the bit of the policy that would no longer be in force and that no charge would be made for this service.
(the broker terms and conditions say that they could charge up to £50 for such adjustments).
The confirmation email with the new policy attached (it being a multi-bike policy it remains in overall force) shows that there is a refund due and that the charge for making the change of policy is exactly the same amount, to the penny, including appropriate statement of the taxation that is involved.
Funny that.

I suspect that this is becoming a growing, standard practice; I will shop around for yet another broker at next renewal and I see that the website for ebike is back in business with a new "skin" as their "front of house".
It may be that ebike are now semi-automated with some business such as quotes done over the internet and other aspects covered by call centres.

I have just cancelled my car insurance with Carole Nash due to selling it. (I have bike insurance with them also). £50 they charged me for the policy cancellation, bloody highway robbery, even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.
All I got back from them when I asked why are you charging me 50 quid to tap a few keys all I got back was its in the policy, Yes it is but still!
I have been with them for 15 years plus and now I will be looking for some else come September.
I understand and don't mind paying a fee but there is no need to kick the arse out of it

Wayne

When CN was a specialist broker for motorcycle insurance alone they had a decent reputation; then they expanded into general motor insurance and it is hard to see what differentiates them nowadays.
Now, they have gone into the "hard sell" tactics that I mentioned in here last June and the hard-nosed approach to cancellation of policies or parts thereof.

I was expecting a charge of upto £50 but the way it was expressed over the phone implied that there was no charge and no refund due; the subsequent "invoice" via email said otherwise, with both activated and one balancing the other.

My wife used to have the CN "6 wheel" policy which, as the name suggests, covers a bike and car on the one policy - hence removing one element (just as I did recently with my multi-bike policy) does not negate the insurance completely.

Its still a flaming rip off though, just to tap a few buttons on a computer and let the likes of DVLA know or so they told me, I asked them if someone was filling their Jag up and driving over to Swansea to tell DVLA. I don't think they appreciated the sarcasm

Wayne

It appears to be increasingly a minefield of short-termism attitudes on the part of the big-name brokers.

I tend to be cautious about reviews on internet sites wherein there is no clarity about who has been writing such reviews.
When there are 100s of similar reports then perhaps they carry more weight?
Here is CN for instance:-
Carole Nash Motorcycle Insurance www.carolenash.com Reviews at Review Centre

The other big names in that review centre don't do much better.
However, the reviewers frequently display complete ignorance about how insurance works in practice, failing to distinguish between middle-men brokers and the actual insurance company providing the cover.
Aftere that, there are the cases wherein claims are made and then the specialist claims companies and their lawyers become involved. :(:(

From the reviews in that web link, I was reminded that the original C Nash sold off the business a while ago - that would explain how and why the business ethos has changed (I had heard of this some years ago and then forgotten about it).
On this basis alone, I will look for a specialist broker next time around.

There is also this reminder about an important "small print" aspect - the "2 year rule" applies to all motor policies I think:-
"took out what I thought was a dual bike policy for both my modern every day rider and my vintage classic bike; when it came to renewal the price was excessive so I decided to go elsewhere.
When I asked for my proof of no claims discount I was informed that my policy was in fact a vintage policy and as such did not accrue any NCD.
Fortunately I still have a record of my NCD record from my previous insurer and given that two years have not elapsed have been able to retain the discount with my new insurer.
The warning is that if you use a Carole Nash two bike policy which includes a classic bike then after two years you will loose all your NCD; you will not be warned about this but will ultimately loose a lot of money and become trapped by Carole Nash who will be free to bump up your premium at their will"

By June 2015 their NCB system was working fine, just to be fair to ebike.

I got an email confirmation of NCB by return as soon as my policy expired (having requested it earlier by telephone call) and that was forwarded by me to CN who accepted it immediately.
I have wondered why these brokers can't do that bit between themselves if only because they appear to be in possession of any amount of data about us all on their computer databases.

New insurance policy
 

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/...=mailsignoutmd
Blameless drivers, because there won't be a human at the wheel.

