ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: andrewcsp on May 19, 2019, 03:58:00 PM
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Hello,
I placed an order for a Zero SR/F yesterday. Very excited, but reading here I'll probably be waiting at least a few months for it!
In the meantime, can anyone in the UK advise who they use for insurance (on any Zero model)? I can insure my BMW 1300cc 173bhp monster for £300 fully comp, but anything in the Zero range is £777 (SR, new) to £940 (SR/F). Only Lexham will give me a price for the SR/F. The bike would be garaged at home, and ground anchored on a driveway at work (London).
For the SR/F I've tried:
GoCompare via website (no results available)
MoneySupermarket via website (no results available)
Confused via website (no results available)
Devitt via telephone (cannot find the bike)
BeMoto via telephone (too risky to have it parked in London, despite anchor)
BeSure via telephone (no results available)
Carole Nash via telephone (no results available)
Lexham via telephone (£945, fully comp, must use disk lock or chain at all times)
I'll try Wicked Quotes tomorrow, as I've seen that mentioned here.
Any other suggestions welcome. One suggestion I've had is "burn petrol, it's cheaper and easier!" Finding it hard to argue with that to be honest!
Andrew
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Wicked Quotes for my FXS. I'm shocked that getting insurance is still so difficult. They all say they can do it when you ask up front, they take all your details (to spam you with later) and stumble at the "how many cc" question. ::) I notice that Bennetts did a video review of the SR/F, but I doubt they'll insure one. Might be worth a try though.
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Thanks for the suggestions Fred. I actually wonder if we’re moving backwards in regard to insurance.
I just tried Wicked Quotes. They told me they no longer insure electric motorcycles. Their underwriter no longer offers this.
Tried Bennett’s also. They don’t have an insurance rating/category for the bike so cannot insure it. This may change later but no guarantee of that.
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Is there such a thing in the UK as a rider's policy?
I insure my SR (full no claims) on a 600cc rider policy at £139.
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Is there such a thing in the UK as a rider's policy?
I insure my SR (full no claims) on a 600cc rider policy at £139.
There used to be rider policies - not sure if there is any more. We also moved to insurance groups for a while but now seem to be back to insuring by engine capacity - which causes problems.
If Wicked Quotes have stopped doing electric bikes then I might not be able to get insurance at all when mine is up for renewal. :o
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FYI, I've emailed my predicament to Zero and have explicitly pointed them to this thread. Hopefully they can suggest some alternatives. Frankly, I'm very apprehensive to buy a bike which only one insurer/broker in the industry will cover. I'm liable to end up in a situation where I simply cannot get insurance through no fault of my own. Or to get completely shafted because there is only one company available (a monopoly).
This situation is a deal breaker for me, but let's see if any more options arise in the coming months. The SR/F is a brand new model after all. The alternative will be to look for a 600cc commuter instead.
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Here is a good laugh for you: My first electric motorcycle was a 2009 Electric Motorsport GPR-S. When I went to Progressive to insure it for $250K/$500K liability-only, they didn't know how to classify it. So they gave it an engine size of 1cc and charged me $5 for an entire year's premium. ;D Since then, insurance premiums for my electric motorcycles have risen every year and now Progressive charges me 20% more than they do for my BMW R1200RS for the same level of insurance coverage. ???
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Insurance does seem to be a huge problem - in the UK at least. If Zero want to sell bikes they should be taking to insurers. I'm dreading my renewal when it comes up. To be honest, whilst I love my FXS I wouldn't buy an electric bike right now with the insurance market the way it is.
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I got a quote from MCE, about £750 for fire and theft £540 for 3rd party only. Lexham wouldn't quote because I had 7 points. This was a year ago. I had no no claims bonus for bikes then.
Andrew
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SR rates are high because people crash them. I pay $177/month :(.
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Hello,
I placed an order for a Zero SR/F yesterday. Very excited, but reading here I'll probably be waiting at least a few months for it!
Which dealer have you placed your order with? UK dealers can expect both SRF models to be delivered in July. There is a potential problem with registration though. Apparently it is taking some dealers two months to register their bikes after delivery. Streetbike have got it nailed though so go to them if you want one on the road as quickly as possible.
