I commented on this problem - wow, over 2 years ago, of the difficulty in obtaining insurance for an electric scooter. Many of the most famous biker-friendly outfits weren't friendly to those of use using battery power. Honour was restored when a specialist broker (WHA or West Humberstone Acency) offered policies for the Vectrix at a reasonable price, through an insurer called 'Chaucer'. It seemed a good deal, and the policy seemed good (couln;t vouce what what it was like claiming, as I never had to). The gownside was WHA decided to give up the ghost, and sold on their customer base to Swinton. A broker that I have no particular wish to pay any money to, nd having seen their blandishments to make me renew through them, they must think I have no brains.
Chaucer do not deal direct, and even they could not suggest a broker who would offer their bike policy to cover Vectrix, I was told to phone around.
Finally stumbled on to insureance broker MCE Insurance, who will supply the same Chaucer Policy, fully comp and same excess, but for £15 more provide RAC cover as part of the deal.
Has anyone found any other UK company prepared to cover the VX1, and the usual route to find a quote is not much easier in 2010 as it was in 2008! The one good thing, is that even with Vectrix Corp's problem, it hasn;t mean a wholesale hike in insurance rates, which is something to be grateful for!
Even though my Vectrix is the only one in my country I had no trouble insuring it. Basic insurance (if I crash into someone) cost me 25 EUR, full insurance (theft, crash,...) cost me 300 EUR.
I have exactly the same problem as you Buzby. I'm insured with Chaucer through Swinton and my renewal is due. I've not tried to contact Chaucer direct, but I'll be disappointed if they won't deal direct.
My first insurer was Trophy, who dealt through Lexham. I didn't renew with them because they wanted 20% more after a clean year and were twice as much as through WHA. So this will probably be a bit of a blind alley. If I find a good deal, I'll post details later.
Brian
Same problem here. The co-op insurance have just told me that they have stopped all M/cycle insurance and have passed their book onto Carole Nash. I will rport back tomorrow after speaking to Carole nash
Hubcap
Keep it shiny side up!
I started with WHA in 2008 which now gave business to Swinton. Swinton contacted me recently about renewal and made me a good offer for a fully comprehensive over roughly the same amount as I paid in 2009. All done and dusted for the next 12 month. What's the challenge going to be in 2011?
OK, here's the fruit of my labours... (all like for like, fully comp with identical benefits unless stated)
Swinton - £150
MCE - £132 (includes Breakdown Cover)
Lexham - £195 (eek!)
Carole Nash - £183
No brainer for me, let's hope that if I ever have to make a claim, I'll be as happy...
Brian
Thanks Brian - very useful. It would appear that in spite of the many variables (age, location, riding history) we have the same ballpark figures! Who would have thought there would be so little in it! My reasons for disliking Swinton go back many years (prior to the WHA sell-out). I dislike being manipulated, and being told that my business is being sold as a commodity to a third party annoys me intensely. Especially as Swinton make a 'Service Charge' of £20 for renewal policies, yet £15 for 'new' ones. Since I have never had any policy by Swinton previously for my Vectrix, guess what they charged me? THEN, they roll in £25 for 'Legal Protection', to reveal a renewal price of £150. As I paid £120 last year, and have gained a further year's NCD - the figures are laughable.
Add to this their disclosure of the fact that of the £25 paid for Legal Expenses insurance, the premium for this is £0.27p, the remainder is for 'supervision and admin charges'. Yes, right!
No change at Swinton then - stiff the customer, and then feed them dross about the convenience of paying by Direct Debit (it is more expensive) AND the fact if you take their payment scheme (over 10 months) they actually take payment for the NEXT years cover one month early, so you get hoodwinked and trapped into another years cover. I had a high regard for Andy Miller and the team at WHA, but even though the Swinton letter is from Andy (shame he couldn't bothered to even initial it) the alternative brokers (like MCE) are offering cheaper deals.
My MCE quote can be reduced further by opting out of the included Breakdown Cover (I have this already and have no need for it to be duplicated) this drops my cover to £120, about what I'd expect to pay. Not only that, the Insurer is still Chaucer and I can (on MCEs system) add additional petrol bikes - so ALL my 2 wheelers (three) would be covered by Chaucer comprehensively for £249pa. Which is pretty reasonable £83 per bike fully comprehensive.
I'd suggest on the evidence seen so far, Swinton are relying on Vectrix owners simply taking the easy option and rolling on cover for a quiet life. I's also suggest from what we've seen so far Swinton may be the 'least worst' but that in itself is no reccomendation.
