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Motorbike Insurance
Whatever you ride, and for whatever reason, we’re here to help you find our best motorbike insurance quote.
0330 024 0087
THE MOTORBIKE INSURANCE SPECIALISTS
Motorbike Insurance
An easier ride to getting your motorbike insurance quote!
At Principal we not only offer independent, specialist motorbike insurance expertise, but we’re committed to giving you great service too!
That means we’ll happily work hard to secure the best quote and cover for you and your bike from among our panel of specialist insurers.*
Whatever you ride, we’ve got it covered, with access to specialist policies for:
- Sports and Supersports motorbike insurance
- Classic motorbike insurance
- Custom motorcycle insurance, chops and trike insurance
- Tourers and cruisers
- Quad bike insurance
- Moped and Scooter insurance
- Modified motorcycle insurance
- Trail and Enduro bikes
- Trike Insurance
We also offer cost-saving multi-bike insurance** and specialist schemes for rare and high-value motorcycles.
* Please ask for details of the panel of insurers we use to compare motorcycle quotes. ** The cost per bike can be lower when taking out multi-bike insurance than when insuring motorcycles separately. All policies subject to meeting underwriting criteria, terms and conditions.
European touring – journey and rally (classic vehicles) abroad with our inclusive cover.Multi-vehicle policies to protect cars, motorcycles, motorhomes, trucks and van – call for details.Modifications – covered for repair, replacement and theft/write-off settlement.*Zero-deduction salvage retention rights for classic and vintage vehicles.***Generous discounts – for owners club membership and limited mileage.**
For the best quote chat to our friendly and informed UK based call centre team
MOTORBIKE INSURANCE QUOTES: A GUIDE TO GETTING THE RIGHT DEAL
Finding the best motorcycle insurance quote for you and your machine can be trickier than a Lee Bowers live show.
There’s much to be taken into consideration.
Different insurers offer different policies with different limits, exclusions, excesses and more.
Then there are specialist brokers like us, Principal Insurance, who, as well as broking a wide range of motorcycle insurance policies, work with insurers to create their own niche schemes.
Ours are specifically designed to satisfy particular needs we’ve identified from talking to bikers and spotting holes in the market.
Add to that the choices you can make, perhaps in search of cheap motorcycle insurance, or, better, the cover that best meets your needs, at a price you can afford: the best value motorbike insurance for you.
The list just goes on and on with choices like whether to go for fully comprehensive insurance, or less extensive cover. Whether to trade a higher excess for a lower premium, whether to add enhanced features such as breakdown cover or helmet and leather protection – more on all this later.
There’s a lot to consider….
What we’re saying is, there’s a lot to think about.
We’re here to help steer you through the maze.
In this guide we take you through various factors which can affect the cost of your motorbike insurance.
There are plenty of them, including your chosen bike and how, where, when and why you ride, store and secure it.
The aim is to inform you how to get the deal that best suits your needs.
This is not necessarily the same thing as cheap motorcycle insurance. Cheap carries its own connotations and, when it comes to protecting yourself and your beloved bike, you don’t want to be cutting corners.
The ideal is a policy that provides the cover that you actually need or want, without breaking your bank. A good value bike insurance policy.
Motorbike insurance options
Let’s start with the basics.
There are three main types of cover you might choose when riding your bike for social, domestic and pleasure (SDP) purposes.
These are:
Third Party Only (TPO)
Third-party only bike insurance ensures meets the basic legal requirements for riding on public roads.
It won’t cover your motorcycle, only meeting claims made by third parties for injury or damage to their vehicles, property or themselves for which you are responsible.
Third-party only insurance is not what you want if you’re looking for bike insurance that will repair or replace your motorcycle should it be damaged or stolen following an accident or theft.
Third Party Fire & Theft (TPF&T)
Third-party fire and theft motorcycle insurance is pretty self-explanatory.It provides third party cover plus insurance against theft and risks.
If your bike is stolen or suffers fire damage, a TPF&T policy will cover its repair or, if it is beyond economic repair, a financial settlement at market value (unless otherwise stated – see Agreed Value) or replacement.
Comprehensive insurance
As the name suggests, comprehensive motorbike insurance offers much more extensive protection than both TPO and TPFT cover.
Firstly, should your bike be stolen, suffer fire or accidental damage, your insurer will arrange and/or pay for its repair.
If your bike is beyond economic repair your policy will pay out according to its market value, unless you have taken out Agreed Value insurance (see below).
In addition, comprehensive bike insurance will cover you for any claims made by a third party for costs or compensation for injuries incurred following an accident for which you are to blame.
