OT: Keeping insurance up on a car I sold

Nick ( snipped-for-privacy@spamcop.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

AIUI, no. Can you blame 'em? All these people with lots of car NCB getting on a bike for the first time, wobbling round a few corners, getting a bit of false confidence, and promptly falling off?

uk.rec.motorcycles will now.

It's not just 'frowned upon' - it's totally contrary to the conditions attached to your policy! You are required to notify your insurer of any changes involving the insured vehicle. If, however, you are not intending the policy to actually cover anyone driving said vehicle - but rather just letting it run its course to complete a further year's insurance then I cannot see that any harm is done. Strictly speaking, however, the moment you cease to be the owner of that vehicle your insurance policy covering that vehicle is invalid.

Kev

Kev

Welcome to the freezing, wet and windy world of motorbikes. Well, it is at least at this time of the year which is why mine is wrapped up under it's cover. Seems a strange time of year to take up biking.

Check the small print. A lot of insurance policies have terms that if you have been insured for x amount of months that if you want to cancel after this period then you will owe the full amount. So you'd probably be as well just paying up.

It will not be considered at all. Works both ways.

and do you know of any insurers that look

Loads of Bike insurers out there. Buy any of the glossy bike mags. Tons of them advertising at the back.

At 23, what bike are you planning on getting? Have you any idea how much insurance will be???

: I'm sure that insuring a car that one doesn't own is frowned upon, but : due to it expiring soon I'm wondering if there will be any benefits of : me just letting it get to the end of year 2 instead of just cancelling : it right away and saving myself ?75.

Quite apart from the legality, are you sure you'd save ?75? The rebate for the final month is normally derisory, even if you're paying in instalments...

Ian

: You are required to notify your insurer of any : changes involving the insured vehicle. If, however, you are not intending : the policy to actually cover anyone driving said vehicle - but rather just : letting it run its course to complete a further year's insurance then I : cannot see that any harm is done.

However, when the new owner tries to insure it, and his/her insurance company run the registration number through the insurers' shared database, there may be a little fun ahead.

Ian

Wot everyone else said about the legality. I use Hastings Direct for my bike (XJ600 Diversion) and they seem quite cheap, £100 less than Quote Me Happy frinstance. Carole Nash are said to be good, I wouldn't know, apart from being unable to get any details right or so the rumour mill has it.

Thousands of cars must be double insured for the month or so when someone sells/buys a car... and seeing as my insurance expires in a month...

--Nick.

I think you may overrate their IT :-)

If I have a full Cat A licence by mid feb I'll probably get a bike mid-March using the money I've saved on Petrol & tax alone. Hopefully March will be a warmer month.

It's only one more installment.

Oh well! It's just that some online bike websites do enquire about the applicants car NCB on their motorcycle forms.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll certainly do some shopping around, although all of my initial quotations for various bike types will be done online.

I'm not certain, however, one that will fit me (6'6" tall, large build) is good. A CBR400 looks okay, not a new one, though. My local riding school also take their clients around the local bike shops and explain what things are and what is available. It appears that they demand NO prior knowledge of riding for their Direct Access courses. However, I am doing a CBT on Saturday to see if I hate it or not. Already done my Cat A theory.

Yes, checked a few on ebay reg numbers and it appears that just looking at Bennett's website it will cost about £100 less than my car insurance for fully comp, or £300 less than my car insurance for TPFT.

--Nick.

There may or may not be. I recently insured a car belonging to (and already insured by) someone else in order to retain my NCB after two years of not owning a car. No problem.

Have you sat on a CBR400 yet? They're absolutely _tiny_, as in small enough for my very petite, 5ft tall wife to handle.

I _really_ don't think someone of your size will fit a CBR400, it may be OK for a couple of miles, but after half an hour of riding you'll be in absolute agony.

A Kawasaki ZZR600 shouldn't be too steep to insure, but is physically a lot bigger.

However, at your size I'd look towards a large 'trails' type bike, Honda Transalp or BMW R650. If you don't like the off-road thing, then a Bandit 600 or Hornet 600 would be worth a look.

