Insurance refund?

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Wed 27 Jul 2005 12:59
Insurance refund? - The Lawman
Someone has asked me a question about motorcycle insurance. It sounds a little bizarre to me but here goes:

A chap with a provisional motorcycle licence was under the impression that this allowed him to ride a 1000cc motorcycle. He is South African. In fact his licence only allows him to ride a 125.

Last year he applied for and obtained insurance. He declared his provisional licence on the proposal form (not knowing that this was an issue)and the insurance company insured him. His premium was £400.

He has tried to renew this year with a different insurer (cheaper) and they have refused to insure him for obvious reasons.

Obviously, this has come as a bit of a shock (he has been breaking the law all year...)

Having thought about it, he suspects that his insurance was never valid, and if he had an accident last year, the insurers would have refused to pay out.

Was his insurance ever valid? If the answer is no, is he entitled to a refund of last year's premium?

Story sounds a little fishy to me (was he riding a 1000cc bike with L plates?) but it would be good to know the answer.
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Wed 27 Jul 2005 14:06
Insurance refund? - smokie
My impression from previous similar questions is that while the illegality may mean that the insurance was in effect void, the insurer would still have liability (and would have paid) for third party costs in the event of an incident.

Nevertheless I'd be interested to see the exchange with the insurers. :-)
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Wed 27 Jul 2005 15:25
Insurance refund? - martint123
What I'd like to know is the insurer who issued a policy for only £400 for a learner riding a 1000cc bike!

I'd have thought only sections of the policy would be invalidated - possibly a fire and theft element would still be covered.
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Wed 27 Jul 2005 18:22
Insurance refund? - AlastairW
Isnt there a schem or something called 'Direct Access' where learners above a certain age (dont know exactly) can ride pretty much what they want?
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Wed 27 Jul 2005 18:27
Insurance refund? - No FM2R
>>Having thought about it, he suspects that his insurance was never valid, and if he had an accident last year, the insurers would have refused to pay out.

This all sounds a bit iffy, but to answer your question in the spirit it was asked...

The fact is that he was insured. Had the law inquired then, or indeed now, the insurer would have had to confirm that he was insured.

If he had not told him that he had a provisional licence they would have been able to avoid AD payouts and potentially recover TP costs from him, but they would not have been able to avoid insuring him against his legal liabilities.

Given that he purportedly told them he had a provisional licence, they probably wouldn't even have been able to do that.

Consequently he hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell.

So;

His insurance was legally valid.
He is not entitled to a refund.
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Wed 27 Jul 2005 18:48
Insurance refund? - The Lawman
Thanks Mark, I knew you would know the answer!
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Wed 27 Jul 2005 19:56
Insurance refund? - cheddar
Seems to me that the insurer must have missed the ref to prov license on the form or just thought it was a mistake, strange thing though, the forms normally ask how long a full license held, surely this could not have been missed eroneously either by the insuer or the insured.
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