Bennetts tripled my premium - anyone else?

[mikeyboy]

stop whining , i'm a self employed mechanic , my trade policy is , £2500 a year .

I’ve been self employed for nearly 25 years now,
I’ve never claimed in this time for anything.
When I started overland and classic the premium was £1500 ish.
This year it’s just over £4K
That’s £77 per week.
Add this to all the other costs and it’s just about getting to the point where the business isn’t tenable.
Private individuals have the option of shopping around.
Motor trade policies only have a few providers.
Pay up or fuck off.
2 more years I recon,I’ll have to change the business model drastically to earn a living.

 

[wessie]

When I renewed my policy last time the guy said that 2 or 3 companies had pulled out of the bike insurance market. If I recall Marker Study and Axa had stopped covering bikes. These were companies they used a lot as they were competitive. That coupled with the general rise in insurance means a lot of us are gonna get stuffed.

Axa certainly pulled out of the UK market. Markerstudy merged with Atalanta and consolidated underwriting under their Zenith brand. LV did similar, consolidating bikes via their Highway brand through brokers rather than selling direct to consumer.
I think the biggest brand to leave the UK market was when MCI's underwriter in Gibraltar went titsup. They were bottom feeders that allowed the snobbier brands to cherry pick the lower risks. Those snobby brands have decided to pull up the ladder rather than accept customers in those higher risk categories.

 

[wessie]

Seems I will not be able to own a bike costing over the arbitrary £20k threshold. Last year I moved to a house with no garage so I can't get an R1300GSA with a few packs added according to Confused. Keep it in poverty spec and the premium is a lovely £2200.
My current 2016 R1200RS costs me £80 a year to insure.

 

[R_otor]

When I renewed my policy last time the guy said that 2 or 3 companies had pulled out of the bike insurance market. If I recall Marker Study and Axa had stopped covering bikes. These were companies they used a lot as they were competitive. That coupled with the general rise in insurance means a lot of us are gonna get stuffed.

The funny thing is I don't want bike insurance on a GS. If it breaks I fix it. If I lose it I replace it. But to get just 3rd party now is outrageous.

 

[zoltan]

Last year I moved to a house with no garage
My current 2016 R1200RS costs me £80 a year to insure.

Rent one? Must work out cheaper, £80 a year on the RS? Wow....

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I’ve been self employed for nearly 25 years now,
I’ve never claimed in this time for anything.
When I started overland and classic the premium was £1500 ish.
This year it’s just over £4K
That’s £77 per week.
Add this to all the other costs and it’s just about getting to the point where the business isn’t tenable.
Private individuals have the option of shopping around.
Motor trade policies only have a few providers.
Pay up or fuck off.
2 more years I recon,I’ll have to change the business model drastically to earn a living.

My commercial insurances have doubled since Covid

 

[Northern jock]

I had a laugh last week. I had a multi bike policy with Carole Nash that cost £140 so phoned to add my new (to me) Honda Transalp. The woman on the phone said they wouldnt accept that bike. Then offered me a new policy for that bike for £550, just for it.

So, I phoned Carole Nash, picked the new customer option, explained the issue to a decent sounding lad who cancelled my old policy, no penalty, gave me a new one for all 3 bikes for £250. Same company, similar multi bike policy.

 

[longdog]

Twelve months ago, I bought a new Yamaha Tracer9 GT+, before this, I was insured with Bennett’s for my Yamaha Super Tenere for which I paid £186 for Fully Comp. When I bought the tracer9, Bennett’s told me that my current insurer would not insure me. I am 70, max No Claims, 3 points for doing 25mph in a 20mph area and I am an IAM member. No reason was given for the refusal, but Bennett’s said they could insure me with a different company for £434.96 which I accepted.
This morning, me renewal dropped through my letterbox and the robbing barstewards want £613.35! FFS!
Tomorrow, I start hunting for a more realistic quote or my bike goes and I’ll buy a classic or something like that!

 

[Pepsi]

And this why I’ve dwindled my bikes down to one, a little Husky FE 350 that does virtually everything my former GSA used to do albeit not in as much comfort.
It’s almost like there’s a Government conspiracy to encourage people to bin off their internal combustion engine modes of transport, but surely that’s not the case.
I wonder if anyone on here has an electric bike and what the insurance costs for it are. That could be an interesting debate.

 

[wessie]

I wonder if anyone on here has an electric bike and what the insurance costs for it are. That could be an interesting debate.

a mate has an Energica plus other bikes including a Moto Guzzi 1100.

he has had fun and games insuring these bikes and I think he has had to put the Energica electric one on a separate policy as they would not add it to the multi-bike policy.

 

[R_otor]

What annoys me is even if I want to take the risk of not having comprehensive cover, I still get whacked a princely sum just for 3rd party. It is around 2/3 to 3/4 of the comprehensive price, being in London its an outrageous sum still up to and over £1000 and higher pending the insurer.
I used to believe 3rd party was a mandatory government insurance scheme so that part of the policy is regulated in the amount the private insurers can extort from charge you?

 

[longdog]

Well, I used Go Compare and it threw up plenty of much less expensive insurance deals on a like-for-like basis. After a few phone calls, I went with Bikesure and did the deal for £199, just £434 less than Bennett’s and Carole Nash, etc. You can buy a lot of petrol with £434 !!!

 

[Northern jock]

I had a laugh last week. I had a multi bike policy with Carole Nash that cost £140 so phoned to add my new (to me) Honda Transalp. The woman on the phone said they wouldnt accept that bike. Then offered me a new policy for that bike for £550, just for it.

So, I phoned Carole Nash, picked the new customer option, explained the issue to a decent sounding lad who cancelled my old policy, no penalty, gave me a new one for all 3 bikes for £250. Same company, similar multi bike policy.

One year on and the renewal came in for three bikes, £280 but a clause said that the garage had to be stone built. I phoned and said it is made of wood and after 90 minutes they concluded that they couldn’t insure me because of that.
So I went to Bennett’s and they don’t seem to mind a wooden garage so I’m with them, for £280.