Forum

[nigelphoto]

Naming and shaming. I have two motorcycles, a 2011 Classic 500 and a 30 year old MZ TS125. Because the MZ came from a gutter in Stoke on Trent which I refurbed as a winter project last year, I had to insure it separately but as both bikes are due soon I want to put them on the same policy with the same company. A fortune in telephone calls later to the two companies with whom I now insure . . . . anger levels rising anyway as I have to hang on listening to musak and a looped message that 'your call is important to us' when clearly it isn't and then getting connected to a sixteen year old who couldn't find either the MZ or the RE on their 'approved list of bikes and models' when the companies involved had insured the damn things for the last year! The long and short is that Saga and Bennetts (now part of Saga) have both lost my business for their incompetence, inability to listen to what the customer wants (they both read out a whole list of gobbledegook from a script and weren't interested in what I had to say) without even getting as far as a quotation. Peter James not only has my motorcycle business but in due course will get my car, caravan, house, travel etc etc.

[MartinB]

All too typical of motor insurance brokers these days i'm afraid.

[Adrian]

Quite an effective summary of how the big insurers get it wrong. But who, in the collective wisdom of the message board members, is the best insurer for MODIFIED classic bikes? I just about managed to get my Not a Fury insured on the Carole Nash vintage bike policy, but it was an awful faff, they really didn't like the fact that it has a five speed gearbox. Bear in mind that a lot of us on this forum will have been fitting all sorts of things from our hosts' catalogue and elsewhere to leave our bikes in a very non-standard condition.



A.

[Presto]

I have heard, and no doubt lots of you have as well, that for some insurers the fixing of a ‘decal’ will mean the bike has been ‘modified’ and will upset their equilibrium.

[Exile]

It would appear, that 'corporate greed' are the watchwords here.... Maximum possible premium versus minimum possible payout. It's all down to the bottom line.

[Scalyback]

Kevin was not on Bennets approved bikes list, so I suitably took them off my 'people to do business with' list. I'm ok with Carole Nash at the moment, who seen to give me accident recovery and re-patriatriation, should my bikes be in europe and have problems. Might find that handy one day....

[Beezabryan]

Peter James for a few years now though a couple of times I have had cause for complaint at renewal time when I have had to ask why the premium has gone down from the previous year
Different folks have different opinions, some swear by CN or FJ etc while others swear at them.

[Rattlebattle]

Bennetts get the raspberry from me too. Last year I had three bikes, one modern, one emerging classic (19 years oold)and my 1954 Tiger 100. The guy I spoke to was adamant that the latter couldn't be insured because it doesn't exist on the Bennetts database, which he claimed is used by all the insurers. To an extent he was right in that when trying to do it online I came across the fact that whilst the T100A and T100C exist, the plain Jane T100 does not. There is nothing special about my Tiger; it is a silver Blue Sheen all alloy close pitched fin model. But the computer say no. At least the Herbert I spoke to now knows that the C stands fpor competition (I wish I had a T100C) and the A for alterantor - though I doubt he really knows what that ius either. Carole Nash Rider policy it continues then. I just ring them up now and argue the quote down on the basis of inflation (ie not much, indeed negative now). But don't forget the tax hike.

[CGT 535]

Carole Nash are currently insuring my four roadworthy bikes on the one policy. They want to know about any and all modifications to the bikes but I still managed to get them all covered with all the modifications declared. It wasn't so much the Power Commander and Motad exhaust on the Continental GT that caused problems as the improved front brake, better forks, large petrol tank and different seat/rack on one of the CG125s! It seems that C N have a list of modifications that they will cover on the rider policy and if you go beyond that list it will mean taking out a different (i.e. more expensive) policy.


On the one hand I don't think C N are particularly cheap, but on the other hand it's costing me under a hundred quid per bike.