Author Topic: Tuk Tuk Insurance  (Read 7348 times)

harpy

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Tuk Tuk Insurance
« on: June 09, 2014, 09:02:52 PM »
Does anyone know who insures tuk tuks.  Have tried Adrian Flux, Lancaster(who started by saying they don"t insure any trikes!) Bikesure(Adrian flux) and several others. As soon as I mention tuk tuk they say no.  My one is registered as tuk tuk trike. Any ideas anyone.
Thanks,  Ray.

Bob Purton

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Re: Tuk Tuk Insurance
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2014, 10:37:14 PM »
Have you asked Keith Clarke? The guy who used to write the tuk tuk page in Rumcar news? I have his email if you need it.

Barry

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Re: Tuk Tuk Insurance
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2014, 10:50:21 PM »
I use Peter James and also Footman James for two, three and four wheelers.
They should be able to help.

Rob Dobie

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Re: Tuk Tuk Insurance
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2014, 07:42:46 AM »
Nick Devonport, burford57 of this forum had a Tuk Tuk among all his mopeds. He must have insured his.
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Big Al

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Re: Tuk Tuk Insurance
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2014, 08:50:16 AM »
Have you got as far as saying that you want it for private use, not commercial? I assume this is your intention. Many Classic Insurers are shy of insuring commercial vehicles as they, clearly, can be used commercially. That means they have an expenditure immediately on a claim, to prove that the vehicle was not being used commercially. That would invalidate the insurance. That is an overhead cost. They can quote it out as an inflated price, but for the inconvenience, while getting as many cars as possible through on competitive quotes, such 'Special' cases are not worth dealing with, when the next caller is on the line.

I have no idea if there is a Commercial Classic Insurance but I would doubt it, and it would be expensive. Otherwise it is Commercial Trade Insurance, very expensive.

Also some insurers group vehicles. Bikes do not go on car policies. Commercials not on car policies. The argument is the risk is different. So some drivers policies will fail to include vehicles you might attempt to add from a differing class.

Might be worth calling the machine after the manufacturer, rather than by the generic Tuk Tuk name. You will then get most of the way through a quote before it becomes clear you have a Tuk Tuk. Incidentally a Tuk Tuk is only basically one version of these machines, I think the Thai one, often with a Dihatsu 3 cylinder engine latterly. In reality a Tuk Tuk is only a development of the larger cc Vespa Ape and Lambro - sold in India.

Surprised at Adrian Flux. The do kit cars and all sorts of rubbish. Trouble is there have been so many Hooray Henry's crashing Tuk Tuks, they have a poor reputation. I think we get about one generic machine accident a year in Oxford alone. They are pretty bloody awful things to drive in my opinion. I bought a number in from Thailand, most went into advertising budgets.
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harpy

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Re: Tuk Tuk Insurance
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2014, 10:14:17 PM »
At last, it took a week but finally got insurance.
Thanks for your help. Tried every microcar and trike insurance co. advertised. they all just said no. Not one came up with a quote. I thought even if one said yes but it will cost £1,000 it would be better than just saying no, with no reason for refusal.
I think the worse service came from Lancaster. Advertised in  Micromaniacs newsletter. When I said I needed to insure a 3wheeler he said "we don"t insure trikes". This was after waiting two hours for them to call me back.(I had to recall them). I pointed out there advert had three 3 wheelers in it,he still didn't understand. Terrible customer service. First and last time I call them.
Adrian flux asked lots of questions including..does it have passenger seats? A.Yes two. Q. does it have a sidecar fitted. A .no. that would be silly. Q, will you take it to shows. A. maybe one or two.
When they rejected it I insisted they ask why. Finally they said, its because you wanted to take it to shows and give people rides. You couldn't make it up. They said try Bikesure, when they answered the phone by saying Adrian Flux I new I would get nowhere.
Tried lots of others, including footman james, Carol nash, and many more. Some of these will insure the Bajaj, (indian tuk tuk) these are the lightweight ones that fall over.But not the Thai ones.
Makes no sense to me. Mine drives very well, it is set up properly and is very stable,has all the UK aditions and UK MOT.so whats wrong with it.
Anyway I tried quoterack.Got a quote from TR Young ins.broker.phoned him direct,what a difference. Deal done. Will be transferring my others to him in the future.

Big Al

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Re: Tuk Tuk Insurance
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2014, 10:17:35 AM »
.does it have passenger seats? A.Yes two. Q. does it have a sidecar fitted. A .no. that would be silly. Q, will you take it to shows. A. maybe one or two.
When they rejected it I insisted they ask why. Finally they said, its because you wanted to take it to shows and give people rides.

As I suggested. The very nature of what this vehicle is made for, carrying passengers, means it looks a big risk to an insurer. What happens if you offer someone a ride in it at a show. Its as near a commercial act, because it is a show with public paying to come in to enjoy themselves, as you can get, without your charging them money for the ride. Remember that most shows offer no insurance cover to exhibitors. Its your risk even though they took the money on the gate. So there would be the argument that your allowing a paying show attendee to ride in your vehicle, designed as a taxi, is akin to commercial activity and thus open to a claim if there were an incident.

Always difficult insuring stuff, not in the book. Firstly need an assistant with a brain cell rather than a computer script.
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