- Raymond
Hi, Similar situation here. The Co-Op, who used to charge me about £120, have just decided to stop covering bikes and transfered (sold?) their business to Carole Nash. When I got the Vectrix in 07 Carole Nash wouldn't cover it.
I already have another bike with Carole Nash with 7 years NCB Fully Comp, legal, European and UK breakdown + at home breakdown for £170.
Adding the Vectrix to this policy cost me the princly sum of £48.08p Fully comp with all the benefits listed above.
I think that's a bit of a result. so thank you Co-op, you saved me £70 by refusing my custom.
( Off topic, but by the way I used to have my household insurance with the Co-Op too, they were a nightmare when I made a claim and I have sinced transferred to Greenbee (John Lewis) who are a quarter of the price. Greenbee replaced a liquid damaged laptop in three days from picking it up , delivered to my house and that included a weekend!)
Keep it shiny side up!
I was appalled at the "optional extras" and charges Swinton want to pocket. Same as you - why charge existing customers an extra £5 to renew a policy? Just seeing these charges makes you want to move!
Anyway, I guess the advice to everyone is - shop around! I did all my quotes online, just google the brokers and fill in the forms - vectrix is listed!
Cheers,
Brian
I had been with CN, but their refusal to insure the VX1 made me take my business elsewhere. Interestingly, I spoke with Crusader's Broker Helpline yesterday, saying that I wished to stay with them, but would not be renewing through Swinton, could I transfer and they treat me as a 'direct' customer?
The answer was no - they do not offer retail insurances, only through brokers. However, they recommended I call Greenbee, which I did.
Of course, Greenbee will only cover cars, NOT bikes - so it was wasted time and effort until I self-discovered MCE who handled cover with Chaucer. Strange that they were unable to refer me directly.
ONE MAJOR CAVEAT with online quote machines, is that your personal detailss are invariably retained and sold on to the companies who may never even quote - so if you don;t wish your details to be traded, avoid these sites, as many have a hitten 'data retention' policy that works against you.
- Raymond
I always get quotes online anonymously until I find one that's right, then go bak in with my real name.
Keep it shiny side up!
nice one guys al be looking round sooon
ps like the idea of foren use as am thinking of going to barsalona on the ferry with my girlfrend
And not forgetting my fathfull petrol genarator ..
Whatch this space...kev
If you ever come to Barcelona (BCN) with your vectrix you'll have a charging place for your vectrix at my home!;-)
R orr thanks don't supose you have a little room with a bed as well we both dont take up much space hehe.??
ps.. al bring the marigold gloves
to wash up of course .kev
I'm afraid we only have our bed. However if are used at camping tends you can sleep with a bed-bag (sac de dormir) on the floor, no problem!
Hi Hubcap
How about this then for an insurance rip off. €395 Third party only with a full bike licence for 10 years & 6 years no claims with carole Nash. Ireland is such a rip off at times, I feel like captain cook with the electric transport fight going on here they say they never heard of a vectrix??. I am delighted to see comparisons & I am going to give them a ring in the morn, its not really the cost as bad as that may be but they reuse to insure it for anything else but just third party so if its robbed or goes on fire I'm stuffed.
Sorry to hear that. Of course, CN does do business in Ireland, but they're clearly charging the market price - not establishing their own benchmark. Over here, they remain the most expensive by a factor of €80 per policy. I do have to say the standard of driving will reflect the cost of cover, and you may find TP cover is not that much cheaper than fully comp.
As an update to my original moan of Swinton taking over the Electric Vehicle buiness of West Humberstone (and from what I can see as a dispassionate observer, making a complete hash of it), I mentioned getting similar cover for a few quid less by going with MCE and running with the same insurer (Crusader). On the eve of the renewal, I did one more final check to discover a new insurer that used to cover my petrol bikes in the past, is back with an electric nike policy, cutting all other quotes by a further 15%-20% and no needless add-ons. The compamy is Groupama and the broker Bikesure (actually Adrian Flux Insutance of Kings Lynn). Of interest is that Groupama treat the Vectrix as comparible with a 125cc petrol, and even with a quoted value of £4k, the policy appears sound in all other respects. If you want breakdown cover, this can be added at youre request. I'm now down to less than £110pa fully inclusive of brokerage fees, so guess where I've gone for cover! :)
- Raymond
I have a new insurance for my vectrix, with Fenix Directo: It Only costs 112 Eur. Very nice price!
