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The chances are that even if you have bought your bike second hand, the outlay for your new motorbike has used most of your saving! Add to this that you need to pay for the best possible protection: helmet, leathers and gloves, leaves you little for the other essential protection: motorbike insurance! So is it possible to get as much protection as you can for the minimum outlay? Here are a few handy tips that might help you to get a better deal:

 

• If you also have a car, or someone else in the household has a car, approach the car’s insurer in the first instance. You may find it easier to cut a deal on your motorbike insurance if you or someone else in the household is already a customer with the insurance company. This also of course applies if someone else in the household has a motorbike.

 

• Similarly, if you belong, or are joining a motorbike club, check with other members as you may be entitled to a club or group discount if you insure your bike with the same company other members use!

 

• If you’re a ‘fair weather’ rider, request ‘lay up insurance’ so that when your bike is wintering in the garage, you don’t have to pay for the extra cover that’s needed whilst riding, although of course you should still ensure that the comprehensive cover is kept active, in case disaster befalls your hibernating motorbike!

 

• Similarly, keeping your motorbike in a garage or secure outbuilding will help to reduce the premiums – as with cars, insurance costs more if the vehicle is kept on the street. Remember postcodes too! My brother-in-law keeps his motorcycle in my mother’s garage because she has a ‘better’ postcode and this has cut his premiums down significantly!

 

• Use comparison websites so that you have the best possible idea of what the costs will be before committing yourself to the purchase. In this way, if you find the insurance costs to be prohibitive, you can readjust your thinking and maybe identify an alternative model that would be cheaper to insure, because ....

 

• If you don’t have the need for speed or features, then consider whether a sports bike, or superbike is really for you, as these models will really push up the insurance costs. If you’re buying the motorbike as a traffic hopper to get you through heavy traffic easily, then a cruiser-type model will serve you just as well and the premiums will be considerably less expensive.

 

Lastly, do shop around and check with individual companies about different rates for method of payment, as some motorbike insurance company’s offer discounts if you pay the whole premium at once, rather than setting up a direct debit.