Greenlaning insurance.

[J_D]

I'm trying to get a reasonable (less than the cost of the Surf!) quote for insurance and have found a number of companies won't cover me for greenlaning. I thought the whole point of green lanes was that they were public roads so should be covered by a 'normal' policy? The usual suspects of Adrian Flux and Sureterm are after the best part of 2 grand due to my lack of NCB whereas Admiral will cover me for £630 but won't touch me if I go off road (even with separate insurance from a pay and play site). Any advice? If it helps I'm 21, 0 NCB due to rear ending someone last year, limited mileage, fully comp or ttf&t. No mods yet but wanting to fit a snorkel and small lift.

Cheers

[RodLeach]

Tricky one mate.. Im the same age an with adrian flux but i have 3 years NCB.

With none you might just have to face a hefty fee.

[steve s]

i also thought a green lane was a road that you need tax mot and ins to use so if an ins company wont insure you for green lanes then we all drive them illegally

[nero279]

In my honest opinion offroad insurance is a waste of time, i'd be interested to hear of anyone who's actually made a successful claim.

There's always a clause somewhere in there that says we provide off road cover as long as 'you drive responsibly follow all directions given by any marshals or qualified group leaders etc and use good sound judgement as to what you and your vehicle can do safely' in other words if it goes tits up we ain't paying, and if it don't you won't need to claim.

As mentioned above byways are effectively roads, but you'd be lucky to get a fully comp claim out of your insurers, they'd probably be obliged to pay out any third party or public liability claims though. Which should at least prevent you getting sued when you run over the local rambling clubs mascot dog.

[yoshie]

The insurance on pay and play is third party public liability for the operator.
They wont cover damage to your truck.
If you damage the truck on a greenlane drive or drag it to the tarmac, problem solved. I would have thought they were duty bound to cover a greenlane if it's a public access road.

MSA Insurance will cover you for personal liabilty in any pay and play or competion.

[J_D]

Yeah but as I'm currently on third party fire and theft it doesn't cover damage to my truck either! Would be tempted to go with admiral and not tell them if I go off-road but it's not worth the hassle if something does go wrong... try not to give them any more excuses for refusing to pay out.

Otherwise it looks like paying far more for insurance than the Surf's worth or admitting defeat and looking for something cheaper to insure (maybe a 4runner )

[Diezel Weazel]

Would it not pay to become a member of GLASS or similar ...
Good Luck ...

There's always a Payback .... It'll always take longer than five minutes !!!!

[laser_jock99]

Leagally a green lane (provided it is a proper Right Of Way) is a public road and has the same leagal status. Therefore you don't need any special insurance to drive on them.

Private pay-n-play sites are a different matter- most people I know don't bother with additional insurance- the onus is on you to drive responsibly and avoid situations where a third party claim is a posibilty.

If you want to drive in any organised off road competitions then you will find that insurance cover is a condition before you can participate.

[rodp]

Oh come on, it's this attitude that's ruining the country, the "who can I claim off" attitude.
If you're greenlaning you are covered by your vehicle insurance, but, if they can prove negligence on your part they will not pay fully comp (same as on the road) and when greenlaning you're negligent by putting your vehicle at risk (so they wont pay)

Let's get something clear here, motorsport is expensive, sometimes very expensive. If you want to offroad it's gonna cost and at the end of the day it's YOU it SHOULD cost. You want to play so you should pay. If you bend your motor tough, don't try and fraudulently claim off the insurance, that puts everones premium up, you bend it you mend it.
One of the days I'll post a pic of the last trialler to be built (I kept this one) it cost a fortune and looks a bag of cack. Like I said, motorsport costs, big time.

One more thing, don't forget you can't offroad a road motor, it'll end in tears. If you're running on a budget stay on the tarmac.
Can you tell I'm old by the way I moan

[J_D]

Oh come on, it's this attitude that's ruining the country, the "who can I claim off" attitude.

Sorry but where exactly am I saying that I want to claim off anyone? All I'm trying to do is fulfill my legal obligation to have insurance cover when I drive on the raod and still get to go off-roading. The pay and play site I go to include third party insurance in the cost and I'm happy to accept the risks to my own car and pay for the consequences.

