Insurance Question

[Saki]

Hey guys,

Me and a mate were talking last night about bike insurance and we were trying to work out if any company out there will insure under 25's if they have lost there licence or if no one wants to touch you!

Does anyone know if there are any bike companies out there that will cover you ?

Thanks guys

[Saki]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i did find one!

QBE, so out of curisity i rang and asked for a quote and i was surprised how much cheaper they are than other places so i might swap!
$400 for 3rd party with fire and theft
$775 for full comp.



just ignore the $1400 excess for my wonderful, colourful driving history, but i dont intend on making a claim or hope not! so i might have to think about a swap!

[billwest]

QBE wants $501 to insure my ZZR1200, $370 to insure my ZRX1200, and $279 to insure my FJ1200, all comprehensive.

Since they are all 1200s, and my riding style on each is similar, I asked QBE for an explanation.
The rep says they attach a "grade" to each bike.
The FJ has grade 4, the ZRX has grade 5, and the ZZR has grade 6.
He says it all depends on "how far forward you lean" when sitting on the bike!
I told him that was crap, I don't lean forward on any of them, why should there be such a difference in policy costs.
He then took me for an idiot, and tried to explain that Harleys are cheaper again, because you sit back!
He wouldn't budge on the price.

I got a quote from eBike for $450 for the ZZR, with similar conditions.
Has anyone had recent dealings with them? I did a forum search on eBike, but didn't get much.

Bill.

[Saki]

Lol, that is an interesting erason! Oh well i guess if it works for them!

[lifeofcrimeguy]

Geez look at those nice shiny prices! You should try living in Sydney. Im sure i'll never see prices that low. Depends on the value of the bike i suppose.

[Disco]

I think im getting screwed I paid $1800 for full comp for my zx6r with aami but i was 29 when i bought the policy.....Will definatly shop around next time The same place (aami) wanted $780 for a green slip FFS have found that allianze are thhe cheapest got one for $400 and something....Sorry to go of topic

[lifeofcrimeguy]

I think it's generally a Sydney thing. Especially with the Green slip, because it privatised and because IME Sydney is rorted for insurance in general.

[Blurr]

yeah my premium went up $300 just by changing from the bug to the gumby
reason = because of the higher price of the newer bike!!!!!!!

although QBE has been great I am looking forward to next year when I can shop around alittle again.Try and find someone that is a little more flexible and rewards rider training.

However I am just not looking forward to the cost again .

[billwest]

I rang QBE and told them about the quote from eBike, which was actually $425.
QBE is matching it, so for now I will stick with them.


Bill.

[Shifty]

He is right; they do attach grades to bikes.

It's not about 'how far you lean forward' but in honesty that's a good way to explain it. Each bike is initially categorised into body style (eg. hypersports/supersports might be a 6, naked sports might be a 4, and commuters (GS500, ER5) and harleys might be a 2, From there each one is shifted up or down a little based on the insurer's opinion on the bike, and in turn adjusted over time as claims occur... so an insurer who has a bad run on ZZR1200s might charge heaps for them.

I can imagine that a ZZR1200 is the type of bike that would do a lot more miles than your average garage-ornament Harley, and with all that plastic real estate even a simple carpark drop will cost the insurer $5k... given that they're probably parked in gravel at the side of the road, etc for stopoffs, and at country pubs, etc... and that's before you even really CRASH one.

Hypersports don't tend to do many miles, but they attract a certain type of rider for the most part, and tend to attract more claims - and if you can crash something like this then chances are you're fucking moving and it'll be a $15k writeoff claim.

Nakeds however.... you're up for a bar end, a lever, exhaust or tank repair if you're unlucky, etc... so a simple drop can easily be half that of a faired bike. They also tend to attract older or more sensible riders (not after the latest, flashiest, fastest, etc etc) so their claims stats are better.

QBE wants $501 to insure my ZZR1200, $370 to insure my ZRX1200, and $279 to insure my FJ1200, all comprehensive.

Since they are all 1200s, and my riding style on each is similar, I asked QBE for an explanation.
The rep says they attach a "grade" to each bike.
The FJ has grade 4, the ZRX has grade 5, and the ZZR has grade 6.
He says it all depends on "how far forward you lean" when sitting on the bike!
I told him that was crap, I don't lean forward on any of them, why should there be such a difference in policy costs.
He then took me for an idiot, and tried to explain that Harleys are cheaper again, because you sit back!
He wouldn't budge on the price.

I got a quote from eBike for $450 for the ZZR, with similar conditions.
Has anyone had recent dealings with them? I did a forum search on eBike, but didn't get much.

Bill.

[Shifty]

I think it's generally a Sydney thing. Especially with the Green slip, because it privatised and because IME Sydney is rorted for insurance in general.

Insurance is all about risk and cost.

Risk x Cost + Profit = Price

A motorcycle is probably seen as lower risk for CTP claims than a car
But the cost of the claims can be nil (ie. no pillion and no other vehicle involved - remember rider has no cover) or very high (pillion thrown off & injured)
The company works out an amount of profit that they need to make, to make it worthwhile taking on the risk of paying out the cost.

Each insurer will have their own feelings on what represents risk, and use their own benchmarks to determine the likely cost of a claim, and for most products a 70% underwriting profit is desirable (ie. across all policies $70 paid out for every $100 taken in) but then from that remaining 30% come the operating costs of the company. Traditionally insurance companies have made a loss once all costs are taken into consideration, however they make profits by investing the thousands/millions/billions in the time between when they are paid to them as premium, and paid out as claims or expenses.

And so ends your insurance lesson