Bike insurance - TPFT or Fully comp?

[Romanov]

Hi,
Just sorting out my new bike for when I pass , discussions of me being a "nutter" aside Id like to get a sporty number but insurance costs seems to vary widely between tpft and fully comp.

e.g 2004 Suzuki GSXR 600
Fully comp = £1000 excess £600
TPFT = £400

Now Im normally a fully comp person but no matter what age of the bike as lngs as its got a fairing the fully comp is about £800 and the excess is £600 not to mention if I prang a fully comp buike and clain your insurance goes up to £2000 mark for the next year.

On looking at the figures Im better off getting an older sportsbike a GSXR or Kwak 600 which may cost £3000 but will only cost £400 to insure on TPFT.

The only risk with TPFT is if you crash it , it may be end of bike but on the other hand if I crash with fully comp I pay £600 in excess and then have an insurance hike the next year of £1500 for the same bike!!!

Daylight robbery and Im starting to come to the point of view of going TPFT and then just paying the costs myself as many riders do say that if they are fully comp they would pay themselves rather than claim as the insurance costs would negate the difference anyway.

Any thoughts?
cheers
Romanov

[Romanov]

This all hangs on the question of whether you crash or not Im going to assume that as Im not commuting Im just having a blast for the first year but very sensibly (family,kids etc) and Im not having to go anywhere in heavy traffic or near towns I wont have a bad crash, maybe an off or two but nothing serious.

[Russ]

it boilds down to.. could you afford to replace the bike if it got smashed up and it was your fualt? if u can, go tpft, if not, go fully comp.

[Romanov]

or take a risk and hope you dont crash it hmmmm even a tame thundercat is £800 I was looking at the Suzuki sv650s which is nice but I had som many "thats for the girls isnt it" commenst I decided not to, fully comp for that is £450

[Rave]

Well, I'm old enough that Fully Comp only costs about £50 extra on my car insurance but I still go with TPFT. I'm a careful enough driver that I consider it unnecessary. As you say, the long term cost of claiming would probably pay for another bike anyway, although if you wrote off a brand new £6000 GSXR that'd be a bit of a kick in the nuts. My best advice is get the SV650, it's certainly not a girls bike. If you must have a 600 though, buy a secondhand one like a Thundercat, ZZR-600, ZX6R or CBR600. The latest generation of 600s are not only very fast, they're set up with quite twitchy handling which will make them more prone to tankslappers, which isn't what you want as an inexperienced rider.

Im just having a blast for the first year but very sensibly (family,kids etc) and Im not having to go anywhere in heavy traffic or near towns I wont have a bad crash, maybe an off or two but nothing serious.

TBH that worries me mate- crashing bikes at out of town speeds usually results in injury. If you want to blast about and enjoy some speed I strongly suggest you do some track days. Speeding on country lanes just isn't really that sensible.

Rich :¬)

[Grey M@a]

how old are you mate because good luck jumping on a 600 straight after passing your bike test 25+ to jump on an bike of any size after a test, if you do your test on a 125 you will be allowed to drive 250 max for the first year if you are under 25 i think it is and after that anything upto a 600 then after another year, whatever you like

[Rave]

Originally Posted by Grey M@a

how old are you mate because good luck jumping on a 600 straight after passing your bike test 25+ to jump on an bike of any size after a test, if you do your test on a 125 you will be allowed to drive 250 max for the first year if you are under 25 i think it is and after that anything upto a 600 then after another year, whatever you like

Ummmmm....nope. If you're under 21 you have to take your test on a 125 and then ride a bike with 33hp or less for two tears- this also applies if you're over 21 and take the test on a 125. If you're over 21 you can take a direct access test on a bike with 47 or more HP and you can then ride anything you like straight away.

Rich :¬)

[Grey M@a]

can you, nice one was gonna get my bike test done but was gonna wait, time to skint myself on lessons then

[Flibb]

Romanov is 47+, well thats how old he looks, then again perhaps thats what the kids did to him.
He's actually 32ish I think, maybe a tad older.

And agreed your more likely to kill yourself on country roads than motorways. Work with some bikers and bro-in-law has a ninja, all there falls are on country roads, most of the time due to bad surface or greasy conditions.

[Romanov]

Im 32 lol I did reply to this but it seems to have disappeared, the plan is to get an older bike me thinks and bash that around for a year , Ill go tpft as the cost of fully comp on a second hand bike isnt worth it. Thanks for the replies that summed it up nicely altho im staying away from b roads as they sound like death traps, a 1998 GSXR SRAD sounds the job

[RVF500]

Bet you next months wages you end up blasting down any twisty road you can once you get going....." can't you hear that Mr Anderson, that's the sound of ....inevitibility"

But rave is right .....do track days to really let fly. Not only is it safer it's a damn sight more fun. You don't have the 'what's around that corner?' going through your mind and can simply concentrate on riding. Brands Hatch is just up the road from you so take advantage of your location.

[Romanov]

Brands is on the list they do beginner days so Ill be boking one soon

"Bet you next months wages you end up blasting down any twisty road you can once you get going....."

Im sincerely hoping I have the maturity not t...........ahh heck who am I kidding .....

[ekundo]

i'm going to have to book my test soon aswell, 18, been riding a bike since i was 7, and still can only dream of affording fully comp for my first year on a larger bike

[Romanov]

insurance for same as a 22 yr old was £2200..nasty.. what I was thinking was that a good way round all of this was to buy an unfaired version of the bike, fit clip ons and then fit your own bought faring , there are lots of third party fairing peeps around and its only about £400. Youd have to do some minor tweaking and fitting but you would have what is a race bike apart from the "tuned" performance. Ive seen lots of bikes fitted like this and they look ace and very nicely done

[RVF500]

EGG-ZAKK-LEE.....and how do I know?.....cuz I was exactly the same....quote....I don't wanna set the world on fire, just want to get from a to b. unqote.......next bike was a GSXR750....followed by the Aprilia RSV ....and I LUUUURVE Brands GP circuit .....ah well, we all start off with good intentions. Mine lasted all of 100 yards down the road

[Romanov]

p.s bricking it large about my theory test I just tesded myself and got 22 right its on Friday argh*^%(&^%(