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Motorbike Insurance: The Basics

There are a few basics to consider when you’re considering your motorbike insurance and the most important, is where your dream bike fits within the insurance group scheme.

But unlike the strict car insurance grouping system, the motorbike groupings are less centralised and have been basically established by the insurance companies themselves.

Categories within the schemes vary from 15 to over 20 individual groups and each insurance company has a different view of particular makes and machines. This makes it a less formal system and one which gives great variations in quotes, and makes it very important to shop around.

The downside of this less formalised grouping system is that there is less continuity across the system, which means that getting like-for-like quotes can be more difficult, particularly when considering the number of options and excesses.

As a rough guide though, low powered machines tend to be in the lowest groupings, with 125cc machines, such as the Suzuki GN, occupying the three to six, or seven groupings. Up in size a bit, and the 250cc machines, such as the Kawasaki KL250, range from groupings five to ten.

The bigger boys go up from ten and once you reach the hallowed ground of plus 750cc, such as the Honda CBR 900RR Fireblade, your getting near the top of the groupings.

So, they may not be as consistent as car insurance groupings, but they will pack a punch if you’re not careful, and you have to use some common sense if you don’t want to take a direct hit in the wallet.

And if you’re a young and relatively inexperienced rider, you will find that dappling around in the higher echelons of the groupings system will prove to be a very costly affair. But get down below group ten, and you might get yourself a reasonable premium.

Also, there is a trend for motorcycle insurance companies to pay a little less attention to the grouping system than before and try and match more accurately policies to the rider’s personal profile. And this is proving popular with everyone.