3/2/09 Page Update: It is with a very heavy heart that I have to say that sadly Phil Easton passed away on Monday 2nd February 2009 from a brain haemorrhage. I had the pleasure of spending 15mins every Tuesday with Phil & Kim on the City Talk breakfast show for nearly 12 months. Being on the air was daunting for an IT geek like me and Phil's relaxed welcoming personality made it just like chatting to my friends rather than doing a radio show.
Phil was a radio legend, it was an absolute pleasure to have graced his company.
Below is a page about the 'breakfast radio dream team' Phil Easton and Kim Hughes. I wrote this for one of the very first shows we did. Phil found the "modified picture of him" below, rather amusing so I decided to leave it on this page. Here is a picture of the great man himself, without my photoshop skills applied. For those of you who never met or heard Phil, there is a youtube video of him from one of the opening podcasts from City Talk that Kim and Phil did.
You can leave your comments and thoughts below if you wish.
City Talk is a superb local radio station in Liverpool where you might occasionally hear members of the Bike Insurer team speaking.
As you maybe aware, every Monday to Friday, from 6am to 9am, Phil Easton and Kim Hughes present a great breakfast radio show on City Talk FM, the leading Liverpool based radio station.
There are loads of things that are good about the Phil Easton and Kim Hughes breakfast show, including their ability to laugh at funny photos of themselves, see below.
Aswell as the amusing pics, there is a great mix of news, debate and most of all, fun on the Phil Easton and Kim Hughes breakfast show, all delivered in a light hearted and humerous way, designed to make its listeners smile on the way to work.
Dont forget, to tune into the Phil Easton and Kim Hughes breakfast show, just set your radio to 105.9 FM and catch City Talk 7 days, every week.
We are very pleased to announce that MCE Insurance, the midlands based bike insurance specialists, are joining The Bike Insurer panel of brokers.
MCE Insurance are one of the UK's biggest bike insurance brokers, and have a number of unique insurance products that will be available to Bike Insurer customers. These products are right across the bike insurance range and will further reinforce The Bike Insurer position of having the biggest possible choice of insurance products for our customers.
This brings the number of insurance brokers offering bike insurance products to 20, which is by far the biggest offering in the World of providers on a bike insurance comparison website.
We look forward to MCE Insurance launching on The Bike Insurer very soon.
As part of our strive to give you all the information you need to sort your bike insurance, we now want to tell you about Bennetts, the bike insurance broker.
Bennetts are not a broker you will see on The Bike Insurer platform, and we believe this to be as they do not wish to display their rates against that of the other insurace brokers in the market. However, we respect this decision and wish them well.
Most people agree that a price comparison site will have much cheaper bike insurance deals on offer due to the nature of its having lots of insurance brokers on the panel, however Bennetts might still be worth a shout if you find that despite getting quotes from upto 19 insurance brokers, your bike insurance is still not as cheap as you want it.
One of the biggest names in the market for bike insurance, Bennetts are well known for sponsoring the WSB and for having an aggressive television campaign.
However, in a recent survey we conducted, over 84% of people of the respondents we asked told us they would rather get cheaper bike insurance than go with a name they had heard of from some tv ads.
So Bennetts, whilst you might be competitive sometimes, the people have spoken. We would love to accept you onto our panel of bike insurance and see if you can really save riders as much money as you claim you can.
A while ago we told you about the launch of Tesco Motorbike Insurance and now we have an update for you.
Tesco have been beavering away and have now got a new option for you to get your motorbike insurance. As well as getting a quote on the web 24/7, you can now also get a quote from Tesco Motorbike Insurance 7 days a week on the phone too. So if you prefer the idea of speaking to someone, or you just feel more confident getting someone else to run through your quote then give them a shout on 08000 897897.
A spokesperson for Tesco Motorbike Insurance told us that this new initiiative had been really succesful during its trial phase and that as the UK's leading retailer, Tesco wanted their motorbike insurance product to be just as accessible for customers as it is if they want to but a pint of milk!
Like them of loathe them, it seems that Tesco have certainly not failed to disappoint again with Tesco Motorbike Insurance.
According to stats just released from the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA), new registrations of powered two wheel machines, or motorcycles, mopeds and scooters in other words, were 5.2% down in January 2008 against the same month from 2007.
The total number of registrations in January 2008 was 6594 units, compared with 6955 units in January '07.
A spokesperson for the MCIA commented that January is always a slow month for sales of new motorcycles and that with the addition of the economic crisis sweeping the world right now, a slight downturn in sales was expected.
The winners and the losers in January 2008:
Adventure sport bikes (inc BMW R1200GS) - up 23%
Custom bikes - (any Harley!) - up 7.4%
Mopeds - down 1.7%
Scooters - down 8%
The good news is that February seems to have started off well, probably buoyed by the fine February weather and this month's interest rate cut.
