Premiums set to double in inner cities

If you live in a city and own a bike of over 500c your insurance premium could be about to double.

H&R Insurance, which insures just over 15 per cent of the 500cc-plus market, says thieves are to blame.

The firm tracks claim rates on a day-by-day basis and detected a worrying trend during the last quarter of 2003. It turned out that seven per cent of 500cc-plus bikes were being stolen each year in inner city areas.

“By the end of December, the trend was confirmed and we were able to take action on renewals by the owners of big bikes registered in inner-city locations,” explains Hugh Robertson MD of H&R.

Robertson says the likely outcome is a doubling of premiums for inner-city owners.

But the good news is that prices for people living in safer rural areas could see prices falling. And those in towns and city suburbs are likely to see little change.

H&R Insurance is unlikely to be alone in drawing these conclusions about inner cities though. MCN will be investigating to find out the size of the insurance time-bomb many of us could be sitting on – and what you can do to defuse it. H&R won’t be offering insurance at all to owners in inner cities who don’t have a garage and have zero no claims bonus.

But others are painting a rosier outlook for all owners amid predictions that an insurance battle is about to break out between some of the major firms. If that happens there’s the chance that many owners’ premiums will go down as companies fight for market share.

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