Bear in mind that should you claim on a comprehensive or TPFT policy then you will need pay an excess. This is the sum you agreed to pay towards any claim when you took out the policy. We’ll explain more about excesses later.
Sorn insurance
In addition to the three standard forms of cover, SORN insurance provides protection for when you bike is officially off the road.
It’s certainly worth considering if you choose not to to ride all year round. Remember, whilst you won’t face any road risks when your motorbike is stowed away, your bike can still be stolen or suffer fire damage whilst it’s “laid up”.
SORN insurance is specially designed to provide fire and theft cover for vehicles registered as off road under the Statutory Off Road Notice scheme.
More motorbike insurance options
As we said at the start, the key to getting the right deal is to ensure you get the cover you need and want.
There are several options which may be available to you. These can offer particular protections and may even trigger discounts.
Agreed value
Agreed value bike insurance can be very useful if your motorcycle is rare and/or worth a lot of money.
It is most often offered with custom or classic motorbike insurance policies.
It ensures that should your bike be damaged beyond economic repair (written off) or stolen and not recovered, then your insurer will pay out the value you agreed when taking out your policy.
To reach that agreement, you will need provide documentary evidence of its worth to your insurer .
This might include recent photographs and receipts for parts, paint or restoration work. Occasionally an insurer may require an independent valuation.
Should it be available and an option you want, Principal offer a free agreed value motorcycle insurance assessment service via our specialist underwriters.
Salvage retention rights
Again, salvage retention rights are more likely to popular with owners of classic or custom motorcycles. This is because these may feature parts which are hard to replace because they are rare or were produced as a one-off.
The benefit here is that if your bike is written off, instead of your insurer disposing of it, you can recover your prized machine. That’s useful if you want to hang on to any parts or invest yourself in its restoration.
If salvage retention rights are available, you will need secure them when taking out your policy.
Custom bike paint insurance
If you’re the owner of a custom bike then you may well have treated your machine to a bespoke paint job.
These things don’t come cheap which means accidental damage can knock a dent in more than your tank.
With this in mind, some insurers offer specialist custom paint insurance for motorbikes and trikes. These will cover the reinstatement of your personal work of bike art.
Excess Protection insurance
Again, and for the same reason, we offer this as an optional extra. Excess Protection insurance refunds the excess you would normally pay as a contribution towards a claim you have made.
The cover we arrange offers up to £1,000 protection.
Legal Protection insurance
If you are involved in an accident which is not your fault, Legal Protection will help you recover any uninsured losses such as your policy excess, earning, medical expenses and the hire of a replacement vehicle. It will also fund the pursuit of eligible compensation claims.
It covers legal costs associated with recovering losses
Offered by us as an option, the legal protection we arrange provides up to £100,000 in legal expenses cover.
Helmets & Leathers insurance
Given how much biking gear can cost to replace, you might choose to protect your kit with Helmets & Leathers insurance.
Because we don’t want to sell you something you may not necessarily want, we don’t bundle in this cover with your motorcycle insurance policy.
instead we offer it as an optional extra which if you wish – and only if you wish – you can take out when purchasing your bike policy.
The cover we offer protects gear worth up to £1,500.
Key Care insurance
Because losing your keys can be a dear and inconvenient do, Key Care insurance is another optional extra we provide.
This will pay for replacement keys and their associated locks and the attention of a locksmith In addition, if you’ve been stranded by their loss, it will cover up to three days hire of a replacement motorbike or other vehicle.
The insurance we offer provides up to £1,500 cover.
Personal Accident insurance
No-one wants or expects to have an accident. Sadly that doesn’t stop them happening, nor their consequences.
Motorbike Personal Accident insurance was designed with this in mind.
The cover we offer, again as an optional extra, provides a range of financial settlements to cover a variety of injuries, disablement and death as a result of a motor vehicle accident.
How to get cheaper motorcycle insurance
There are a number of ways you may be able to get a cheaper motorbike insurance quote.
Insurers may offer discounts for a variety of reasons, including how securely you store or park your bike, how much you ride it and your riding experience.
Here’s a few things that might make a difference.
Limited mileage motorbike insurance
If you are able to resist riding temptation and restrict your annual mileage, you may be able to cut the cost of your motorcycle insurance.
Your premium will have been calculated on the miles you said you would put in when taking out your policy.
It’s important that you don’t exceed the agreed miles or that you tell your insurer if you’re going to. They may then adjust your premium for the remainder of your policy term.
Owners Club Discounts
Some insurers offer motorbike insurance discounts to bikers who are members of a recognised motorcycle club.
By investing in such a membership you are signalling that your bike means something more to you than simply being a vehicle for getting from A to B.
The affinity – passion, even – that you share with other members for your marque or model, suggests you may take a little more care of your bike.
