Motorcycle insurance refusing cover

mvpetev

Hi there,

I`m not sure if this is the correct place to ask but it is the only one i found. I have a question regarding vehicle insurance.

Here is the whole story short.
I have 2 bikes on my name one registered outside of the UK as I travel to the other country quite often and it is more convenient and one registered in the UK. The one in the UK has 2 drivers (i.e. me and a friend) registered on the insurance. What we did was go for a tour in europe and had a small collision between each other when the second registered driver of the UK bike hit my other bike on the back.

I called the insurance to cover the damage and they said that because both vehicles are on my name they will not cover the damages done to the other bike.

Does anyone have an idea if this is indeed the case ? sounds very strange to me as it was not even me driving the bike and according to the policy wording they cover third party and liability on all insured riders.

Quentin

Whenever you are unhappy with your insurer the route to go down is a formal complaint in line with their complaints procedure which will be set out in the policy docs


Then if you don't like the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks you can escalate this to the FOS for their adjudication all at no cost to you

mvpetev

Thanks I didnt know that - will keep it in mind!

Tho the question still stands in terms of generally whats the situation with multiple drivers/vehicles

waamo

It's difficult to know without reading your policy and it's terms and conditions.

unholyangel

Its not clear, are both bikes covered under the same policy and is the other driver a named driver on your policy (or are you a named driver on theirs)?

I'd check your insurance documents to see what it says about whats not covered. I know mines has an exclusion that says something about the vehicle being owned by me but obviously the wording of my policy isn't going to help you any!

mvpetev

Good point one of the policy points says that the third party and liability does not apply "To loss of or damage to property belonging to or in the care of anyone We insure who claims under this section, and to property being conveyed by Your Motorcycle." so i guess I have my answer

dacouch

What reason have they stated in the letter declining the claim they sent you?

mvpetev

Well they havent - they called me and told me no issues to fix the other bike as this is under the comprehensive cover but they cant do anything about the bikei was driving as it also belongs to me

MEM62

I am sure that in the end your insurers decision will be proved to be correct. In effect you are in a situation where you are claiming from yourself - and you cannot do that.

dacouch

mvpetev wrote: »

Well they havent - they called me and told me no issues to fix the other bike as this is under the comprehensive cover but they cant do anything about the bikei was driving as it also belongs to me

You are entitled to them confirming in writing the declinature of cover along with an explanation of why.

Although I suspect it is because as you own the other bike you are not a third party eg you cannot sue yourself

Aretnap

dacouch wrote: »

Although I suspect it is because as you own the other bike you are not a third party eg you cannot sue yourself

You're right that he cannot claim against himself - so if he was the at fault rider and had damaged his own property (eg by riding into his other bike) he wouldn't be able to claim against himself as a third party.

However if I read it correctly he isn't the at fault party - his mate is. So he wouldn't be suing himself. He'd be suing (in theory) his mate, and his mate would ask his insurer to cover his liabilities. As it happens the OP's mate was riding as a named rider on the OP's insurance policy, but as far as I can see that's neither here nor there - the insurer still has to cover the mate's liabilities. The Road Traffic Act says you must have a policy which covers all of your liabilities to other people. It doesn't say "other people, except people who happen to be on the same insurance policy as you*, so if the insurer is right what law allows the mate to ride with a policy which doesn't cover his liabilities to the OP?

Added - the RTA does include some exceptions which mean the policy doesn't have to cover any liabilities the mate has for the bike that he was riding, or property which was in his posession or under his control... but none of those apply to the OP's other bike, which the OP was riding at the time.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/145