This great weather makes it prime biking season but, before you zip up your leathers, make sure your insurance isn’t anything to get in a sweat about. Back in May, moneysupermarket.com launched the fastest and most accurate motorbike insurance comparison service available, meaning bikers can compare the market and find the very best deal on their cover.
So how else can you cut the cost of your bike insurance? Keeping your bike in a garage at night, paying a higher excess (make sure you can afford it!), reducing the miles you do each year – all these will help you bring down the cost of your insurance.
But here are a few more advanced tips.
Get an advanced riding qualification
Do you have any advanced motorcycle training? If you do, you could qualify for a discount of as much as 10%.
For example, Bennetts provides a discount if you’ve completed training schemes such as Advanced Police Motorcycle training, the British Motorcyclists Federation’s (BMF’s) Blue Riband advanced rider course or the DSA Examiners Motorcycle Test, to name just a few.
Obviously, some of those will be on-the-job training that’s not available to everybody, but any biker can take the Blue Riband advanced rider course through the BMF, although you need to retake the exam every three years to keep the qualification.
Alternatively, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents offers an advanced motorcycle test that will cut your premiums and reduce your chances of having a crash by around 20%.
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Airline fees continue to increase and checked luggage charges are no exception. An article on CNN.com addressed an innovative alternative to checked luggage.
Frustrated with the baggage fees airlines seem to be throwing at you left and right? UPS has introduced a new product that reminds travelers of an alternative to lugging bags.
Ship your luggage and have it waiting for you at your destination. UPS is selling new luggage boxes that allow travelers to skip the suitcase altogether.
The luggage box is one of the three options The UPS Store has to offer travelers who want to avoid airline baggage hassles such as lost luggage and time-consuming security checks.
Luggage can be shipped as is, placed in a traditional box or shipped sans suitcase in the new luggage box. Shipping does come at a price, and the new box is extra.
A small, carry-on sized box runs $12.95. A larger box is $17.65. The cost of shipping is determined by weight, distance traveled and the service selected. The boxes are reusable and cut down on shipping charges by dropping the weight of a traditional suitcase.
If a last-minute change of plan were to occur, the luggage boxes — which meet airline standards — can be taken aboard planes. The smaller box meets carry-on requirements, UPS said in a news release.
UPS does not recommend this alternative to checking bags for international travel, because of duties and taxes associated with international shipments.
Although shipping luggage via air is possible, the high cost is likely to trump convenience for most travelers. Ship
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First, what is the problem with the range of insurance policies on offer from the insurance industry? Why is it necessary for the Department of Insurance to intervene in the market? The answer is simple. California has been hit hard by the recession. Gone are the days when people were proud to live in the “Golden State”. The problem is seen most obviously in the repeated failures of the state to deal with its massive deficit. Now translate this into the millions of people living in the state who cannot find work paying enough money to live on. Their poverty means it is impossible to pay for insurance and eat. Not surprisingly, millions of drivers are on the roads without insurance. In 2008, the Department of Insurance estimated about 18% of Californian drivers were uninsured. Since then, the unemployment rate has doubled.
Why is this a problem? Well, although many drivers buy uninsured or underinsured cover, you have to be able to identify the other driver in the accident. If you cannot, say because it’s a hit-and-run, you cannot show the other driver was uninsured and so cannot claim on the policy. Since most uninsured drivers prefer not to wait around to admit their criminal offense (that costs them a fine and may result in their vehicle being impounded), all that can, drive away from the scene of the accident as quickly as possible. That is bad luck for you and great news for the insurers who take your premium and rarely have to pay out.
The Department of Insurance believed there were a hard core of the poor who felt guilty about driving without California auto insurance so, in 2007, it persuaded the private insurance industry to offer a low-cost liability program for about $400 per year. This
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