If you're greenlaning you are covered by your vehicle insurance, but, if they can prove negligence on your part they will not pay fully comp (same as on the road) and when greenlaning you're negligent by putting your vehicle at risk (so they wont pay)

I've been told by a number of companies that greenlaning will invalidate my insurance through them, not just for damage to my Surf but also third party insurance. I don't expect them to pay if I break something on my car but removing third-party insurance because the road gets rough is a different matter.

Let's get something clear here, motorsport is expensive, sometimes very expensive. If you want to offroad it's gonna cost and at the end of the day it's YOU it SHOULD cost. You want to play so you should pay. If you bend your motor tough, don't try and fraudulently claim off the insurance, that puts everones premium up, you bend it you mend it.
One of the days I'll post a pic of the last trialler to be built (I kept this one) it cost a fortune and looks a bag of cack. Like I said, motorsport costs, big time.

I'm not saying anyone else should pay, as I've mentioned above I'm after advice on how to *legitimately* reduce my costs or I'll have to abandon it. I fully accept that that is a likely outcome but I want to see if I have any other options available before I get rid of something very important to me. And once again, where the hell did I mention fraudulently claiming for damage to my truck?

One more thing, don't forget you can't offroad a road motor, it'll end in tears. If you're running on a budget stay on the tarmac.
Can you tell I'm old by the way I moan

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person taking a Surf off-road, and compared to most people I'm pretty tame. I want to minimise my risk of breaking her, doesn't mean I can't accept any risk at all. Plenty of people manage to run an offroader on the road most of the time and go off-road a bit now and then.

Sorry if that wasn't meant as a personal attack but I work hard to afford the Surf and I resent being portrayed as having a 'who can I claim off' attitude.

[BioHazard]

Adrian Flux , lifesure and nfu would be the ones i look at , most specialist off road companys would not touch the surf as it's a import

[TonyN]

I've been told by a number of companies that greenlaning will invalidate my insurance through them, not just for damage to my Surf but also third party insurance. I don't expect them to pay if I break something on my car but removing third-party insurance because the road gets rough is a different matter.

You HAVE to have insurance to drive on byways, they are public highways, same as you have to have tax and MOT and wear seatbelts. don't see how they can back out of third party cover, thats the whole point of insurance for cars, a byway is just an unsurfaced road.

[J_D]

That was my thinking Tony but according to Admiral, Swinton, eSure and performance something or other 'greenlaning invalidates the insurance'. I think that as far as they're concerned greenlaning is offroading and I don't fancy the hassle of explaining the difference in court if they refuse to pay after a road prang because I've been "off-road" since I took out their policy. I know it might seem unlikely but I don't want to give them any unnecessary wiggle room just in case. Admiral were the only ones I asked about whether having separate insurance for off-road would stop off-roading being a problem and they said no it would still invalidate my policy.

Cheers BioHazard, will have another go at getting through to NFU tomorrow and try Lifesure and if they're expensive too I guess it's the end of my off-roading until I can scrape some extra cash together. Young, male and big imported 4x4 don't seem to be a good combination!

[rodp]

If you damage the truck on a greenlane drive or drag it to the tarmac, problem solved

Read that and assumed, wrongly it seems, that it was the normal " if I stove the side of my motor in who can I get to pay" post on an offroad forum.
If I read your post wrongly I apologise.
I do however take very badly having to pay, through my premiums, for someone elses fun.

As for being insured when greenlaning, a greenlane is in effect a public highway therefore subject to all the regs. If you needed to claim for third party insurance and it went to court the insurer WILL pay provided you weren't negligent.
Please bear in mind I'm no lawyer, it's just bits and pieces you pick up after nearly 40 yrs offroading.
If you want to clarify the facts you could do worse than go to the show at Donnington, the chap that put's it on (or used to and I'm assuming he still does) is an old mate called David Round (Llama 4x4), he used to put on fun days and was quite well up on this sort of thing having fended off a claim or two.

As for offroading a road motor, if you have to drive it back you aint offroading, it's 50 / 50 it'll make it to the trailer on it's own

[nero279]

As for offroading a road motor, if you have to drive it back you aint offroading, it's 50 / 50 it'll make it to the trailer on it's own

RTV trials ain't offroading then? And neither's greenlaning? Or how about pay & play sites? So, exactly what is offroading in your book then?