The bike is being held by the dealer, who is refusing to allow inspection. I am now left with a useless bike and a mounting payment for finance. I have tried to get everyone involved – the dealer, the manufacturer, DVLA, trading standards – and I am getting nowhere.

Can you help?

Answer

I can. You will need a solicitor as you are getting into some complex areas of law. You say the dealer has your bike, is charging you storage but will not allow an inspection. The dealer has no right to hang on to it. The dealer does not have to allow his dealership to be used for an inspection, and if you have agreed to pay storage he has what is called a ‘keeper’s lien’ – so he does not have to release the bike until storage is paid, so long as he can show you agreed to storage.

I can tell you judges would be unimpressed by a dealer with nothing to hide refusing a joint inspection. It is pretty standard in a consumer dispute involving machinery for all potential parties to attend together at the first inspection. Most judges would draw a negative inference from this, so ensure you can show your attempts at a joint inspection were knocked back.

You will need to apply to the court (and brace yourself for a long wait) for an order for delivery up, but the legal and procedural requirements may be quite difficult for a non-lawyer to negotiate. There is no doubt you own the bike, so the dealer has no right to hold onto it for any reason other than unpaid storage. The order for delivery up is within the skill set of any competent litigation solicitor but some will insist on a barrister doing the work and appearing in court. I would steer clear of a solicitor who is not content to go to court without a barrister on a simple application.

Once you have the bike, you need to invite the dealer (the one you have a contract with and, therefore, the one most likely to be on the hook), and the manufacturer as well as the finance company (who may well be a defendant under consumer credit law) to attend an inspection where you will have to pay for a specialist expert in engineering to determine what caused the frame to crack.

If it was the bungs, it’s the dealer’s issue if you can show it was more likely than not that they fitted them. If the bike has a fault it left the factory with, which was not caused by the bungs, it will be the fault of the manufacturer and the dealer – and you will have to go after both as well as the finance company, depending on the nature of your finance arrangement. Once you get to the point of suing, you will need a solicitor with expertise in consumer law.

My long experience of defective product cases is that the manufacturers get very expensive and litigate very aggressively. The dealer will be a softer target, and I expect the people most likely to be found to blame will be the dealership as you have a direct contract with it – and if the bungs compromised the bike frame, they are flush on the hook. They’ll have to repay your storage charges as an element of your loss, as they arise from the breach of contract and/or consumer protection legislation.

From your longer, more detailed letter, it seems the dealer is being deliberately difficult and forcing you to law. Your solicitor should be able to draw together evidence of bad conduct by the dealer, which will help you on the question of costs and who should pay them.

If the value of your claim is less than £10,000 you do not have a high chance of getting your costs paid by the losing party, but you are also unlikely to have to pay costs if you lose. If the value of the claim is more than £10,000 the loser will pay the winner’s costs, which could easily be north of £60,000 if you were to lose against three defendants.

Check your household insurance for legal expenses cover. If your bike is worth less than £10,000 you may well be paying much more in legal fees than the value of your bike.

This is not a straightforward case.

Andrew Dalton is retiring. Next month he will be replaced by his White Dalton colleague Andrew ‘Chef’ Prendergast. Cheers Andrew!

Andrew Dalton

RiDE– October 2025