To make sense of this, let’s say a van driver reverses over your motorcycle (by accident) and causes £3000 of damage. You have a claim against the van driver for being negligent.

Small claims limit

You cannot access a lawyer ‘free of charge’ as there is something called a small claims limit, which means legal costs are not recoverable for claims less than £10,000.

This means if the insurer doesn’t help you, you have to try to help yourself in a legal system designed – and used – by lawyers. This is a daunting task if you’re not a lawyer.

This is further complicated if the van insurer doesn’t play ball with you. It is common for foreign companies to underwrite insurance policies in the UK – and while they are legally required to have UK agents (to deal with claims in the UK), the quality of these ‘agents’ varies enormously.

You don’t have to go back far to think of well-known underwriters going belly up – MCE insurance, for example – further hampering your efforts.

Claims and add-ons

If you have fully comprehensive insurance you could claim on your own policy to get your bike fixed, but this would mean damaging your claims history.

This is further complicated by the fact that insurers (usually your own) no longer want to deal with ‘claim on your own policy’ claims, and instead outsource all claims work to independent companies who run credit hire bikes, credit storage and repairer services.

These may seem like ‘no fee’ to you, but they are set up to turn a profit by bringing claims on your behalf – not just for your £3000 worth of damaged bike, but also storing that bike, providing a hire bike, and so on.

lt is not uncommon to see a simple damage or injury claim double or treble in value as a result of these ‘add-on’ claims.

Law regulator

I should add that law firms are regulated – we have a fierce regulator called the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) – and companies that offer credit hire/storage-type services are not.

You could always call on the Financial Ombudsman Service, but they are really a ‘catch all’-type regulator and not industry-specific. They also do not have the same teeth as a regulator such as the SRA.

Seek advice

So, if you find yourself in a tricky situation, it is always worth getting an independent view from a specialist in that field.

Plenty of very good companies offer free-of-charge consultations to ensure you know your rights before entering into an agreement for repairs or services.

Gavin Grewal

Bike Magazine January 2024