As a few of you may know by now I enjoy posting thought provoking threads (which in my opinion) are of interest to us all.

I have just renewed my years bike insurance for ONE of my Yamaha XT600E's (1999 Red one).

I used Moneysupermarket.com to obtain my quotes. The quotes ranged from only £63 (Bennett's) to just over £300.

No surprises to learn I went for the cheapest - £63 Fully Comprehensive cover.

Point of the thread - I was wondering what YOU pay for your bike insurance?

I'm a 49 year old biker retired bike cop living in Kent (ME12) with 5 years no claims. I have held a full bike licence (A) since 1980. Approx yearly mileage 10,000.

If enough of us impart information here it may be of use to others who may not realise they are being ripped off. Obviously my quote is only of use to UK based riders.

It annoys me that there are so many insurance companies charging different rates.

An interesting thing happened while I was using Moneysupermarket - I first used the site to get an idea on the prices I was likely to pay. I inputed duff name but gave correct data for all other questions. My first quotes came back as:

Cheapest £89
Most expensive: £456

Second try using exactly same data:

Cheapest: £73
Most Expensive: £378

What's going on??????

Each time I used the site it came back with different quotes! How can that happen if you provide same data?

On the final page I then played around with cover for pillion passenger and estimated mileage and re-submitted the data.

Each time I did this the quotes changed! I was given a higher quote for no pillion and lower mileage! This can't be right can it?

When I increased my yearly estimated mileage the quote went DOWN.

In the end I went online and gave my correct name and address (in exactly same area as all the other duff information quotes) giving my final quote which I accepted:

Cheapest: £63
Most Expensive: £312

It would appear that the quotes change dramatically each time you go online!

The lesson to be learn't here - when you use an online site like this make sure that when you get the final quote page you make little adjustments to mileage/pillion cover/legal cover and then re-submit the changes. It appears that it's possible to increase the cover (miles,pillion,legal) for no extra money!

My experience here is most odd.

I was wondering if anyone else had the same results using online quotes?

__________________
Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

I read the above and thought I could better explain the problems I came across -

The online insurance quotes change dramatically each time you search for quotes while using EXACTLY the same information as before. This is very odd in itself.

Then there is this second odd aspect to the quote process -

Basically at end of the online quote process you get a screen giving you the many quotes from different companies. On this end page you get the option of changing certain things such as estimated yearly mileage, pillion cover, legal cover etc...

I found that when I changed these in my favour (increasing mileage etc) it produced CHEAPER quotes after re-submitting the data.

How can this happen?

The lesson for us all - at the end of the quote try increasing mileage in your favour. It often reduces your final quote.

I hope I have explained myself so that you can understand what I'm getting at.....

__________________
Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

I've played about on these sites too n had similar experience's. I've even had fully comp quotes cheaper that tpft cover. I was told a lot depends on the time of year n in some cases the time of month i.e. Policy start date.

Although i just re newed last month n could not find it cheaper than last year (£82) even though now i have 6 yrs ncb.

Thank god for that - Someone has replied! I was starting to think the content was not of interest to any of you.

The reason I posted the thread was that whilst playing around with Moneysupermarket.com, I found the quotes were nearly always different each time I went online using EXACTLY the same information.

How can this be right? We are clearly being ripped off here.

The lesson here - Get your quote and then start editing it in your favour.

I managed to decrease the compulsory excess (from £250 to only £100), increase my estimated annual mileage (from 3,000 to 10,000) and add pillion cover for absolutely NIL increase in yearly policy cost.

I managed to get a full year fully comprehensive cover from Bennett's for only £63. Not only did I save money, I also managed to vastly increase the level of cover for NIL additional cost.

If you don't believe me - simply have a play yourself. Don't use your real name or address / phone if you hate junk mail (as I do) and unsolicited marketing calls. Instead make a name up and pick a nearby address. The rest of the data can be real. If you do this you won't be plagued with junk mail from the insurance company providing the quotes...

Surely this is of interest to those of you who use similar online insurance sites?

I was rather hoping that more of you XT nuts might consider posting the cost of your insurance so that others will know if they are being ripped off. All you need do is state age, bike, no claims and finally the cost.

I'm convinced many of us ARE indeed paying too much for our bike insurance.

__________________
Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

I suspect that we all have had similar experiences. Several years ago I had a Ducati SS900. I bought a Pan ST1300 and when I added it to the policy, the premium reduced.

I always shop around when it is time for renewal and I use the price comparison sites merely as a guide. I then go directly to the company and find that the premium is cheaper.

I haven't yet gone down the road of using a fictitious name and address. Will try that next time.

I find that insurance threads are very much like those on tyres or oils. Lots of differing experiences ansd opinions, but always makes for interesting reading.

You might want to contribute to the sticky thread about UK insurance, if you can step out of the Yamaha tech forum for a moment or two.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...eriences-63707

__________________
Dave