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Your situation was similar to mine back in 2016. Only Lexham would insure my FXZ 6.5 and only 3rd party accident, no fire or theft cover. Over 9yrs no claims with a Kawasaki Z750 counted for nothing, had to start again with no claims bonus. Here's how it went, 2016 £842.00p. 2017 £711.38p. 2018 £308.74 mentioning i had 2yrs no claims bonus, so you can see they are not out to exploit their virtual monopoly, you just have to stay with them and build a no claims discount. I only got insured with them by sending photos of my rented concrete steel door garage with CCTV and security gates, then in late 2018 the council demolished it to make way for estate regeneration. The bikes in storage now.
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Interesting to hear your experiences Andrew and Lj66.
Lexham would only quote me for fully comprehensive insurance. TP and TPFT not an option due to the value of the bike. That seemed odd to me, but frankly I wouldn't want any less than comprehensive anyway. While I'm glad to hear your experience with Lexham has been good, I'm simply apprehensive of having only one insurance option available for the long term. I like to shop around each year so I can make an informed choice about how much I'm paying.
My situation is:
- Biking for 9 years
- Full licence for 7 years
- 3 years NCD on an F800GT
- 6 years NCD on my second bike (K1300R)
- 0 points, no legal issues
- one small at fault incident a little over 3 years ago (this wasn't a claim).
- I'm certainly not new to big/powerful biking.
I've ordered the SR/F through HGB in Ruislip. Not in a particular hurry, as long as it's here before the autumn.
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I'm in the market for SRF insurance now, so I'll share my experience. I'm going to try IAM Surety. I believe they work exclusively with people who have attained their Green Badge for passing their advanced riding course. Or they might just be IAM friendly, I'm not sure. I've heard that they can be competitive when pushed, but I'm also expecting them not to have a Scooby about Zeros.
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Just did a comparison on the meerkats site. 61 year old, 2 years no claims, live in Devon.
2016 DSR = £136.
2019 FXS = £224.
All fully comp.
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Just did a comparison on the meerkats site. 61 year old, 2 years no claims, live in Devon.
2016 DSR = £136.
2019 FXS = £224.
All fully comp.
Wow, that’s impressive. Which insurers were they?
I suppose my problem is that I live in the theft capital of the U.K. (London)
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Have also just realised that the OLEV grant for installing a home chargepoint is not available to any electric motorcycles, including Zero. Only cars and vans are eligible. Full list here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/803572/electric-vehicle-homecharge-scheme-eligible-vehicles.csv/preview
The more I look into electric motorcycles the more I feel that I’m getting penalised for being both an early adopter and a motorcyclist.
Petrol: 2, Electric: 0
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For the SR/F I've tried:
GoCompare via website (no results available)
MoneySupermarket via website (no results available)
Confused via website (no results available)
Devitt via telephone (cannot find the bike)
BeMoto via telephone (too risky to have it parked in London, despite anchor)
BeSure via telephone (no results available)
Carole Nash via telephone (no results available)
Lexham via telephone (£945, fully comp, must use disk lock or chain at all times)
Wicked Quotes
So who did you end up going with?
Just had a quote from Principle, but they are £100 more expensive than my current 1200cc bike!! WTF
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
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For the SR/F I've tried:
GoCompare via website (no results available)
MoneySupermarket via website (no results available)
Confused via website (no results available)
Devitt via telephone (cannot find the bike)
BeMoto via telephone (too risky to have it parked in London, despite anchor)
BeSure via telephone (no results available)
Carole Nash via telephone (no results available)
Lexham via telephone (£945, fully comp, must use disk lock or chain at all times)
Wicked Quotes
So who did you end up going with?
Just had a quote from Principle, but they are £100 more expensive than my current 1200cc bike!! WTF
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
No further news as yet. I'm still waiting for my bike to arrive! I'm on holiday now for a few weeks, but expecting to hear more from my dealer towards the end of September. Frankly, I gave up even attempting to speak directly to Zero. Their customer support is mediocre at best I'd say. I've given my insurance details to Dale at Zero about four times now, with the promise that he'll get back to me with more reasonable insurers.
