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Cover for riding to work
Q
THANKS TO COVID I’ve stopped getting the train into work and have started riding my bike. However, on my last ride in I remembered I was still only insured for social, domestic and pleasure and not commuting. My policy expires in a month, so it doesn’t seem worth letting them know. What’s the worst that can happen?
A
IF YOUR INSURANCE social domestic and pleasure without commuting and you have a prang or a theft, you could be in trouble.
A theft or a rush-hour collision on a workday away from home will make your insurers immediately suspicious. So they ask; “Were you using the motorcycle to commute to work?” There is a superficial attraction to saying; “No I wasn’t” but that would be a very bad idea. You have taken the first step on a fraudulent claim, and you have a small — but real — chance of a custodial sentence. However, that outside chance will have a much shorter consequence than that which the insurance industry will visit upon your head. It has a much longer and way-more vicious tail.
You know that question; “Have you ever had any policy rescinded, voided or rejected?” which appears on every insurance form you fill out? If you have made a fraudulent claim, your answer will have to be yes. And most insurers, whether it is for life insurance, house insurance, motor, travel or health, will simply decline your business. You will have to go through life uninsured or paying eyewatering premiums. There is no ‘statute of limitations’ on that question. Your fraudulent claim will appear on numerous registers, some of which are administered outside the UK.
Therefore, when you buy an insurance policy, the insurer will take the premium off you. And then you will come to claim upon it. And your fraudulent claim will then pop up, because that is when they look, especially in non-motor. Your insurer will reimburse your policy for that year, but not the other years when you haven’t claimed, and it doesn’t matter what the insured risk was.
Things can and do get worse. Take this scenario; you are riding your pride and joy into central Birmingham, commuting into work but you have no cover for commuting. Your bike, as a result of your riding, batters into the back of a top-ofthe-range Audi. Underneath that rearbumper valance are thousands of pounds-worth of electrics, plastics, sensors and, if the driver of the Audi goes into expensive car hire, you could easily be looking at £20,000-worth of damage without anyone being hurt. Your insurer has to pay but if you have any assets, they can — and do — come after them. Hurt someone and things get much worse.
You will not be entitled to any fully-comprehensive repairs because your insurer asked you the question; “Do you use your motorcycle for commuting?” And your answer was no. But you were commuting. That is not an innocent error; it might be a forgetful one but the law takes a hard line on this.
I’ve had to deal with a fair few queries of highly-disgruntled riders innocently taking their bikes to work, who are trying to claim either on theft or comprehensive policies and are being rejected on the commuter restriction. Sadly, my advice is that if they have said they would not be commuting, and they are not covered for the risk of commuting, then the insurers are well within their rights to take this hard line.
The law is simple; if you answer an insurer’s question dishonestly or recklessly, they do not have to pay. Carelessness or ambivalence is a very different test. However, you do not accidentally commute into work. If you are tempted to use your bike to go to work, it usually only costs between £20 and £40 to get commuter cover, along with a mid-term adjustment. Money well spent, especially if it stops you forking out for an expensive season ticket.
However, trusting in an Sdp-only policy is a potentially horrendous false economy if things unravel.