Short term bike insurance for non-UK licence holder

meintjiesj

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Brother is coming to visit later in the year and we planning a week bike trip, he will be using one of my bikes. Anyone know of any insurance companies that will cover him for three weeks. He has a South African motorcycle since and one several motorcycles.
 
A topic that comes up quite regularly.

Can we assume that you have spoken to your own insurer / broker about adding the fellow to your policy? If so, what was their answer?

Would it not be easier for the chap to hire a motorcycle, the insurance for which will be included within the package?
 
Problem of putting someone on your insurance as a named rider are the ramifications of them having an accident , potentional loss of no claims or getting hammered with increased premiums because their incident statistically makes you a greater risk.

Not worth the risk, hiring makes more sense
 
Brother is coming to visit later in the year and we planning a week bike trip, he will be using one of my bikes. Anyone know of any insurance companies that will cover him for three weeks. He has a South African motorcycle since and one several motorcycles.

strictly speaking you need to be a UK resident in order to obtain UK insurance,
Most insurance companies will not let you insure a vehicle you don't own, and is not at least registered to you
You cannot insure anything unless you have an insurable interest in it.
Most insurance companies will not allow two polices for the same vehicle although it is not against any law they dont like it as sorting out the percentage of liability becomes an issue in event of a claim.
 
I am not sure that this question has ever been answered properly on UKGSer, which is surprising give that it has cropped up several times before.

Hiring is easiest, as it solves the problem from the start. It’s arguably not the cheapest solution, nor does it address a probable promise of: “Don’t do it mate, I’ll lend you a bike”.

Attaching the guest to the owner’s policy might work, though many insurers are (understandably perhaps) only geared up to accept UK licence holders with a permanent UK address. What though this doesn’t address is the possible buggeration factor, should the friend smash the bike up, particularly if the friend only has third party cover. This is made worse if the friend says, “Sorry mate, I have got to get back to SA. I’ll sort it out when I’m back…..”. Not least, any claim under the policy might well go on to bite the owner in the future.

If the OP is insisting on lending the fellow a bike, I might suggest he looks to the brokers (mostly abroad) who seem to specialise in insuring foreigners to ride in the UK, to see what they might be able to do.

Me? Get the bod to hire a bike.
 
I am not sure that this question has ever been answered properly on UKGSer, which is surprising give that it has cropped up several times before.

Hiring is easiest, as it solves the problem from the start. It’s arguably not the cheapest solution, nor does it address a probable promise of: “Don’t do it mate, I’ll lend you a bike”.

Attaching the guest to the owner’s policy might work, though many insurers are (understandably perhaps) only geared up to accept UK licence holders with a permanent UK address. What though this doesn’t address is the possible buggeration factor, should the friend smash the bike up, particularly if the friend only has third party cover. This is made worse if the friend says, “Sorry mate, I have got to get back to SA. I’ll sort it out when I’m back…..”. Not least, any claim under the policy might well go on to bite the owner in the future.

If the OP is insisting on lending the fellow a bike, I might suggest he looks to the brokers (mostly abroad) who seem to specialise in insuring foreigners to ride in the UK, to see what they might be able to do.

Me? Get the bod to hire a bike.

Seems the issue is not foreign licence but the UK residency. You can even insure a bike without a licence. Will continue my search, Bikesure would have done it two years ago before Covid came along and postponed the visit but don't want to do it anymore. Wonder how rental companies do it.
 
Wonder how rental companies do it.

They have a motor policy, suitable for them as a business, in the same way that a motor trader does or when you borrow a bike for a test ride. Their premiums will, presumably, not be the £100 for a year that you read about on these pages but that doesn’t matter as they they can pass the cost on to their customers.

I am sure that it’s not the foreign licence that is the main problem, not least as lots of bods living in London on a temporary basis (but long enough to have a permanent address) buy UK motor insurance without too much problem. The problem comes in that most run-of-the-mill insurance providers are only set up to deal with simple tickbox customers, British licences on a British registered bike with a permanent UK address. There is no real demand for them to do anything but.

If you do hit on a solution, let the forum know, as I don’t recall it ever being answered successfully. One company you might try to approach is Equity Red Star, who, as a Lloyd’s syndicate might be more flexible. That’s just a wild guess though. Similarly, Axa, used to be quite helpful, I think out of an office in Milton Keynes.
 
Same issue here. My friend is visiting from Australia of up to 6 months. He was born here and is a British citizen , and he has a bike here, registered in his name at my address. So far none of the brokers we've tried (the usual Carole Nash, Mackenzie Hodgson, BeMoto etc. ) will insure. I also want ti insure him on some of my bikes/cars too.

Hiring isn't an option as we have spare vehicles, and his bike is KTM 690 kitted our for doing the TET here in the UK and Europe.

So far the same to report as meintjiesi, they don't really care that he has an Aus licence, more hat he's not resident - but it can't be that unusual for visitors here to need to insure a vehicle.

Any further ideas from anyone?
 
They have a motor policy, suitable for them as a business, in the same way that a motor trader does or when you borrow a bike for a test ride. Their premiums will, presumably, not be the £100 for a year that you read about on these pages but that doesn’t matter as they they can pass the cost on to their customers.

I am sure that it’s not the foreign licence that is the main problem, not least as lots of bods living in London on a temporary basis (but long enough to have a permanent address) buy UK motor insurance without too much problem. The problem comes in that most run-of-the-mill insurance providers are only set up to deal with simple tickbox customers, British licences on a British registered bike with a permanent UK address. There is no real demand for them to do anything but.

If you do hit on a solution, let the forum know, as I don’t recall it ever being answered successfully. One company you might try to approach is Equity Red Star, who, as a Lloyd’s syndicate might be more flexible. That’s just a wild guess though. Similarly, Axa, used to be quite helpful, I think out of an office in Milton Keynes.

