Motorcycles: repairs are becoming more and more expensive

Motorcycles: repairs are becoming more and more expensive

Once a year, CG Car-Garantie Versicherungs-AG evaluates its motorcycle warranty insurance portfolios to identify the most damage-prone and cost-intensive components and to calculate the average repair costs. After the threshold of 400 euros was exceeded just three years ago, it is clear that the increase is continuing unabated: the average repair costs for damage to a motorcycle are now more than 450 euros.

For the damage analysis, expired used and new motorcycle extension warranties from all brands and models from the past year with terms of between 12 and 36 months were evaluated. Conclusion: After years of increases, the average repair costs are now just under 452 euros per repair. As in the previous year, the engine is responsible for the most expensive damage on both used and new motorcycles. For used motorcycles, the engine's share of all claims settlement costs is 25% (previous year: 24.7%), and for new bikes it is as high as 27.4% (previous year: 28.1%). In both cases, the electrical system comes in second place with a share of 23.9% for used and 24.1% for new motorcycles (previous year: 22.9% and 23.0% respectively). In third place is the gearbox, which accounts for 9.8% of all costs for used bikes (previous year: 10.7%) and 11.4% for new bikes (previous year: 9.4%).

A look at the distribution of damage frequency also shows that the engine requires particularly expensive repairs. Although the engine is responsible for at least a quarter of the costs of both used and new bikes, it is only in second place in terms of damage frequency with a share of 12.3% (used) and 13.6% (new) (previous year: both 12.6%). The component most susceptible to damage is the electrical system. For used motorcycles it is responsible for 26.5% of all damage (previous year: 27.2%) and for new motorcycles for 27.0% (previous year: 26.0%). In third place for used motorcycles this year is the fuel system with 11.6% (previous year: 10.3%), and for new motorcycles the transmission is in third place with 9.8% (previous year: 10.1%).

While in the previous year 68.2% of damage to used motorcycles occurred within the first 5,000 kilometers, this figure rose to 72.1% in 2021. The analysis by day also shows a small increase: in 2021, 7.8% of all damage was reported within the first 30 days, in 2020 it was 7.0%. Thomas Geyer, Head of Bike Car Warranty: “Although most of the values ​​have only changed slightly compared to the previous year, the average repair costs have risen massively in recent years.” The reasons are a lack of chips, delivery difficulties and inflation due to the corona pandemic; an end to the trend is currently not yet in sight. “Especially in light of recent changes to the law, such as warranty law with the doubled deadline for reversal of the burden of proof, there are high financial risks for retailers,” says Geyer. CarGarantie has therefore modernized the popular BikeGarantie in anticipation of these challenges. With the new Bike Protection label, bike retailers can optimally protect themselves against warranty claims, minimize financial risk and at the same time noticeably increase customer satisfaction.