Motorcycle Insurance No Claims Bonus

Eddieruss0927

Hello, I have a question about my UK Motorcycle Insurance Full No Claims Bonus. I am a UK resident.

I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in the UK in 2021. I have not since the expiry of this policy owned and/or insured another motorcycle.

I wish to ride/own another motorcycle again in the UK, but would rather do this AFTER the two year expiry date of my UK Motorcycle Insurance Full No Claims Bonus.

I am aware that UK Motorcycle Insurance companies stipulate that any No Claims Bonus obtained cannot be used after two years gap of NOT insuring another motorcycle. My last motorcycle insurance company said that they can confirm my NCB will be only valid for 2 years from expiry if I wish to insure with them again. They also said that there ‘maybe’ some underwriters who will accept up to 3 years, but the standard rule for the industry is 2 years.

I have searched on the internet for UK Motorcycle Insurance Companies that would allow this uninsured period with no luck. I have also searched on the internet for a FULL list of UK Motorcycle Insurance Companies, again without any luck.

Is it possible to obtain a full list of valid list of current UK Motorcycle Insurance Companies? Are there any other directions/avenues I should explore to help myself?

I would very much appreciate anyone who could help me with this insurance query.

Note: this is a Money Saving Matters query/topic, as in obtaining a valid UK Motorcycle Insurance Policy costs without applying ANY No Claims Bonus would be more expensive.

DullGreyGuy

Eddieruss0927 said:

Is it possible to obtain a full list of valid list of current UK Motorcycle Insurance Companies? 

Only really by doing the leg work... insurance companies are regulated by the BoE  (unless they are a Lloyds Syndicate) but for reporting purposes Motor is lumped together so you cannot tell who does Car only and who does Bike only. 

Bike however is a heavily intermediary based business rather than direct insurers and so a list of insurers is not going to list all the different brokers who may have unique agreements with the underlying insurers. Bike also has a reasonable number of non-UK insurers playing in it (eg Gibraltar based insurers) so it also depends if you are ruling them out or not. 

Eddieruss0927

Thanks DullGreyGuy for replying. So, even if I had a list of UK M/C insurers that may not be helpful. An incredible lot of leg work as you've said. I don't intend to write hundred's of emails. I could write again to my last M/C insurer and request an extension of time to insure again. Highly unlikely they'll sympathise. They've also said to me that 'the standard rule for the industry is 2 years' (the NCB lapsing). Any opinion on this 'standard rule'. Is there anything 'in writing' that I could reference that confirms this with motoring insurers? If I could there might be names of brokers/insurers that do NOT adhere to this 2 year rule!?

DullGreyGuy

All insurers are free to make their own decision however the 2 year expiry is almost ubiquitous. For Car its the same and for many years Coop was the only notable exception that allowed 3 years but they changed their model a year or two back and now have fallen in line with the rest. This potentially is in the scope of delegated authority for a broker/intermediary too and so whilst Insurer X direct or via B won't allow it its possible broker C could. 

It is however very discretionary and its certainly not unknown for a sympathetic person to agree to accept it after a longer time. Unfortunately the cases I've known have either been where the dates are very close (ie its 2 years and 1 week after) or its connected to a bereavement.  

Eddieruss0927

I was really looking to own and insure another bike after the expiry of the NCB expiry to be 'months', not weeks or even days. Personally speaking I am in my latter years in life and of riding motorcycles and, for insurance purposes, I believe it would take me a long time to achieve full NCB again. I had to claim on my policy in 2021 and the figure claimed was many, many £1000's. I was also fortunate in hindsight to 'protect' this full NCB on the latter years of policies. So, any claims will hopefully not reflect in a higher premium, if one is to believe in insurance quoted premiums, that is! Maybe in my life I will never achieve full NCB again if I let it expire. I don't believe I can risk this and I don't feel have the time in life in my favour. So, it looks as though if I want to keep riding, I may have to buy and insure another M/C before the two years expiry. This would not be totally catastrophic in my life but, practically speaking, would be inconvenient at best and be difficult at worse, in terms of securely keeping and storing the machine, as I was looking to move house this year. I don't think I need to pursue this query but will to continue to check this forum. Thanks again DullGreyGuy.

DullGreyGuy

The old trick was to buy a wreck and insure it for a few months. You then, when you are ready, cancel the policy, sell the wreck for what you paid for it and now have a shiny new NCD for your proper bike. 

You do have to be a little careful as for a very short term policy they'll just return your old NCD. The other option is to transfer the insurance to the proper bike but those cheap for a wreck may not be good for a decent bike. 

Eddieruss0927

I thought of something similar but concluded too much bother. I'd rather buy the bike I want outright. I'm not rich but can afford what I want now I'm retired. I will have more choice as well, there's plenty of bikes out there, and in winter the dealers will still be selling far less in quantity, especially 1-3 year old bikes. Buying New might be too risky, if the choice is not available immediately. I'll start looking in early March and hope to buy again in early/mid April '23, just in time before the two year NCB expires. Incidentally I've completed bogus M/C insurance application examples with No NCB applied and the premium would be double, and with an extortionate amount £ of Compulsory Excess! Also, far, far less choice of quotes & insurers/brokers. Very, very risky..! Thanks once again DullGreyGuy