Motor insurance
Motorbike Insurance Quotes
compare UK cover for bikes, mopeds and scooters, including the risks other sites decline
Compulsory cover for any motorbike, moped or scooter used on a UK road or in another public place, in three levels, with the bikes and riders that mainstream sites decline going to specialist brokers instead.
- Third party, fire and theft, or comprehensive
- CBT, learner, restricted and full licence
- Enter your reg and compare
- FCA authorised and regulated
Quick answerMotorbike insurance is compulsory for any bike used on a road or in another public place, and it comes in the same three levels as car cover. What is different is how much of the price sits in things a car insurer never asks about: your licence category, whether you have passed your test, where the bike sleeps and what is holding it there.
Sixty seconds
Motorbike Cover in Sixty Seconds
Short answers to what UK riders ask before they compare anything.
| Question | Quick answer |
|---|---|
| Is motorbike insurance compulsory? | Yes, for any bike used on a road or other public place. Keeping one off the road needs a SORN instead. |
| What are the three levels? | Third party, third party fire and theft, and comprehensive. Third party is the legal floor, not the sensible default. |
| Is third party the cheapest? | Not reliably. It can price above comprehensive, so ask for all three levels every single time. |
| Can I ride on a CBT? | Yes, a moped at 16 or up to 125cc at 17, on L plates, for two years. Then you retake it or pass your test. |
| Can I carry a pillion on L plates? | No. A provisional licence holder cannot carry a passenger, and cannot use a motorway. |
| What costs riders a claim? | An undeclared modification, an expired CBT, or delivery work on a social and commuting policy. |
| Does the lock really matter? | Yes. Many bike policies carry a security or storage condition, and a theft claim is read against it. |
| Are my helmet and kit covered? | Usually not as standard. Helmet and leathers cover is normally an add-on with its own limit. |
The basics
What Is Motorbike Insurance?
Motorbike insurance is the cover UK law requires before you ride on a road or in any other public place, and it applies to a moped and a scooter exactly as it applies to a superbike. At its core it pays what you owe other people, including anyone riding pillion behind you. Everything beyond that is a choice.
The legal minimum is third party only. The shape of the product is familiar from car insurance, but almost none of the rating is: an insurer is looking at your licence category, how long you have held it, the bike itself and where it spends the night. If you ride for a living, that belongs on motorbike courier insurance instead.
What a policy has to do
- Cover for what you do to other people, which is the part the law insists on
- Cover for the bike itself, if you choose a level that includes it
- A price built from your licence and your riding, not an average rider
- A route to a broker who will quote a bike an aggregator would not
Three legal levels
What each one reaches
- Other peopleInjury, their vehicle, their propertyAll three
- Your pillionInjury to a passenger you carryAll three
- FireYour bike, if it burnsTop two levels
- TheftYour bike, if it is stolenTop two levels
- Crash damageYour bike, whoever was at faultComprehensive
- Helmet and riding kitLeathers, boots, gloves, lidUsually an add-on
The year in a policy
How a Bike Policy Is Priced, and Then Run
You describe the bike, the riders and the use, an insurer prices that specific risk, and the policy runs for twelve months. Anything that changes during the year has to be declared, because the price was built from what you said at the start.
You describe the bike and the riding
The registration pulls most of the machine details. You add your licence category and when you got it, who else rides, where the bike sleeps, what secures it, how far it goes and what you use it for.
Insurers price the rider at least as hard as the bike
Two riders on identical machines on the same street can get very different numbers, because licence held, age, claims history and where the bike sleeps move the calculation more than the badge on the tank does.
You tell them when things change
Passing your test, fitting an aftermarket exhaust, moving the bike from a garage to the street, taking on delivery shifts. Mid-term changes cost an admin fee. Not declaring them can cost the claim.
Treat every proposal question as something that will be checked, because it will. Licence and claims data are verified directly, and at a claim your answers are read back against what actually happened. The question riders trip over is what the bike is used for: if any part of the answer involves carrying goods or passengers for money, you need hire and reward cover rather than an ordinary policy.