Price comparison sites
 

I have recently had the renewal through from Bennetts for my Honda XR125 and due to an increase in premium for the first time I decided to try a comparison website. When I first entered my details I "accidently" misspelt my name but all other details were correct, the quote from Bennetts was 25% cheaper than my renewal for the same policy, after I corrected my name the Bennetts quote disappeared.
I phoned them and used the next cheapest to try and get a reduction down to their price but no go so I went to Swinton and got the same policy 25% cheaper, it pays to shop around.

Indeed, it pays to shop around. And to avoid Bennetts. IMHO they're biggest bunch of not very nice people, bar none.

I'm not sure that I should admit this, but I worked for Aviva in a previous life (pre-pension). Aviva's direct insurance - the stuff you get from online or call centre - is the vanilla flavour: a few bells and whistles to differentiate it, and targeted at a specific audience. And that audience may change according to where the company see they can make profit (the main reason a company remains viable). They also, deep in the bowels (analogies awaited) of the offices is a small team of people who underwrite "Schemes" insurance, aiming at niche markets and sold through intermediaries. The likelihood is that your friendly broker is privy to such schemes, and has access to proper insurance underwriters (I worked there for 22years and I don't recall meeting one!).

The point of this waffle is that you need to find a broker who can provide a personal service and has access to those shy little underwriters. It won't be cheap...

medical insurace for bikers
 

Hi all, just a quick note of my experiences today as a UK subject/ EU citizen looking for medical insurance on a Africa trip.

Navigator Travel and PJ Hayman, motorcycle rider specific health insurance, underwriter of both is 'Global Voyager'.

Global voyager quoted me £573 for silver level, 5 months cover. But will not honor a claim made from a country with a UK Foreign Office travel advisory. Eg Mauritania not covered. Tho policy remains valid in countries either side.

'Holiday Safe' appears to cover motorcycle riding specifically. 'Direct travel insurance' doesn't appear to exclude it. As with voyager, neither will cover countries with UKFO advisory.

Tourinsure.de, offer 3rd party motorcycle insurance throughout Africa !
quoted me £500 for five months......underwriter AXA. Also offers medical travel insurance only to German nationals depending on german government advice. German Nationals can currently claim medical expense in Mauritania...

AXA offer a short term international health plan (3 month min), does cover motorcycling and surfing, throughout Africa, including Mauritania. Quoted me £400 per quarter with an excess. However The handbook states, with specific regard to medical evacuation and repatriation, that if "the emergency occurs when you are on a leisure trip to a destination to which the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office either advises against all travel, or advises against all travel on holiday or non-essential business" it is excluded. So whether or not medical care is covered in-country remains to be seen !


Tangiers Group offers higher risk insurance, underwriters 'Osprey' based in Malta offer 'Battleface' policy. Doesn't exclude motorcycling. Excludes countries the insured individuals' 'home nations government has issued a notice to evacuate' . To Quote their representative;

"............ In this regard, kindly note that Battleface only excludes emergency medical expenses coverage in the eventuality of an evacuation which is specifically requested by one’s Country of Residence, whereby an Insured Person refuses to depart within 48 hours, after “home country has issued an evacuation order”.
That said, coverage is still operative when the FCO issues a negative travel advise, since this is one of the main purposes of Battleface policy..............."

Tokyomarine hcc group - Medical Insurance Services group, underwriter Patriot, a US company. Offer a policy which does not exclude motorcycle travel. And like osprey will offer cover in countries with a government travel advisory, up to an evacuation. The cover is only for accidentally incurred medical problems and not for the results of terrorism/political violence the gov advisory references. quotes $500 for 6months with some variables to play with.

A quick update
 

The thread has been around for a while now.


A quick update.
"Bikesure" charges for changing details of a policy were £44 last year - that's for each and every change that you might want to make to a policy.


"EBike" are back in business online - I have had quotes from them via their website and it appears to be working fine.


There is another UK broker on the block = "BeMoto".
Maybe worth a look (no charges for change of details to an existing policy).
However, if it becomes too big/popular, thereby soaking up the business of the call centre-based brokers, it will be bought out (just as happened with Carole Nash) and morph into yet another part of a call centre empire.

Cheapest VIN insurance
 

Anyone know the cheapest company to use when insuring a bike against the VIN number? I don't need the insurance to be for long (only long enough to register the bike in the UK). I have passed the MSVA and will have an MOT by that point but any quotes for VIN insurance have been mad high!

Thanks