As soon as the sun shows up and the temperatures climb, it is time for many to get their motorcycle fit. If you are enthusiastic about motorcycling but don’t have a machine yet, you might even buy one. In both cases, proper preparation for your first trip requires good, inexpensive insurance. We’ll show you how to find them and still save money.
What insurance do you need for your motorcycle?
The liability insurance is compulsory in Germany: Do you want to allow a motorcycle, you have to have one. The liability pays the damage you inflict others in traffic.
This does not cover damage to your own machine. That is why there is comprehensive insurance. You can choose between a partially comprehensive and fully comprehensive insurance. The most important difference: Fully comprehensive insurance also pays for damage to your motorcycle caused by an accident or vandalism you caused yourself. While partial coverage can be worthwhile for many motorcycles, full coverage is in most cases too expensive.
Partial comprehensive insurance can be worthwhile
The partial comprehensive insurance takes over if you collide with an animal on the country road or if your motorcycle is stolen. Whether the insurance is worthwhile depends, among other things, on the value of your machine. The protection is usually affordable and the price can still be lowered with a deductible.
The partially comprehensive insurance pays for these damages:
- Theft,
- Fire and explosion,
- Storm damage such as storms,
- lightning strikes, hail, and floods,
- Collisions with haired game such as deer or wild boar,
- Marten bites on cables, hoses, and wires,
- Cable damage due to short circuit,
- Glass breakage, for example, due to falling rocks.
The protection of the partially comprehensive insurance can be extended, for example, to collisions with animals of all kinds. Your motorcycle is then also insured if you collide with a cow or a horse, for example. You can read here what liability and comprehensive insurance should also cover.
Fully comprehensive insurance disproportionately expensive
Our research shows that fully comprehensive insurance is often disproportionately expensive and is therefore only worthwhile in exceptional cases. Only if you have a very expensive, the new machine should you consider whether you need complete protection?
To determine this, proceed as follows: It is best to compare prices with and without fully comprehensive insurance using the method we recommend. If you decide after your price comparison for a comprehensive cover, make sure that the insurance company at a total loss as long as possible the replacement value reimbursed the motorcycle. After a while, your vehicle will lose some of its value – at the latest then you should recalculate whether the fully comprehensive insurance is still worth it. And if not, switch to partial coverage.
When you can change your insurance
Often the deadline for changing insurance is November 30th. However, you should check the insurance policy of your current insurance company to find out when the so-called main due date is – you can then get out of the contract with a notice period of four weeks. If you have a season license, the date can be in September or February, for example, instead of November. You have a special right of termination, for example, if the insurance increases your premiums if you change your vehicle or after damage.
What should your motorcycle insurance cover?
There are services that you should not do without your insurance. Others are only worthwhile in certain cases – we explain what you need to know.
Important for liability
In liability insurance, increased coverage amounts are indispensable, as the sum insured might otherwise not be sufficient in the event of major damage – for example, if you cause a pile-up. Although there are statutory minimum sums for personal injury as well as property and financial loss, the minimum amount is relatively low, especially for the latter. Most insurers nowadays offer high insurance sums of up to 100 million euros.
The Mallorca policy, however, is optional. This covers you if you cause damage with a rental vehicle in another European country and the vehicle is not adequately insured. Then your insurer steps in and increases the sum insured to the German level. In our comparison, the Mallorca policy cost no surcharge.
If you have insured a car in your name, you should check whether you are already covered by the Mallorca car insurance policy. Because which rental vehicles the protection applies to varies from insurer to insurer. It is possible that rental motorcycles are also covered in car insurance, but not in motorcycle insurance. If it is important to you that the protection also applies to rental motorcycles, you have to look at the conditions of your motor vehicle contract or the motorcycle tariff.
Important for comprehensive insurance
Even with comprehensive insurance, you have to pay attention to the scope of the line. We consider some to be very important. Others often make the tariffs unnecessarily expensive. Your comprehensive insurance should definitely include the following services. Do not forego this protection.
