Insurance - 2nd time around

peyroux

Hi guys, I was insured with ETA, crashed recently, the bike was written-off and ETA paid out in full with no problems.
I've now got my new bike and need to insure it, should I go with the same company or am I likely to be quoted a higher price. Can anyone recommend anywhere else to get insured or will they all ask a 'have you claimed in the last...' question and will therefore all ask for a higher rate.

Cheers,
Tom

danlikesbikes

Sorry to sound stupid but your current policy you purchased was a 12 month contract (I assume) so unless you have run past your renewal and not paid to renew then they are bound (subject to your new bike being an acceptable one) to offer you a mid term change of bike, no different from your car insurance policy.

But to answer your other question yes you do need to disclose your claim to anyone you are getting quotes from.

paulg99

OP - you should declare the crash to any new insurer, and yes, unfortunately the premium is likely to be higher wherever you go. Still get multiple quotes and see if you company of choice will price match the lowest. If the service was good from ETA then why change?

Danlikesbikes - you are wrong mate. If you make a claim on the policy and they pay out the contract comes to an end. You can pay to have it reinstated, if this allowed under the terms of your policy, otherwise you have to start a new contract. Your car insurance works in exactly the same way, if you change vehicle midway through a policy the contract actually comes to an end and restarts under new terms for the remaining time. The insurer is not bound to keep insuring you if you change the terms of the contract by changing your vehicle, even if it is of similar spec.

danlikesbikes

PaulG99 wrote:

OP

Danlikesbikes - you are wrong mate. If you make a claim on the policy and they pay out the contract comes to an end. You can pay to have it reinstated, if this allowed under the terms of your policy, otherwise you have to start a new contract. Your car insurance works in exactly the same way, if you change vehicle midway through a policy the contract actually comes to an end and restarts under new terms for the remaining time. The insurer is not bound to keep insuring you if you change the terms of the contract by changing your vehicle, even if it is of similar spec.

I am no expert in cycle or motor insurance, but I do happen to work in the financial services industry resolving customer issues so do have a good grounding in the principles.

In terms of the insurance contract after an accident the policy becomes what is known as "spent" which basically means that if you opt to cancel your policy no return premium would be due to as a payout would have been made.

Your current insurer does have a legal obligation to offer you a quote unless the vehicle you are changing to would have been unacceptable to them in the first place. In which case they would not be able to take on the risk.

If the insurer cancelled the OP's policy from the date of the claim then the OP would not be able to claim under other parts of the cover offered such as the temporary bike hire cover under the policy & the Public Liability sections that go with it.

Like I said I don't in any way work for ETA or Ageas Insurance Limited so am no expert on their specific policies.

moonshine

I think you will find that if you write off a car once the insurance pays out to replace it, the insurance on the item is "spent" and you would need to find new insurance for the new car as they have fulfilled the obligation of the insurance.
If it is partially damaged & repaired, your insurance continues to run until the end of the insurance period, however you would not be entitled to a pro-data refund if you tried to end the policy early.

Both scenarios seen perfectly reasonable to me & I would assume bike insurance would work on similar terms

danlikesbikes

moonshine wrote:

I think you will find that if you write off a car once the insurance pays out to replace it, the insurance on the item is "spent" and you would need to find new insurance for the new car as they have fulfilled the obligation of the insurance.
If it is partially damaged & repaired, your insurance continues to run until the end of the insurance period, however you would not be entitled to a pro-data refund if you tried to end the policy early.

Both scenarios seen perfectly reasonable to me & I would assume bike insurance would work on similar terms

Yes you would need to find insurance for the new vehicle & they would have fulfilled their duty to pay out, however the contract itself does not come to end post accident. They are obliged to offer you a quote (subject to the new cycle, motor cycle, car etc being an acceptable one to them) but if you opt to go with another insurer due to price on the new one no refund would be given following the claims payout. You would simply be asking them to cancel your policy for you & understand that they are not going to give a refund.

Either way in the OP's circumstances he has a choice of asking his existing insurer to offer a quote or not, but he would lose nothing by asking them as they can not take his claim into account until they calculate his renewal as his current period of insurance is not yet finished, whereas any new insurer would take the claim into account when working out a new annual contract and price for him.

cearonoflynn

Danlikesbikes wrote:

moonshine wrote:

I think you will find that if you write off a car once the insurance pays out to replace it, the insurance on the item is "spent" and you would need to find new insurance for the new car as they have fulfilled the obligation of the insurance.
If it is partially damaged & repaired, your insurance continues to run until the end of the insurance period, however you would not be entitled to a pro-data refund if you tried to end the policy early.

Both scenarios seen perfectly reasonable to me & I would assume bike insurance would work on similar terms

Yes you would need to find insurance for the new vehicle & they would have fulfilled their duty to pay out, however the contract itself does not come to end post accident. They are obliged to offer you a quote (subject to the new cycle, motor cycle, car etc being an acceptable one to them) but if you opt to go with another insurer due to price on the new one no refund would be given following the claims payout. You would simply be asking them to cancel your policy for you & understand that they are not going to give a refund.

Either way in the OP's circumstances he has a choice of asking his existing insurer to offer a quote or not, but he would lose nothing by asking them as they can not take his claim into account until they calculate his renewal as his current period of insurance is not yet finished, whereas any new insurer would take the claim into account when working out a new annual contract and price for him.

They are not obliged to offer you a new quote, they pay out, they cancel the policy and its down to you to get a new quote. Wrote my car of year and a half ago and this is what happened

danlikesbikes

For what its worth I'm not wrong. I'm only trying to help the OP out as he had posted a question & as I work for the industry regulator dealing with these kind of queries on a day to day basis I though my input would be appreciated, clearly in this case it is not helping anyone so I will leave the OP to make up their own mind