We have specialist motorcycle insurers on our panel like this which is why we may be able to offer discounts of up to 10% to bikers who have joined a recognised owners club.
If you’d like more information on which clubs are recognised and by which insurers, please contact us.
Additional Security
For obvious reasons, insurers look more kindly on those bikers who have invested in additional motorbike security devices to complement any factory-fitted anti-theft kit.
To qualify for a discount – their availability and size varies between insurers – you’ll need purchase Thatcham-tested and approved after-market security products and systems.
These include theft-deterring devices such as trackers, tagging systems, electronic or electromagnetic alarms, ground anchors and immobilisers.
Secure Storage
Insurers are understandably interested in where you stow your bike overnight.
Given how easy it can be to lift and transport a bike, on-street parking is not favourably viewed.
A locked garage is the preferred option and, in the case of some insurers, bikes and localities, it is a requirement.
Voluntary Excess
The excess is the amount you agree to pay towards any TPFT or comprehensive bike insurance claim you may make.
Sometimes, insurers will allow you to increase your excess in return for a lower motorbike insurance quote.
This is because by committing to a higher excess you are sharing more of the risk.
Motorbike No Claims Discounts
Claims-free riding experience is one of the best ways of getting a cheaper motorcycle insurance quote.
If you’ve notched up a few years without having an accident for which you are to blame or suffering a theft, then insurers will give you a pat on the back in the form of a motorcycle no claims bonus.
Different insurers operate different no claims discount structures. However, you can typically expect to benefit after a full claims-free year, with the maximum bonus usually offered after ten unblemished years.
The discounts are well worth having. The insurers on our panel offer a maximum motorbike no claims bonus of up to 65%
Compare motorbike insurance quotes
Like you would any other significant purchase, it’s important to shop around.
Indeed, it’s quite possible you came across Principal Insurance when searching for the best motorcycle insurance quote on a price comparison site.
What you might not realise though is that we also shop around for you.
As a specialist broker we partner a range of equally specialist motorcycle insurers. Each has both strengths and weaknesses across what is a broad market. For example, some may better serve young motorcyclists, some sports bikes, some scooters and so on.
Working with our insurer partners, we also operate our own motorcycle insurance schemes.
These satisfy particular niches which we’ve identified through our own extensive experience, analysing quote data and through our ongoing dialogue with UK bikers.
When you contact us, whether online or by ‘phone, we input your details into a sophisticated quoting system. This interrogates the policies and schemes we arrange to identify the best possible quote that we can offer you.
We’re also proud to offer a truly personal service to both our existing and future customers.
So, if you have any questions about your motorcycle insurance needs please feel free to contact us! You can either call us on 0330 024 0087 or drop us an email.
*Please ask for details of the insurers on our panel we use to compare motorbike insurance quotes. **The availability and value of owners club, approved security and advanced riding discounts varies between insurers on our panel and are subject to terms and conditions. *** Where we can arrange an instalment facility to pay the insurance premium, we act as a credit broker, not a lender. We only offer instalments from a single provider, Close Brothers Premium Finance, and we do not offer advice in relation to this. **** The availability of cover will vary between the insurers we use to compare motorcycle insurance quotes and underwriting conditions will apply. Please ask for details.
OTHER PRODUCTS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN
WE PREFER TO TALK
WHY CHOOSE PRINCIPAL INSURANCE?
Because we put our policyholders first, we now serve around 40,000 motorcyclists, motorists, classic car enthusiasts, van drivers, couriers, motorhome owners, homeowners and motor trade professionals nationally.
Whilst we embrace the latest quote and administration technologies, you might say we’re a bit old school.
That’s because we’d prefer to talk to you in order to get the best possible understanding of your needs. That then means we are properly equipped to seek out the best deal for you from our extensive panel of leading UK insurers.*
What’s more we are able to give motorbike insurance, car, van, motorhome, multi-vehicle, home and commercial insurance quotes.
Our impressive growth has been achieved not through multi-million pound marketing campaigns but by delivering old fashioned service.
That can mean finding you the lowest possible insurance quote from our panel of insurers or, if you need make a claim, ensuring that you have access to specialist assistance so that the process is as prompt and painless as possible.We’re a company with personality, one that instead of demanding staff always follow stringent call scripts and call length targets, encourages them to chat so they can provide you with the highest quality of service.
An independent broker, we source the best quotes from the UK’s leading specialist insurers.With no call length targets, our experts take the time to find you the best deal.We’re here to help – with dedicated claims and customer service support.Our quotes hotline open weekdays 9.00am-6.00pm and Saturdays 9am-1pm.
For the best quote chat to our friendly and informed UK based call centre team