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EUC liability insurance - do you have one? - Do you care?


RenaissanceMan

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Costs resulting from an accident while riding an EUC can be similar to those riding a car and can go easily into millions, especially when other parties are involved with medical care, property damage, punitive damages, indemnification, etc.

What is your situtation?

  1. Are you insured against damage inflicted on others while riding an EUC? - If not, do you care? How does it affect your riding habits?
  2. If insured, where did you get your insurance from (company/country) and what did it cost? What does it cover?
  3. Is EUC driver liability insurance compulsory in your country?

For me living in Germany I find the unavailability of liability insurance for EUC riders a show-stopper for riding in public places or where there is other traffic. But, as has been said, German legislators are supposed to be at work on this ...

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1 hour ago, Silverbrewer said:

From the response to this topic so far it looks like most peeps don't give a monkeys

Not at all true, probably a case that the thread got buried by others too quickly to be spotted.

1 hour ago, Silverbrewer said:

I am in the U.K. And am about to try and insure myself. I will report back with the result.

Please do, I'm sure, after the ridiculous incident in Wales which is bound to have set a legal precedent, that there is (or damn well ought to be!) A lot of interest in this for the UK at the very least and also Germany which has similar issues.

Buy a Tesla car capable of 0-62MPH (0-100kph) in 2.8 seconds and the govenment will give you a £4500 grant towards the cost and free road tax. It still burns shed loads of fossil fuel, just one step removed from the user.

Buy a low speed, public transport friendly device that consumes less than 25Wh/mile (15Wh/km) so is TRULY green and, just because it does not have peddles, you can have it confiscated, fined £180 and 6 penalty points on your licence (which ironically would then make the insurance on a Tesla too expensive!)

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58 minutes ago, codersarepeople said:

I'm out of the loop what happened in Wales?

Ther is a link to a newspaper report in the above. Don't forget to vote in the newspaper's poll on their site.

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I've tried a couple of firms who offer insurance for electric cycles but with no luck. Anyone here in the U.K. managed to find a provider who will offer cover?

Is it a legal requirement to have insurance on an electric bike, I see people whizzing about on them quite a lot and wonder how many of them are risking 6 points for a jobsworth policeman....

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1 hour ago, nute said:

Is it a legal requirement to have insurance on an electric bike, I see people whizzing about on them quite a lot and wonder how many of them are risking 6 points for a jobsworth policeman....

Simple answer, No!

Although cyclists (and a legal ebike is seen as just a bike) are often covered by their 3rd party liability insurance as part of their house insurance. (Now I wonder if arguably that might cover an EUC as well?)

Bottom line is that UK law basically says anything without peddles and/or with more than 250W sustained power is a motorbike and must meet all the legal requirements of one, insurance, crash helmet, roads only, type approval, etc, etc.

Mobility scooters have separate rules but key seems to be max speed of 4MPH on the sidewalk and 8MPH on the road, Class 3 (8MPH ones) need to be registered with the DVLA and have a {free} road tax disk but do not require insurance. Of course there is absolutely no requirement to have any mobility issue whatsoever which is why you seem to see more lardbuts than genuinely incapacitated people using them.  http://www.recare.co.uk/html/scooters_on_roads.html

I cannot help thinking a slow 8MPH mobility scooter on the road is a way more dangerous thing than an ebike (which needs no registration or tax disk) or EUC going at a 15MPH. 

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On 11/05/2016 at 2:05 PM, Keith said:

Not at all true, probably a case that the thread got buried by others too quickly to be spotted.

Please do, I'm sure, after the ridiculous incident in Wales which is bound to have set a legal precedent, that there is (or damn well ought to be!) A lot of interest in this for the UK at the very least and also Germany which has similar issues.

Buy a Tesla car capable of 0-62MPH (0-100kph) in 2.8 seconds and the govenment will give you a £4500 grant towards the cost and free road tax. It still burns shed loads of fossil fuel, just one step removed from the user.

Buy a low speed, public transport friendly device that consumes less than 25Wh/mile (15Wh/km) so is TRULY green and, just because it does not have peddles, you can have it confiscated, fined £180 and 6 penalty points on your licence (which ironically would then make the insurance on a Tesla too expensive!)

I still don't see how you could have points on your licence if the licence is not valid to ride an EUC!! Similarly you couldn't get points on your licence for riding your bike on the pavement

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