In essence, mopeds and scooters are covered by the same types of insurance, which will be found in the same section of insurance comparison websites. Regardless of whether you buy a scooter or moped, you can guarantee that the insurance will be much lower than you think.

However, the real notable difference between moped and scooter insurance is the price. Mopeds will usually be cheaper to insure because they have smaller engines, meaning they can’t go as fast, which translates to being less of a risk on the road. Lower risk means lower insurance premiums.

Yes, all vehicles intended to be used on public roads need to be covered by insurance. This is true for everything, ranging from cars and lorries, to mopeds and superbikes, and even things like tractors. Insurance is a legal requirement for any vehicle, so always factor this into your budget.

The reason for this is that insurance isn’t really for you, it’s for anyone you might be involved in an accident with. Of course, if you have fully comprehensive insurance you can claim for your scooter, but there’s a reason the lowest levels of cover still provide repairs to other vehicles involved in an accident. What’s more, not having insurance on your scooter can lead to a range of penalties, including fines and driving bans.

There are so many factors that can affect insurance premiums, with some big companies rating on more than 60 independent factors. However, there are some things that you can do to lower your insurance premiums:

1. Try to park your scooter off the road or in a garage overnight.
2. Obtain a full motorbike licence instead of just a CBT.
3. Set a higher voluntary excess.
4. Offer to fit security devices on the scooter, but discuss this with your insurers first, as the device might be more than the insurance discount.

Choose a lower level of cover (third party, fire & theft instead of fully comprehensive).

Some of the biggest factors that affect the cost of scooter insurance are:

• Where the scooter is parked overnight (on the road, on a driveway, in a garage).
• The age of the rider, the type of licence they hold, and overall driving experience.
• Your home address, including local crime rates.
• The colour of your scooter, or make and model.
• The scooter’s engine size
• Whether the rider has any No Claims Bonus.

There are almost too many factors to name, but these are some of the most important. The easiest way to work out your biggest deciding factors is to run a couple of insurance quotes with different information to find yourself the best deal.

As with all road vehicles, it’s a legal requirement to have a scooter covered by insurance. This is so that, if you hit someone and it’s not their fault, they have the ability to repair their vehicle at no cost to themselves.

This is why only the highest level of cover provides you with the ability to claim for repairs to your scooter. Insurance is realistically less about the person paying for it, and more for protecting everyone else on the road.

Because there are so many factors that affect insurance premiums, it’s basically impossible to give a simple figure for the cost of scooter insurance. For example, a 40-year-old with a full motorbike licence will pay much less than a 16-year-old with a CBT if both were to insure the same scooter.

For young riders, whether with a full licence or not, you could expect figures around £250-300 a year for a fully comprehensive policy. Obviously, the higher the level of cover, and the more bolt-ons you choose, the higher the premium will be.

The easiest way to find out some rough costs for insurance is simply to try a couple of searches, changing information each time. This should give you a good idea of your price brackets.