I've had too many run ins with insurance companies over the years, this is one thing I think the government could help with, similar to Australia have a ctp (compulsory third party) insurance included when you tax the vehicle every year, insurance companies make so much money the government profit could be put into the roads, if any one wants a fire and theft or compulsory policy they can then go to the private companies and pay extra for this!
This is the way I'd like to see it done as well. Fewer uninsured driver problems, and insurance working for your benefit rather than for their profits. The way it would probably work over here though is that you'd end up paying a fee to the government, then the private insurers would still charge the same amount that they do now for fire and theft/comprehensive cover.
I've gone fully comprehensive this time, but you really have to think about the maths. I paid £1150.00 for the Fazer and it's been well looked after with loads of pictures and documents, but I know that if Ineed to claim they will only give me £600.00. Maybe increase to £700.00 if I kick off about it (people on here probably have experience of this) and spend months arguing. My excess this year is only £100.00 compared to previous years, so I'd be looking at £5-600 to buy a new bike with. If you've paid £100.00 more for a fully comprehensive policy over 3rd party, then you've lost another £100.00 (increases by £100.00 for every year you don't claim). If you do claim, you're likely to see an increase of 25% on your premium the following year from what I can tell, which -coupled with the excess- means you'd only really want to claim for significant damage (you'd repair anything less yourself) . You see more and more on forums nowadays that insurers aren't interested in repairing bikes, it's far easier to write it off and sell it on - the market for CAT C and D bikes is strong. And as I understand it: if you have an accident and they decide to write if off, the bike becomes the property of the insurer if you're fully comp. Whereas if you're only 3rd party, you can keep the bike and repair it yourself.
Because my premium (and excess) has come down quite a lot as I've got older, being fully comprehensive makes more sense. But as a newer or younger rider with higher policies and higher excesses on a lower-value bike/car (my excess in my first year's riding would have been £800.00!), you'd really only need to have one year of accident-free riding on a 3rd party policy to put you on a position where you'd be better off than you would be if you were fully comp (with my old Golf, I only ever paid 3rd party for that reason, and after one year claim free you're winning the game). Of course, the robbing swines know this, and hence why nowadays you often pay more for 3rd party insurance than fully comp (as a new rider).