Are you looking to cut costs on motorcycle insurance?

Well, you’ll be pleased to know you’re in the right place! The cost of living is at an all-time high and affects us all in many different ways. Whilst motorcycle insurance can seem expensive, it is entirely necessary for the safety of both you and your motorcycle.

In this article, we are going to go through ten different ways you can save yourself a bit of cash when it comes to setting up your insurance policy.

There are a few factors that can affect the cost of your premium, from how you care for your motorcycle to how often you use it. 

Here are a few things you should consider before setting up a policy…

Motorcycle and Scooter theft has been on the rise over the last few years, with Police Forces around the UK urging the public to stay vigilant.

It is estimated that over nine thousand bikes were stolen in London last year alone. Resulting in the Met Police advising riders across the nation to lock, chain, and cover their bikes using equipment such as:

• High-Quality D Lock (through the front wheel)
• High-Quality Chain Lock (through the back wheel)
• Use a cover around your bike to hide the make & model

In recent events, thieves have been shopping for particular makes and models of bikes, so using the added cover can help to make them less attractive, as well as adding another time-consuming obstacle for the thief to have to remove.

You will also want to make sure you keep the chains off the ground, use disc locks with alarms when you can, and fit a GPS tracker on your motorcycle in somewhere where thieves would least expect it.

When setting up your policy, you will need to tell your insurer how long you have owned your current bike for.

The longer you have owned the bike, the more likely you are to lower your premium. This is because it proves you have experience riding your bike. 

You will need to be accurate and honest when reporting this to insurers, as lying about this information to lower your quote can be considered misrepresentation and can invalidate your policy and/or affect your claim if you need to make one.

Whilst equipping your motorbike with security measures is a good start, you will also need to think about where you store it when you are either at work or overnight.

When possible, it is best to store your bike in a secure garage or shed accompanied by a ground anchor. However, if you are unable to do so for whatever reason, we would recommend:

• Blockading your bike in your driveway (i.e., behind your car)
• Only parking in ParkMark-approved car parks
• Failing that, car parks that are well-lit & covered by CCTV

Whilst modified bikes can look and sound great, they can often make your premium more expensive. This is due to the fact that they can be quite expensive to repair and/or replace, as well as being that little bit more eye-catching to thieves.

This is also true of imported bikes, which aren’t typically available to buy in the UK.

You’re never too old or too experienced to learn new tricks.

Whether you’ve been riding for one year or ten, it may be worth considering partaking in an advanced motorcycle training course. Check with your insurer which advanced riding courses are approved by them, and get yourself booked on one close to you.

These courses can not only help you to be safer on the roads, but can also have a positive effect on your insurance policy premium.

Motorcycle, Scooter & Moped Insurance will come in three different levels:

• Third-Party Only Motorcycle Insurance (TPO)
• Third Party, Fire & Theft Bike Insurance (TPFT)
• Comprehensive Motorcycle Insurance

The ‘right’ insurance coverage will truly depend on you and your personal circumstances.

When deciding which insurance coverage is right for you, you will want to consider:

• What licence do you currently hold?
• Make, Model & Year of your motorcycle or scooter
• Usage of your Bike
• Is your Bike declared as SORN?
• Your budget for insurance

There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding motorcycle insurance, such as ‘fully comprehensive is always the best’ or ‘third party insurance is the cheapest’, but in many cases, this is factually incorrect. 

Insurers will base premiums on a variety of risk factors (such as NCB & mileage), so in some cases, comprehensive insurance may be the cheapest option for riders, whilst some riders may feel like having a comprehensive policy may be deemed unnecessary extra coverage. 

According to GoCompare, there is a direct link between the mileage you do per year and the price of your motorcycle insurance. 

Using their data from October to December 2025, the average price for motorcycle insurance for someone with around 1,000 miles a year was £279, whereas someone who declared a 3,000-mile-a-year policy was £373.

Whilst you may believe it will be cheaper to understate your mileage, this is deemed a misrepresentation of risk and can invalidate your policy. This is why it is essential to declare your annual mileage accurately, taking into consideration:

• How many miles do you commute to work/college?
• Do you have any work-from-home days?
• Where else do you commute to (i.e., gym, shops, etc)
• Are you using your bike for business, leisure, or commuting?
• Do you plan on touring (either UK or abroad) on your motorbike this year?

With motorcycle insurance policies (or all policies), you will have compulsory excess. 

Compulsory excess is the amount set by the insurer at the point of sale, and is mandatory to pay if you make a claim to your insurance. However, you can also choose to add a voluntary excess to your policy, which could bring your bike premium down.

Please note that the excess you decide will be the amount you have to pay in the event of a claim. So make sure to pick a sensible amount that you would be both willing and able to pay in the event you need to pay it.   

Some insurers (such as Lexham) can offer you Excess Protection Insurance as an optional add-on to your policy, potentially saving you hundreds of pounds in the event of a claim.

Building up your years of no-claims bonus is another way that can help to bring your motorcycle insurance premium down.

For those of you who are unsure what a no-claims bonus (NCB) is, for every 12-month policy period that passes without you claiming on your policy or having an accident, you will build up a year's worth of NCB.

You can build your NCB for a maximum of up to nine years; any years after that will still remain under the 9 years worth of NCB category.

When setting up a new policy or switching insurers, you will be asked for proof of NCB, so you will need to be honest from the very start about whether or not you have NCB, as well as for how many years you have held one.

Following on from the point above, there are many insurers who have NCB protection as another kind of optional extra you can add to your policy.

Before adding this to your policy, you will need to consider a few things, such as:

• Typically, this will only protect against one of two claims, not unlimited amounts
• This will only protect a percentage of your premium, not the whole amount
• There is a risk that even if the accident is not your fault, you can lose your NCB if you aren’t protected.

Below, we will explore some of the circumstances where it is and isn’t worth protecting your NCB:

When to Protect your NCB	When Protecting your NCB isn't worth it
✔ You have a high NCB built up (4+ Years)	✘ The protection cost is high
✔ Your annual mileage is high OR you are considered a 'high risk' on the road (ie, New Rider)	✘ You have low-risk usage/mileage
✔ You own multiple bikes	✘ You are in a position to afford higher premiums

If one bike wasn’t enough for you, and you’ve got a collection sitting in the garage, you don’t have to insure them all separately. 

Perhaps you have a Ducati for the weekend, a Moto Guzzi for commuting, and a classic scooter in storage that only comes out for Scooter Rallies. By opting for a dual bike cover, insurers will consider the usage of each bike to determine the price of the policy.

Thankfully, here at Lexham Insurance, we can offer you a multi-bike insurance policy, saving you time and the stress of managing multiple policies at once!

So there you have it, here are a few ways you could potentially save yourself a bit of money when setting up your next insurance policy.

It is worth mentioning that when it comes to searching for your next insurance policy, it is worth shopping around and negotiating with your insurers to get not only the best price but also the best possible coverage to suit you and your motorcycle.

Lastly, if you are looking for motorcycle insurance, make sure to get a motorcycle or scooter insurance quotation with Lexham either by filling out an easy quotation form online or by giving us a call on 01379 646529.