A major life insurer has started charging customers hundreds of pounds a year extra for riding a motorcycle.
Ageas Insurance asks policy applicants whether they have ridden a motorcycle during the last 12 months and if so what capacity it was.
Anyone aged 50 or under who says they have ridden a bike over 499cc is charged extra, typically around £18 a month for a 29-year-old with a 25-year mortgage.
An Ageas document explaining the policy to brokers says: �??That�??s because it is this group of riders that accounts for the vast majority of motorbike deaths.�??
The document says: �??It is widely known that people who ride motorcycles are statistically at higher risk of accident, injury and death.
�??For every km driven, a motorcyclist is 46 times more likely to be killed in a road accident than a car driver and 57 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured�?�
�??Motorcyclists who ride a bike with an engine capacity of over 500cc account for about half of all riders, but almost four in every five motorbike deaths.�??
The document, marked �??not to be shown to retail customers�?? cites the Department for Transport as the data source.
Ageas UK insures around eight million customers according to the firm�??s website.
Latest DfT figures show cyclists are also 22 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured per mile than car users but Ageas does not charge them extra.
A spokesman for the insurer said: �??We could extend this to rate pedal cyclists, though motorcyclists are by far the highest risk group, and we believe the bigger bike riders are the highest risk sub-group of motorcyclists - so we've focused the loading on this group.�??�
�??We are always looking to improve our risk classification and make sure our customers pay an appropriate premium for the risks that they are exposed to.� This is something that is always under constant review and we will take all feedback on board.�??
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