Insuring an A2 bike in London as a 20 year old
Discussion
I've been riding on a CBT since October, commuting mainly but also the occasional weekend trip. I currently ride a CBF125 and hopefully by the time I come around to taking my tests I will have an A2 license and 1 years NCB.
Now here comes the problem, I cannot insure ANY A2 bike for less than £2500. This is with a locked garage in zone 6. I have quoted at least 20 or so bikes ranging from the V-Strom 250, CB300R and GS310 all the way up to the CBR500R, SV650, CB500F. I can count the number of insurers that offer me quotes at all on 1 hand and most of them are north of £5k.
I've tried maxing out the voluntary excess, all sorts of locks and security devices, different mileage, TP only, TPFT and fully comp, playing with my job title and nothing seems to work. The best quote I've had is £2566.
How does everyone else do it? Am I just s
t out of luck or is there some magic secret? I either wait until I'm older or move out of London, neither of which are really sensible solutions... I don't want something super sporty or mega fast, just something that will last me a couple of years that is actually capable of keeping up with traffic.
Now here comes the problem, I cannot insure ANY A2 bike for less than £2500. This is with a locked garage in zone 6. I have quoted at least 20 or so bikes ranging from the V-Strom 250, CB300R and GS310 all the way up to the CBR500R, SV650, CB500F. I can count the number of insurers that offer me quotes at all on 1 hand and most of them are north of £5k.
I've tried maxing out the voluntary excess, all sorts of locks and security devices, different mileage, TP only, TPFT and fully comp, playing with my job title and nothing seems to work. The best quote I've had is £2566.
How does everyone else do it? Am I just s
t out of luck or is there some magic secret? I either wait until I'm older or move out of London, neither of which are really sensible solutions... I don't want something super sporty or mega fast, just something that will last me a couple of years that is actually capable of keeping up with traffic.I think being 20 and living in London is your problem. You could always get the ncb on your cbf?
I insured a cbf125 for £41 per year because I'm an old man and don't live in a London postcode. I do live within an hour of Westminster and the bike lives in SW1 during the week.
Good luck.
I insured a cbf125 for £41 per year because I'm an old man and don't live in a London postcode. I do live within an hour of Westminster and the bike lives in SW1 during the week.
Good luck.
I suspect your age and lack of experience is the main issue, and the London thing will also exclude or drive up any prices you're offered. Perhaps a classic/undesirable bike might be better?
Ps. I'd also suggest that a 125 is enough to keep up with and stay ahead of traffic in the vast majority of London.
Ps. I'd also suggest that a 125 is enough to keep up with and stay ahead of traffic in the vast majority of London.
TheInternet said:
Ps. I'd also suggest that a 125 is enough to keep up with and stay ahead of traffic in the vast majority of London.
In London, yes but being in zone 6 if I take one step East I'm out of town where the extra power is appreciated. My commute also includes a short stretch of NSL dual carriageway which isn't fun particularly uphill. I also want to do some touring as I did the NC500 last year in the car and would like to do the same on a bike.anonymous said:
[redacted]
Haven't had much luck with this theory. Bikes I've tried have ranged from £1500-£4000. Older tends to be slightly cheaper but it needs to be ULEZ compliant so can't go back much further than 2007.Young age, absolute bare minimum of experience, and London postcode will mean that you're unlikely to get anything less than £1K on anything but a 125cc - it's been like this for anyone below 25 with a London postcode for a few years now but increasingly insurance companies won't even quote and those that do are getting higher and higher. Anyone else in your household ride a bike? sometimes having an old fart as a 2nd named rider can drop your costs a fraction.
Also, although it sounds silly, but try moving quotes from being in a garage to being kept on-street, when I lived closer to London doing this knocked a 3rd off my quotes - always wondered about how the maths on insurance works out!
Good luck!
EDIT -
Also, if you're East London it will likely be even worse as not only are you getting hooned for being a London postcode, but you're also likely close to the joys of Essex and their sub 500cc theft issues!
Also, although it sounds silly, but try moving quotes from being in a garage to being kept on-street, when I lived closer to London doing this knocked a 3rd off my quotes - always wondered about how the maths on insurance works out!
Good luck!
