Bikers determined to seek foreign underwriter

The recently set up Motorcycle Insurance Action Group is searching for an overseas underwriter following the overwhelming backing it has received from thousands of bike owners and - unexpectedly - from car owners.

"With the backing of vehicle owners, the group will have much more clout and negotiating elbow room," David Grech, one of the members of the MIAG said.

The other members of the lobby group are Karmenu Grixti and Tony Borg. The group came into being after insurers in Malta started asking for much higher premiums to insure bikes - with charges going up by over 400 per cent in some cases.

In 2002, local firms collected some Lm21 million in motor vehicle insurance premiums and paid out about Lm15 million in claims, Mr Grech said.

"If local insurance firms are no longer interested in this line of business, then the lobby group, with the assistance of a leading Maltese commercial firm, will look for an overseas insurer who will be prepared to pitch for this business," he added.

While the group was building a database of bike owners, it was approached by car owners and the interest shown was so considerable the group is now set to compile a different database of car owners. Owners of motorised forms of road transport who are looking for a more realistic premium for their vehicles are being asked to message just their name and surname on one of the following mobile phones, or e-mail their name and surname to the lobby group.

The SMS numbers are 9942 8313; 7927 5729 and 9920 7192. The e-mail address is hosuyaka@ onvol.net

Anyone who would like to lodge a complaint about their insurance premium with the Malta Financial Services Authority should contact the authority on 2144 1155.

Advertisements detailing the lobby group's strategy to collect the data are to be booked with The Times, The Sunday Times, l-Orizzont and In-Nazzjon this week.

The lobby group has been approached by a leading insurance company with whom the group has had what it described as two 'fruitful meetings'.

Two other insurance firms will be meeting the group this week.

"We have had a good response with the compilation of the database although there are still bikers who have not yet given us details about their machines.

"The databank of motorcycle owners we aimed for has been compiled," Mr Grech said.

In a list of guidelines issued by the MFSA last week, the authority suggested that it might oblige all companies involved in motor insurance to also cover motorcycle risk. But the MFSA does not involve itself in pricing.

"If approved, this system should lead to a fairer spreading of the risk," the MFSA said in a news release it described as a "guide to issues relating to (the) recent increase in motorcycle insurance premiums".

Mr Grech said that motorcycle owners were coming up against closed doors when they went to insure their bike. Many of them had more than one machine.

"The doors that opened, after I submitted my case to the MFSA, offered prices very much higher than last year's premiums on two bikes.

"Last year for third party cover on two bikes, I paid about Lm75 but now the premium is some Lm200."

Even insurance firms that assess machines by break horse power rather than by engine capacity and by power to weight ratio were still finding it hard to issue no claim bonuses to their clients, as was offered to car owners, or to offer a discounted rate for two bikes belonging to the same owner.

Karmenu Grixti said one insurance firm he went to suggested he give up biking "if he could not afford the new rates".

"Is this the kind of service clients deserve? I was given this 'take it or leave it' advice before I was even assessed for risk," Mr Grixti said.

"A number of bikers have already garaged their machines. If an owner has four bikes, he will garage three with the result that he or she will lose out by being deprived of the choice of bike to ride; the insurance firms lose out on premiums, the government loses out on road tax while importers of motorcycles miss out on sales."

When an article was featured in The Times of March 29, announcing the setting up of the action group and the call the group made for motorcyclists to supply details about their bikes to the group, the three mobile phones indicated in the article did not stop beeping with SMSs all day, Mr Grech said.

The reaction by the public on that Monday and on the following day was so big that the mobile phones were kept continuously on charge.

Soon after The Times article, Benny Borg Bonello, president of the Consumers' Association as well as a representative of the MFSA, contacted the action group.

"The Consumers' Association is backing our stand and asked us to continue with our campaign so that if the need arises, it would be able to present our case to the EU Commission.

"If consumers manage to win their case on this issue, consumers would be in a better position to lobby for other rights because of this precedent which will be quoted as a case study," Mr Grech pointed out.

Members of the Rebel Riders Brotherhood who were at Pembroke yesterday to kick-start their ninth annual charity ride extended their complete support to the MIAG.

But the charity ride, though some 100 bikers turned up, was postponed because of the wet weather in the morning. It will now be held on May 16.