As much as I loved my test ride of the SR/F, I'm not wedded to it and may reassess my options in late September if I'm not satisfied with the state of things. I haven't bothered to check insurance prices again myself recently, but hoping it has gotten a little better in the past few months.
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An update...
I'm expecting to take delivery of a shiny new Zero SR/F next week! ;D
I tried another round of insurance quotes recently. Some, but not much improvement:
GoCompare via website (Cheapest 3 options: £805 Lexham, £2761 BikeSure, £2803 MCN)
MoneySupermarket via website (Identical results to GoCompare)
Confused via website (Identical results to GoCompare)
BeMoto via telephone (will not insure any bike this valuable for ANY commuting in London - theft is guaranteed in their eyes)
Lexham via website (£781, fully comp, must use disk lock or chain at all times)
The BeMoto position really annoyed me. In my opinion, electric bikes are perfect for commuting: regular repeated journey lengths; driving through congested cities without adding pollution; low speed stop/start city traffic is more efficient for electric vehicles compared to petrol. None of this matters because of theft risk. Not their fault, but their underwriters are too restrictive.
Then, my Zero dealer (aware of my insurance concerns) made contact with Lexham directly. I've since been in touch with them, and they have kindly gone out of their way to get these insurance prices down. I'm currently quoted £654, and I'm happy to live with this.
So right now, the only reasonable insurance option on the market I have is Lexham. I've been quite impressed with their efforts and have heard from multiple sources that they're very keen to get into the electric motorcycle insurance business. Consider the following history of events, a 45% drop since my initial quote in May:
May 2019 £945 - Initial Lexham quote
Oct 2019 £781 - Second Lexham quote (5 months later)
Oct 2019 £742 - Third Lexham quote via referral from Zero dealer
Oct 2019 £654 - Revised Lexham quote, bearing in mind that I have a history with powerful bikes and a high NCD
So, it's worth pointing out to these insurance agents if you have a long biking history (9 yrs for me), especially if it involves high powered machines (1300cc for me), multiple bike ownership (and therefore multiple sets of NCDs).
I've been quite impressed at the lengths Lexham have gone to in order to get me an insurance quote I can live with! The agent handling the latest set of quotes (I believe Olivia), seemed well aware of biking in general (both petrol and electric), and that was rather refreshing compared to some conversations I've had!
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Even if theft 'is guaranteed' that just means you raise the price based upon incidence. That's what insurance if for.
If they're not doing that, I don't think they should be allowed to sell insurance.
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Even if theft 'is guaranteed' that just means you raise the price based upon incidence. That's what insurance if for.
If they're not doing that, I don't think they should be allowed to sell insurance.
I think the other issue is that as the SR/F is a new model, there isn't any data for insurers to know how risky it is (i.e. how likely an accident or theft claim will be). So because the value of the bike is high, and they have no claim statistics, they prefer to say no.
Agreed though, what is point of insurance if they won't cover a risk!?
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Having just bought a DSR, I have played the same game with insurers. Lexham came out the cheapest, but I ended up going with Bennetts because my current bike is insured with them. I wanted to transfer the no claims discount across from that bike whilst maintaining it's insurance. I thought this would change the cost of my Tiger's insurance, but they just applied the discount anyway. It wasn't easy. Phoning Bennett's direct they said they couldn't insure an electric bike. I went and did a search on one of the comparison websites and it came bike with a quote from Bennetts! So phoned them again and got it sorted.
It is more expensive than my current insurance is/was though. Feel I'm taking a hit for no particular reason other than they can rip us off. My recent renewal for a Tiger800 (admittedly 6 year old and only worth about 3-4000) was about £125 and the new insurance for the 2019 DSR is about £400. Exactly the same cover- in fact slightly larger excess on the DSR. I am putting part of this down to the value of the bike. I'm mid forties, male, with a garaged bike, 17 years no claims, 9000 miles a year.