Cover levels
What Does Motorbike Insurance Cover?
Third party only covers what you do to other people, a pillion passenger included. Third party fire and theft adds the bike for those two causes. Comprehensive adds crash damage to your own machine whoever was at fault.
| Third party | Fire and theft | Comprehensive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injury to other people, pillion included | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Damage to their vehicle or property | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Your bike, if it is stolen | No | Covered | Covered |
| Your bike, if it catches fire | No | Covered | Covered |
| Your bike, in a crash, whoever was at fault | No | No | Covered |
| Vandalism and malicious damage | No | No | Usually |
| Helmet, leathers and riding kit | Usually an add-on | Usually an add-on | Usually an add-on |
| Personal accident and legal expenses | Add-on | Add-on | Often included |
Two rows in that table catch riders out. The pillion row first: the compulsory minimum has to cover injury to anyone you hurt, and a passenger is a person, so the liability is there on every level. What varies is whether your policy lets you carry one at all, and on a provisional licence the answer is no whatever the insurer says. Then the kit row. A lid and a set of leathers can be worth more than a commuter scooter, and on most policies they are an add-on with their own limit.
Where claims fail
What Actually Costs Riders Their Claim
Wear and tear is never covered, and that is the honest exclusion. What actually costs riders their cover is different: an undeclared modification, the wrong class of use, riding outside your licence, and security conditions nobody read.
Undeclared modifications
Exhausts, derestriction, fuelling kits, quickshifters, rearsets, bars, brakes, wheels, custom paint, even removing a fairing. Declared, most cost very little. Undeclared, the insurer can cut the payout or walk away from the policy.
The wrong class of use
Social and commuting does not stretch to delivery shifts, or anything else carrying goods or people for money. This catches riders who picked up weekend app work.
Riding outside your licence
An expired CBT, a machine above your category, L plates missing, or a pillion on a provisional. The certificate assumes you are entitled to ride the bike.
Theft where the security was not used
Many bike policies carry a condition about the lock, the chain or the overnight address. That is where theft claims get argued rather than paid.
Track days and competitive events
A road policy is written for road use. Circuit time, sprints and races normally need their own cover, so read the wording before you book.
Wear, tear and mechanical failure
Insurance covers sudden and accidental events. A worn chain or a tired gearbox is a maintenance cost, not a claim.
There is a distinction buried in that list. An exclusion means the policy does not cover one thing and you still have a policy. A non-disclosure means the insurer priced the wrong risk: an honest mistake usually means the claim is cut in proportion to the premium you underpaid, while something deliberate can cost you the policy and the premiums with it. If a conviction is already on your licence, declare it and go to convicted drivers insurance.
Policy types
Types of Motorbike Insurance
A single annual policy is the default. Beyond it: multi-bike for a collection, laid-up cover for a bike on a SORN over winter, agreed value for classics, learner policies for CBT riders, and hire and reward for anyone delivering.
Single bike, annual
One machine, one rider or a named list, twelve months. The default, and right for most people.
Multi-bike
Several bikes on one policy and one renewal date. Usually cheaper than separate policies, and much less paperwork at renewal.
Laid-up while off the road
For a bike declared SORN over winter. Typically fire and theft only while stored, and no cover for riding it.
Classic and agreed value
For older and restored machines where market value is meaningless. The figure is fixed up front, and the insurer wants evidence for it.
Learner and CBT rider
Written for L plates and a two-year CBT, priced on the assumption you will pass and the risk will change.
Hire and reward, for delivery
The one thing an ordinary policy will not do. Food and parcel work needs this, whatever the app says.
Motorbike courier insuranceLaid-up cover is the one riders forget exists. A bike declared off the road for the winter still gets stolen out of garages, and cancelling the policy outright leaves you carrying that yourself. It is worth checking what you already hold before buying extras: breakdown comes with many current accounts, and legal expenses often sits inside home insurance too.
