The Lex-Man
Have you got a question regarding scooter insurance that you need answering?
Whilst we at Scootering always try our best, we thought it easier to give a few column inches to an expert in such matters. Andy Goodson of Lexham Insurance Consultants owns an electric start Lambretta LD and a Vespa SS90 amongst others, which include a Vespa P200E for regular use, and he’s the man for this job!
Feel free to drop us a line at the usual address (please keep it concise and mark the envelope ‘The Lex Man’) and we'll pass it on to Andy. We can't promise to publish each and every one, but we'll do our best. We would also advice that should your enquiry be urgent your current insurers should be your first point of call, and if you are still not satisfied, the Financial Ombudsman,
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
Andy’s advice & comments are offered in good faith, but they can be based only on the information we pass on to him & are given on the basis that neither he nor Lexham will be liable for any consequences.
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Winter storage
Q: Is it possible to suspend my insurance during the winter when I don't ride my scooter?
R Peters, Somerset
A: The short answer Ron is no, insurers aren’t keen on this.
If they were to do it, insurers would probably say that given that their premiums already reflect the fact that many two-wheelers are used less or not at all during the winter, plus the handling cost of two changes each year, would mean that there would normally be no refund of premium.
Also, unless you’ve got just TPO (third party only) cover, you’d presumably still want the theft cover to continue. And finally, you don’t earn any ‘no claim bonus’ during any period of suspension.
So generally there’s no point in suspending cover unless your premium is very high and you can find an insurer who’s willing to do it.
Q: My scooter has been Cat C written off, as uneconomic to repair by the insurance engineer (it has always been uneconomic to spend thousands of pounds on it, but I have and still do!). The main cause is the custom spray job that will cost about £1250 to replace. That being the main cost, is it a substantiated reason to write my scooter off and can I overturn the decision?
JB, Dartford (via email)
A: You won’t overturn the insurer’s decision that your scooter is a write-off (ie that it would cost more to reinstate to its pre-accident value than it was worth). But Category C or D salvage can legally be repaired and put back on the road, so you can tell the insurer that you want to keep the salvage – they’ll then pay you the claim figure you’ve agreed with them, less the excess, less the value of the salvage. It’s then up to you how much love and money you lavish on it!
A couple of other observations:
1) Category A and B salvage cannot be put back on the road – these will typically be burn-outs or involve major frame damage.
2) In theory, it might have been possible to arrange an 'agreed value' policy. You would have given the insurer full details of your scooter, with photos and reasons to support its value (eg it might be a rare classic). This would then be the value paid in the event of a total loss. But you would pay more for this - and it’s difficult to find an insurer willing to give this cover! Custom paintjobs are particularly hard to insure, and they’re certainly not covered unless the insurer has specifically agreed to do so. Insurers will always consider any vehicle to be a typical standard example of that model unless you’ve clearly told them otherwise and they’ve agreed a higher valuation
Andy 't' Lex-man
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