Talking of which, anyone want to buy a nice Tiger800???
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So, I bought a SR/F which i'll take delivery of on the 23rd. Thought I'd chime in with the results for myself.
I found the Zero not too bad to insure, based on the fact i'm old (40), have a flawless riding history (so far) and don't live in London, Mine cost £380 for the year, fully comp (SDP&C), from Performance Direct (policy underwritten by Axa), which doesn't seem terible for such an expensive / early adopter thing. I was reasonably happy, and becuse it's a second bike, it only has 3 years no claims avaliable to it. All in, I though it'd be worse, considering what some of you are being quoted.
Comparison sites gave me loads of results (well, 11. ranging from decent to downright laughable).
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I'll never forget the time that I insured my first electric motorcycle, an Electric Motorsport GPR-S, with Progressive Insurance in 2009. They had no idea what engine size to give it to fit into their premium schedule (which is apparently rated by engine size - and maybe also how many "R"s are in the bike's name ::) ). So the insurance agent specified that it had a "0" cc engine. ??? With that size "engine" I received a year of insurance for only $5. :o
Needless to say that didn't last long. Every year since then my Zero's insurance premium has been going up, until now it is more than my BMW R1200RS. :(
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Hi all,
Going to pick up my SRF on Saturday :)
Wish I'd seen Tom's post from the 18th as I didn't come across Performance Direct when I was searching for insurance.
I eventually went with Lexham as all the others were +£1200 pa
Lexham charged me £690 fully comp (No option for 3rd Party only) - 0 years NCB, 40 year old, living in Milton Keynes, had my licence since 2001.
Like others have mentioned, the SRF is an unknown quantity so many insurers aren't willing to take the risk (plus I suspect a bit of laziness on their part as the number of Zero SRFs on the road probably accounts for 0.00001% of the bikes so they just can't be bothered ;)
Anyway, glad I found these forums.
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Insurance in the UK is the main reason I replaced my FXS with a Ducati Hypermotard. I loved the FXS and wouldn't have replaced it if some idiot hadn't written it off, but when it came to buying another bike I didn't like the fact that there were so few options for insuring it. Lexham had been increasing my insurance every year for no reason at all. With very little ability to shop around it felt too risky to stay electric. It should change soon when electric bikes are more mainstream and if it does I may well ditch the dinosaur juice again.
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Sr/F got Nov 2019, ended up with Lexham T £850ish.
Just had a renewal notice £590
Pointed out the tracker built into bike, reduced my mileage from 6000 to 3000 (may regret that!) £530.
If it reduced the same proportion next year I will feel I'm back in the normal zone..
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That's a nice reduction, I'm also with Lexham and have my renewal coming up soon so hopefully mine drops a bit too. I paid a total of £1080 including helmet and leather, legal, personal accident, and breakdown cover. Cover for just the bike was around £650. 28 with 1 year riding experience and 1 year NCB on a provisional licence with a CBT, I'll be 29 with 2 years NCB by the time I renew.
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Got my renewal letter this morning and it's a very good result, £706 including all the optional cover I had before or £462 without them (fully comp still).
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That's still rather bloody expensive :|
Cas :)
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C'mon, I pay that 6mo for liability only (why do they think I'm going to smash people's cars?)
-Crissa
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I pay £70 a year for my 690 ... though I suppose I am an old fart of 47 and I've got 15+ years no-claims discount and 30 years riding experience, live in the country, and no accidents or claims or endorsements in the last 5 years. I just tried to get a quote for and SR/F and was flat-out declined by every insurer in the country. This must be hurting Zero's sales pretty badly.
Cas :)
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Yeah, I'll be 29 with 2 years experience and 2 year NCB, on a CBT, riding an £8.5k bike. Under £400 ain't bad, my 125 Duke valued at £3000 was a bit over £500 to insure when I first started riding at 27.
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That seems cheap on a CBT.
MCE though expensive, I paid £750 TPFT, are very helpful. Because my bike is undergoing repairs they let me cancel the policy and refunded most of the premium on a pro rata basis.
