Need advice
If you need advice on a biking-related legal question or query, email mail@whitedalton.co.uk The best Q&A will be published in MCM, in confidence, of course. QI
hate insurers. I have always wanted a Ducati 916 since it came out. After saving for years I bought one last summer. To say I was chuffed was an understatement. I “tricked it up” with some carbon cans, a carbon mudguard and a custom paint job. It looked the dog’s danglies. The issue I now have is that it was nicked out of the garage by some poxy kids who managed to ride it around a local field and crash it into a ditch. Thankfully, it has been recovered but the insurer is refusing to pay out because it says I only insured it as a standard 916 and I didn’t keep it locked in the garage with an approved lock. Can I sue the insurer or something? AIf
it was a term of your policy to have the bike locked up with an approved lock and you didn’t then you are in breach of the policy. This means the insurer is within its rights not to pay out. With regards to it being “tricked up” you are meant to go to the insurer with “clean hands”. Therefore, if you have only paid to insure a standard 916 and you have “tricked it up” then you didn’t pay the right premium to insure the risk. This again means that in all likelihood it is within its rights not to pay out. I do appreciate that some insurers are a pain in the proverbial (I deal with them every day!) so you need to check the terms of your policy very carefully. If an insurer has got it wrong then you have a right of action against them. QSome
spoon drove straight into me while I was on a roundabout in Swindon and smashed my leg to bits. Looks like surgery, metal work and about 18 months of rehabilitation for me. Nice one! Not. The Old Bill has said it’s not my fault and I have a friendly, favourable witness. However, I am super worried as the driver was from Germany. Is this a problem? APractically,
it is not as straightforward to bring a claim against a foreign driver as a UK driver but it is far from impossible. European road traffic insurers will have a UK representative and helpfully there is a database so you can track down them down. The most important information to keep a record of is probably the registration number of the vehicle. Armed with that you can find out who insured the vehicle and crack on with progressing a claim through the UK representative. Thereafter, it depends on the stance the third party/their insurer takes i.e. if they deny liability etc. However, because the accident happened in England, court proceedings can be started here, but I strongly advise you to get a solicitor who is used to dealing with foreign parties, as it can get pretty complicated. Husqvarna has confirmed that it’s awesome ‘401 concepts’ – two versions of the same futuristic cafe racer – Svartpilen ( the black one) and Vitpilen (the white one) WILL enter production for 2017. Reinhold Zens, one of Husqvarna’s two managing directors, said: “I can tell you that they will come as 2017 models. They will definitely have the same style.”