The Student Room Group

Cheap moped insurance for a 16 year old and running costs

Hello!

I'm considering purchasing a 50cc moped. However, I have a couple of questions and would love to hear from someone who has had experience with mopeds.

- How much (approximately) is the price of fully comprehensive insurance for a second hand moped?

- Was the CBT or theory difficult?

- How long did it take you to qualify?

- Was it worth it?
(edited 5 years ago)

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I would try https://www.thebikeinsurer.co.uk/ above everywhere else.

There are A LOT of members who have saved hundreds on their moped insurance doing a quote comparison through those guys.

Good luck!
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by Celesta

- How much (approximately) is the price of fully comprehensive insurance for a second hand moped?

- Was the CBT or theory difficult?

- How long did it take you to qualify?

- Was it worth it?


Personally I'd wait a year and get a 125cc motorbike. You'll appreciate the extra acceleration and distance.

- Insurance is likely to be around £150 for 3rd party, £300 full comp.

- The CBT is relatively easy. Some of the manoeuvres I found difficult due to the limited amount of space in the carpark we were practicing in. Remember it's a training course.. not a test! So you can't actually fail it.. just be required to attend more training if they think you need it. The Theory test is almost exactly the same as the car theory test. You don't actually need to do the theory test if you don't want to.. just do the CBT and ride on L plates.

- To qualify for what? Once you've done the 1-day CBT course you're good to go!

- Yes, absolutely worth it. Much cheaper than a car, never get stuck in traffic and free parking!
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by Reue
Personally I'd wait a year and get a 125cc motorbike. You'll appreciate the extra acceleration and distance.

- Insurance is likely to be around £150 for 3rd party, £300 full comp.

- The CBT is relatively easy. Some of the manoeuvres I found difficult due to the limited amount of space in the carpark we were practicing in. Remember it's a training course.. not a test! So you can't actually fail it.. just be required to attend more training if they think you need it. The Theory test is almost exactly the same as the car theory test. You don't actually need to do the theory test if you don't want to.. just do the CBT and ride on L plates.

- To qualify for what? Once you've done the 1-day CBT course you're good to go!

- Yes, absolutely worth it. Much cheaper than a car, never get stuck in traffic and free parking!


Fantastic, thank you! I may wait in that case. Another thing I was concerned about was the safety aspect. Is there a strong likelihood of me falling off? Also are drivers cautious around you?
Reply 4
Original post by Celesta
Fantastic, thank you! I may wait in that case. Another thing I was concerned about was the safety aspect. Is there a strong likelihood of me falling off? Also are drivers cautious around you?


I think everyone falls off their bike at least once, probably more likely to happen when you hit a curb whilst trying to walk it backwards though.

Most drivers are idiots, but on a bike you're pretty agile so can move out of the way of things easily. As you ride more you learn to become more dominant on the road so that you can effectively block off lanes so drivers can't try to squeeze past you.
Original post by Celesta
Hello!

I'm considering purchasing a 50cc moped. However, I have a couple of questions and would love to hear from someone who has had experience with mopeds.

- How much (approximately) is the price of fully comprehensive insurance for a second hand moped?

- Was the CBT or theory difficult?

- How long did it take you to qualify?

- Was it worth it?


I paid £450 3rd party, fire and theft on an rs50, they're typically a lot more to insure than scooters.

The cbt is about the easiest thing you'll ever do, the bike you'll be riding will be producing about 1.5 bhp so you can whiskey throttle and ride as terribly as you like and you'll still pass.

Getting your provisional could take upto a month, and as soon as you've done your cbt your qualified to ride.

It was definitely worth it, it's your first bit of freedom and despite the bike being incredibly slow you'll still have lots of fun.

Don't worry about falling off, ride within your limits and stay loose and you'll be fine. At some point you might drop or fall off your bike but parts cheap providing you don't slide into anything you'll be fine providing your wearing plenty of gear.

Good luck with the riding
(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Reue
I think everyone falls off their bike at least once, probably more likely to happen when you hit a curb whilst trying to walk it backwards though.

Most drivers are idiots, but on a bike you're pretty agile so can move out of the way of things easily. As you ride more you learn to become more dominant on the road so that you can effectively block off lanes so drivers can't try to squeeze past you.


That seems alright then. Thank you very much for your responses you've been extremely informative. Have a fantastic evening. :smile:
Reply 7
Original post by Gott
I got third party, fire and theft for about £200, I don't the point of comprehensive unless its an expensive one (mine was £500 from someone on gumtree)

You don't do a theory for the CBT, it was a piece of piss and quite fun riding about between cones in a car park for half the day, then on the road following the instructer around town. They call it the 'unfailable test'. Only idiots fail it, no pressure :wink: (although seriously there is no way of not passing unless you ride on the wrong side of the road the whole time and don't pretend to look in your mirror before cornering)

It was a day

Too be honest no, it made me lazy so its a fight to be bothered to walk to school but if you don't walk anyway then yes. Also don't under estimate the cost of petrol, I have to refule it about once per three weeks for £7. If you need it as a mode of transport as upose to just laziness or for fun (the novelty wears), then its well worth it

This is mine







Thanks, I'll consider the third party. I'm yet to ring up NFU anyhow. Haha no pressure indeed! Yes, I've seen the CBT on YouTube and it looked like fun. I was under the impression that I needed to do some kind of theory or perhaps it was a hazard perception test? I only briefly looked the other day though. Your bike looks fab!
Reply 8
Original post by Prince_fancybum
I paid £450 3rd party, fire and theft on an rs50, they're typically a lot more to insure than scooters.

