Insurance Group effect question.

[Haroldsenior]

I know what we pay has many elements to consider: Age (in my case a problem!) history, driving record, the bike we ride etc. etc. But does anyone know, provided none of the personal elements referred to have changed, what the effect is of simply changing to a bike that carries a higher group No.?
I do intend to ask my Ins. Co. next week but the Forum's experience may be useful. For example: The GS LC is classified as 13 out of 17 (the max) but an S1000R is 17. Could it be as simple as a percentage?

Many thanks

 

[RevvingRev]

It's all a massively complicated matrix. So unfortunately not as simple as a percentage.

Different insurers will also weight various factors differently (including the group of the bike) so depending on your insurer may make a huge difference or not at all.

As an example I recently changed from a Honda NC700X (group 8 I think) to an R1200 GS. My existing insurer wanted to more than double my premium. I cancelled the policy and moved to another insurer for only about £60 more.

Hope that helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JKW]

The short answers are 'It depends' and 'No'...now, trying to be more helpful...

The only 'certainty' is that a Grp 17 bike will not cost less than a Grp 14 bike all other risk factors being equal. All risk factors are used in the calculation of the base premium (before No Claims Discount is applied and extra cover and IPT are added), the weight each factor is given in the calculation is specified by the underwriters who designed the product/policy. For most 'normal' (i.e. not classic bike or custom policies) bike insurance products the highest rated factors are cc, £-value, age of rider, length licence held/experience, repair costs and postcode. As Ins Grp is frequently proportionate to £-value, then Ins Grp also ranks high but whether it is equally weighted in the calculation is a bit of a moot point - depends on the product spec.

Typically (although I don't have access to the ABI lists at present), as with cars, two bikes with the same £-value but of different styles will have different Ins Grps - rule of thumb, the faster it is designed to go, and the more appeal it has to 'speed freaks' the higher the Ins Grp.

 

[cookie]

Is there a list of bikes and their group anywhere public?

 

[JKW]

Is there a list of bikes and their group anywhere public?

Not that I am aware of, but you can check the rating of a single vehicle on the Thatcham website - which also explains Grouping more coherently than I did - http://www.thatcham.org/what-we-do/group-rating

 

[cookie]

Not that I am aware of, but you can check the rating of a single vehicle on the Thatcham website - which also explains Grouping more coherently than I did - http://www.thatcham.org/what-we-do/group-rating

seems to be cars and LCV only

 

[JKW]

seems to be cars and LCV only

So it does...sorry, just assumed

Also, am a bit out of the loop having not worked in this area for a while...but I've just realised/remembered that one of the issues we used to have was that, whilst there is a standard, industry-wide Insurance Group listing for cars, the same was not true for bikes so each company developed its own groupings further complicating the picture. Given that the Thatcham site doesn't list bikes, this is probably still the case. This also means that each insurer would have to update their bike list and groups each time a new model is released whereas with cars it all happens pretty much automatically...which probably goes some way to explaining why so many people have had issues getting cover for new bike models.

 

[cookie]

So it does...sorry, just assumed

Also, am a bit out of the loop having not worked in this area for a while...but I've just realised/remembered that one of the issues we used to have was that, whilst there is a standard, industry-wide Insurance Group listing for cars, the same was not true for bikes so each company developed its own groupings further complicating the picture. Given that the Thatcham site doesn't list bikes, this is probably still the case. This also means that each insurer would have to update their bike list and groups each time a new model is released whereas with cars it all happens pretty much automatically...which probably goes some way to explaining why so many people have had issues getting cover for new bike models.

i did a bit of research and that does seem to be the case - each insurer creates their own group system, which they keep to themselves.

 

[Haroldsenior]

Thank you for your input and information to my original question, all of which confirms that bike insurance is no exact science. In my case, I rang my provider but had to quote a specific machine to which I wanted to change as it is not just the theoretical Group No. that matters. So I said the change was from my 2013 GS LC to a 2014 S1000R.
For the remainder of the existing cover (until the end of Aug) it would have cost an extra £350 on the original premium of £680. That basic figure is mostly loaded due to my age. which also presents a problem with BMW dealers when I ask for a test ride only to find that I exceed their Ins. upper limit. To be told I don't look it is no consolation!!
Thanks again