In a related news release, the Department of Transport has announced that there were 1.6 million motorcycles in use on the roads in 2006 and that 51,000 people passed their test in 2006 also.
With so many ads on the telly screaming at you that they can save you money, or guaranteeing to beat renewal quotes, its no wonder that car insurance is sometimes confusing. The only way to really find out how much you will really have to pay is by taking the time to go and compare car insurance brokers on the web.
There are loads of sites in the market allowing you to go and compare your quotes in the comfort of your own home. But to get the best quotes, make sure that you are only buying what you really need.
There are a few ways to save money, some of which you may not be aware of. Here are some top tips about how to save on car insurance;
1. Voluntary excess - If you dont mind being responsible for part of the cost of the claim if you have a claim and its deemed to be your fault, then something you could look to do is add on a voluntary excess. This type of excess is usually in addition to the standard excess placed on the car insurance policy by the insurer, but if this is something you want to do, then you could find you save upto around 30% on your annual premium.
2. Dont buy a car alarm - When you go and compare car insurance, many brokers ask you to fit a Category 1 or 2 car alarm onto your vehicle. Now this is fine in practice but in reality it might cost you £300+ so if you dont mind your car not having an alarm then ask the broker how much your car insurance costs without you fitting an alarm.
3. Try and play the brokers off against each other - Whether you use a price comparison website or a broker, always make 3 phone calls at least to the brokers to try and save yourself some more cash. Nobody likes paying more than they have to for car insurance, and nor should you. Most brokers are friendly and realist that haggling is all part of the game.
4. The biggest one - NEVER try and cheat. Once upon a time, a friend of mine owned a Mitsubishi Evo which he had chipped and modified in some other ways too. He told the broker that the car was standard, because he knew it would be really expensive if he told the truth. So he saved about £1000 at the time, not a bad deal you might say. But then one night it was stolen, recovered and the insurer refused to pay out on the basis that they wouldnt have insured the car if it was modified at all. He lost over £17,000.
Here's a top tip for anyone looking to save money this bike season. Go and Compare motorcycle insurance with a price comparison website.
We're obviously biased as we were the World's first motorcycle insurance comparison website, but now we are not alone. A few names have cropped out who also offer to compare providers for you.
Of course, The Bike Insurer still remains the biggest place with the most providers but when you need to go and compare your bike insurance, either at renewal or when you are buying a new bike, then you have to shop around to get the best deal.
Confused and Go Compare are 2 other brands that offer motorcycle insurance comparison services, but if you read the reports that such authorities as Martin Lewis write, then you will see that The Bike Insurer gives you a more informed choice than any other brand.
One of the reasons for this is that when you compare your motorcycle insurance with us, we show you all 3 levels of cover. This means that you have all the options in front of you that you need to make the best decision on how to spend your cash.
Dont take our word for it though, go and compare motorcycle insurance brokers now and see how much you can save. Oh, and if you are aged 21 or over then we guarantee to be the cheapest place on the web for you to insure your bike.
The bike season seems to have got off to a flying start. The weather outside looks like possibly the worst type of weather for riding - its been snowing overnight, its cold, windy and wet. But it seems like riders dont car because they are coming to get their bike insurance quotes early this year.
The Bike Insurer, the World's 1st bike insurance comparison service is really enthused by this start to the bike season. Commenting on reports that the bike season seems to have kicked off early, Alex Stone, founder of The Bike Insurer said "We've been blown away by the start of this year. Historically, the bike season starts at Easter and tales off at the end of October. In the last few years this curve has flattened a little as the weather becomes milder but this year is like nothing I've seen in 10 years of working in bike insurance. We have provided 107% more bike insurance quotes in January 2008 compared to December 2007"
When asked why he thought that this year should be any different to previous years, Stone added "Well I think that with the problems in the credit market at the moment are forcing more people to watch their cashflow. For this reason, plus the horrendous costs of public transport and congestion charging in London, we are seeing a shift towards people using motorbikes, which are a relatively cheap form of transport. More new riders are coming into the market but as well as this, more riders who previously may have ridden a bike for a year to get it out of their system and then left, are now staying with bikes as a more primary way of getting around."
These comments seem to be backed up by the release of data that shows of bike insurance quotes provided in January 2008, over 50% of riders hold as least one year's no claims bonus, compared with just 35% 12 months ago.
So its all good news for biking at the moment but what does Stone forecast for the rest of this year?
"I think that bike insurance price comparison sites are going to do really really well this year as more riders want to save money. A broker, regardless of size or position in the market just cant hope to compete with bike insurance products from 19 brokers that sites like The Bike Insurer can offer. Overall I think the bike market will grow by circa 10% or more this year and thats a great prospect for everyone in the industry."
