Top 10 Motorbike Insurance companies
The UK motorbike insurance market is dominated by a selection of brokers, these include Devitt (us!), Carole Nash, Bennetts, BikeSure to name a few.
Each of these companies use a combination of leading UK underwriters, who all have different policy and pricing arrangements.
It’s important to note that, although you may purchase your bike insurance from one of these brokers, the company that actually underwrites your policy is the one that will be deciding on whether or not your claim is valid, how much you should be paid out etc.
We have therefore created a list of the top ten insurers in the UK i.e. the companies that underwrite your policy.
The top ten bike insurers in the UK (in no particular order) are:
- AXA
- Aviva
- Ageas
- Highway LV
- KGM
- Markerstudy
- Novitas
- Zenith
- Europa
- ERS
Which bike insurance do you need – the cheapest or the most wide-ranging cover?
Some bike insurance brokers have two different policy types, one without all the extras and one with them.
It’s a case of your (prepare yourself for some insurance speak) ‘demands and needs’ – what do you want and need from your insurance…
Claim Excesses (the amount you pay towards claims for damage to your vehicle) – watch out for large excesses. You might get a really cheap premium, but if you need to make a claim, you might not be able to afford the excess and then you’re out of biking (and nobody wants that).
You can purchase ‘Excess Protect’ products, but they will only cover your excess up to a certain amount, for example, if your excess is £2,000 and your Excess protect product only covers £1,000, you’re still well out of pocket!
Optional extras – you might get a ‘free’ add on with your policy that look appealing, but always check out the terms and conditions. If they’re a deal breaker when choosing the correct provider than make sure they’re worth the paper they’re written on!
Legal expenses – you may feel that legal expenses are unnecessary “if I need legal help I can just use no win no fee providers” yes you can, but how much of your pay-out will they take, 15%? 20%, more?
With legal expenses you have legal assistance in the bank and they won’t take any of your pay out (this might not always be the case when legal expenses is included for free – they might take less of percentage of your final settlement but they may still take some!)
Will you use all the policy benefits? If you’re choosing one policy because you get free track day cover for example or lots more days cover in Europe, but you never go on track days and you don’t take your bike to Europe you might want to consider which policy benefits you will use; and whether the level of cover offered for those is up to scratch compared to other providers.
The small print is your friend, so make sure you take a look through it before purchasing any kind of insurance.
Who has the best motorcycle insurance rates in the UK?
The truth is that no provider of motorcycle insurance has the cheapest rate for everyone!
When you see people promoting ‘cheapest rate guaranteed’ or ‘guaranteed to beat your renewal quote’ it’s because they’re a comparison site and therefore have access to rates from all of the bike insurance providers.
No single insurance company or underwriting agent has the best price for all, they all have different appetites and different ways of assessing risk profiles.
To give a very basic example, Insurer A may have had a lot of claims for people riding BMWs so their rates are higher to reflect and cover the cost of these claims going forward. Insurer B may not have had many claims for BMWs so their rates reflect this.
The best advice is to shop around, get a few quotes, but don’t solely rely on price to choose your provider.
Check out their reviews, are they servicing their customers properly, are they picking up their phones / responding to emails, are they paying out for claims, are they whacking whopping great excesses on their cheap premium meaning you can’t afford to claim if you need to?
Do your research and choose a trusted bike insurance provider, you could regret it if you don’t…
Insurance advice 101: Your insurance is a contract!
Your insurance as a contract, just like your mobile phone contract. If you cancel before the contract is up, it isn’t just pay as you go, there will be cancellation charges incurred.
In an ideal world, you take out your insurance and leave it alone until the contract ends.
Here at Devitt we understand that sometimes you have to cancel and that’s why we offer a refundable cancellation fee, so if you have to cancel for any reason, if you then return to us within 12 months we’ll refund your cancellation fee.
Choosing the best motorcycle insurance for you – Check out your chosen company’s review scores
There are a huge amount of review sites out that different companies use including Trustpilot, Reevo, Feefo, Review Centre, Reviews.co.uk and Google reviews to name a few of the leading providers.
Here at Devitt we chose Trustpilot as they are one of the leading providers and widely trusted by the business and customer community as being reliable, easy to use and they work closely with Google.
We’ve worked hard to gain our excellent rating by providing our customers with excellent customer service, competitive premiums and when things go wrong (and let’s face it, with insurance things sometimes can!) we do our very best to find a resolution that our customers are happy with.
How do you know if you’re selecting the best motorbike insurance provider?
- Do they respond to their negative reviews?
- Do they reply to complaints on their review site quickly?
- How many reviews have they got?
Take a look at some of the best motorcycle insurance companies on leading review site Trustpilot to get a feel for them. Use the links for Trustpilot below to see who has the best motorbike insurance reviews (we’ll give you a clue, it’s not our competitors):
It all depends on what you’re looking for when it comes to your bike insurance policy, you may find an extremely cheap premium but you may then have a huge excess if you make a claim (potentially more than your bike is worth).
Again, keep an eye on the details of your bike insurance to ensure you don’t get stung when making a claim.
It’s important that you’re properly informed of what cover you’re purchasing for your motorcycle and you’re getting a policy that suits your own individual requirements.
Consider asking some of the following questions to check that you’re choosing the cover that you’ll be happy with.
- What is my excess?
- Will I get 100% of a claim award if I’m using your legal expenses?
- What are your cancellation and mid-term adjustment fees?
- Who is my policy underwritten by?
- What add ons are applied to my policy?