Sharing Motorbikes

[pmr01]

Wondering if anyone has any advice on this?

For one reason or another i have accumulated too many motorbikes - not for the want of trying by my wife to stop it.

I have got a 12 plate zzr14 , low mileage, good nick etc that i bought to be able to do distance comfortably on and i have kinda got fond of it and think its a good bike. However, i have no space so considering selling.

My mate said he would be interested in buying (admittedly while full of wine) but doesn't have the whole cash amount so we briefly spoke about going halfers on it. This would mean i would still be able to ride it when the mood takes, and so would he.

It would have to remain in someone's name, not both. We are close enough such that use, servicing, maintenance costs would be a non issue. The only question we are not sure on, is Insurance. How that would work as we would both want to use it under comp insurance.

Anyone have any experience on this that could share? Any Insurance gurus on line that would care to throw in their opinions?

[Blippy]

Nothing to stop one of you insuring it and adding the other as a named rider. That's what me and a mate did when we passed our tests and wanted to share an old snotter for a few months whilst we found our feet.

If you're not sharing it equally you need to make sure the correct person is down as the main rider.

Also - I might be wrong and I'm sure I'll be shot down quickly if I am - but I was under the impression that if a named rider has a claim, it also means the policyholder would have to declare that as a claim when taking out future insurance. If your mate is a crash-prone numpty and you are the policyholder, bear that in mind...

[Krikkit]

No personal experience, but a couple of my mates have done a share with a track car.

They decided, to be absolutely fair, to draw up an agreement in writing - it outlined the overall ownership, split of costs etc.

Insurance might be a bit trickier - I'd say let you mate keep it and insure it himself, assuming your policy covers you on other bikes of course.

[pmr01]

Blippy said:

Nothing to stop one of you insuring it and adding the other as a named rider. That's what me and a mate did when we passed our tests and wanted to share an old snotter for a few months whilst we found our feet.

If you're not sharing it equally you need to make sure the correct person is down as the main rider.

Also - I might be wrong and I'm sure I'll be shot down quickly if I am - but I was under the impression that if a named rider has a claim, it also means the policyholder would have to declare that as a claim when taking out future insurance. If your mate is a crash-prone numpty and you are the policyholder, bear that in mind...

That is the one area that worries me in putting him on my policy.

I have only ever had one real claim in my 38 year car and bike history - theft of a KLX650 in '95 - but my dick of a neighbours unsecured trampoline flew out of his garden 40 feet away (in a well and truly predicted storm) and hit three cars i was insuring separately just about five years ago.

I have been getting violated from insurance companies ever since. Dont ever have three claims on the same day...their logic only understands numbers and not context. In one feel swoop i was considered a MONUMENTAL risk.

With this in mind i am slightly worried about a small off by him causing me more problems...not forgetting any physical injury he got as a result of the crash :-)

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

I have done it before - I wanted to get a bike but didn't have anywhere to put it at the time. We just had some verbal "rules" just to prevent arguments. I recall that they were;

It was a third part policy (we were new riders) so if you destroy it you owed the other lad for his half.

Try to remember who was riding and own up if you get a speeding ticket.

Look after it mechanically.

If it receives minor damage in your care, you owe the other lad whatever it had cost him in devaluing the bike.

Split the maintenance costs.

Don't return it to the garage without at least some petrol in it.

It worked very well.

[Max5476]

Just as simple as adding another driver to a car. It's one of the reasons I learnt to ride. My house mate bought a 125, found out it was no more expensive to have me on the insurance, so added me on before I even had my CBT.

We were naïve and didn't consider costs. We seemed to split fuel fairly evenly, and never bothered to get it serviced. Being a 125 he sold it for what he bought it for 9 months later with an extra few thousand miles on, so worked really well for us.

[Bungleaio]

pmr01 said:

I have been getting violated from insurance companies ever since. Dont ever have three claims on the same day...their logic only understands numbers and not context. In one feel swoop i was considered a MONUMENTAL risk.

Did you have to make a sperate claim against each of your cars policies? I would have thought his house insurance would have sorted it all out.

[pmr01]

Bungleaio said:

Did you have to make a sperate claim against each of your cars policies? I would have thought his house insurance would have sorted it all out.

His House insurance wouldn't pay because the neighbour said that he HAD secured the trampoline - well, obviously f****in not, or it wouldn't be in my garden.

The insurance companies battled for a while and then said they couldn't take it any further. I escalated it, and the financial ombudsmen ruled in my favour at first after reviewing all of the evidence, and they proclaimed that; i get all of my no claims discount reinstated, all my excess repaid and i get interest on my overpayments in between the accidents and the date of the ruling.

His insurance appealed, and the Ombudsmen ruled in their favour. I asked for evidence / reasons on their u-turn....they clamped up and i never got any further.

Funnily enough, i am considering kicking it back off again because i have a bit of time during the lockdown with a subject access data request. I have an EXTREMELY EXTREMELY low opinion of the way insurance companies work.

So, after all of that...yes, i had to make three claims against my separate car insurances which doubled my insurance overnight.

Just for the avoidance of doubt - and having worked in Banks / Media / Telecom and understand the hoops that these companies go through - the Insurance industry to me is rotten to the core the way they work. Caveated imho yada yada yada

[Bungleaio]

What a load of st that is! At the end of the day his property has caused damage to yours, there's no way you should be claiming from your insurance.

[Rockape]

I've not long done similar. I was looking at a bike, my brother was keen after seeing what I had seen. Split the cash and bought the bike. It is in my name, my policy and he's a named rider. Costs splits. Shame he lives 350 miles away and hasn't had a shot yet

[pmr01]

Rockape said:

I've not long done similar. I was looking at a bike, my brother was keen after seeing what I had seen. Split the cash and bought the bike. It is in my name, my policy and he's a named rider. Costs splits. Shame he lives 350 miles away and hasn't had a shot yet

Thanks...enjoy the bike.

[Esceptico]

pmr01 said:

Bungleaio said:

Did you have to make a sperate claim against each of your cars policies? I would have thought his house insurance would have sorted it all out.

His House insurance wouldn't pay because the neighbour said that he HAD secured the trampoline - well, obviously f****in not, or it wouldn't be in my garden.

The insurance companies battled for a while and then said they couldn't take it any further. I escalated it, and the financial ombudsmen ruled in my favour at first after reviewing all of the evidence, and they proclaimed that; i get all of my no claims discount reinstated, all my excess repaid and i get interest on my overpayments in between the accidents and the date of the ruling.

His insurance appealed, and the Ombudsmen ruled in their favour. I asked for evidence / reasons on their u-turn....they clamped up and i never got any further.

Funnily enough, i am considering kicking it back off again because i have a bit of time during the lockdown with a subject access data request. I have an EXTREMELY EXTREMELY low opinion of the way insurance companies work.

So, after all of that...yes, i had to make three claims against my separate car insurances which doubled my insurance overnight.

Just for the avoidance of doubt - and having worked in Banks / Media / Telecom and understand the hoops that these companies go through - the Insurance industry to me is rotten to the core the way they work. Caveated imho yada yada yada

Clearly it seems to work differently in practice but not how I would have anticipated it doing so from legal principles. As I see it: he owed you a duty of care as long as it was reasonable to assume that in a big storm the trampoline could be blown out of the garden and damage other people’s property. If true you could sue him in court for damages. If the court agrees he has to pay. He would then have to chase his insurance company to see if his policy covered the damage. Were you given the option of going to court? Or just too expensive to do so?