Insurance for Absolute Beginners

Yes, you do have to insure your motorcycle. Not only does it protect you against losing everything if things go wrong, you’re breaking the law if you don’t.  But you can keep the costs down and make insurance work for you.

What kind of policy do you need? Third party only is the minimum legal cover, and means you’re insured against any damage or injury you cause to somebody else. Or you can opt for “third party, fire and theft”, which means you’ll also be able to claim if your scooter or motorbike is stolen or damaged by fire.

If you also want to be covered for damage to your motorcycle if you drop it, for example, you need to go for fully comprehensive cover. The exact limits of what you can claim will vary, so you need to check the details before you sign up for a particular policy.

You’ll have to give all sorts of details to get a quote, including your age, occupation, address, what motorcycle you want to insure and what you plan to use the motorcycle for. It helps if you can give the actual registration of the vehicle you want to insure. The insurance company is trying to calculate how much of a risk you are – how likely it is that you’ll be making a claim.

You should be offered a number of options, for example accepting a bigger excess (the amount you will have to pay yourself if you make a claim) or including cover for your helmet and leathers.

Always compare quotes before agreeing to a policy, and don’t forget to check what’s included. One insurer might be quoting £20 more, but if their policy includes breakdown recovery you’re effectively saving money as you wouldn’t get that separately for £20.

Most insurance brokers will let you pay in instalments, to spread the cost over a few months or the whole year. Once you’ve been riding for a few years your premiums should come down thanks to your no-claims bonus (assuming you don’t have to make a claim, of course!) and it’ll be cheaper to insure a bigger motorbike. To get an idea of how expensive a motorcycle will be to insure, look for the insurance group. The lower the number, the cheaper the insurance premiums.

There are a number of ways you can keep the costs of insurance down, but don’t be tempted to tell lies to cut your payments. If you make a claim and the insurance company discovers you don’t in fact live at your grandma’s home in the country, keep your scooter locked in her stone garage, and use it only at weekends to ride 100 miles a year, they won’t pay out. And then you really would have wasted your money!