BROTHERLY LOVE
You might be tempted to take your brother’s Lynx Africa... maybe even his collection of 1990s happy hard core vinyl. But, whatever you do, don’t go taking his bike without permission, a licence or insurance.
Q I will start this off with the early agreement that my little brother is a prick. He is 18, has a CBT, and used to race motocross as I did. He is not a bad rider but he is a prick. Here is why. When I was at work, he went to pick up a lass he had impressed for a ride on ‘his’ bike. My R6. Duly impressed by this ‘proper’ bike, the lass in question got on and my brother had a minor prang with a car. In fairness to my little brother (did I mention he’s a prick?), a car just pulled out on top of him and the police turned up. He ‘fessed up immediately and the police are charging him with riding otherwise than in accordance with his licence and no insurance. I confirmed to the police that the little prick did not have my consent to take the bike, but I declined to press charges. The other driver has taken a driver improvement course.
My insurers are telling me that they are not going to repair my bike under fully comp on the basis I did not keep my bike keys locked up and therefore I’m ‘deemed’ to have loaned the bike to my brother. If that’s the case, my mum, dad and sister are all lending each other their cars. I have told the insurers I am not accepting this; they have now said they propose to void my policy and won’t pay out. What does that actually mean, and has my little brother really screwed me over? A I agree with your character analysis of your little brother. He is a prick – but your insurers are snakes. Your fully comp policy will pay out based on the contract, and the contract says the motorcycle will pay out for harm caused by you or another. Nothing about your having to keep your key in a dungeon, guarded by a wolverine. So they drag out the very readily deployed nuclear weapon of ‘voiding’ your policy without any justification – but they can. If they do so, you will have a ‘voided’ policy that will follow you around and leave you loaded for insurance forever. Notwithstanding you being legally and morally in the right, they have you by the short and curlies. You have a few options and for an easy life, go for the easiest option and never, ever use your bike insurer again. Your insurers are the worst robbing snakes in the motorcycle insurance industry.
Right. Your options. Option one – press the fully comp claim, get it refused along with an unlawful voiding of your policy and go to court for declaratory relief that the policy has been voided unlawfully. That is a lawyer’s job and comes with significant costs. The clause the insurers are using is you are not covered if you ‘allow’ your motorcycle to be used by another. Their argument, which I think is weak, is that by leaving your keys in your bedroom, unlocked, you permitted your bike to be used. I think that is paper-thin. But do you want this fight? For me, as a lawyer, in your situation, the risk of it going wrong and having a voided policy is a risk, though small, I would not want to run when you have a much better alternative.
Option two – sue the guy who knocked your brother off. It is an open and shut case. You sustained a loss – all that lovely bodywork on your R6. You were not knocked off, but you still sustained a loss.
It is no defence in law for the driver to say, “Aha, but his kid brother was riding the bike illegally.” The driver was negligent, you sustained loss and so the driver is liable, as is his insurer. If your brother or his pillion had been hurt, they too have a claim against the driver’s insurance. Your brother’s unlawful riding was not causative of the crash.
Go for option two. Send the driver an estimate from your favoured local garage. If they decline to pay on the basis of your little brother’s established ‘prick’ status, then take them to small claims court. This is your no-risk option, avoiding ‘voidance’ but never, ever give that insurer any premium again. They are thieves. They have stolen your premium and mugged you off. They are obliged under the policy you paid good money for to pay for the risk, and they have wriggled out on the basis of being dishonest, difficult and bent.