The cbt is about the easiest thing you'll ever do, the bike you'll be riding will be producing about 1.5 bhp so you can whiskey throttle and ride as terribly as you like and you'll still pass.

Getting your provisional could take upto a month, and as soon as you've done your cbt your qualified to ride.

It was definitely worth it, it's your first bit of freedom and despite the bike being incredibly slow you'll still have lots of fun.

Don't worry about falling off, ride within your limits and stay loose and you'll be fine. At some point you might drop or fall off your bike but parts cheap providing you don't slide into anything you'll be fine providing your wearing plenty of gear.

Good luck with the riding


Ah yes I've heard about the rs50's! That's great. I'm going to get a helmet and gloves at the least. What else would you recommend? And thank you, hopefully it'll be good!
In my opinion, it is 100% worth doing... I took mine at 16, loved the freedom... You have no idea how good it is until you have it... I then got a 125cc.
The extra experience will help you when it comes to car tests too.

The above guys are accurate with insurance, but don't get a moped, get a proper geared bike...

And on top of all that, riding is a source, and once you start, unless you have an awful first ride an crash, you'll never want to stop... I've now had 8 bikes ( I'm only 20) and currently own a buell xb9sx, an American sports bike with a Harley engine, and I now look forward to getting up in the mornings because I can ride it to work!


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Reply 10
Original post by Callummax
In my opinion, it is 100% worth doing... I took mine at 16, loved the freedom... You have no idea how good it is until you have it... I then got a 125cc.
The extra experience will help you when it comes to car tests too.

The above guys are accurate with insurance, but don't get a moped, get a proper geared bike...

And on top of all that, riding is a source, and once you start, unless you have an awful first ride an crash, you'll never want to stop... I've now had 8 bikes ( I'm only 20) and currently own a buell xb9sx, an American sports bike with a Harley engine, and I now look forward to getting up in the mornings because I can ride it to work!


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That's an added bonus! Wow, that sounds great! People say you get hooked. Are you able to get a 50cc geared bike? I must admit I was somewhat apprehensive with a moped due to the wheel size and pot holes and all.
Original post by Celesta
Ah yes I've heard about the rs50's! That's great. I'm going to get a helmet and gloves at the least. What else would you recommend? And thank you, hopefully it'll be good!


A decent jacket will keep you warm, dry and stop you loosing most off your skin if you have a crash, I never bothered with Kevlar jeans but if you've got some money spare then they'll protect you better than normal trousers. And finally a good pair of sturdy boots will help prevent you loosing your feet in a bad crash. The amount of gear you wear is up to you, and if your just cruising around town there's no need for anything past a helmet, gloves and maybe a jacket. For racing and testing I wear a dainese Laguna seca one piece but it would be massively over kill and fairly uncomfortable for riding a 50 on the road. For road riding I wear a rst textile jacket and rst track tech boots, I use the same boots for racing and a few other lads I know do as well so for about 90 quid they're a great price. With riding gear it needs to be tight enough that it doesn't bunch up anywhere but most importantly it needs to be comfortable, when your on the bike you shouldn't notice it at all, if your clothing is restrictive your much more likely to crash.

Final point, wear whatever you want to when riding, if you want to ride in a tshirt that's your decision as long as your aware of the risks and likewise if you want to wear a full 1 piece leather suit (prices tend to range for decent ones from £300 to £3000) that's your decision because at the end of the day your the one riding so don't allow pear pressure from your mates to sway what your wear. I had a mate of mine recently spend 3 weeks in hospital having skin crafts after he crashed his 250 at 90mph without any gear on because he was abit drunk and trying to impress a girl
If you're after a geared 50, look at a malaguti drakon... They're kinda rare, but when one comes up for sale, it's cheap because nobody really searches for them... I picked on up for £600 quid, was amazing fun! And fancy bum is right, gear is up to you, I wear Furygan leathers, and love them... But sometimes trousers for around town stuff is overkill... Anything over 30 minutes of riding and the trousers are on!!!
I had one when I was 16. A Gilera SKP 50cc. Bright orange like the Dynamo vans it was.

ohhhh how I miss it.

My mother bought me it and as it was brand new it came with a year's free insurance, and the CBT didn't cost anything either.

I didn't "pass" the CBT on the first day (which was a full day in Bradford with lots of other trainees), so an instructor came back to the house a few days later on her own and took me out for a couple of hours, and then said I had earned the certificate.

After the year's free insurance ran out I didn't have any money to renew it, and my mam refused to help, so it was sold. I was gutted, truly.
Original post by Gott
lol


I always was a bit crap with balancing though. I was 8 before I got stabilisers off my pedal bike lol.

Don't judge dude :redface:
Reply 15
Original post by PinkMobilePhone
I had one when I was 16. A Gilera SKP 50cc. Bright orange like the Dynamo vans it was.

ohhhh how I miss it.

My mother bought me it and as it was brand new it came with a year's free insurance, and the CBT didn't cost anything either.

I didn't "pass" the CBT on the first day (which was a full day in Bradford with lots of other trainees), so an instructor came back to the house a few days later on her own and took me out for a couple of hours, and then said I had earned the certificate.

After the year's free insurance ran out I didn't have any money to renew it, and my mam refused to help, so it was sold. I was gutted, truly.


I'm glad you enjoyed it for the time you had it though! :smile:
Reply 16
im struggling on choosing my first moped, im 16 so I can only get a 50cc. Any help?

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