Hard to place
Which Riders Get Turned Away, and Why
Riders a mainstream comparison site declines or overprices: points and convictions, modified and custom builds, imports, new CBT riders, classics and high-value bikes, and anyone whose riding is part of their work.
Riders with points or convictions
Speeding, a DR conviction or a ban. Mainstream sites often decline rather than price it: convicted drivers insurance.
Modified, custom and streetfighter builds
A specialist underwriter rates the modifications. An aggregator hits a dropdown that does not contain your bike, and stops.
Imports, grey imports and rare machines
Bikes never officially sold here, where parts and valuations both need somebody who knows the market.
New riders on a CBT
The licence is provisional, the price is high, and an aggregator asks questions your answers do not fit.
Classics, restorations and high-value bikes
Where the number that matters is an agreed value, not whatever a trade guide says this month.
Riders who deliver
Food, parcels and courier work on two wheels, which no ordinary policy reaches: delivery rider insurance.
This is the part of the market MyMoneyComparison.com exists for. A mainstream aggregator is built to price the common case quickly, and its answer to an unusual one is often no answer at all. A declined quote is not a verdict on the risk: it usually means the question was asked in the wrong place, which is what our guide to comparing specialist insurance argues.
Licence and entitlement
CBT, A1, A2 and A: What You Can Ride, and When
Compulsory basic training lets you ride a moped at 16 or up to 125cc at 17, on L plates, for two years. The full categories are AM at 16, A1 at 17, A2 at 19 and unrestricted A at 24, or at 21 by progressive access after two years on A2.
| Category | From | What it allows | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBT | From 16 on a moped, 17 on a bike | A moped at 16, or up to 125cc and 11kW at 17, with L plates | Valid two years. No pillion, no motorway |
| AM | From 16 | Mopeds up to 50cc, 45km/h, under 4kW | Full moped entitlement, no L plates |
| A1 | From 17 | Up to 125cc, 11kW, 0.1kW per kg | Full entitlement on that class |
| A2 | From 19 | Up to 35kW, 0.2kW per kg, and not derived from a machine of more than double its own power | Two years on A2 opens progressive access |
| A | From 24 direct, or 21 progressive | Unrestricted | Progressive access needs two years held on A2 |
Three things matter more to an insurer than the rest of that table. A CBT certificate runs out after two years, and riding on an expired one puts you outside your entitlement, which reaches the policy as well as the licence. A full car test passed before 1 February 2001 already carries moped entitlement, so no CBT is needed for one. And passing the full test changes how you are rated, not just what you may ride.
Pricing
What Moves a Motorbike Premium Up or Down
Age, time on a licence, the machine, the postcode and your claims history do most of the work. What you can move is the category you hold, the bike, where it is kept, what secures it, your excess and how you pay.
| Factor | Can you change it? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Your age and time on a licence | Not in your control | Weighs heavily, and it improves every year you hold one |
| Licence category, and whether you have passed | In your control | Moving off a CBT to a full category changes how you are rated, not just how you ride |
| The bike itself | Before you buy it | Capacity, power, value and how often the model is stolen. Check before buying |
| Where it sleeps | Partly | The postcode is fixed. A locked garage instead of the street is not |
| What is holding it there | In your control | A rated chain, an anchor, an alarm or a tracker. Often a policy condition, not just a discount |
| Claims and convictions | Not in the short term | Both are asked about over five years, whatever the licence still shows |
| No claims discount | In your control | A bike bonus does not usually carry across to a car policy, or back |
| Mileage and class of use | In your control | Be accurate. Understating and overstating both cost you |
| Voluntary excess | In your control | Raise it and the price falls, but only to what you could pay on the day |
| How you pay | In your control | Monthly instalments are credit, with interest. Annual is not |
No price examples appear here. Bike premiums move through the year and vary so much by age, licence, postcode and machine that any figure would be wrong for almost everybody reading it. The factors are stable. The numbers are not. And if you ride for a living, that is a different product before it is a different price: delivery rider insurance.
