Lloyd’s of London says fit ATV rollbars or lose insurance

The Federal Government deadline on fitting operator protection devices to all new quad bikes is October 11. But a Lloyd’s of London syndicate is already demanding they be fitted.

A Lloyd’s of London underwriting syndicate has told importers of the TGB quad bike to fit operator protection devices or lose their liability insurance.

A QUAD bike importer faces losing its liability insurance unless it immediately fits rider rollover protection on all new machines, despite a law enforcing the move still being seven months away.

A Lloyd’s of London underwriting syndicate has refused to cover the importer of Taiwanese-made TGB quad bikes unless they are fitted with operator (rollover) protection devices.

The move comes despite new Federal Government rules on making OPDs mandatory not taking affect until October 11.

“From a risk perspective, we should be proactive and not just wait for the deadline,” a Pacific Underwriters corporation spokesman said.

“Yes the legislation comes into effect in October – but this requirement needs to be done now. “For years we have seen nasty claims from this product line costing insurers millions of dollars.”

Pacific Underwriters told The Weekly Times the ultimate demand that TGB’s quad bikes be fitted with OPDs was made by the British syndicate Certain Underwriters At Llyod’s of London.

National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson said “it appeared, Lloyd’s of London have assessed the situation and have made a business decision based on the clear and overwhelming evidence that quad bikes without an OPD represent an unsatisfactory risk to riders and in turn, their business.

“As employers, farmers also have a legal responsibility to take reasonable steps to keep their employees safe.”

Lloyd’s of London Asia Pacific communications partner Suganthy Selva said underwriting syndicates “follow their own policies and make their own decisions”.

TGB’s broker Kim Rodgers, of Cutting Edge Insurance, said the dominance of Lloyd’s meant others would follow suit when it came to demanding quad bikes be fitted with OPDs.

“If one does it most will follow,” Ms Rodgers said.

However despite Lloyd’s demand Mr Olsen said he managed to gain a four-month delay on fitting all his imported TGB quad bikes with OPDs, as he needed to fit a new bracket to the range.

“We explained we wanted to comply and now have four months to do it (June 15),” Mr Olsen said.

One importer told The Weekly Times liability insurance for quad bikes has always been difficult to obtain.

CF MOTO quad bike importers are already fitting OPDs to their full range, but rival Segway is waiting until the October deadline to fit them.

Urban Moto Imports marketing manager Mal Jarrett, whose firm is importing Segway quad bikes, said they had heard nothing from their insurer on fitting OPDs early.

“We’re supplying them (OPDs) as an option and most dealers are trying to sell them,” Mr Jarrett said.

Rumours have been circulating through the quad bike industry that Suzuki was also having insurance problems, after the company halted quad bike sales in January.

However Suzuki National Marketing Manager Lewis Croft said it had nothing to do with insurance and simply related to the lack of reflectors on some models and references to labelling that needed to be added to all models’ owners’ manuals.

Mr Croft said the problem was about to be rectified by dealers adding reflectors to bikes and putting safety stickers in manuals.

In the meantime Japanese motoring giants Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki and Canada’s Can Am have declared they will pull their quad bikes out of the Australian market rather than meet new federal laws, demanding all new quad bikes be fitted with operator protection devices from October.