London theft insurance - impossible?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Pmc said:
i am not willing to pay thousands to insure my bike
Click to expand...

Then, at least for now and unless you can find a suitable place to garage the bike, you are maybe stuffed. Or you can lie to your insurer. Or you can just ride around uninsured. The great thing about the latter idea is that you can also do away with the need for an MOT and get yourself a fake number plate. As regards the plate, chose one by walking around a few bike bays or popular biker hang-outs. Find a bike that is broadly similar to yours and the job’s a carrot.
 
Wapping said:
Then, at least for now and unless you can find a suitable place to garage the bike, you are maybe stuffed. Or you can lie to your insurer. Or you can just ride around uninsured. The great thing about the latter idea is that you can also do away with the need for an MOT and get yourself a fake number plate. As regards the plate, chose one by walking around a few bike bays or popular biker hang-outs. Find a bike that is broadly similar to yours and the job’s a carrot.
Click to expand...

there is something to be said for that. in 20 years of riding in/around london i have never been stopped once by police. it's all ANPR these days anyway
 
Buy some decent luggage for the Africa Twin, clear out the savings/sell wife and just fuck off around the world, I reckon it would be easier than getting insurance in London.....Ultimately more rewarding and probably less dangerous.
 
I thought it needed to be a secure building (whatever that means) that only you had the keys to.
 
Mr Bean said:
The lock-up that's just 100m from my home didn't reduce the premium for me. The garage had to be on my property.

The lock-up also cost £1,200 per year, so no great saving.
Click to expand...


My lock-up is walking distance from where I live (300/400 yards).

My insurance premium went down from 2.5/2.8k a year to about 800 for two bikes.
Considering the rent I pay for the garage, we are about there...

I use the lock-up to store other stuff as well as the bikes, I can do some little work in it, so the rental cost makes more sense than just paying it in insurance.
Also, as I said above, the last couple of years I really had to fight to get the bikes insured. ;)

The only "problem" I have now is that, if I park the bike at home for, say, a couple of hours because I need it again... and it gets nicked from the parking space of my building... it's still within 500 metres from the garage (I think) and technically not covered.
I seldom leave it outside, and never overnight of course. I think I'll live.
 
looking on another forum i have come across this:

MCE insurance definition of "garage"

A locked structure for housing motor vehicles constructed of brick, concrete, steel or stone which is your
private property.

It is NOT:
A rented or owned space in a shared car park
A parking area in/under flats
Any form of locked compound
Any building not built for housing motor vehicles such as a home or a workplace



Devitt definition:

“a garage refers to a lockable brick built / concrete sectional garage, which is at the home address. This does not include wooden structures e.g. sheds or any garage which is not at the home address. Any off-road parking other than "on a private driveway" or "in a locked garage" should be entered as "on the road."
 
er-minio is very probably right. The questions that underwriters are asking are (except maybe for the very basic search engines and comparison sites) becoming much more detailed as regards garaging and other bits of the finer details of motorcycling life

The truth is motorbikes are becoming all but uninsurable for the majority of London addresses, particularly if they are not garaged. A tracker is becoming all but obligatory. The reasons?

A. The premiums charged previously were on the suicidal end of low, as brokers and underwriters (encouraged by their customers, too) chased market share in a race to the bottom

B. The theft and crash occurrences ballooned, claims rocketed

B outweighed A, until the bubble burst..... with the inevitable consequences for people seeking insurance.

The condition will eventually right itself, which is the joy of a free market. At what level the premiums / terms then settle at is another matter entirely. Until then, shop around hard by making an effort. There are no instant short cuts, trust me on that.
 
After my GS was stolen last year from our ‘secure’ car park I bought an old FZ1 in the hope it will be less desirable to thieves.

Bike cost 3k insurance is about £500 fully comp. Not been nicked so far.
 
Given the GS is so popular with thieves...what happens to them all? Are they stripped for parts? They don't strike me as the kind of bike scrotes would nick, ride around, then dump somewhere
 
How would an F1 Team interpret this definition: “a garage refers to a lockable brick built / concrete sectional garage, which is at the home address“

Front wall is brick
Thin concrete post in each corner
Thin concrete connecting beam to square off at the top
...another thin concrete beam between the wall and the top ( maybe just a foot above the wall, that’s your sectional side )
Metal gate that has a lock on it
Might be full of gaps and look more like a 4 poster bed but the description does not say your garage has to be airtight

The Brucie Bonus is the Garage is now part of your house with a door into the house - If you catch people trying to steal your bike you can say the villains are inside your property when you dial 999 :D
 
Pmc said:
Given the GS is so popular with thieves...what happens to them all? Are they stripped for parts? They don't strike me as the kind of bike scrotes would nick, ride around, then dump somewhere
Click to expand...

parts of the world where GS bikes are popular but there is no ready supply of spare parts - there have been numerous reports of police finding shipping containers ar places like Felixatoe, full of bikes and cars heading for Africa, Asia or S America.
 
Pmc said:
it's too expensive to move (£20k+ in taxes/fees etc). plus missus works in town and commute by train not an option
Click to expand...

Well, it's always an option - just one that she doesn't seem to prefer yet. You need to get her priorities sorted out!
 
yep, i think she will love paying £8,000 a year for a season ticket, and waiting on cold platforms for delayed trains, just so i can have a garage
 
Yes insurance in London is a right PITA. But life is full of choices and you’ve made your choices, but you don’t seem to accept them so you seem prepared to consider an illicit solution?

I think that if I were planning to commit an offence of fraud against an insurance company with huge resources, theses are the things that I would definitely do.

1. pop up my plans on a public forum for bikermates to discuss, with fully traceable records on my home computer/phone.
2. just to be sure that the advice was accurate, I would state which make and model of bike I was going to use in the plan
3. I’d pretend that I had access to a garage even though I can’t fit one within my boundary
4. I’d make sure that I didn’t have any official garage rental paperwork or records or details of the owner.
5. I’d ensure that I didn’t have regular rental payments showing in my bank account
and then...the icing on the cake....
6. I’d post a picture of my house so that there would be no doubt

What do you think are the chances of me succeeding with my plan..

Forget about fraud, you don’t even have to do it, just plan with others on how to do it and then ...

well, how about a charge of conspiracy.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Theft
Replies
2
Views
435
botus
Theft and replacement
2
Replies
32
Views
1,793
Neil W
Neil W
Insurance Question
Replies
11
Views
1,357
Tommy Gunn
Tommy Gunn
Rugged Path
Fuel pressure regulator rail system.
Replies
19
Views
964
Ian J Hartley
Ian J Hartley
EVskij
New KTM 990 SMT, 650 & 390 Adventure Bikes.
Replies
6
Views
668
Belco100


Back
Top Bottom