Bike valuation for insurance purposes

[Ken4004]

Hi everyone

Looking at getting my bike back on the road but have just been considering the valuation of my bike for insurance purposes.
This is very subjective and can vary a great deal as your bike is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, is there a way of getting an accurate valuation  ?

You may know an insurance company that is used to dealing with older bikes to get a fair valuation.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

The one thing you need to avoid is to under insure the bike in terms of value.

My understanding is that lets say you insure a bike for £3000 and it's value is actually closer to £6000. If the  bike is stolen your insurance might only pay out £1500 as you are 50% underinsured.

There is so much hidden  in the terms & conditions I find it impossible to fully understand a policy.

[Bryanj]

Look for similar bikes on ebay and at specialist dealers plus motorcycle papers

[Mikep328]

My two experiences with UK insurance companies is that they are going to find a way NOT to pay...;(

In this case, I suspect THEY will end up deciding what your motorcycle is worth if it is totaled and we all know that won't be much.  If you went with a company that specializes in insuring antique/vintage machines that might be different - I have no experience with that.

I get the insurance for the best rate I can that meets the legal requirements for road use.   

[TrickyMicky]

AHA!!! Insurance, life's eternal minefield. For over 30 years I have always put my vehicle insurance through the same broker who has served me well, as I'm afraid I do not have the patience to sit and trawl through countless terms and conditions of numerous companies. My broker does all this for a set fee of £20 per renewal, it's all done over the phone, so I talk to a real person, and receive my paper documents by post. Ancient system, but I love it!!  My 400 is insured fully comp. valued at £4000, and my renewal fee this year was £52 plus the broker's £20 fee.  Now for the sting in the tail, I also own a 1987 GB250 Clubman which was nearly double the price for insurance. Last year I put it on a SORN for a couple of months whilst I carried out some work on it, and asked the broker to put my renewal on hold, which was agreed.  When I came to resurrect the policy the broker informed me that the insurance company would not renew as I was over 75 years old!!  I asked what would have happened if it had carried on without a break, and was informed that it would have been ok, but because of the 2 month postponement it was classed as new business, and the insurance company, like many others, will not accept new business from anyone over 75. Gobsmacked is the polite response. In keeping with my broker's good name, they phoned me a couple of hours later and gave me a phone number of an insurance company that they do not deal with, Classic Line Insurance.  I contacted them, my age was no problem, and if I provided them with about 4 recent photos of the bike then I could have agreed value insurance. This was done, and my full comp cover was £77, this year it was £72. One happy bunny.    Now trust me, this was all a piece of cake after crossing swords with a very well known pet insurance company.  Stay upright good people. Mike.

[Oddjob]

Wouldn’t that contravene the law on discrimination against the elderly?

[Mikep328]

"Elderly discrimination" is normal in the UK (and maybe other countries as well) when it comes to things like insurance, loans, vehicle rental, etc. In US whether you are 19 or 90 you can get insurance, house loans, etc.  A few years ago a good friend who visits the Isle of Man every year for the TT/Manx GP was told he could no longer rent a motorcycle there, as he had been doing for 20 years, because he had turned 75 and the motorcycle hire company's insurance would not cover him. 

[TrickyMicky]

You're right Mike,  when my son and I went to pick up the 250 from Lancashire a couple of years ago, the idea was to rent a van and we share the driving. WRONG! I was not allowed to have my name on the documents as I was over 70.  It's also an eye opener to see certain groups of vehicle disappear from your driving licence after you reach your 70th birthday, and yet there are no restrictions on type or power of vehicle for a new driver.

[Ken4004]

Thanks for the words of wisdom, I had an RD 350 YVPS stolen from my garage many years ago by a toe rags that just took it up the woods and wrecked it for a laugh , the insurance company gave me about a thousand pounds less than it was worth.

The insurance company is only as good as your last claim but they are very efficient in taking your money for years and they all stick together with so called knock for knock etc.

I’ll try and find one that deals with classic bikes as per advise thanks everyone for your input, at least I won’t need to pay Road tax and MOT for this bike .

[taysidedragon]

Most of us only need to insure for market value. If you have a really special bike worth significantly more than that, then you need to go for agreed value. That usually means sending photos or getting the bike inspected by a nominated expert to set the value.

When my Speed Triple was written off in a crash I was insured with Carol Nash. The first offer for my bike was a bit low, I quibled and the offer was magically improved and paid very quickly.
They appointed a specialist to negotiate compensation for my injuries. He was brilliant, visited my house several times, got me an interim payment so I didn't have to wait until the final agreement.  He also got anything I needed for recovery paid for, taxis and several other things.
The final compensation was better than I expected.  Couldn't fault them.

Now I have 2 classic bikes I'm insured with Peter James.

[Nurse Julie]

Agree with Gareth. Market value is perfectly adequate insurance for our the normal run of  the mill bikes. It really is only the high cost, very high class individual one off builds that need agreed values.