Is that a full or quick quote, as, IME, the 'quickquote' system is totally unrealistic.

I haven't actually looked closely at any particular bikes, so I am unaware of the sizes. This whole bike thing has been a rather big leap of faith. I've been thinking about it for a few months, up to the point of doing my Cat A Theory in November.

I calculated last week that I actually pay something like £200 for my Vectra a month (Tax, Insurance, Petrol) and that's not taking into account servicing. A large chunk of that is Petrol, and I hardly ever have anyone else in the car with me, so pulling around all of that extra weight is just inefficient.

So yesterday I made the snap decision (Damn you Natasha Kaplinsky!) to actually get rid of the car (I've spend over £1.4k just FIXING it over the last two months!) and instead of listing it on ebay or AutoTrader I stuck it in a car auction, and it got its reserve price, which means that I now don't own a car...

Which will make getting into work rather fun for the next month or two. However, lifts are not a problem, and I'm sure I've still got that brand new mountain bike which cost £250 and I've only used twice in the last year to use on the warmer days.

CBT booked for Saturday, and hopefully Direct Access course from 14th

- 17th February and if all goes to plan then hopefully a bike within a month of that.

There is one Transalp on ebay and it looks okay, not all that pretty though - but I'm not looking for a pretty bike. The Bandit 600 looks like pretty good value on ebay.

Do bikes mind if one leaves them outside all day in the rain at work? Or should one cover them up?

There were a couple of registration plates on display on ebay, and I know it's a bit naughty, but I had a couple of quotes based on those, so the quotes SHOULD be pretty accurate.

--Nick.

Nick was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

You probably want to ask these questions on uk.rec.motorcycles...

Bindits are budget bikes so the used prices tend to reflect their fairly low proce when new. Nothing wrong with that, they're supposed to be good allrounders. Only trouble is the (in)famous Suzuki finish, aside from people lobbing them down the road and all that.

If you're buying your first bike, go see it before you bid on it and take someone with you who knows about motorbikes.

Covering them always helps - for some reason (mainly bikes being seen as more of a leisure vehicle) finshes aren't necessarily up to car standards. Budget some time to keep it clean and corrosion free lest you like to pay for having corroded fasteners drilled out.

Phone a few other brokers, explain the situation (about to take bike test, want a quote for a 600 Bandit this and that age, yadda yadda) to make sure that you've been given realistic quotes.

Will subscribe later on.

I'm planning on doing that, but people that know a lot about bikes are often hidden away in cars. Which might mean something :)

I like to look after my purchases. Thanks for the suggestion.

I will certainly shop around for my insurance in future. I'm going to HAVE to get a bike now I've flogged Mr. Car!

I'm also 6'6 (but a skinny-ass) & make most bikes look rediculous - even my bro's old 80's GS1000. Long in the leg you see. Can't even get both feet on the footpegs on a 600 Hornet. "Sit up & beg style" trail bikes seem to be better.

I assume you lied and said you were the owner of the car? AIUI you cannot insure a vehicle that does not belong to you.

Kev

Uno Hoo! ( snipped-for-privacy@dropthisbigfoot.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

How does anybody ever insure a leased car, then?

I believe that to be able to insure anything (a life, property, etc.) you must have "an insurable interest" ie. you could become a financial casualty by an event if you did not have insurance. That covers insurance of a leased car. By that yardstick the OP's insurance of the car is now ended. The OP wants to maintain the insurance for another few weeks to earn a second year's ncb. and that is very understandable. I'd be tempted to say nowt to them and trust that it doesn't get picked up, so that he gets a renewal notice (with its 2-year NCB discount offered) in the normal way. Whilst it's a serious matter to fail to tell an insurance co. of something (a mod., perhaps, or a conviction) that increases their risk (or perceived risk) it's hardly a serious matter if you fail to write to tell them that they are now free of risk.

That doesn't apply to life. If I die, I can't be a financial casualty because I'm dead.