Inner city motorbike insurance costs revealed

Updated
Inner city motorbike insurance costs revealed

Sadly, the news is filled lately with stories of motorcycle gangs stealing bikes in London. Not long-ago a shocking YouTube video emerged of a gang paying little regard to the fact the bike’s owner was watching them try to steal his Yamaha MT-07. They didn’t even care he was videoing them in the act and was even on the phone to the police!

Somewhat unsurprisingly, this high crime rate has a knock-on effect when it comes to insurance premiums. But by just how much?

So, we obtained quotes for a 36-year-old teacher with two years NCB trying to insure a Yamaha MT-07 (one of the UK’s most popular bikes) for commuting that isn’t garaged and is kept on a driveway to see just how much extra the premium is if you live in London compared to other major UK cities and also a rural location. The results are quite shocking…

Unsurprisingly, London tops the premium charts, but not only is our example paying £765.38 to insure the bike, he is also forced to accept a £1500 excess where it is closer to £700 in other major cities and rural locations. But what can be done about it?

Taking the N15 example, adding an approved security device such as an alarm, immobiliser or tracker did cut roughly £70 from the premium, but only certain units qualified so you would need to check with your insurer before buying. There was no difference in premium if the bike was on a driveway or road, but a locked garage reduced it by over £200 to £548.64, however gaining access to a garage is very tricky in London. So what’s the answer?

As the Met Police recently demonstrated with their ‘Lock, Chain and Cover’ campaign, any security measures you can take to make your bike less attractive to thieves are worth doing. But sadly it seems there is no ‘magic bullet’ when it comes to insuring a motorcycle in a city, especially our capital.

The cost of insurance based on levels of cover

We carried out a case study on eight of the UK’s largest cities to find out which had the cheapest motorbike insurance premiums. Below we detail the differences, based on the cheapest fully comprehensive cover, the most expensive and the best-value third party fire and theft policy.

London – N15 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £765.38
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £441.88
  • Most expensive fully comp: £2470.40

 Manchester – M1 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £673.16
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £428.68
  • Most expensive fully comp: £2594.70

Liverpool – L1 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £673.16
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £428.68
  • Most expensive fully comp: £3771.08

London – SE3 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £623.19
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £441.88
  • Most expensive fully comp: £2577.37

London – CR0 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £601.10
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £457.22
  • Most expensive fully comp: £2345.67

Bristol – BS1 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £401.46
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £230
  • Most expensive fully comp: £992.46

 Edinburgh – EH1 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £385.20
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £226.18
  • Most expensive fully comp: £1424.70

 Rural Lincolnshire – PE9 postcode

  • Cheapest fully comp: £216.85
  • Cheapest TPT F&T: £125
  • Most expensive fully comp: £982.13

*Quotes obtained December 2018

As you can see the cost is highest in the London postcodes, probably due to the fact that this is infamously the area with the highest number of reported bike thefts in the UK. Manchester and Liverpool are close second places, even though they have a similar population to Edinburgh which is significantly cheaper.

Now we’ve discussed policy cost by postcode, what about policy cost by style of bike?

Go back to our motorbike insurance guides>