- No objection to gross negligence – if you choose this clause, your insurer will pay in full even if you cause damage to your motorcycle through gross negligence. He waives his right to a “plea of gross negligence”. Examples: You run over a red traffic light, drive too fast, or write messages on your cell phone and cause an accident in the process. The insurance does not cover cases in which you have an accident under the influence of alcohol or drugs or if you allow the machine to be stolen through gross negligence.
- Extended game damage covers – Without this extension, the partial comprehensive insurance only pays for accidents with wild animals such as deer or wild boar. With it, you are also insured if you collide with other animals – for example with cows or horses on the country road. The extension is now standard.
- Waiver of deduction new for old – With this clause, the insurer waives reducing its payment if the repair increases the value of your motorcycle. This is the case, for example, when old wearing parts such as tires are replaced with new ones after an accident. For you, renouncing the new for old deduction is particularly interesting if you have a slightly older motorcycle
Whether the following lines are important to you depends on your personal characteristics. We consider them optional. Check how much more expensive your insurance would be.
- Extended Natural Damage – This clause protects your motorcycle against damage from avalanches and landslides. It is therefore only considered if you live in a mountain region or on a slope.
- Replacement value compensation – If you want to take out fully comprehensive insurance for a very expensive, new motorcycle, you should make sure that the insurer pays the replacement value of your machine for as long as possible in the event of a total loss. Up to 24 months after initial registration are ideal. Otherwise, you only get the current value, which drops very quickly, especially with new vehicles.
- Additional services – If your machine has expensive special equipment such as a sports exhaust, you should also make sure that this is also insured. Check the insurance conditions carefully.
You only need an insurance license plate for mopeds and scooters
Even two-wheelers with little power must be insured against liability. For the small machines with a top speed of 45 kilometers per hour and a maximum displacement of 50 cubic centimeters, an insurance license plate is sufficient. The biggest differences to the normal license plate: Neither general inspection nor vehicle taxes are due and the insurance automatically expires after one year. You can read here what else you should pay attention to and which two-wheelers this applies to.
How do you find the right motorcycle insurance?
Querying the conditions and prices of all insurers from a large number of providers is very complex. It is much easier to leave this task to comparison portals. We tested four of them in April 2020: Check24, Ihr Broker 24, Motorrad-Versicherung-Online, and Nafi-Auto. The Verivox portal did not offer a comparison calculator at the time of the test.
In our test, we asked the prices for twelve sample profiles on each portal. Some of the sample customers wanted to have a used or newly bought motorcycle insured, others wanted to change insurance. For some, we asked tariffs for the insurance of the motorcycle as a first vehicle, for others the classification as a second vehicle. You can find out more details about our test at the end of the guide.
Our recommendation: Compare prices like a pro
Our research has shown: The best way to find the right motorcycle insurance is through Nafi-Auto. The portal is not a classic consumer comparison portal, the calculator is actually a tool for brokers, i.e. professionals. But anyone who is interested in an insurance comparison can use it.
In our test, Nafi-Auto showed the best prices. It also provided the largest overview of the market. So much for the advantages of Nafi. The biggest disadvantage: It is not possible to conclude a contract on the portal. Therefore, after the comparison, you have to take out the insurance directly with the cheapest provider.
How do you go about the comparison?
The best course of action depends on whether you have also insured a car in your name or whether the motorcycle is your only vehicle.
If you have a car, you should first request an offer for second vehicle insurance from your vehicle insurer. In a second step, you can compare this offer with other offers on Nafi-Auto – it is up to you whether you insure your motorcycle as a first or second vehicle. If the motorcycle is your only vehicle, compare the offers directly at Nafi-Auto.
Then go to the website of the provider with the best offer and take out insurance for your machine there. Note that there are also offers from insurers on the portal that cannot be concluded online. In this case, consider whether a slightly more expensive online tariff is an option for you.
Don’t let yourself be unsettled by the fact that many fields have to be filled out on the Nafi-Auto computer. Use our overview of the most important services that you should choose.
How do you save on motorcycle insurance?
With a few tips, you can lower the price of insurance a little.
