Insurance

[GrahamW]

Had a bit of a palaver sorting out my insurance on the big. I had a funny setup all my 10 year plus no claims on my old Bullet 500 with Hastings for £98 a year then my Honda VTX 1800c has built up a years no claims with Bennetts for about £350 a year as Hastings wanted silly money. Bennetts seemed good as they include european breakdown cover and I normally take the Honda to a rally in Holland every August. Hastings don't seem to want to know about mods and imported bikes so ended up cancelling my Hastings on the Bullet and putting all three on a multibike policy with Bennetts for £490 a year. Trying to explain all the mods on the Big to the lady from Bennetts took ages about 2 hours on the phone to insurance companies in total and not sure I listed them all. Long and short of it is I am paying an extra £12 a month to insure the Big so not too bad but its getting complicated not sure what to do next year £490 seems dear.

[BigBob]

I`ve got 3 Bigs insured on a classic policy with Footman James.
£165 pa fully comp includes agreed value and free UK and European breakdown cover
Been with them about 14 years now without any issues.
Was with Carole Nash before that who were awful.

[Captain]

What is a modification on a motorbike???

Aftermarket exhaust?
Crash Bars?
Luggage racks?
Hagon Shock?
Progressive fork springs?
GPS mount?
New seat cover?

We modify bikes with all this aftermarket gear to make our riding experience better. I dont know what we need to tell the insurance companies. I havent told them about any of the above items. Should I be worried?

I can understand things like a turbo or changing frame angles but where does it stop.

Cheers
Steve

[GrahamW]

My bike has a lot of mods so I don’t think I would get away with not declaring at least some of them if I had a crash:

Below is what the seller told me from the ebay listing originally:


'91 registered DR 800 ('90 model import).
Fully rebuilt - frame appears to have been stripped and powder coated.
WP Extreme 50mm forks.
Alloy yokes to suit forks.
Rear shock looks new.
Excel Rims with Talon hubs (I'm told these are extremely expensive).
Talon rear sprocket.
DID chain.
Hessler seat (over 300 euros)
WRP Lite exhaust can with custom link pipe and mount.
Arashi Wave discs.
Uprated front master cylinder.
Custom made machined caliper mounts front and rear.
Alloy handlebars.
Twin headlight conversion (I think these favour light weight over lighting performance!!).
LED tail light unit.
Koso digital dash (very light).
Engine bars.
Hand guards.
Lightweight plastic sump guard.
Stainless chain adjusters.

Also a Brembo twin pot caliper off a ducati and aluminum hardware to fit it.

[GrahamW]

I don't usually declare mods ever since I was in my 20s and put a set of alloys and a back box on my Ford Escort and rang them up to declare them resulting in a £1000 hike to the premium.

[BigBob]

I think most insurers are principally concerned with performance bits rather than cosmetics, but as we know, they will use any excuse to get out of a claim.

[GrahamW]

There is so much rubbish online as well that would have you believe that if you as much as change your valve caps to non standard your insurance will be invalid and you will be liable to 9 points and a fine! I don't like insurance have never claimed and hopefully never will. I have paid thousands in to it over the years and I know if I got anything back from them they would take it from me three fold in raised premiums. The best insurance is careful riding I think.