But as Matt pointed out Paul ... you may as well be riding without insurance if you have not told the insurance co that the bike is anything other than factory standard.
Unfortunately Kwak was right when she said ignorance is no excuse & if you think its bad now just think how high your insurance will be IF ... you have an accident, write off another vehicle, god forbid someone gets hurt (you , your pillion or someone else) & it turns out your insurance co say nope you were not insured cos you did not tell us about the modifications.
Believe me ... getting insurance after a ban cos you have had an accident in your 1st two years will be high enough, getting it after a ban cos of an accident & riding without insurance ... thats gonna be impossible.
You could always ask your insurance co what if I ... change this that or other ... & if its too high, go buy the factory parts (new or from a scrappies) & put them back on for a while until you have some no claims under your belt
The problem Paul is that insurance companies look at most aftermarket cans as "Performace Parts" whether they are street legal for noise and CO2 is not their concern. They therefore believe you are enhancing the bikes capabilities and obviously charge a premium. It will not be checked UNTIL you have a problem but by then it's too late. Seriously, it's not worth the long term risk for the short term gain; would be better to just insure for 6 months summer period than risk 12 months with "incorrect" insurance.
Been through this country's legal system many years ago and believe me you cannot imagine the number of ways that they will try and screw you over just because you are a biker; prevention is better than cure!
i say get a new quote, maybe online if possible, with all the mods listed. If it's reasonable then call them and ask what it would be if you added mods. If they give you an unreasonable price then you just quote to them what the online price said (they'll usually agree to it if you give them the ref - I do it every year to get a discount).
If it costs 200 quid extra but the standard stuff (of which there's a lot for bandits!) costs 100 quid then go get the standard stuff for a year.
Even just being randomly checked by the cops - they're trained to spot everything non-standard and will ask to check your insurance (you might have to show it at a station if you don't take it out with you).
Either way it's absolutely not worth the risk - you will basically be unable to get a bike or car until your 30's!!! And it'll cost a bomb even then.
Listen to big bro Paul ...... he has good words of wisdom ...you worked hard to get your licence both in £££ and hours don't blow it now.... And congrats hun well done you
third party only. ha yeah right am I paying that, I'm afraid I refuse to pay a stupidly rediculious price for THIRD PARTY ONLY insurance. can buy 2 bikes for that :| I'm sticking to not telling them.
Paul , it might be worth giving EBIKE insurance a try ,i just got an example quote for a 17yr old having just passed the test with 1 yr experience on a 125 . for a kawasaki 500 with exhaust modification 3rd party only & it came out at £398 . i used my daughters details & just picked a bike from the list because obviously i dont know your bike or details.
i contacted them today about my bike ,listing all the mods & there was no extra charge . Andy
not with the mod though .
without the exhaust mod that quote i got would be less.
everyone is advising you & trying to help you get this sorted not just for your benefit ,what happens if you run into one of us on a run out ? & your insurance is void ??
You will find Rob that part of the insurance cover you have to declare modifications (usually asks if its been modified in ANY way) & weather it is contributory or not if its not been declared then it invalidates an insurance.
Insurance co's will look for any way they can to not pay out, our friend had her insurance co trying to invalidate her insurance after her NON FAULT accident when a BMW rear ended her as she cannot ride a 600cc bike, they did not even ask if it had been restricted!
I have to agree with Andy, what happens if god forbid you hurt someone, run into one of us?
As I said before if you were my son I would be saying get the factory standard parts for them & ride with them on till you have some miles & no claims under your belt.
Let me get this straight. You have a modified bike, you *know* it's modified, you've admitted in a public forum that you know it's modified, and you've also admitted in a public forum that you are not going to tell your insurers.
I'm afraid I refuse to pay a stupidly rediculious price. I'm sticking to not telling them.
Are you SERIOUS???
Let me translate: I know I've not got insuranceIt's my fault because I deliberately withheld informationI am waiting to be pulled, and to then be so deep in the that there's every chance I'll not be able to afford insurance for quite a while.I am happy to be prosecuted for driving with no insurance, and to lose my licence by totting up 6+ points in my first 2 years of having a licenceI want to take my test again, starting from a provisional licence, and then discover that I cannot get ANY insurance.I have been told this is a bad idea, even by family members, yet I am choosing to ignore their good advice.You *seriously* need to consider your next move, as it has every possibility of affecting your and other's lives for a very long time to come.
I wonder if any insurance brokers etc. read these forums.
p.p.s.
I can't remember if these forums are indexed on Google... Hmmm... Interesting... logs out, searches, and starts the timer before this topic is removed from the forums completely.
My niece drove around in a bright barbie pink KA, had a slight prang and was told her insurance was invalid cos she never changed the colour on the log book and never declared it to insurance company, they sent through loads of paperwork of terms and conditions and yep believe it or not even that was classed a s a modification.
Paul which ever way you look at it the risk is definately not worth taking
I'd take an insurance company to court for declaring insurance invalid because the car was a different colour. Yes, there is the "declaration" issue, but I'm with Rob on this in that I feel an insurance company would have to be able to show it was a contributory factor.
Yes I've got a different rear light (I haven't by the way), but can you explain what that has to do with me hitting a patch of diesel on a roundabout and how it contributed to my subsequent off. I don't believe for a second that such an argument wouldn't hold water in court.
After all, what is a modification? It could be classed as a change from the standard specification of the bike. Where does that end? How many people for example no longer have standard specification tyres? But are they asked to declare them? No.
They're not asked to declare them because as long as they are the same size, load rating, speed rating etc as the standard tyre, insurance companies know they'd have no grounds in invalidating insurance if the question came up in court.
If you want to declare modifications then this is fine. If however you're willing to pay an extra £50 because your bike has a fender extender fitted then all you're doing in my opinion is allowing insurance companies to rip the rest of us off.
I was pleasantly surprised by my insurers recently for the Aprilia coming up to renewal advised them I planned to fit aftermarket cans, a PCIII and an ohlins rear shock and not only did it not affect the premium (assuming bike value the same tho) but they were also happy for me to put them on before renewal.
The payment from having the bandit stolen in september has only just landed to me last weekend though, that was with a different insurer, and I bet had any of the mods not been listed they'd have tried to get out of paying.
Have you thought about seeing what you'd get back from dropping bennets and going with someone else if you cancelled the policy?
I'd take an insurance
company to court for declaring insurance invalid because the car was a
different colour. Yes, there is the "declaration" issue, but I'm with
Rob on this in that I feel an insurance company would have to be able
to show it was a contributory factor.
All irrelevant when you have purchased your insurance and their terms and conditions clearly state that all modicfications have to be declared if not it will invalidate said insurance
Bandit Mr P.......well said, I could not have put it any better if I tried... I fully agree with everything you say...
In the course of my job I have seen some insurance companies not pay out for "non declaration" of modifications... infact, even optional extras need to be notified to the insures if you want to do it to the letter.
There was a case highlighted on tv where a young girl bought a secondhand car on HP. The car had alloy wheels that were fitted by the previous owner that replaced the standard steel wheels. When asked if the vehicle had any modifications she said no. She had an accident that wrote the car off, the wheels were not a contributory factor but the insurance refused to pay out... the end result being that she was the proud owner of a pile of scrap and still had to pay the HP on it..... being highlighted on tv did not change the insurers decision...
I'm not sure how it would stand up in court but whenever I'm asked if a vehicle has any modifications I inform them of what I know, if any... eg towbar, extra highlevel brake light etc and if asked if there are any others I state "not to my knowledge"...
Personally, I would be really naffed off if someone hit me and then be told their insurers would not accept liability because they had been lied to.
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