Compare premiums before buying a motorcycle
If you don’t have a motorcycle yet, it can be worthwhile to check the insurance premiums before buying. This is especially useful if you are interested in a sports machine with a lot of horsepowers. These can be expensive – especially in comprehensive insurance. Therefore, check the contributions before buying to avoid surprises.
Only pay when you drive
If you only drive part of the year, a seasonal license plate is worthwhile. Our test showed that on average 30 percent savings are possible if you only use your motorcycle from March to October. You can decide for yourself which months the seasonal license plate should apply. However, you should make sure that it is at least six months. Otherwise, you won’t improve your no- claims class.
Don’t let everyone drive
The more people are allowed to ride a motorcycle, the more expensive the insurance becomes. If anyone is also insured, prices explode – our test showed. It is therefore best if you keep the group of drivers as small as possible. Either limit it to yourself or to people who live with you in a household and are at least 25 years old.
Arrange a deductible
With a deductible, you pay for minor damage or part of larger damage yourself. Our study shows: With a deductible, you can save around 10 percent in partial coverage. A worth 150 euros is recommended. We were unable to generate any reliable results for the influence of a deductible on the price of fully comprehensive insurance.
This is how you use further savings potential
With the following tips you will pay even less:
- Usually, it is cheaper if you get the contribution for your insurance pay annually.
As a novice driver, you should check whether you can have the motorcycle insured through your parents – possibly as a second vehicle. Alternatively, you could use a family member’s no claims class. - Choose a safe place to park. If you park your motorcycle on the street, the risk of theft is significantly higher than, for example, on a fenced property. The comprehensive insurance is then usually more expensive.
- Realistically estimate the annual mileage. In our study, for example, 4,000 kilometers cost an average of 5 percent more than 3,000 kilometers.
That’s how we tested
Test comparison portals motorcycle insurance January 2021
We have created twelve sample profiles, which are mainly based on data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the German Insurance Association, and the Federal Statistical Office. In particular, the profiles take into account:
extensive coverage of the existing regional classes,
the statistical distribution of brands, motorcycle types, performance, age of drivers, mileage, seasonal license plates, and second vehicles.
We have set the following minimum criteria for the tariffs, which can be selected or preset in the comparison portals :
Liability: sum insured personal injury (over 8 million dollars)
Liability: sum insured to property and financial loss (at least 100 million dollars)
Liability: Mallorca Policy (at least statutory liability amounts)
Kasko: waiver of the objection of gross negligence
Comprehensive insurance: extended game damage cover (all animals)
Kasko: waiver of deduction new for old
This means that we do not rule out cheap tariffs that are not recommended. You should also set these criteria in your comparisons in order to obtain consumer-friendly results.
Selection of the population
For the portal selection, we checked the first three Google pages for portals with the search term “motorcycle insurance” that offer a comparison for motorcycle insurance. We found a total of seven comparison calculators. Four of them use the Check24 computer. We have sorted these out because they are pure copies of the original computer. The Verivox portal did not offer a computer at the time.
In addition, we have assumed that tariffs must be lockable on the portal. And it had to be possible on the computers to set our minimum criteria in the search mask. The portals Check24, your Broker 24, and Motorrad-Versicherung-Online met all requirements.
Your broker 24 and motorcycle insurance online use the calculator from Nafi-Auto – a tool for brokers. The computer can also be used directly on the Nafi-Auto website. Although it does not offer a closing option and the comparison is complicated due to extensive data entry, we decided to include this portal in the test. Because it offers the largest overview of the market in proportion.
This is how we came to our recommendation
In order to be able to evaluate the portals, we looked for the cheapest offer that met our minimum criteria and checked how much each portal deviates from the lowest price. From this, we calculated an average deviation for all portals. In a second step, we looked at the maximum deviation from the lowest price on each portal.
The result: Depending on the portal, our test customers would have paid an average of between 4 and almost 35 percent more than the lowest price on another portal. The greatest deviation from the lowest price was between almost 22 and approximately 81 percent, depending on the portal. In four cases, our test customers would have had to pay over 50 percent more on one portal than one another.
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