Best and cheapest insurance

Slightly misleading title - as it really shoud be 'Worst and dearest'. Following advice in another thread, I contacted a further 2 independent brokers for a Vectrix quotation. Here are the results, and you may be as amazed as I was. I was asking for COMPREHENSIVE cover (not unreasonable for a £7k machine) and I've 13 years max NCD - my current X9 500 comprehensive policy from eBike is £120pa for TWO machines, and £100 excess.

Denny Insurance Brokers (Stirling)
Only 1 company is prepared to quote for the Vectrix, Norwich Union - the cost is £522.67 fully comprehensive with £100 excess. All others on their system decline cover... including Equity Red Star.

Adelaide Insurance (Belfast)
I failed with an online quote, but on speaking to their most helpful staff - they said the reason the quote failed is because they CANNOT OFFER COMPREHENSIVE COVER. Their system provided just one quotation from a company called RKD at Lloyds, who will provide me with THIRD PARTY ONLY (no theft, no fire) which is just road cover for the Vextrix and nothing else, at £94pa (£107 if my max NCD isn't taken into account). Remembering that Funontwowheels has used them and his policy was with Equity Red Star, I persevered only to be told that ERS is now no longer on their panel of insurers.

For completeness, I'll try the two recommended by Vectrix (AA and the other shower who'se name escapes ma at the moment, and add them to this thread. I think this is a really serious issue Vectrix are going to need to address themselves, perhaps creating their OWN plan with a broker and underwriter, as there is no way I plan to carry 100% the risk for a Vectrix on my own shoulders.

In the Australia / Queensland context:

It took me a few days of phoning around until I got the NRMA to give me comprehensive insurance for my Vectrix for 1 year, for AU$775.04

That's with Nr 1 rating for life (with another insurer) and no claims ever. Apparently I live in a high risk area, or so they told me to justify the premium.

There is a basic excess of AU$300.- for all drivers and higher excess for inexperienced drivers (AU$300.-) and drivers under 25 years old (AU$1600.-).

All other insurers I contacted did not know or did not want to know about the Vectrix.
.

For roadside assistance I used a much easier approach:

I insured one car (with any driver in it) and myself (on/in any vehicle) for roadside assistance with the RACQ in a single package. No need to mention the Vectrix until the point where you try to convince the lady on the assistance line that there is really no point in sending anyone to try to fix the Vectrix (spell it several times etc...) but that she should just send you a tow truck right away...
Been there, done that, twice so far.
It is called Ultra Care and insures for roadside assistance "Any driver of the nominated vehicle and any vehicle driven by the member".

Mr. Mik

I have a Vectrix , and it is the cheepest inc I have ever had . $234 a year.

State Farm insurance New Hampshire , USA

What do you get with this - theft only, accidental, comprehensive?

That was Full coverage
$500 deductible on Comprehensive and collision.
liability is $500,000.

They just called it a Scooter , Until people start crashing them and the ins. comp.
realize it cost a lot to fix them . I assume it will stay low .

There is not very many , It not like ,if someone steals it they can change the # and Reg.
and they have no need for the parts. not like a Harley.

Herb

Success! I kicked into high gear and searched for specialist electric bike retailers to suggest who they recommended - as you know, Vectrix recommend AA & Lexham and the quote from the latter made my eyes water.

I'm not located in the fleshpots of London (or indeed the UK South-East, but in the urban outskirts of Glasgow, with maximum a NCD and no thefts I'd seem a fairly safe bet, I finally came across a specialist Electric Scooter broker (details follow) who were not only aware of the VX1'a existance, but came up with a figure that was within my anticipated range. (Fully comprehensive, non-commuting) for £154.00 per annum. The downside? I normally expect an excess of £100, however they have an excess of £200 which is compulsory and non-negotiable. Even so, bearing in mind the previous quotations from Lexham and Norwich Union, this is not a major problem.

Now I have this sorted, I'm now in a position to agree to proceed with a purchase. Not quite the anticipated 30-50% discounted insurance promised, but you can't have everything. Incidentally, there is NO requirement to have the wheels chained or additionally locked (per Lexham).

If anyone is looking for the details of this specialist broker, here they are;

Electric Scooter Insurance
Underwritten by Chaucer Insurance
http://www.electricscooterinsurance.co.uk/
Tel: 0800 197 0453
Ask for Gary Mills or Andy Millar

I live in No. California, bay area, and have had my motorcycle insurance through Geico...I have 2 other motorcycles, and when I recently tried adding my Vectrix, I was told at first, they couldnt do it, as insurance co. use CC's to determine rate of insurance, I called back a few times, and when I was finally ready to drop them and look for another carrier, they said they could add the Vectrix!! now the rate is the best news, it only cost me 75.00bucks a year, thats collision and comprehensive, but then I have 2 other motorcycles, so that , I am sure kept the price down ...anyway, every other company I tried was alot higher, try Geico. peace.

I'm based in Sydney, Australia and recently acquired a Vectrix. I got comprehensive insurance through NRMA for $438. This was based on a 65% No Claim Bonus with a $600 basic excess.

I live in Nashville, TN - USA. I was able to add my recently acquired Vectrix on my State Farm policy without any problem. Liability, comprehensive, collision and uninsured motorist coverage for about $260/year. This is with fairly low deductibles - $100 comprehensive, $250 collision. I thought it was interesting that the uninsured motorist coverage was the most expensive component for me - around 30% of the premium.

So far I got everyone beat. In Florida, Allstate, full coverage, 250/500 liability, 1000 deductable (fourth motorcycle on my policy)----$70.00 per year! They had a hard time figuring out what I was insuring and the VIN messed them up, but they got it done :).

