Hibernian exiting motorcycle insurance market

a_ominous

Press report on Hibernian website

No new business from 1 July and no renewals from 1 August.

Ratchet

not really surprised as they where trying to force everybody out by pumping up premiums

the main problem is when hibernian insured car runs into hibernian insured bike, simply it costs serious money. They dont see this customer base very profitable

Chalk

didnt they sell their customer base to axa last year ?

i was with hibernian and in january my renewal came from axa.
no letter from hibernian.

im with CN now anyway, lovely bunch.

Ratchet

really, we need at least two additional insurance companies to make prices reasonable

Biker.ie

With practically zero competition, lovely bunch or not the premiums will go up ! Theres been a serious increase in biking accidents lately, wonder if thats prompted their withdrawal from the market.

seamus

Axa are in the motorcycle insurance market now, no?

It's not perfect, but at least CN don't have a monopoly. It's definitely an issue the Government needs to address (the entire motorbike issue, not just insurance, the government have disregarded motorbikes as a mode of transport for the last 50 years).

the_syco

Do you need a liecense to drive one, and how long has that been needed for?

seamus

the_syco wrote:

Do you need a liecense to drive one, and how long has that been needed for?

Yes you do, but there's no formal training in place. Anyone can get a licence and go straight out and drive a fairly large bike without any sort of supervision or accountability.

Ratchet

seamus wrote:

Yes you do, but there's no formal training in place. Anyone can get a licence and go straight out and drive a fairly large bike without any sort of supervision or accountability.

i think this more applies to older guys which can actually afford the insurance and buy this high powered rockets.

UHA look at me I am racing driver......zoooooom and .... SMACK!?@!!!X*

seamus

Ratchet wrote:

i think this more applies to older guys which can actually afford the insurance and buy this high powered rockets.

UHA look at me I am racing driver......zoooooom and .... SMACK!?@!!!X*

I don't think so. There are plenty of young guys (that I know) who buy a bike that's a little too powerful for them, and then use an address down the country to get cheaper insurance.
There are also the little scrotes who buy bikes and drive them around completely unlicensed and uninsured, and the mopeds who carrying passengers without a full licence.

Even a 400cc Bros is far too big for a first time rider IMO.

a_ominous

I may be wrong here, but I think Hibernian are the only ones to give insurance cover on scooters. Maybe Axa have taken this on, I don't know. I wonder how many of these will be off the road come September when Hibernian are out of the business? Will your average scooter boi give a damn if he's insured?

I haven't seen any stats on what types of bikes are involved in crashes. Typically only hear of fatalities, and they happen mostly to my knowledge outside urban areas, which I guess means a motorbike as opposed to a scooter is involved. Wonder if the payouts in fatal crashes are higher than non-fatal crashes. I'd expect medical bills and care for a survivor to push up the premiums more than a payout, if any, in the event of a death. Besides 75% of collisions between bikes and cars are caused by the car driver, so why aren't their premiums going up?

Ratchet

i will have look again through my links but yes you are right majority accidents involving bikes are actually caused by :

car drivers which can't really make accurate judgment of bike movement(surely in some cases bikes are probably over the speed limit)
&
most fatal accidents happen outside great Dublin area

licensing law changed a bit and young guys can't really drive cbr 600 as first bike.

Hotblack Desiato

a first-time rider can have any bike if it's restricted.

Something like a restricted Hornet or Bandit 600 is arguably far safer than a light 125 or 250 single. Much more road presence, far better tyres and brakes (as they're the same as fitted to the full power bike).

I know from personal experience that doing 30mph on a 900 gets you infinitely more respect and room than doing 30mph on a 125 or 250. Many car drivers habitually bully small bikes out of the way and overtake leaving no room (even though bike is doing the speed limit)

I think the whole power restriction thing is a waste of time though. Power doesn't cause accidents - it's up to the rider how far to twist the throttle, and you can get yourself killed just as easily on a Honda 50 as on a Hayabusa if you don't know what you're doing. Compulsory training would be far better but it's desperately needed for all road users not just bikes.

tk123

Is it AON who are handling AXA quotes etc - they kept getting my name/reg/bike make wrong when I was renewing last year so I paid the extra €200 to go with Hibernian instead of using AON as the broker!!! I don't think C&N will insure me cos the bike is outside all night and I still have a prov licence...?

Biker.ie

yep, something about a (concrete as apposed to cardboard/timber) shed is required with Carole Nash, they may review this later to gain a chunk of hibernians market, we'll see.

Chalk

cn didnt ask me was the bike garaged before insuring me.
didnt ask me if i had a license either, strangely enough.

told him i had a full one and he said it didnt matter.

quote was over 1000 less than hibernian

seamus

Chalk wrote:

cn didnt ask me was the bike garaged before insuring me.
didnt ask me if i had a license either, strangely enough.

told him i had a full one and he said it didnt matter.

quote was over 1000 less than hibernian

Didn't matter....?

What age are you (if you don't mind me asking)?

I was asked about licence and storage (even though I was only getting TPO)

a_ominous

CN are a strange lot: they don't load provisional licence holders, so no difference in premium for full licence holders. I believe this is part of the reason why so many older riders haven't bothered to do a test. Older provisional licence holders also have a dispensation regarding restricted power bikes, which again is probably related to CNs policies. CN don't recognise restricted power bikes, even factory restricted bikes. If CN were to load provisional licence holders or differentiate some way between full and provisional licences, there might be a mad rush for the test.

Re garaging bike, they don't ask if you're going for TPO insurance. FC and classic insurance requires a garage. Well that's what one of their reps told me. Could change next week...

batman_oh

carole nash are also ****e in that they will not quote you on a new 600 or a 1000 until u are at least 26 or 27
this is bollox because it is fine for people anywhere else in the world to drive these bikes at 20 or even less
nash said 24 for me on the 400, whereas in the uk plenty of 17 year olds drive them and they are considered as learner bikes
americans dont even recognise them and start on new 600s
the age thing is crap, its the awareness and skill of the driver
how many stupid born agains go out at 35 after havin a bike in the 80s and buy r1s and stuff thinkin they are the daddy coz they drove an 80s, 80bhp ****box that is about as close to a modern sportsbike in terms of performance as a bloody raleigh max
over here we have no training no nothing and thats what causes problems and the ****in appalingly ****e roads that fling u off a bike in an instant is attributable to a great amount of crashes too

Chalk

seamus wrote:

Didn't matter....?

What age are you (if you don't mind me asking)?

I was asked about licence and storage (even though I was only getting TPO)

only saw your question now seamus,

im 22,
a few people have said that cn dont load provisional drivers,
which is fine for the provos,
but disheatening for full riders,
and hardly an incentive for testing / training.