Motorbike Insurance for storage

gerlough

Hello Folks, I wonder if anyone has come accross this situation before? I have an Irish friend working abroad who wants to buy a motorbike again to do some travelling in Europe during the summer.

I can get storage sorted for him but working out how best to get insurance cover for that and travelling in Europe is tricky. He'll only be really on the bike for a few weeks in the year at most and it will be in a garage the rest of the year.

Does anyone know of a soloution perhaps? Many thanks in advance...

CJhaughey

I don't see a problem.
The address the bike will be stored at will be the address used to insure the bike.
If the storage burns down and the bike is burnt then its all fine no?
All insurers will offer cover for EU and EEA areas for up to 30-40 days as standard.

gerlough

Thanks CJ. That is true alright from the storage side. One aspect that is cropping up is the question of residency and since he is living abroad for most of the year. The insurance companies we have checked require you to be an Irish resident as far as we can make out. What are they doing to check that kind of situation when someone is taking a policy out? It may only be a real issue when it comes to a claim if that was necessary.

Del2005

CJhaughey wrote: »

All insurers will offer cover for EU and EEA areas for up to 30-40 days as standard.

That's for any cover you have above Third Party, they have to provide the minimum cover for every country for full term of your policy once you stay in EEA/EU.

gerlough wrote: »

Thanks CJ. That is true alright from the storage side. One aspect that is cropping up is the question of residency and since he is living abroad for most of the year. The insurance companies we have checked require you to be an Irish resident as far as we can make out. What are they doing to check that kind of situation when someone is taking a policy out? It may only be a real issue when it comes to a claim if that was necessary.

Would it not be cheaper to buy the bike where they live and store it there? It's going to cost a couple of hundred Euro, at least, to get it to Europe from here.

Or if they are only going to use it occasionally why not just hire? No maintenance or other ongoing costs.

minidazzler

It only needs to be actually insured when it's being ridden, so get the insurance when taking it out, on a full licence he should be able to get a few days insurance in Ireland, and then a few weeks in Europe. The storage unit you use will insure contents up to a certain value.

gerlough

Thanks Del2005. He will have to get comprehensive cover to get the EU travel included and probably the better choice anyway. On storage, he is living outside the EU so driving it from there to here or Europe would take too long. The hire option would be good. There doesn't seem to be anyone provideing that service. Maybe you know of somewhere? We have checked out Celtic Riders in Dublin and they have an interesting scheme they are starting this year.

Thanks minidazzler. On the temporary cover, is there an Insurance company in Ireland that would do cover like that? Have you tried this option yourself at any stage? We looked at a company in Germany and they can do 3rd party or Comp by the month at good rates.

Del2005

gerlough wrote: »

Thanks Del2005. He will have to get comprehensive cover to get the EU travel included and probably the better choice anyway. On storage, he is living outside the EU so driving it from there to here or Europe would take too long. The hire option would be good. There doesn't seem to be anyone provideing that service. Maybe you know of somewhere? We have checked out Celtic Riders in Dublin and they have an interesting scheme they are starting this year.

Thanks minidazzler. On the temporary cover, is there an Insurance company in Ireland that would do cover like that? Have you tried this option yourself at any stage? We looked at a company in Germany and they can do 3rd party or Comp by the month at good rates.

He doesn't need fully comp to travel to Europe, once it's Third Party (TP) covered it's fine for Europe travel. The issue of the company giving 30-40 days in the EU is for any cover you have above TP, they have to provide cover for the term of the policy once the bike stays in the EU/EEA but it drops to the minimum level required for each country which is TP after the days they give you.

Google the country he's interested in going to for Motorbike hire, there are too many options to link, but if he want's performance don't hire in France as they have a 100bhp limit on all bikes. You can usually ride any hire bike through most of northern Europe without issues, but Italy and some others may be barred.

No company in Ireland offers temp cover. The best you can hope for is to take a policy and suspend it till he needs to ride, but then the bike isn't insured.

If he's coming from outside the EU to ride bikes on the continent Ireland is the last place I'd be starting from, unless he's meeting people here. But even still it'd be easier for him to meet on the continent.