I've been having a problem getting fully comp insurance for my still unregistered Vectrix. The best quote I got was £306.

Well, these friendly people at http://www.electricscooterinsurance.co.uk/ also mentioned elsewhere in this thread are pretty good.

I live in London so of course got flagged as "very expensive"

Anyway, the quote was £180 fully comp, 5,000 miles per year, garaged at work and at home, business & pleasure only, £250 excess.

Not so bad then as I was told the average is £150.

If you are in the UK then give them a ring and ask for Ian.

It's just a waiting game now, got to get insurance before I can have the bike registered, have to get the VIN before I can get it insured etc. I may have it within 10 days.

Simon.

I just got the following from Progressive through USAA for $65/yr:

Technically, we don't need insurance for a scooter here in Washington state, but it was required to take an Intermediate Riders Course and I'll probably keep it just to be on the safe side.

Hi Simon, for the UK the http://www.electricscooterinsurance.co.uk/ guys seem to be the best. In fact I got the quote from Ian as well and am very pleased with it (fast, reliable, friendly AND good value). The quote was in the same range as you mentioned. Seems to be a London thing.

Who was your dealer? I got my bike from Mike in Reading and he (or the Vectrix guys) directly informed the insurance about the VIN.

Norman

Hi Simon, for the UK the http://www.electricscooterinsurance.co.uk/ guys seem to be the best. In fact I got the quote from Ian as well and am very pleased with it (fast, reliable, friendly AND good value). The quote was in the same range as you mentioned. Seems to be a London thing.

Who was your dealer? I got my bike from Mike in Reading and he (or the Vectrix guys) directly informed the insurance about the VIN.

Norman

Hi Norman, my dealer is Mottingham Motors in South East London. They are a new dealership for the Vectrix. My Vectrix isn't with them yet, it's still with Vectrix UK. I'm just impatient for it so I'm doing all the running around. :-)

I already have my GPZ1100 and Honda Valkyrie insured with Progressive Insurance. I'm located in Houston, TX, USA and I just talked to them today about adding a Vectrix to my policy. Full coverage with $500 deductable was quoted at $76/year.

The guy kept asking me what model it was and I kept repeating "I think they only have one." And then he asked me how many CCs it had. He was a little stunned when I said "None". Then he figured it out real quick like.

Question about electricinsurance UK.

Do they take in consideration no claim bonuses from previous insurers of petrol scooter?

Interesting question, I told them I'd many years of no claims bonus from my other bikes, yet it says zero years no claims on my insurance certificate from them.

It came to £180 fully comp in London (that London post code always gets them rubbing their greedy little hands together, haha!), but with a proviso, as long as it's garaged, which is fine. It's garaged both at home and at work. I tried to get the Vectrix on my other bike insurance but as it's not a BMW (my other two bikes are) the BMW only policy wouldn't have an outsider listed.

I then looked into putting all three bikes on a general "riders" policy but that came out at much more than the BMW + Vectrix separately.

My best non-electric insurance provider had been eBike, which allowed up to 4 bikes on the same policy. All was well untill I wanted to add the Vectrix. No way, despite their PR puffery about being 'green', NO electric bikes would be covered. Using the West Humberstone Agency and their new electric policy from Crusader, I couldn't transfer my max NCD to the electric policy as I was effectively still using the NCD on my petrol scooter. This meant I have to build up a fresh NCD for my electric policy. If you are transferring from one to the other, the answer is yes - your existing petrol scoot NCD is applicable.

Spin forward to last month, when eBike quote for my renewal, and it was £110 for a 500cc scoot - an increase of £15 over the last year. I asked WHA to quote, and they came up with £89, but unfortunately not as an additional bike on my electric policy, but a completely seperate one, which DID accept the transfer of my existing max NCD. In the ed it was eBike's loss - and only because their underwriters are totally unprepared to offer cover for electric vehicles.

only because their underwriters are totally unprepared to offer cover for electric vehicles.

Tell me about it, insurers just love to take your money but they are paradoxically, a fickle and nervous animal.

I have a Landrover which I bought from a Japanese reimporter. It's not really cheaper buying them this way but you are guaranteed that they have not been used off road, not been used for towing and as they don't need to put salt on the roads there, there is just no corrosion on the vehicles.

Anyway, try getting one of those insured! Lots of sucking through teeth and, "We just don't insure imports." "It's not an import it's an exported vehicle which has come back to it's county of origin!" "But we don't insure imports." "IT'S NOT AN IMPORT IT'S A.........." Oh give up!

The insurance industry will catch up soon, they just need to have a bit of time to get hip with the new and non-conventional, maaan!

They're scared of what they don't know. I told one insurer it was an electric bike and they asked what was the CC of the engine! Haha!

When they ask the CC I tell them it's 3Kw - that sure slows them down, but then they say it's not on their tables so no-go!

I wonder what it would be if you were doing pizza deliveries at night too...? Chaucer are the same bunch I'm with - looks as though they're still treading it as a 125cc equivalent, but loading you with the lack of covered storage. They weren't the worst though - Lexham (?) insisted that I must brake-lock the machine whenever I wasn't sitting on it - I asked if this meant when I went it to pay for petrol (as a joke!) and the response was YRS, any unattended time period required the lock to be affixed, and if it wasn't the excess jumped to £750!

Lexham (?) insisted that I must brake-lock the machine whenever I wasn't sitting on it - I asked if this meant when I went it to pay for petrol (as a joke!) and the response was YRS, any unattended time period required the lock to be affixed, and if it wasn't the excess jumped to £750!

Is there something like a "Premium Police" that follows you around everywhere in an unmarked car with a video camera? HAHA!!

(and they say gas prices are a rippoff! HAHA!! :-)