Motorcycle courier insurance

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What is motorcycle courier insurance?

Whether you’re delivering takeaways as a gig economy worker or sprinting across town with important legal documents, if you ever use your motorcycle to work as a courier, you’ll need proper insurance in place.

Motorcycle courier insurance is a type of auto insurance catered to the risks of using a motorbike to make deliveries. These policies work much like standard motorcycle insurance, offering third-party liability cover and paying out to cover the theft and damage of your own vehicle. But they can also cover the goods you’re transporting so you won’t be left out of pocket if they’re stolen or damaged.

Motorcycle courier insurance may also be known as delivery rider insurance, which you might take out if you are an EVRI or Hermes driver, an Amazon Flex driver, Uber Eats rider, or Just Eat rider. 

Some motorcycle insurers refer to it as Class 3 business insurance - policies tailored to courier driving and door-to-door selling, protecting both the motorbike and the transit of low-cost goods like food and parcels.

Do I need motorcycle courier insurance?

If you’re using your motorcycle to make deliveries in exchange for money, you’ll specifically need motorcycle courier insurance in place. The personal motorcycle insurance policy you may already have won't cut it.

With standard motorcycle insurance, you’re covered only when you’re riding for social or domestic purposes, or commuting to a single place of employment. Using your motorbike as a courier poses different risks than using it in private life.

As a motorcycle courier, you’ll typically be logging more miles than average, in all kinds of weather, and often to make tight deadlines - all of which increase the risk of accidents. Therefore, a standard insurance policy won’t be enough. In fact, if you're found to be working as a courier without the right cover, your standard motorcycle insurance provider may reject your claims and even cancel your policy.

Even if you’re using your motorbike part-time or occasionally to work as a courier, as many gig workers do, you’ll need to have an appropriate courier insurance policy.

What is covered by motorcycle courier insurance?

First and foremost, motorcycle courier insurance will cover the same things that standard auto insurance does (depending on the level of cover):

• Third-party liability: Cover for vehicles and property you damage while riding your bike; the legal minimum insurance cover all vehicles on the UK’s roads must have
• Third-party, fire and theft: Covers both third-party liability as well as fire damage to your own motorcycle and theft.
• Comprehensive policies: Covers the cost of any damage to your own vehicle, including in accidents you cause.

Motorcycle courier insurance may also include the following, some as optional add-ons:

• Goods in transit cover: Covers the items you are delivering.
• Helmet and leathers cover: Pays out for the damage and theft of these essential safety measures.
• Breakdown cover: Roadside assistance, puncture repair, vehicle recovery, courtesy bike while yours is being repaired.
• Personal accident cover: Pays out if you’re injured while riding your motorbike for courier work.
• Income protection cover: Pays out to replace your wages if you’re injured or ill and unable to ride.
• Public liability cover: Compensates other people for accidental damage or injury related to your work as a motorcycle courier.
• Legal cover: Covers legal expenses if you need to defend yourself or file a claim against someone else in relation to your work as a motorcycle courier.
• Pillion cover: Covers passengers sitting behind you on the motorbike for injuries or death 

How much does motorcycle courier insurance cost?

Motorcycle courier insurance can cost more than standard motorcycle cover due to the high mileage and all-weather riding required by courier work. Add-ons like goods in transit cover will also increase your premiums.

But prices for motorcycle courier insurance range widely and are also impacted by the same factors that determine standard motorcycle insurance costs:

• Your bike: Its make, model and cost. Expensive, high powered, and desirable motorcycles will cost the most to insure because they're more likely to be involved in crashes or stolen, while they’re also more expensive to replace.
• How you use your bike: Including your mileage, where you store it at night and any security measures you use to deter thieves.
• You: Including your address and age. Younger riders, especially those who have recently obtained their motorcycle licence, and people living in high-crime areas will typically pay more for insurance.
• Your driving record and insurance history: Penalty points on your licence and recent claims on auto insurance will increase your premiums.

If you’re working part-time as a motorcycle courier, as many in the gig economy do, it may be more economical to use pay-as-you-go delivery insurance. With these policies, you pay for cover either by the mile or hour, often with a tracking device or smartphone app recording and sending data on your driving.