Andrew
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That's nice of them. How long are the repairs expected to take? I take it the shops insurance covers the bike for any damage that might occur while it's in their possession.
Lexham did me a solid too. I had to get my bike delivered a week or two earlier than planned as the shop was loading up their vans for an expo, which meant I had to insure my bike before I had my first years no claims bonus (it was either that or have the bike sitting outside my house uninsured and trying to resist riding it). They gave me the quote including the NCB discount but charged me the full amount, then once I had the details from my old insurance company for the NCB they refunded me the discount and once this year's up I'll have 2 years NCB even though it's technically a week or two short.
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I renewed my SR with Bikesure recently for £177 Fully Comprehensive on 1 Year NCB.
Thought it wasn't too bad, considering that insurance in Northern Ireland always seems to be more expensive...
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Had my renewal through recently, and very happy with Lexham.
I have 7 years NCD. Adjusted policy to include NCD protection and pillion cover. Also reduced mileage from 8000 to 6000 miles.
Last year was £654. This year £561.
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Had my renewal through from Lexham last week - £524 - same cover as previous year but with an extra year NCB. Last year was £690.
Did a quick online search to see if there were any other options.
Only 4 companies returned a result, with Lexham being the cheapest by some margin.
The Lexham result was £386.98.. hmm.. £137 cheaper than my renewal quote *sigh
So I renewed through the comparison site rather than via their renewal letter.
I know there is no such thing as customer loyalty these days but it really frustrates me that insurers do this with their renewals - just hope you won't go and check and then take you to the cleaners.
Anyway, £386 isn't too bad for a year fully comp for my SR/F.
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Law's changing soon - it will be illegal for insurance companies to offer a better deal to new customers than existing customers in the UK. Not sure of the exact date of implemenation, but soon.
Cas :)
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Law's changing soon - it will be illegal for insurance companies to offer a better deal to new customers than existing customers in the UK. Not sure of the exact date of implemenation, but soon.
Cas :)
Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.
Hopefully comes into law before my next renewal :)
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Just got cover: £375 fully comp from Lexham for the SR/F, £1500 excess (sort of irrelevant, I've never claimed in 30 years though despite this my NCD seems capped to 9 years). This happens to be the just a bit more than I was paying for the XAdv and the 690 combined, so I suppose that's fair enough. I'm hoping it goes down a bit over the years.
Cas :)
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Looking at buying A Zero or Energica.Went onto the comparison sites and only one company would insure me at £1250 fully comp for a 50 year old with no points , 13 years no claims and leaving it parked in a private car park in Surrey( flat so no garage) and commuting to work on it.It is putting me off the idea now as I was thinking of buying on a pcp deal.
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Looking at buying A Zero or Energica.Went onto the comparison sites and only one company would insure me at £1250 fully comp for a 50 year old with no points , 13 years no claims and leaving it parked in a private car park in Surrey( flat so no garage) and commuting to work on it.It is putting me off the idea now as I was thinking of buying on a pcp deal.
I suspect the 'no garage' is the killer for you :(
I lived in a flat up until 2018 and couldn't get anywhere near sensible insurance quotes because I had no overnight garage to park in. It basically meant I couldn't own a motorcycle.
Moved to a house with a garage at the end of 2018 and was then able to get a few more insurers to offer slightly more friendly quotes - I immediately bought my SR/F :D
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No garage here either, but I live in Somerset. Bike lives hidden away in the back garden.
Cas :)
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When I asked my insurer to swap my insurance from my BMW F850GS to the FX I had just purchased. Bennetts informed me that they didn't offer insurance for electric motorcycles.
A site search revealed a number of alternatives. Guess who was number 4 on the list? Bennetts!
I went with MCE as their quote of £136 included legal cover, personal injury and roadside recovery.
Yes. I'm lucky I live in rural parts and have a garage.
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Watch out for MCE - many horror stories abound. I won't touch them. Treat as if you have 3rd party only.
Cas :)
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Bennetts informed me that they didn't offer insurance for electric motorcycles.
