20/12/2023
Goodwill to all men? A story of a cycle shop insurer.
A couple of years back, one of our friends decided to give her husband a new bike for Christmas, which she duly acquired from a well-known Northern Independent Bike Dealer having made the purpose of her purchase clear to the salesman.
Husband duly appreciative and after a few test rides (he wasn’t a died in the wool cyclist) amounting to around 150 miles, the bike went back for its complementary check-over so it would be ready for the forthcoming spring .
A fortnight or so later, the couple go out for an on-road ride using a dedicated loop around the city closest to them. On an uphill gradient as increased pedal pressure is applied, the chain breaks dumping Husband in a heap with some soft tissue injuries to the fleshy parts and ligamentous sprains.
Not exactly life changing but an inconvenience meaning time off work and reduction in familial activities.
In due course the mishap is made known to the IBD which passes the matter over to its insurers; after all, that’s why businesses and individuals pay their premiums one assumes.
Enter the casualty claims fellows from Allianz. Liability and indemnity denied; here’s the reason given: “The injured person didn’t purchase the bike himself from the insured business, so the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is inapplicable, as there’s no contract between Victim and Trader”.
Well. By now, those with a legal inclination will, between hoots of derision, be reaching for the Comment Tab.
It’s not really the role of the victim or their representative to educate a claims handler in the most basic of legal principles, but it’s a salutary lesson in Insurers’ mindset: the cost of a stamp to muddy the waters of a claim is (for them) a far better outcome than legitimate compensation.
