Motorcycle insurance basics

Budget Direct offers three types of motorcycle insurance cover:

• Comprehensive Motorcycle Insurance covers loss or damage to your motorcycle due to an accident (regardless of who's at fault), severe weather, fire, vandalism, and theft; and your liability for accidental damage your motorcycle causes to other people’s property (e.g. their vehicle or home).

• Third Party Property Only Motorcycle Insurance covers your liability for accidental damage your motorcycle causes to other people’s property (e.g. their vehicle or home). It does not cover damage to your motorcycle (unless it’s damaged in a no-fault accident with an uninsured driver, and in this case, your motorcycle has limited cover).

• Third Party Property, Fire and Theft Motorcycle Insurance provides the same protection as Third Party Property Only, plus cover for loss or damage to your motorcycle if it’s stolen or catches fire.

The type of cover you have is shown on your motorcycle insurance certificate.

Compare Budget Direct Motorcycle Insurance

We insure a wide range of on-road and off-road motorcycles against accidental loss or damage, namely:

• road bikes
• scooters
• cruisers
• enduro motorbikes
• sports bikes
• dual-sport motorcycles.

Most scooters and mopeds have step-through frames and so look similar. What sets them apart is their engine size and maximum speed.

Mopeds have an engine capacity not exceeding 50cc and a top speed not exceeding 50kmph.

In contrast, the most powerful scooters have engines as big as 850cc and at full tilt can clock around 200kmph.

While Budget Direct insures scooters, we don’t cover mopeds.

Half the states and territories in Australia require you to have a motorcycle licence to ride a scooter (electric motor or internal combustion engine).

The other half allow you to ride a scooter if you have a car licence — but only if the scooter’s engine size is 50cc or less and/or it can’t go faster than 50kmph.

(Budget Direct only insures riders who hold a valid Australian motorcycle licence or permit and comply with its conditions.)

No — Budget Direct does not insure motorcycles used for business of any kind, this includes:

• carrying passengers for payment

• carrying or delivering other people’s goods for payment, as a contractor or otherwise (e.g. parcel or food delivery)

• riding tuition for payment

• hiring the motorcycle to other people, including under peer to peer motorcycle sharing arrangements.

We only cover motorcycles used privately, and this includes commuting to and from your home and regular place of work.

Budget Direct covers all aftermarket modifications to your comprehensively insured motorcycle, except:

• custom paintwork (excluding decals/stickers)

• ECU (electronic control unit) remap or upgrade

• frame or subframes

• nitrous oxide kit

• turbo or supercharged.

You need to tell us about any modifications, accessories and options when you purchase your policy, or afterwards if you make any changes to your motorcycle so they are covered.

If you’re a Comprehensive or Third Party Property, Fire and Theft policyholder and your motorcycle is stolen and we pay your claim, we’ll reimburse you the reasonable cost to hire a compact hire car for up to 14 days, up to $1,000. 

For an additional premium, Comprehensive policyholders may be able to add an optional ‘Accident hire car’ benefit to their policy. 

If we pay your claim, we’ll arrange for a compact hire car for you to use until your bike is repaired or your claim is paid up to 14 days.

You can add this benefit when you get a quote and buy a policy. If you’ve already bought one, you can add it by calling us on 1300 306 560.

If you purchased your comprehensively insured motorcycle new or as a demo model from a licenced motor vehicle dealer who was the first registered owner with less than 5,000km at the time of purchase and it becomes a total loss within two years of its original registration, Budget Direct will replace your motorcycle with a new one of the same make, model and specification.

If a new replacement motorcycle is:

• not available in Australia within 90 days, we will pay you the amount it would cost you to replace the motorcycle with a new one of the same, make model and specification, or
• no longer available in Australia, we will pay you the amount you originally paid for the motorcycle.

We’ll also pay the cost of the new motorcycle's first 12 months of registration and compulsory third-party insurance, as well as stamp duty and dealer charges and delivery.

This benefit applies only to motorcycles that had no unrepaired accident or hail damage before we insure them.

If you have Comprehensive Motorcycle Insurance, certain personal items are covered. We’ll cover personal items that are designed to be worn or carried (except for riding gear, sporting equipment, tools of the trade, and a few other exclusions). 

That cover applies if we are paying a claim for loss or damage to your motorcycle, and those personal effects are being worn or carried by the rider or stored in the locked compartment on the motorcycle. In those circumstances, we’ll pay up to $500 to help repair or replace covered personal items that were damaged in the same incident as your motorcycle.

For extra peace of mind, we offer Riding Gear coverage as an optional extra.

Yes, if your:

• Comprehensively insured motorcycle is accidentally damaged and unsafe to ride as a result, or

• Third Party Property Fire and Theft insured motorcycle is burnt or found after being stolen, we will pay the cost of recovery and transport (towing) of the motorcycle to the repairer or holding facility nearest to where the accident occurred or that we recommend or nominate.

We will not pay for any costs associated with the storage of the motorcycle before you make a claim with us or after your claim has been paid.