Insurance suggestions needed

[val douest]

Having bought a pre-1970 moped for €30 at an autojumble and against all (my!) expectations restored it to good running order, my husband was aghast to receive a quote from our insurers (AGF) this morning of €250 per annum for the most basic insurance. The moto is 49cc - in effect a motorised bicycle - and while the real pleasure and challenge was in getting it running he was hoping to use it instead of the car to fetch the bread, go to the post office etc, clearly an uneconomic proposition at that price.

Can anyone suggest any companies which might offer cheaper cover?

Many thanks,

Val

[Zim]

I would check with them again!  

I have a 1250cc bike, fully comprehensive, for less than that - with AGF

[Beemer1150]

Ditto! My 1150cc BMW's less than that!

After several unbelieveable quotes from our house insurers and car insurers I found Nexx on-line - and they wanted less than half the others.

Well worth shopping around.

 

[ventodue]

Don't forget Mutuelle des Motards.  As the name sugggests, they're specialist bike insurers, set up by bikers as a mutual, been going for 26 years ...

Quotation available on line.

http://www.amdm.fr/assurance-moto/

HTH

Craig

[val douest]

Many thanks for your suggestions but we seem to be getting absolutely nowhere. We have tried Mutuelle des Motards and Nexx (plus many more via the internet) but the result is always the same - an annual premium of around €250 (though we have been quoted a lot more).  We have asked French friends to enquire too, but they come up with the same answers. The problem seems to be that because it is the vehicle which is insured in France, it would be possible for my husband's little moto to be ridden by an inexperienced youngster and the accident rate for this age group is horrendous -  there also seems to be no differentiation in insurance rates between big powerful machines and motorised bicycles.  But most accidents at the speed this machine can travel wouldn't result in much damage to another vehicle or even a pedestrian, and it is only third party cover which is required. We are quite happy to have an owner-only-driving policy or to have a restricted mileage limitation but these don't seem to be available. There is a company that offers cover at 1cent per kilometer but that is measured via a milometer which this machine doesn't have.

We seem to have come to a dead end unless there is someone out there who has a 49cc moto and has found a company which doesn't charge silly rates to insure it; if so, please share the info. The old Renault 5 which we had until last year cost less than €150 per annum to insure and we could go a lot faster and do a lot more damage in that!

Val

[Benjamin]

Until a couple of years ago I had a moped and insured it with Pacifica (via Credit Agricole) for a bout 50€ per year. I did have other insurances with them.

[Chancer]

I had a sports moped when I was 16 and fully comp insurance cost £7 per year, unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the company, well it was a few years ago!

I hope that you do find cover at a reasonable price but I suspect that the risk is assessed similar to voitures san permit, as an aside does a moped have to be insured? I thought that they could be unregistered as well as uninsured or perhaps that is only for 14 year olds?

You could try lying about your age [6]

[Gyro]

Its 50cc it not be necessary to insure it. I got a quote from MAAF on my first bike recently "tout risque 424euro"  Fazer 600 s2 (98horses) as they allowed me to use my no claims bonus points  from my car. I also know that not all companys have this policy but you could check it out.

[Pierre ZFP]

Val, I don't understand why your quote was so high.  I just picked a random insurance website, plugged in your area and selected any old moped (Honda 50 I think) and it came back with €47 per year.

[Lehaut]

Having decided to take up bikes again, I am in the throes of buying a 650cc Suzuki.  I did not go firm on the sale until I too had tapped in the info on several insurance sites to get an idea of the premium rates.  Having settled on the MAAF quote, I went ahead on the purchase.  Rang MAAF to pay today only to be told - that price only applies to people who already have a car or house insured with us.  I told the agent that I considered this an "arnaque" and asked where this was written on the internet quote.  She told me that it was not,  the very competative quote given was just a "hook" to lure in more business.  Armed with this, I then rang my car insurance company (Carrefour) who quoted me about 100 euros PER MONTH for the same machine. They classed me as a "young driver"  (a complement in other circumstances as I most certainly am not!!).

I am going back to MAAF, as the quote is so low and the price of the car insurance is about the same as I am paying anyway, but feel quite bad about it. Caveat Emptor!!

[val douest]

Sorry not to have responded to everyone's helpful replies before now but we have been away.  It appears from the regulations (can't find the reference but my husband looked through the small print in French) that insurance is required for any motorised means of transport on a public road, though an electric bicycle can be ridden without cover.  Pierre - if you can remember which company thrown up by your random search produced a €47 quote, we'd love to know!  We have so far tried 20+ and they mostly come out around €200 - 300.  Most insurers also insist on including

such things as 'get you home cover' (though if it breaks down on the way to or

from the boulangerie it would just get pushed home!) and personal accident cover

for all the family (though my husband will be the only person riding

it).

But we are making progress!  We recently had a quote for €168 and also one of €108 from our bank provided we move all our insurance (house, car etc) to them.  Like Lehaut, armed with this info we have now gone back to our own insurer and suggested that if they want to keep our business, they might like to provide a revised quotation.  Response still awaited.....

It appears it is not just us who are being offered very expensive cover.  Several french neighbours tell us they have had the same experience and that the only way to obtain cover at a 'reasonable' rate is to go through your general insurer (and if necessary threaten to move the whole lot elsewhere).

Anyway, thanks again for all the input,

Val

[Pierre ZFP]

Hi Val

Well I tried it again, a Honda 50, just because I forgot which bike you have, third party only insurance (I took liberties with the age and number of years driving as I don't know your circumstances) and again I got €47

This is the website I used   http://www.amdm.fr/assurance-moto/

Hope this helps

[val douest]

Many thanks, Pierre.  We did try that site but we came to a shuddering halt as it wouldn't let us have 50cc as an option for a Peugeot moto - probably because the model is 30 years old. We should of course have phoned for an individual quote but at that stage we were just ploughing through everything that the google search had thrown up and after 20 or so similar quotes we had assumed that the others would be the same.

But we have good news!  When our insurers heard that we might take all our business elsewhere they discovered an 'error' in their original quote (which they had twice confirmed as correct) and this morning e-mailed to inform us that it has now been reduced to €80 for the year.  So we have accepted, and when the paperwork arrives the moto will become the household's official bread-fetching transport (at least when the weather is fine!).

Everyone's help and input is much appreciated, as always.

Val