Insuring My Motorbike For Work Use

Particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying boom in courier services like food delivery, more and more of us are using our motorbikes for work purposes. Generally cheaper to run than a car and better for quickly navigating busy traffic routes around cities and towns, bikes offer many benefits over cars for people who are often working to time-sensitive schedules.

If you're using your bike as part of your job – whether that’s simply to commute to and from your place of work or as an integral part of the service you offer – it’s essential you have the right cover.

At Carole Nash, we offer a variety of tailored rider insurance policies for workers, ranging from basic Class 1 business use policies for multi-location commutes to Class 3 Business Insurance for commercial riders.

In this guide, we’ll look at everything you need to know about insuring your bike for work use, including the four bike insurance categories, the factors that can impact your premium and some ways you can reduce the cost.

Be clear on how you use your bike with your insurer

First things first, it’s incredibly important that you’re clear with your insurer about how you use your bike. When looking for a new policy, make sure you and your insurer know whether you need personal cover, insurance for commuting, a policy for business use or full commercial cover.

The reason this is so important is that if you get into an accident and the specifics of your policy do not cover the right level of work-related travel, your entire policy could be considered void – leaving you without any cover for the accident.

Types of motorbike insurance

With the above in mind, it’s essential you know and understand the different categories when it comes to classifying your motorbike for insurance purposes. There are four main categories to be aware of:

  • Social & domestic: When you use your motorbike for social use only, such as riding with friends or going to the shops, and not for any commuting or work-related purposes.
  • Commuting: As well as using your bike for social and domestic reasons, you may also use it to regularly travel to one permanent place of work.
  • Business use: This is for when you travel to more than one place of work, such as a training course, bank, or other work-related destination. You must tell your insurer even if it’s just a one-off journey, otherwise you’re at risk of invalidating your policy. Should your work situation change and you need to use your bike to travel more, let your insurer know straight away.
  • Courier/delivery: If you want to use your bike for courier or delivery work where the transit of goods is involved, you’ll need courier insurance in the UK (Class 3 motorcycle insurance). Even if you’re not carrying any physical goods with you, most insurers consider any door-to-door sales role part of this category.

If you need your bike for business use or courier or delivery work (i.e. anything beyond commuting), you’ll need Business Insurance. There are three classes of Business Insurance available:

  • Class 1 Business Insurance: If you’re riding between multiple places of work or using your bike to travel to meet clients, that’s classed as Class 1 business use. Class 1 insurance is the most basic type of Business Insurance – and not suitable for courier and delivery work.
  • Class 2 Business Insurance: This offers the same protection as Class 1, but you can add a named rider to the policy who will also use the bike for business purposes (again, not courier or delivery work).
  • Class 3 Business Insurance: This motorcycle insurance type is Business Insurance for delivery drivers. This covers door-to-door selling as well as food courier insurance, as it protects both bikes and the transit of low-cost goods including food and parcels.

What is temporary motorbike insurance?

As the name suggests, temporary bike insurance covers you for a limited period – be it a day, week, month or a few months. It’s made for people who want to borrow someone else’s bike or, in relation to work, if you just want to ride seasonally.

If you’re looking for cover for a period of work, you might think short-term motorcycle insurance is the answer, but it might not be as great a solution as you think. For one, temp motorbike insurance is pretty rare. Indeed, you’ll find most insurers, including ourselves, don’t provide it. And as for cost, which you would assume to be lower, temp bike insurance can often work out as disproportionately expensive for the length of cover you’re after.

As such, you’re probably best steering clear of a temporary fix (even if you can find one!). Take a look at our guide to the alternatives to short-term cover to see if there’s a better option for you.

Who is responsible for insuring your bike for work?

If you own the motorbike you’re using for work-related travel, it’s your responsibility to get the right cover. There are some obligations on your employer’s part, though.

They need to know what bike you’re using and whether it’s safe to ride – and they’re also obliged to check that you have the right level of cover for your role. However, the liability for picking and maintaining the proper insurance lies with you as the policyholder, rather than your employer.

Factors that affect your motorbike insurance premium

With every insurance premium, there are several factors to consider that are all part of calculating your insurance premium. In relation to work, the key things you need to bear in mind are:

  • Age: It’s common knowledge that younger riders have more expensive premiums than older, more experienced riders. Expect to pay more, particularly if you’re aged between 17-25.
  • Where you live: Your address plays a role in defining how busy the roads are likely to be around you, and in turn how much risk you’ll be facing on a daily basis. It should come as no surprise that hot food delivery insurance in the city is going to come at a higher cost than a social and domestic policy in the countryside.
  • The bike itself: Most delivery drivers ride scooters and low-powered bikes because they’re cheaper to both buy and insure. If you’re riding an expensive, powerful or desirable bike, you’ll face a higher premium.
  • The policy: As discussed above, different business class policies carry different charges, with Class 3 Business Insurance being the most expensive.
  • Your riding history: One of the biggest cost factors for any premium will be how clean your riding history is and how much No Claims Bonus you have.
  • Security: The harder your bike is to steal, the better for insurers and your pocket.
  • Your job: Even if you only use your bike to travel to a single place of work, your actual job can affect your premium – especially if you’re a courier or delivery driver. That’s why you must be upfront and honest about your policy needs with your insurer from the off.

How much is courier driver insurance and how to reduce the cost?

Because of the risks involved, motorcycle courier insurance in the UK doesn’t tend to come cheap. Data from NimbleFins suggests an average cost of £148 per month for third party only insurance, while Comprehensive Cover comes in at an average of £195 per month.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking into a few ways to reduce the cost of your courier delivery insurance, including:

  • Installing a telematics device
  • Adding extra security devices such as an alarm, immobiliser, tracker, internal cameras or extra locks (delivery vehicles are a huge target for thieves)
  • Fitting a dashcam to record any incidents
  • Taking on a higher excess
  • Paying annually rather than monthly
  • Using a specialist bike insurance provider like Carole Nash

Insurance rules for carrying a passenger

Should you give a colleague a lift to work or a meeting as a pillion passenger (a passenger that sits directly behind you), you’ll need pillion cover as part of your policy.

Be careful if you’re asking for petrol money, too. If you’re running a lift-share, you’re perfectly fine to ask for a contribution to fuel and other running costs from passengers. But if you ask for more than that, insurers can deem you to be operating as a taxi service (known as ‘hire and reward’) which requires a Class 3 Business Insurance policy.

Get the specialist bike cover you need with Carole Nash

At Carole Nash, we provide a range of motorbike insurance policies that are designed to give you peace of mind, no matter what you use your bike for.

When getting your quote, we’ll ask you to indicate how you use your bike, whether it’s social use only, social and commuting, business use, or delivery and courier use.

After gathering all the other relevant information we need, we’ll search through our panel of top UK motorcycle insurance underwriters to find the policy and cover that’s right for you.

Ready to get started? Give us a call on 0333 005 3355 or get in touch by filling out our online form.