EDIT -
Also, if you're East London it will likely be even worse as not only are you getting hooned for being a London postcode, but you're also likely close to the joys of Essex and their sub 500cc theft issues!
Edited by DirtyHarley on Saturday 2nd May 20:14
Edited by DirtyHarley on Saturday 2nd May 20:16
Aaron702 said:
£1.9k which is the best quote I've had so far but it isn't really my kind of bike.
Have tried anything pre-1980? I'm guessing not your cup of tea and more difficult in some ways, but offset by no MOT/Tax/ULEZ, and almost no depreciation unless you bin it.And just for comparison, how much is your 125 insurance?
Your quote cost will come down when you actually have the A2 licence, at the moment the algorithms see you as a guy who wants to ride a bike he doesn't have the licence for - and they're betting you'll ride it anyway. I used to instruct in Central London and this was common amongst our pupils. Not that YOU would, of course...but that's not how insurance works.
Good luck with the test and see what it looks like on the other side. As a previous poster said, they'd rather have it parked on street outside your house than in a locked garage a few streets away.
Good luck with the test and see what it looks like on the other side. As a previous poster said, they'd rather have it parked on street outside your house than in a locked garage a few streets away.
Stuart Fordyce said:
Your quote cost will come down when you actually have the A2 licence, at the moment the algorithms see you as a guy who wants to ride a bike he doesn't have the licence for - and they're betting you'll ride it anyway. I used to instruct in Central London and this was common amongst our pupils. Not that YOU would, of course...but that's not how insurance works.
I'm not sure that's the case. I just ran two quotes, one with me ticking that I don't have a MC licence. Came back with just 2 quotes from hastings. The next one I ticked I had a MC licence and I got loads of (reasonable) quotes. I've had issues before with online quote systems not liking a mismatch between the DL and the policy address in the past but never them checking for the entitlement on the licence before quoting properly. In fact, thinking about it, when I took my policy out last month on my bike the first thing the insurer asked for was a check code from the DVLA to see my licence info.
TheInternet said:
Have tried anything pre-1980? I'm guessing not your cup of tea and more difficult in some ways, but offset by no MOT/Tax/ULEZ, and almost no depreciation unless you bin it.
And just for comparison, how much is your 125 insurance?
My 125 was £1200 to insure.And just for comparison, how much is your 125 insurance?
Stuart Fordyce said:
Your quote cost will come down when you actually have the A2 licence, at the moment the algorithms see you as a guy who wants to ride a bike he doesn't have the licence for - and they're betting you'll ride it anyway. I used to instruct in Central London and this was common amongst our pupils. Not that YOU would, of course...but that's not how insurance works.
Good luck with the test and see what it looks like on the other side. As a previous poster said, they'd rather have it parked on street outside your house than in a locked garage a few streets away.
I've been running the quotes saying that I already have the licence. It's also my own garage attached to the house rather than a rented lock up.Good luck with the test and see what it looks like on the other side. As a previous poster said, they'd rather have it parked on street outside your house than in a locked garage a few streets away.
I had similar problems, 10 years ago when i first started riding, I am sure it has got worse since. My solution involved moving out of london - not helpful for you.
I was a university student, and the proud owner of a 33bhp SV650 (worth £1500). It was insured in Southampton while I was at Uni, ~£200 (No NCB etc), having moved out of my student house I diligently went to insure it at my parents house (South London, CR2) £1200 was the best quote I got, which was unaffordable at the time. I had started a placement year in the midlands, and the company was putting me up in a hotel for the first month, so I insured the bike to the hotels address ~£200 until I had rented a house.
This meant I also had to register my driving license to the hotel, as the insurance company wanted to see that the address on my driving license matched the address I was trying to insure to.
I was a university student, and the proud owner of a 33bhp SV650 (worth £1500). It was insured in Southampton while I was at Uni, ~£200 (No NCB etc), having moved out of my student house I diligently went to insure it at my parents house (South London, CR2) £1200 was the best quote I got, which was unaffordable at the time. I had started a placement year in the midlands, and the company was putting me up in a hotel for the first month, so I insured the bike to the hotels address ~£200 until I had rented a house.
This meant I also had to register my driving license to the hotel, as the insurance company wanted to see that the address on my driving license matched the address I was trying to insure to.
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