Well they did last June when I took out insurance through them for my SR. The insurance is with AXA Insurance UK plc. It cost me £227 (just comprehensive with protected NCB would have been £187). (I'm over 60 years old.)
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Sorry to hear people have had trouble with MCE. They've been very good to me. I was paying £700 - £800 for 3 years because I had 7 points. During the third year my encoder broke (see upcoming post "Zero and the art of motorcycle maintenance") and they allowed me to cancel and gave me a perfectly fair refund.
Now that my points have finally expired they gave me TPFT for £310, a bit cheaper than Lexham.
DVLA is trying to fine me for not having insurance. My argument is that the bike was insured under the mechanics policy. Both mechanics confirm that the bike was insured while under their care.
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Hi, I'm new to the forum. I've currently bought a new Zero S 11Kw ZF14.4 and I'm going through the hurt
of trying to find someone to insure it. All comparison sites do not list this bike, if you enter the reg number
the site comes back with the wrong model showing it as a Zero S (59bhp). I want to ride this bike on a CBT,
so the online quote fails every time at this point. However, I eventually have a quote from Lexham, their website
failed for the above reason, so I phoned them and the guy was pleased to tell me that you can't ride a 59bhp bike
with a CBT, so explained that the bike I have is not a 59bhp bike and he went off to make some enquiries, when he
came back I had to show him the website where I bought the bike from and eventually he carried on with the quote.
The quote came back at £1025 and told him I wasn't happy with that but asked him to email the quote which he
did. A couple of hours later I decided to try another quote on the Lexham website and this time the 11kW bike appeared
on the list and the quote went through, the online quote was now £704.51. Quite a difference. I'm 68 years of age returning
to biking my last blast before I kick the bucket and thought this bike would give me a taste of a big bike feel. So, the question
is do you think I could improve on this quote or do you think it's as good as it's going to get. I'm on a cbt. I was going to do
the full licence, but no need to with this bike at my time of life.
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My latest insurance journey might be of interest:
SR/F premium 2019. I've been with Lexham for 2 years (£930 and £550) as I have had no previous Ncb.
Last week I used MCN compare and got Lexham £434, MCE £373, so I went for MCE.
Started a discussion with my mate about insurance for riding each others bikes, checked with MCE, told no cover for riding other bikes for electric bikes (??!??).
Goggled around and found CarolNash. I remember them from years back. They were happy with riding other bikes. Yes!
Better, They were happy to accept my lockable wooden garden shed as a garage "as long as it has walls and a roof and its lockable its OK". So they gave me a quote of £331.
My MCE policy had been in operation for an hour, so I cancelled it. They charged me one day (~£2) but £75 cancellation charge, even though it was within the 14 day "cancellation period". I was so happy to swap I accepted it.
Hope this story helps someone else.
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MCE should be avoided at all costs. Plenty of nightmare stories around about them wriggling out of claims etc. (just google for that and see for yourself ... dodged a bullet). Carole Nash are reputable (as are Lexham).
I believe you should probably not have paid MCE their £75 back either.
Cas :)
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I've got my renewal coming up soon and my quote from Lexham is £571 compared to £645 last year (haven't made any claims). This including all my extra cover (helmet and leathers, break down, etc.). Also my excess has dropped from something like £1200 to £950. I'm still going to get some quotes from other companies as I was expecting it to be a bit lower this time around.
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Well I suppose you've all heard about MCE's bankruptcy. Anyone get any compensation for their cancelled policy yet?
Andrew
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haha as if :)
Unrelatedly, my premium went down massively this year for the SR/F, just £234 this year vs. £332 last year.
Cas :)
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I thought it worth posting my quest for cheap insurance on a 2022 FXE on top of my ICE bike (insured with Bikesure)
After some shopping around they seemed to come up witht he best deal, around £75 to add the FXE to my exiting insurance & about the same price hike at renewal over & above last years (1 bike) insurance.
I thought that was a pretty good deal. Shopping around for seperate insurance without any NCB was around £250 !!
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I insured my new DS last June with Devitt (on Compare the Market) for £220. That was the day before the policy started because I didn't get the reg no until then.