SORTED, contact lee.dyer@adrianflux.co.uk or harry.garwood@adrianflux.co.uk via email and they will get someone to call you back and discuss requirements. Got a quote for fully comp for 7 days for a 50 yr old male with 7 years licence and 4 yrs on a Harley 1200 cc for £280. Not cheap but beats renting and more pocket money to buy seafood and wash it down with single malts. And it is a separate insurance so will not impact yours I presume.

Ye, seems the issue is the residency, no problem insuring with a foreign licence short term either. Seen on forums people say just to say they are resident and probably will get past if you claim and not to much damage but as soon as injury is involved then they will start digging to find a way out.

So try these guys, they have been great.
 
SORTED, contact lee.dyer@adrianflux.co.uk or harry.garwood@adrianflux.co.uk via email and they will get someone to call you back and discuss requirements. Got a quote for fully comp for 7 days for a 50 yr old male with 7 years licence and 4 yrs on a Harley 1200 cc for £280. Not cheap but beats renting and more pocket money to buy seafood and wash it down with single malts. And it is a separate insurance so will not impact yours I presume.

Ye, seems the issue is the residency, no problem insuring with a foreign licence short term either. Seen on forums people say just to say they are resident and probably will get past if you claim and not to much damage but as soon as injury is involved then they will start digging to find a way out.

So try these guys, they have been great.

Great stuff, I will try them and report back


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Another update. We did contact Adrian Flux, who said they could help but by the time they called back BikeSure had offered insurance, so we took that.

It was for a UK national, but resident in Australia for 25 years and here on holiday, on an Aus driving licence. The bike insured was a modified KTM 690R, registered in his name at my address, £350 for 3 months, 3rd party only. Good for me as this doesn't affect my insurance and it'll be his main transport.

I now need to get him covered on a WR250 Yam, which is my bike and insured in my name, and a KTM1290SAR, if possible.

Getting cover on the car was easy - I insure my Porsche with Lockton and it seems it's covered for any driver over 35 as standard. They didn't care that he was non resident and had a foreign driving licence, no extra fees.
 
Just some info on this, more by way of a rant than anything else.

Apparently in Aus they pay a yearly vehicle tax, same as we do here. But whereas we get absolutely feck all for it, in Aus it includes 3rd party insurance, so anyone can legally drive any vehicle.

This seems a good system, and also ensures everyone has the minimum insurance which would stop the uninsured losses issue, and since it can be such a ball ache to get insurance in any slightly non standard situation I’m not surprised there are so many uninsured drivers.


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Bods here moan about everything that the government touches and its gross inefficiencies. Why they think that it will suddenly be very good at administering third party liability insurance (leaving you the owner to still sort out your own ‘first party’ own damage insurance) is a mystery.
 
Getting cover on the car was easy - I insure my Porsche with Lockton and it seems it's covered for any driver over 35 as standard. They didn't care that he was non resident and had a foreign driving licence, no extra fees.


Thats grand but that was not the question, adding a non uk driver to a policy you already have is sometimes expensive sometimes not but its not difficult, the question was the NON uk resident getting there own policy on a vehicle in the uk without being a uk resident
 
Thats grand but that was not the question, adding a non uk driver to a policy you already have is sometimes expensive sometimes not but its not difficult, the question was the NON uk resident getting there own policy on a vehicle in the uk without being a uk resident

Which I also answered, that was just an extra free bit of information.


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Bods here moan about everything that the government touches and its gross inefficiencies. Why they think that it will suddenly be very good at administering third party liability insurance (leaving you the owner to still sort out your own ‘first party’ own damage insurance) is a mystery.

Because other governments seem to be able to manage it, and because it would solve a large amount of the problems of getting insurance and letting others ride/drive their vehicles.

But I’m not holding out any hope of that.


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Handy to know about the short term insurance.

A few years back I bought a bike in the UK, (I live in Cyprus) to use for a 4 month trip around Europe. Then, I owned a house, had a UK licence, and British citizen. Buying the bike was easy, but trying to insure it a nightmare.
The insurance company's first question was... "Have you lived in the UK for the past six months?"
Me.... "No I live in Cyprus, but have licence/property etc"
Insurance....."Not resident, no insurance"

The insurance in Aus has been mentioned. Germany similar........ Valid licence? You are covered by owners insurance.
 
Because other governments seem to be able to manage it, and because it would solve a large amount of the problems of getting insurance and letting others ride/drive their vehicles.

Very few people lend their vehicles to outsiders, so there is no great demand for the product. France does it a little differently, as it is the vehicle that is insured, not (as is the case in the UK) the driver of the vehicle, that has to be. That though would require a change in legislation and, of course, that the owner of the vehicle took out insurance in the first place.

My former employer, Heath plc, were one of the largest insurers of Australian auto liability in the state of Victoria. It was, in crude terms, ‘nationalised’. It was a complete disaster.

You could of course also adopt Australia’s zero tolerance of motoring offences, whilst you are at it. And anyway, it’s not continent wide:

https://www.aami.com.au/aami-inform.../compulsory-vs-third-party-car-insurance.html

https://www.allianz.com.au/car-insurance/third-party-property-damage-car-insurance.html
 
Thats grand but that was not the question, adding a non uk driver to a policy you already have is sometimes expensive sometimes not but its not difficult, the question was the NON uk resident getting there own policy on a vehicle in the uk without being a uk resident

Also, adding a driver to an existing policy isn’t that straightforward either. As I’ve mentioned, it was fine for one car, but Mrs Berin tried to add him to the insurance on her Tiger GT Pro thingy, and it was a flat no. Insurer is Principal.I want to add him as driver on a couple of other bikes, so I’ll check it out and report back.
 


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