What affects the cost of your Motorbike Insurance?

Motorcyclists have far more accidents per distance driven than car drivers, and their chances of being seriously injured or losing their lives in an accident is considerably higher too. In fact their chances of being involved in a fatal crash are 35 times higher. If you consider that motorcyclists make up just one percent of total traffic on the road yet they account for 22 percent of fatal accidents then you might begin to see why motorbike insurance companies, such as [c=blue]motorcycle clothing,charge more to insure the categories of rider and bike that are more likely to be involved in an accident.

Insurance companies use groups to differentiate between the cost of insurance for different types of motorbike. This is similar to car insurance groups in that the more powerful and expensive machines cost more to insure than small starter machines. The biggest factor in determining the group is the size of the engine. While mopeds, scooters and bikes with engines of 125cc or less will be in the lower groups, and so will cost less to insure, bikes with engine capacities of 700cc or higher will be in the highest groups. Most bikes fall into groups between 3 and 17 though some machines with very high performance might be rated as high as group 20.

As well as the type of bike there are several other factors which insurers consider when setting the premium, and a very important one is the age of the rider. Young motorcyclists can expect to pay considerably more for their insurance than older experienced riders, and this means that an experienced motorcyclist with a 750cc machine which has a very high insurance group may well be charged considerably less than a nineteen year old motorcyclist with a 125cc low power machine.

Gender also matters, as female motorcyclists make far fewer claims than their male counterparts of a similar age, though this will change in 2013 when it will become illegal for insurance providers to take account of gender when setting premiums.