I changed my CBR600RR for a full dresser R1200 GS Adventure, with a big set of Ewan and Charlie aluminium panniers. I transferred the insurance cover over when l took delivery of the bike, paid a bit more for it too, as I was expecting, but now I have a real problem.
I could previously get my CBR through to my back garden, but the GS will just not fit. My insurance has declined to extend cover to my bike as they say I live in a bike theft hotspot area. So unless my bike is stored off road and locked down with an approved lock, then my insurers have point blank refused to insure my bike.
They will not take an increased premium and have refunded my insurance. I am now left with an uninsured motorbike which I am currently storing in a mate’s lock-up but that will have to come to an end soon. Is there any legal remedy?
Dave, Romford
Answer
This is a not a legal question. This is a query we come across quite regularly, and every now and then we get people who try and demand their money back because the motorcycle does not fit into where they would like to store it. Insurers do not have any obligation to insure a bike or anything else they do not want to.
You being stranded with a bike that has cost you a fortune, but you cannot insure, is a commercial problem, not a legal one. Your only two solutions are sell the Panzer Tractor, and luckily yours is a nicely specced bike and your own BMW dealership may well be able to give you a substantial proportion of what you paid for the bike, or, alternatively, chop it in for a bike you can actually store. You do have the option of paying a very expensive premium elsewhere and keep paying it every year with a massive excess when your bike probably winds up getting stolen at some point.
I am sorry I cannot offer you any kind of legal solution. I am sure you have thought of taking the panniers off, and seeing if the German behemoth fits; aluminium panniers are not compulsory on Adventures…
Andrew Dalton
Fast Bikes July 2015