Seeing as you can’t add 20 years to your life to get cheaper motorbike insurance, what can you do to get your premiums down?

Assuming you are not going to move home or become a vicar just to get cheaper bike insurance, there are quite a few ways to keep your insurance premium this side of horrific. Most are just plain old common sense but there are a few tricks too.

Protect against theft

There’s a motorcycle crime epidemic going on. OK, it might apply more to the big cities but there are still blokes in white Transits trawling smaller towns and villages.

- Fit a Thatcham-approved alarm.
- Get decent lock and chains.
- Fit a GPS tracker
- Think about where the bike is stored. For the sake of a five-minute walk, using a lockup will reduce your premiums considerably compared to parking on the street or even in your front garden. And it’s safer.

Little tricks

These mean paying out for a policy or club membership but they go towards getting a high premium down

- Use the excess protection policy technique to get your premium down.
- Mirror an existing policy.
- Join a motorcycling organisation like the BMA or MAG.

Never auto-renew

Never let your insurance auto renew and always shop around every year. Don’t forget to stick those fucking meerkats on eBay, it amounts to a fifteen quid cash back.

Pay up front

Pay the whole year’s insurance in one go, it’s cheaper than paying monthly. Always check the insurer or broker’s APR - we’ve seen it as high as 38%… It would be cheaper to use a credit card in that instance, or better still, get a one-year bank loan.

 

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Shop around

Shouldn’t need saying really, but it’s surprising how many don’t. Don’t just use comparison engines, and get at least three quotes that you can play off against each other. The more time you spend on it, the more you can potentially save.

If you have more than one bike, like me, multi-bike policies can sometimes be cheaper but using mirroring and other techniques, you might find it’s cheaper to have separate policies.

With a bit more effort

You can reduce your premiums by getting some advanced rider training certification from;

- The jolly old government http://www.gov.uk/enhanced-rider-scheme/overview
- Famous killjoys at ROSPA http://www.roadar.org.uk/riders/
- The BMF http://www.bmf.co.uk/advice/training-advice/
- The Institute of Advanced Motoring http://www.iamroadsmart.com/courses/advanced-rider-course

If that sounds like something that only the most boring old farts would do then ask yourself how does one become a boring old fart? By not getting killed making stupid mistakes on the road is the answer. If you think you’re too smart to need additional training then do it for the potential reduction in insurance. You never know, you might learn something as well.

Don’t claim

Don’t have any accidents or make any claims. It goes against the grain but if you have a minor accident sometimes the cost in increased premiums next year might be more than the cost of just fixing the damage out of your own pocket. That’s difficult to swallow but sometimes true.

You might also consider paying slightly more to get Protected No Claims cover. Your No Claims Discount is one of the most significant elements of your premium.

Keep all your insurance paperwork so you can prove you have the no claims in future.

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Have the right job description

Use this tool to see if you can (honestly) tweak your job title to get the premium down. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/car-insurance-job-picker/

How to have really high insurance

Be young, be a student or unemployed. Have zero no claims bonus. Have an accident or have your bike stolen and make a claim. If that’s the position you’re in then I feel for you. But suck it up, LIFE’S NOT FAIR. Crippling financial hardship and misery is character forming and is all part of growing up.

Other things you can do to make yourself suffer are to:

- Have a big modified, imported bike.
- Have a heavily modified bike, period.
- Lose all your paperwork from last year so you can’t prove you have any no claims bonus. Have loads of accidents and make loads of claims.
- Build up some no claims bonus then don’t have a bike for a couple of years so you go back to having zero no claims bonus.
- Put someone else on your insurance who then has an accident that was their fault. That will count against you and lose you your no claims. That’s what friends are for right?

And always remember this…

“Listen and understand, insurance companies are out there. They can’t be bargained with. They can’t be reasoned with. They don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are flat broke.” Kyle Reese, probably.

More articles on reducing your insurance costs: http://bikerandbike.co.uk/category/insurance-advice/

 

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