Insurance Question

If you have insurance that does not include pillion cover, can you legally take a pillion?

If so, what are you paying for when you get pillion cover (if it even costs anything)

I ask, because you do not have "passenger" insurance in a car. I know it is slightly different in that a pillion can affect the handling of the bike.

I would assume that riding with a pillion without the proper insurance would invalidate your insurance while the pillion was on the bike, so technically you would be riding without insurance

I would say no

I've never got any intention of taking a pillion so I always exclude it, probably saves bugger all but you never know

I've known people to not be able to take passengers in their car for a discount as well

The answers I can find online (from other forums and not from any reliable source) is:

You can still take a pillion, and it is not against the law.
However, should you crash, the insurance would most likely still pay out, however they may try and claim it back from you.

This is from bikechatforums... "It would probably be worth asking the insurance company what the extra pillion cover actually gives you over not taking it up as an option. When I took out my last 4 policies I was told that by not taking the option, I wouldn't invalidate my insurance in the event of a crash and that my pillion could still claim from my policy as they are a third party so am fine to take pillions still. None of them really managed to explain the point of taking the extra cover out to me tbh."


And taken from carole nash website (obviously biased but more of a professional opinion?)

"Your motorcycle insurance policy will also dictate whether you can be accompanied on your bike. Many bike insurance policies consider pillion passenger cover as an optional extra, so consult your insurance documents or contact your insurer before you start the engine to check that you are covered. Remember, it is illegal to take to the road without sufficient insurance cover."

your not covered, from my bro who used to do insurance as a job, next stop or friendly plod

[TamSV]

It's down to the policy wording as usual - there's no universal standard. Here's a policy endorsement wording I've seen that's pretty clear;

Excluding pillion passengers
We will not cover damage or loss to the motorcycle or its accessories and will not make any payment in relation to the death of or injury to any person for any incident occurring whilst you are carrying a pillion passenger on your motorcycle.
Where the Road Traffic Acts or any other legislation applicable to motor insurance oblige us to make a payment which we would not otherwise have paid, we reserve the right to recover the amount paid from you.

Another one, with much less severe consequences;

Pillion use
Section 3 (Damage to your motorcycle) is excluded when accompanied by a pillion passenger.
You have notified us that you will not be carrying a pillion passenger on your motorcycle at any time during this period of insurance and we have provided you with a discount. In any circumstance where a pillion passenger is carried on your motorcycle Section 3 of your policy booklet will NOT be in force.

In neither of the above cases would the policy be "void" if you carried a pillion so there should be no issues of driving uninsured in those particular cases.

Ideally, your policy should contain a clear endorsement like the above.

Sadly, some policies I've seen are pretty vague on what is, and is not, covered so it's difficult to see what the underwriters intention is. That can be useful, as any grey areas can often be argued in the policyholders favour, but it's by no means straightforward.

[Kenzie]

I use Bennetts for my insurance and adding a pillion made no difference. I doubt I ever will but you never know.

It's more that I'm now with Aviva and they will not offer cover for pillions. Mostly because they believe you are much more likely to have an accident with a pillion.

It didn't make any difference to my policy, but my wife goes pillion so I need it.
Seems another way the slimy barstewards can get out of a claim.
My interpretation of it, you're still covered but your pillion wouldn't be.

i understood it as if i crashed on my own, i could claim personal injury but if carrying pillion they could not claim off my own insurance policy and would have to either claim off the other vehicles insurance if there was fault or just feck off and deal with it if it was my fault haha