Before you start
Have This in Front of You Before You Start
The registration, every modification, where the bike is kept and what secures it, honest mileage, licence and CBT dates for every rider, five years of claims, any points or convictions, your no claims years and what you use the bike for.
About the bike
- Registration, or make, model and capacity
- Every modification, including a previous owner’s
- Where it is kept overnight, and what secures it
- Honest annual mileage
About the riders
- Licence category and the date you got it
- Your CBT date, if you have not taken the test
- Everyone who rides it
- Five years of claims, and any points, convictions or pending prosecutions
About the policy
- The cover level you want quoted, all three ideally
- Your no claims years, and proof of them
- The voluntary excess you could actually afford
- What you use the bike for, including any delivery work
- Whether you carry a pillion, and what your kit is worth
Two of those deserve extra care. Modifications mean anything changed from factory specification, including by whoever owned the bike before you, and a second-hand bike with an aftermarket exhaust and a fly screen has two of them already. And the overnight address is where the bike actually sleeps, not where you live, which matters if it is kept at a partner’s place or a lock-up across town.
Compare with MyMoneyComparison.com
Reading Two Bike Quotes Side by Side
Get all three cover levels quoted, add the excesses together before comparing, check the helmet, accessory and personal accident limits, and read the security condition before you buy rather than after a theft.
Quote all three cover levels
Not just the one you assume is cheapest. Third party on a bike is frequently not the lowest number on the screen, and asking for it alone never shows you that.
Read the limits, not just the premium
Add the compulsory and voluntary excess together and compare that. Then check three limits that differ wildly between policies: helmet and kit, accessories and aftermarket parts, and the personal accident benefit.
Check the security condition before you buy
Find the sentence about the lock, the chain or the overnight address, because that is what a theft claim is read against. If a policy needs a rated chain and a ground anchor, that is a cost of the policy.
Tell us about the bike and the riding once and specialist UK brokers can come back to you. MyMoneyComparison.com is an introducer rather than a broker, so we do not sell the policy or recommend one. Our editorial policy sets out how we work, and our jargon buster explains the words a quote uses.
Cutting costs
Ways to Pay Less Without Losing Cover
Rated security and a locked overnight address, passing your test rather than retaking the CBT, accurate mileage and class of use, a realistic voluntary excess, quoting before renewal day and paying annually rather than monthly.
Fit security that is actually rated
Sold Secure grades bike security gold or diamond, under the category it renamed Powered Cycle: chains, disc locks and ground anchors are all rated on it. Thatcham certifies the electronics, meaning alarms, immobilisers and trackers.
Get it off the street overnight
A locked garage, a secure park or a driveway behind a gate. If the bike has one and the policy still says street, correct it.
Pass your test rather than retaking the CBT
Moving from a provisional to a full category changes how an insurer rates you, and it stops the two-year clock.
Be accurate about mileage and use
Understating your mileage and overstating it both cost you, and a class of use that does not match your riding is the fastest way to lose a claim.
Raise the voluntary excess, carefully
It lowers the premium directly. Only raise it to what you could find on the day of a claim.
Pay annually if you can
Monthly instalments are credit, with interest attached. Paying in one go avoids it, and quoting a few weeks early usually beats renewal day.
We publish no savings figures. Any "save up to" number means nothing without a stated sample and method, and most in circulation describe somebody else’s customers on somebody else’s platform. If the riding is for work, the saving is in buying the right product rather than the cheapest one: food delivery insurance and scooter courier insurance exist because an ordinary policy does not reach that work at all.
Jargon buster
Bike Insurance Words, in Plain English
The words on a motorbike policy, in plain English. There is a longer general list in our insurance jargon buster.
- CBT
- Compulsory basic training. A day’s training that lets you ride on L plates for two years.
