Question for Lee

[jimmy]

Reading a thread on a.n. other messageboard

Basically the thoughts were, on selling a bike with a nominal term of ins left, that it was cheaper to allow a policy to run down than it was to cancel the policy with the associated admin charges.

There seemed to be an agreement that this was the way ahead, although not strictly legit. The water was muddied somewhat with a link to a case where someone left his policy to run, but the new owner crashed the bike and was not insured. Bear with me, but the original Ins company was forced to pay, and they have stated that they will be chasing up the first owner as he did not cancel the policy. He is now possibly facing financial ruin.

Any thoughts/advice

[slice]

Jimmy let me get this straight, if I sell my bike/car/lorry/bus whatever and the insurance has say a week to go and I don't cancel the insurance and the dumb arse that buys it then crashes it and has no insurance, how am I in any way liable? If I have a bill of sale and he has the title V5 for the machine then he is responsible not me or my insurance company as I am the one insured on it not him and there is, as far as I know, no way to transfer my insurance to another person, to be insured in the UK for instance you have to be insured for your self and the other person has to have their own insurance as well so any accident involving the vehicle would be the responsibility of the driver/new owner not the previous owner. I know the law can be an ass at times but pretty sure this guy has nothing to worry about regarding legal or liability for someone else's accident. Sorry did not mean to hijack your thread but this is a conundrum and your right to bring it up just in case this is in fact true.

Just had another thought on this, if say I gave him permission to drive it, his vehicle has broken down and he needs transport then he would still need his own insurance to drive, my insurance would only cover the third party not him, other wise it's what our police call TWOC (taking without consent) and that means it would come under the stolen vehicle scheme where insurance companies cover each other in a knock for knock scenario, my head is starting to hurt now and I need a lie down!!!!

[Nick-Bikesure]

Morning,

This indeed is a bit of a grey area. If the bike was sold and the policy allowed to run and the new owner had not insured it and an accident occured, it would be the INSURER that would be liable, not the policy holder. It is always down to the last known insurer (in this case the insurer of the previous owner) to pay out for any third party costs. It would not be the actual policy holder, so it is very, very unlikely that he will incure any financial penalty himself. The only thing that will go against him is the fact that the claim will be against his name as a fault claim, which can increase any future insurance costs.There would be no payout for the actual bike itself for either party.

I hope this helps clear it up a bit!

Lee

[jimmy]

Slice

That was always my thoughts until I read the link below

Lee

Cheers for that, as I read it on the link, although the Ins Co will pay the costs they will chase the costs off of the original guy

Click Link and open Cancel Insurance

http://www.whitedalton.co.uk/motorbike-blog/

[DirtyDT]

If that link is correct, the laws an ass. How can a thief stealing your bike and hurting someone make the insured liable for possible bankruptcy?

[slice]

Thank you Jimmy I had not thought that was possible and now know different, bloody hell, so next time I sell ANYTHING it's straight onto the insurer and cancel even if it costs me a few quid!!! I am flabbergasted that this is true and sad to say some scheming git's will no doubt do this just cos they can. You live and learn. LEE your worth your weight mate.

PS just read the link Jimmy again "BLOODY HELL" the poor sod is in it up to his neck and when some solicitor says he might be liable and it's a "GOOD" thing his home is jointly owned you know your on a hiding!!!!!!

[Tommy xs]

Wow learn something new every day, I've done this before, can see it from insurers view now but would never have crossed my mind!

Poor sod

[Nick-Bikesure]

Slice

That was always my thoughts until I read the link below

Lee

Cheers for that, as I read it on the link, although the Ins Co will pay the costs they will chase the costs off of the original guy

Click Link and open Cancel Insurance

http://www.whitedalton.co.uk/motorbike-blog/

Wow, talk about putting the fear of God into someone!

I've never known a case where the policyholder has been held personally liable. Its always been down to the current bike insurer.

Lee

[jimmy]

Well you're the man in the know, Lee. Its probs just the solicitors firm trying a new style of hard sell

[lallasro]

ok, my english is bad so let me know if i`m wrong:

1. I pay for my bike to be insured

2. I sell the bike but don`t cancel the insurance

3. the new owner hit a pedestrian and was not insured

4. because the bike was insured in my name they take the money from my insurance company

I guess nothing wrong in this but:

now, they come to take those money from me? to take my house? why I pay insurance for ANYTHING if I still must pay for damage I do?

ok, they can say my policy was invalid because the rider has no UK licence or the bike was not insured in his name BUT if my policy is not valid the bike was not my property and the raider was not me how they can take ANYTHING from me?

how you can come to my door and take ANYTHING from me because a dude with a bike (not mine) hit a pedestrian?

[slice]

Because you had it insured Llaasro as simple as that, if you cancel the insurance no problem BUT if you leave it to run down so you get the years no claims then your still insured or the bike is still insured and you are the last person to have it insured and you are therefore responsible for the bike cover, if it was stolen then no problem but you allowed the guy to ride it away and therefore agreed to his riding it. Not funny really as we have all done it and never given it another thought as we assume the next owner will insure it, but what if he doesn't?

[lallasro]

if he don`t, I still can prove I sell the bike. anyway, if the bike is still insured, you take the money from my insurance company, right? you don`t come to take my beer from my fridge. I still pay for this insurance so, I still have the right to be covered.

lot of people don`t change the policy every time they make a change because of idiotic prices to make a change. when I sell the AJS, after 6 month of insurance, I cancel the insurance and guess what? after they calculate how much they need to give me back (6 months) and other "taxes" I get back 20 pounds. and my insurance for 6 month on old AJS was 500/year., so cost me 230 pounds to cancel my policy.

[slice]

That's the nature of the beast Lallasro, they want your money but don't want to give it back so find all sorts of INCIDENTALS to make it difficult, I suppose you could phone them and say you have sold the bike but want the policy to run to the end, that way they know what's happening and if the worst happens then your covered?

[Nick-Bikesure]

Hello, Barry here. Thought I would give you a different perspective from what Lee has given previously.

I think the issue here is that the insurance that you have paid for will cover the vehicle for third party damages. However, the policy is only valid if the driver is the owner and registered keeper or if somebody else is driving the vehicle.

Obviously if you have sold the vehicle then this is no longer the case and this is where it gets complicated.

The vehicle is still insured for third party damages as this is what is required by law (whether the policy has the correct information or not) but as you haven't cancelled the policy then you have an invalid insurance policy and I suppose then the insurers will hold you responsible for them paying our for a claim unnecessarily because you didn't cancel. Had you have cancelled the insurance then the insurer would not need to pay out and I think this is why they would want to claim their losses back.

I wouldn't be so sure whether or not they would be able to claim any money from you though - I think perhaps they would have a case to claim from the Motor Insurers Bureau, same as they would if you were hit by an uninsured driver.

I've not heard of an actual case where this has happened though so I could be wrong.....