Insurance costs

[MILLE_RIDER]

My neighbour was just telling me that his son in law was considering buying a Chinese bike (he couldn't remember which one but it was a 650) but the insurance quotes he was getting were three times what he currently paid on his ZZR1400. He reckons Chinese bikes are getting written off after even a small prang because of spare part costs/availability. What is the experience of those here that have bought a Chinese bike?

 

[Wapping]

What is the experience of those here that have bought a Chinese bike…..…. And actually had a real live claim?

or you’ll get lots of posts with bods telling you what great bikes they have bought.

 

[MILLE_RIDER]

Same issue with the newer Chinese car brands that have recently started arriving apparently

 

[Neil W]

My neighbour was just telling me that his son in law was considering buying a Chinese bike (he couldn't remember which one but it was a 650) but the insurance quotes he was getting were three times what he currently paid on his ZZR1400. He reckons Chinese bikes are getting written off after even a small prang because of spare part costs/availability. What is the experience of those here that have bought a Chinese bike?

Not a bike but when my car was recently in for body repairs they were saying that getting parts to repair Chinese cars was an utter pain, 25 plate cars with very limited availability of spare parts and sitting around for months .
Cannot see the bikes being much different

 

[richardgore]

Some years ago I was involved in looking to import Chinese bikes into the UK. I was also, peripherally, involved in importing air conditioning units and electronic gizmos. In each case the Chinese weren't interested in providing spares - they didn't have the mindset or even incentive to sort and ship component parts when sending whole units was more efficient (for them) and more cost effective (for them). Their answer was for you to order 10% more of whatever whole units you were buying and use those for spares. That's fine when only a few parts go wrong but when it's a continued failure of one or two specific parts you soon run out and have to restock from China. We gave up because we couldn't guarantee either the supply chain or warranty repairs.

 

[MILLE_RIDER]

I guess it's the costs saved in not providing a good spares backup that part explains why the bikes/cars are cheaper than the opposition. As long as you can supply regularly used parts such as oil filters most customers will be happy enough, it's when they have a prang and need bodywork etc that issues become apparent

 

[er-minio]

but the insurance quotes he was getting were three times what he currently paid on his ZZR1400

Wild guess: but your neighbour and his son in law probably have a significant age discrepancy and risk profile, and that also goes into play with the premium, possibly even more than the bike type/model/brand itself.
Very hard to say.

 

[MILLE_RIDER]

Wild guess: but your neighbour and his son in law probably have a significant age discrepancy and risk profile, and that also goes into play with the premium, possibly even more than the bike type/model/brand itself.
Very hard to say.

No, neighbour doesn't have a bike at the moment, both cases were his SIL,

 

[er-minio]

Oh, sorry, misunderstood!

Might not even be repairs, just generic "high risk". I have a multi-bike policy, and the problematic one is my 2007 GSA that is valued at about 3k and, despite paying about 1.3k in premium each year, the insurance treats it like a block of solid gold.

If it breaks (not that I'd claim) -> written off by insurance
If it gets damaged in an accident -> written off by insurance
If it gets stolen -> between the excess and the "adjustments" from the insurer (bike is self serviced, etc.) I will probably get back 0gbp.

But still: "it's a high risk bike, sir"

 

[Engineer]

Chinese bikes are cheap for 2 reasons (i) lower wage costs (ii) they are throw away items.