- Class of use
- What the policy allows you to ride for: social, commuting, business, or hire and reward.
- Hire and reward
- Carrying goods or people for money. Delivery work sits here, and no ordinary policy reaches it.
- Pillion
- A passenger carried behind the rider. Not permitted on a provisional licence.
- Agreed value
- A figure fixed with the insurer up front, instead of whatever the bike is worth on the day.
- Laid-up cover
- Cover for a bike declared off the road, usually fire and theft only, while it is stored.
- Sold Secure
- The rating scheme for physical security. Bike locks, chains and anchors are graded gold or diamond.
- Voluntary excess
- The extra you choose to carry on top of the compulsory excess, for a lower premium.
Why MyMoneyComparison.com
How We Work, and How We Are Paid
MyMoneyComparison.com is an FCA-authorised UK comparison service that introduces riders and drivers to specialist brokers. We do not sell insurance and we do not give advice: the broker you choose arranges the policy. Comparing is free and there is no obligation.
Form, then brokers get in touch
Describe the bike and the riding once, instead of the same twenty questions on site after site.
Advice given
We are an introducer, not a broker. We do not sell policies and we do not recommend one. Read our editorial policy.
Authorised and regulated
MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd appears on the FCA register under FRN 916241.
Comparing since
A UK company since 2013, working with specialist brokers across the country.
FAQs
Motorbike Insurance FAQs
The questions UK riders ask most.
Is motorbike insurance a legal requirement in the UK?
Is a moped or scooter treated differently from a motorbike?
What are the three levels of motorbike insurance?
Is third party cheaper than comprehensive on a bike?
Can I ride on a CBT, and how long does it last?
Can I carry a passenger on L plates?
What are the A1, A2 and A licence categories?
Do I need a CBT if I already hold a car licence?
Are my helmet and riding kit covered?
Does my policy cover a pillion passenger?
Can I use my bike for food delivery work?
Do I have to declare modifications?
What security do insurers want, and does it really matter?
What is agreed value, and do I need it?
Can I move my no claims discount between a bike and a car?
Can I get insured with points or a conviction?
Do I need a green card to ride in Europe?
How much does motorbike insurance cost?
Ready when you are
Put Your Bike in Front of UK Brokers
Enter your registration and tell us about the riding, and UK brokers can come back with quotes, including for the bikes and riders mainstream sites turn away. Free to use, with no obligation to buy.
- Third party, fire and theft, or comprehensive
- CBT, learner, restricted and full licence
- FCA authorised and regulated
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About this page
This page explains what motorbike insurance is, what the three levels reach, what the licence categories allow, what actually costs riders a claim, what moves the price and what you need to get a quote, for UK riders of bikes, mopeds and scooters. It is general information rather than advice. Policies differ, so read your own documents and put the questions raised here to your insurer or broker. If you ride for a living, that is a different product: see motorbike courier insurance or delivery rider insurance.
How we approached this page
- Government guidance on compulsory insurance, licence categories, compulsory basic training and declaring a vehicle off the road
- The current security rating schemes, for what insurers mean when they ask what is holding the bike
- Current UK motorcycle policy wordings, for what the three levels reach and where the add-ons and limits sit
- The Financial Conduct Authority register, for checking a firm before paying it
No premium figures and no savings claims appear here. Bike pricing moves through the year and varies so much by rider and machine that any average would mislead almost everyone reading it, and a "save up to" figure means nothing without a stated sample and method. Four things in wide circulation are corrected on this page: that third party is always the cheapest cover, that a helmet and leathers are covered as standard, that a pillion passenger is an optional extra rather than part of the compulsory minimum, and that a declined quote means a risk is uninsurable.
Legal & Regulatory Information:
The MyMoneyComparison.com website is owned and operated by MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd, which does not provide financial advice and does not sell insurance policies. MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for insurance mediation and credit broking activity under FCA registration number 916241.
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