February 13th, 2010 by The Rider
Your guide to today, tomorrow and beyond
Events El Paso’s Hero Awards: The banquet honoring Zulu, the dog that saved Bob Sumrall’s life, will be at 6 p.
SCOOT: Jongeren & zorgverzekering
December 22nd, 2009 by The Rider
So you’re riding your bike or moped to work one morning and hit a patch of diesel. Next thing you know, you are sitting on the pavement looking at your motor vehicle in pieces all around you. What do you do next?
Getting home that day, the first thing to do is dig out all your motorbike or moped insurance paperwork, and call your insurance company. Chances are you have arranged your insurance through a broker and they have placed you with a larger company.
Rather than your paperwork being passed back and forth across the country, you will be given a telephone number for both a solicitor, if you opted for legal assistance when taking out your policy, and a direct telephone number for your insurance company to deal with. In an effort to speed up the claims process, all insurers’ deals directly with the client to settle the claim at the earliest possibly date.
Motorcycle claims can take anything from a month to several years to settle depending on the circumstances.
Now, in the event that a nice car driver decides to pull out in front of you, bouncing you across his bonnet, you will need to pursue a claim against him, there are two ways of doing this.
1. You can pursue the claim yourself providing evidence of the damage to the third parties insurance company. This evidence may include repair estimates for work that needs to be done to your bike, any damages to your helmet, leathers, or clothing. It could also include evidence of the use of a hire vehicle whilst your own vehicle is off the road. This process can be lengthy, and without experience dealing with this, you can find it difficult.
2. When taking out your motorbike/moped insurance, you may have been asked whether you would like legal assistance, or it may have been included in your policy. If this was the case, after a non-fault accident you are provided with a team of solicitors, with years of experience, to deal with your claim.
The solicitors can arrange the inspection of your vehicle for repairs, a hire-vehicle to be delivered, or arrange necessary doctors’ appointments for any personal injury. With a team of experienced solicitors working for you, this can help the claim be settled much faster, and for every cost to be recovered, including their own, meaning you don’t have to pay any extra for this service.
The effect on your insurance can vary depending on the circumstances of the claim; a non-fault accident should not make any difference, providing the claim is settled before taking out a new policy or renewing an existing one. Fire, theft, or fault accidents all have much greater effects on your motorbike/moped insurance, not only will the claim count against you, but you may also lose your no claims discount if it was not protected.
There is no set figure per accident that your insurance will increase by; each accident needs to be looked at individually, depending on the age of the claim, the amount paid for any damages and who was to blame.
In the event that a driver with no insurance hits you, do not expect not to be paid out, the Motor Insurance Bureau will pay compensation for your damage or injuries, provided the uninsured vehicle can be identified. This is the reason on average you pay an extra 30 pounds for your insurance policy, the Insurance Premium Tax making up 5% of your premium goes towards paying for uninsured drivers, increasing the cost of your motorbike insurance.
Accidents can happen anywhere, anytime, and have all kinds of effects on your insurance. To make your life easier collect as much information as possible from all parties involved. And, as your insurance company will say, never admit liability.
About the Author
Anna Stenning is an expert on motorbike and moped insurance, and understands how important it is to know what to do in a serious situation. For more information on bike insurance click on http://www.insureyourbike.com/
November 2nd, 2009 by The Rider
What is the best moped for me?
I am looking for a scooter or moped or vespa (what’s the difference by the way?) to get me to work and back (10 miles each way) every day. What’s the best one to get, and how much should I expect to pay for insurance? I am 18 and a woman.
Thanks
a vespa is a type of moped/scooter – just like a ford is a type of car etc.
50cc’s are cheaper to buy/insure ; but 125’s are, well, bigger. anything bigger than a 125 you’ll need a bike licence for
it depends what style your looking for; peugeot speedfights/piaggio zip 50’s are quite popular twist and go mopeds.
but if you’re going geared, aprilia rs’ are propular
if you’re looking for classis, the vespa lx is good.
imported bikes like a baotian are cheap, but we get a lot of complaints of them being unreliable
for insurance, depends what cover your looking for. you’ve got to keep in mind some excess’ for your age are more than the value of some bikes if you go for Third party fire and theft ; or comp.
it also depends where you live. There is a MASSIVE difference between London and then people who live in the country!
all you can really do is just get quotes from insurers. the cheapest i’ve known is around £150 for third part only if you don’t have any no claims bonus for a bike. the most expensive for a 50/125 if about £800 for tpft/comp.
also for tpft or comp; you’d be looking at excesses anywhere from £150 to £750 depending on the bike.
