wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

ok, a bit of background first, this is not about me or my car, it is my dad and his motorcycle.

he was leaving home yesterday, quiet residential street and someone has reversed out of their driveway and side swiped him off the bike, leaving him in a bit of a mess to say the least. the driver has admitted to the police that it was his fault, in his 80's and deaf!!!!! there is also a witness that saw everything.

my dad is currently in hospital with a broken left elbow, left and right wrist, left hip, left knee and lower leg and 5 fractures in his foot as well as a hole straight through the left foot!!!!! so he's done a good job of it, thankfully it looks as though that is all, and there is now head injury or anything like that.

my problem is this, i have been asked to ort out the whole insurance side of things for hi while he is in hospital, he will be there for at least the next 4-6 weeks. ive got all of his documents and he has insurance and tax, but his mot expired last week!!!! he obviously wasnt aware of this otherwise he wouldt have used the bike.

My dad is a 67 year old who is a very experienced rider and it is a not a sports bike it was a cruiser, so he is not a young wipper snapper who would takechances with stuff like this, what i need to know off nyone who is clued up, is what does this mean, will he be in trouble for no mot, will it affect his insurance claim, even though it wasnt his fault etc etc.

i obviously need to inform insurers of his accident, but no sure on what to report to them about mot etc.

any help would be greatfully appreciated.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Not a pro in this sort of thing, but if the other guy hs admitted it and it is a clear case for you insurance to contact his and get the £££, i wouldnt mention the MOT thing

wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

thats what i thought, but dont want to get into trouble for anything and llike i say it is purely an oversight on my dads part, not intentional in anyway, although wrong im aware but one of them things.

any other input would be appreciated.

pinkypurkhardt

iTrader: (9)

wouldnt bother telling them mate the other blokes insurance company will send an engineer to check extent of damage and if the bike was road worthy, tyres, brakes ect.
so if it was all in good order would'nt worry bout it pal, however they could say it voids his insurance as they would do anything to get out of paying.

hope your dad gets well soon mate...

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Thats the key part, if the other insurance company find out it has no MOT, intentional or not, they will fight that claim for a long time and probably win,as we know, no MOT means no insurance.

Dont mention it unless required to do so,that way,you are not lying if dont mention it if not asked !

The Zohan

YHPM

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

That's really not good about your Dad but what will probably happen is that the bike will be written off and he will have to produce the documents and history and they will realise it has no MOT, they will then value it as if you were buying it with no MOT and will receive a lower payout

lilmark

Does your dad have any friends who do bike MOT's if so speak to them an ask them to book his bike in for a MOT the date of the accident, as he will still be covered by his insurance, you can drive/ride a vehicle with no MOT but be covered by your insurance only if you are going to a booked MOT.

Hope this helps and hope your dads feeling better soon

Wilky_Boy

Been in the same situation myself, again with a bike where the MOT had just expired ( I mean by two days ). The insurers didn't ask to see the MOT so it didn't affect my claim. If I were you I wouldn't say anything !

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Hope he gets better soon .................... The cost of replecing the bike will be trivial compared to the damages which could accrue through personal injury claims.

I'd get thinking about a good injury lawyer....

Shaun

wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

well, forst of all thanks for the good wishes, ive been to see him again tonight and had a chat with him and weve decided that were just going to give his insurers the details of the driver and let them deal with it directly, on the basis that the driver has admitted full liability and there were witnesses that saw it happen were hoping they will just deal between themselves!!!!

thanks for the advice

MOTORS S GT

iTrader: (2)

The Police must be involved i presume, as its an injury accident, so they will ask you to produce documents for the bike, to clear there side of the paperwork, so its going to raise the MOT issue.
Also the insurance company can check for the MOT on the database they have access too.

Ray T

You have a PM

Scooby Soon!

No MOT does not mean no insurance, as long as it was an oversight and the bike was safe to use he should be fine.

BIG FUD

iTrader: (84)

No mot means the bike is not road worthy and should not be on the road im afraid to say.But saying that when the 3rd party has admited fault they get a assesor out to see the damage .

One thing you dont want is for them to write the bike off as they will ask for all the paper work and then keep the bike.Then see if shdnt of been where it was in the first place good luck.Keep me posted please.

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

^^ like he said.... not that i condone such things

tathan

No it doesn't. I could MOT a bike and keep it in a nitrogen controlled cell for 366 days and it would be un-roadworthy when I rolled it out?

Likewise I could MOT it then next day take the brakes off and swap the tyres for bald ones and it would still be roadworthy?


The worst that could happen is they offer a lower value for the bike and report you to the police for the offence. The bike MUST be in a roadworthy state for insurance to be valid - however no MOT does not mean it isn't.

Of course if it is a dangerous wreck then you could be in trouble.

wrxsti280

iTrader: (6)

well guys, ive reported everything as is to insurers today and they are dealing direct with insurers, and will sort everything out.

the bike was a 1500 harley davidson heritage softail custom and was in immaculate condition, it washis pride and joy as my scoob is mine, so was doted on like a baby!! no chanceof it being unroadworthy thankfully, we will see what happens over the next few weeks i guess.

thanks for all the support and good wishes.

aXeL

There seems to be some confusion here between the law and insurance policy. The traffic law on this is pretty clear and you can look it up at UK Legislation online. However this is not to be confused with the policies of individual insurance companies.

Legally a vehicle with no MOT is entitled to use a public highway for the express purpose of obtaining on MOT (provided it can be proven that the MOT was prearranged). Any other use of the vehicle is an offense under the Road Traffic Act 1988, Section 47(1).

It is the discretion of the individual insurance company as to whether or not they will support a claim made on a "non MOT'd" vehicle used on a public highway but not for the purpose of obtaining an MOT. It is not usually checked unless the vehicle is written off and even then it may not invalidate a claim unless the insurance company believes that there was an aspect of the vehicle which made it non-road worthy and also a contributing factor.

However, in my own personal opinion, if I was an Actuary I would advise the company to state that a lack of MOT invalidates the policy where it contravenes section 47(1) of the aforementioned act. Not doing so would be a stupid way of losing money when they're entitled to refuse customers who've broken the law and insurance companies are nothing if not shrewd.

If BTW, you don't declare it and they check (takes 30s to check online!) and it contravenes their policy, then you have committed fraud by failing to disclose information which you know could affect a claim. Difficult to prove in a criminal court, however they will go to civil court to recover their losses and the poor chap will then be blacklisted with insurance companies. Ironically, as the latter does not denote a criminal offense, there's no legal statute of limitation on how long the mark can be applied.

What would I do under the same circumstances? I honestly don't know. If I'd seen this earlier I would've rung my insurance company for their policy.