What is the excess (the amount you pay if there's a claim), and is it fully comprehensive?
- Raymond
have a look:
Just got a renewal offer from Swinton. Despite another year of NCD price goes up from 148£ to 190£. Swinton remains a company I dislike. Any new developments or recommendations for 2011?
The writing was on the wall when excellent WHA sold their book to Swinton, and I'm delighted to say I never paid them a penny. By switching to Adrian Flux Insurance, BI got the same level of cover for a similar price. They also provided a combines policy got my petrol bikes too, A searc will give you their URL.
- Raymond
I now have some insurance woes of my own.
Previously with Chaucer through WHA, then Swinton the following year, then MCE, now I'm struggling to find anyone that will a) even recognise that a motorcycle with 0cc actually exists and b) those that do want a minimum of £350-£400.
My MCE renewal price (eventually after some confusion that it's not powered by petrol) was £414.65 - that's with 4 years' riding experience and 4 years' NCB.
Even went to go with Bennets and got a quote online via a comparison site... called to give payment as my online quote wasn't found then right at the last minute was told they couldn't cover me because the engine size is 0cc.
According to http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk there are 53 registered Vectrix in Q2 2012... who are these owners choosing?
Edit: just seen another provider on the comparison list, "The Green Insurance Company" and their slogan is "Insurer with us today and we'll 100% offset your bike's carbon emissions!" ha ha!
Things do move on - Swinton were not invited to tender for he following year, and Adrian Flux took over be risk. They cover 2 of my petrol bikes and the VX1 for a reasonable £190pa fully comp (for all three).
- Raymond
Well I guess I must be one of the 53 registered UK users, and I know just two of the others.
After a spell with Chaucer I changed my insurance to Hastings Direct earlier this year. Didn't seem particularly difficult, they had the Vectrix in their database, and I paid £99.10. That's fully comprehensive, with 4 years no claims.
http://www.hastingsdirect.com/motorbike-insurance/
In fact this was the first year when there seemed to be a bit of a choice of possible insurers. Previously it was very much a case of take it or leave it....
Mike.
Of the 10 insurance companies I tried (3 were via a comparison site), I ended up settling with RAC at £378.46, which isn't great (I think my car insurance is cheaper), but was one of the cheapest from a recognised provider that would actually quote and I already have breakdown cover with them.
I tried Adrian Flux (site directed me to Bikesure... £475.35). I even tried Hastings Direct, who were not able to complete my quote online.
If you Google "Vectrix insurance", the No. 1 result is Lexham Insurance who say "Lexham Insurance is the Official Insurance Partner for Vectrix covering all registered models in the UK". I tried them too, got a fantastic quote, went right through to the payment screen, but it wouldn't let me proceed. I did give them a call and they didn't have a clue - even after I tried explaining about the Vectrix!
So, it's done for another year....
Edit: Just found the old email quote from last year. From MCE, I paid £161.56 with 3 years NCD. For me, this year, every quote was at least double - even though nothing has changed! :-(
Apart from perhaps 5 to 10 expensive Vectrix insurance cases they had to pay for last year? With just 53 Vectrix riders even a few mishaps can cause great upheaval in insurance rates, I would suppose?
My rides:
2017 Zero S ZF6.5 11kW, erider Thunder 5kW
Actually, If you look there are two line entries on the 'How many left' website - one is Vectrix 'MAXI SCOOTER' and the another for Vectrix 'MISSING' (category). From this, I think it's safe to assume that there are actually over 100 VX-1 either registered or SORN in the UK.
I'm insured by Lexham - £200 ish with 1yr NCD and thought it ought to be cheaper than that. Didn't have time to search for a cheaper quote, silly me. I will do more research next time, especially if I can find an insurer who is happy to insure multiple bikes. Maybe I shall buy a cheap car policy and cut it in two; hey, it's the same number of wheels ;-)
Drew
You're right... I didn't spot the 'missing' one.
I can't imagine there are many VX-2 and VX-3 models (can you actually buy one yet?), so over 100 UK Vectrix owners out there, somewhere.
Well, some good news.
After passing my motorcycle test last week (yay!), I got a £25 refund back on my insurance, plus I'm also insured to carry a pillion passenger.
Well done! I got another quote recently from Bennetts; 2yrs NCD, TPFT was £78 and they quote you on-line. Comprehensive was a rather more soul-destroying £228. Ouch.
Think I may go down the TPFT route next time.
Drew
Drew
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