support vehicle insured?

[steven1988]

hi everyone,

we will be doing a 94 mile charity ride between our 2 warehouses at work in april next year. for safety reasons we will be having a support vehicle follow us all the way. my question is does said vehicle need any specialist insurance to follow us. or will standard insurance cover it.
thanks

 

[snorri]

Consult your insurance company, they are the only people who can answer your question.

 

[Cuchilo]

Consult your insurance company, they are the only people who can legally make up something and charge you hundreds of pounds extra for no reason.

I fixed that for you

 

[snorri]

I fixed that for you

I would have fixed it by saying no thanks to the support vehicle but donate what you would have spent on support to the charity.

 

[Cuchilo]

True but how many people are doing the ride . Disabled and kids involved ?
If its just a bunch of adults that cant be arsed to train and put the miles in then ditch the car and walk home

 

[Profpointy]

hi everyone,

we will be doing a 94 mile charity ride between our 2 warehouses at work in april next year. for safety reasons we will be having a support vehicle follow us all the way. my question is does said vehicle need any specialist insurance to follow us. or will standard insurance cover it.
thanks

Seriously, you're going to have a vehicle following, at what, cycling pace for 94 miles !
Whilst I know this is being a bit pooey on the charity thing, but ffs

 

[Dogtrousers]

I don't see any problem with a support vehicle.
My club does an annual 100 mile event and we have a support car. The car carries snacks, water, and some tools and spares for more unusual mechanicals and other bits and bobs that people might have forgotten, and is in phone contact with leaders of various groups. We meet up in strategically chosen car-parks for a quick rest, bottle refill and so on. He also has racks in case anyone needs to withdraw for whatever reason. It's a nice feature on a ride when many people are attempting their first ton.

As to the OP - 1) call your insurer. 2) Why on earth are you doing only 94 miles? Surely you could add an extra 6 mile twiddle to the route to gain the cachet of 100. Or at very least you could call it "150km", which sounds better than 94 miles!

 

[jefmcg]

Consult your insurance company, they are the only people who can legally make up something and charge you hundreds of pounds extra for no reason.

I fixed that for you

They can also legally not give you anything after a crash if the activity you are doing is not covered by the terms of your insurance.

But...OP, does "safety" mean that the van is following the last rider at way less than 20mph? That doesn't sound safe to me.

 

[I like Skol]

Since I first saw this thread it seems most of the points I was going to make have been covered but just to be clear. I can't see there being major insurance issues with a 'broom wagon' type support vehicle that is on the route to meet at suitable sites and rescue anybody that experiences physical or mechanical difficulties. This could be a valuable provision if it is a large group of inexperienced riders.
However, if the intention is for a 'safety escort' vehicle then I would think it will and should be a serious problem as this will massively interfere with traffic flow and is likely to greatly increase the danger that the riders are exposed to.
Will the driver have any additional training on how to perform these duties and what to do in the event of an accident?

 

[Kiwiavenger]

if there is no element of hire and reward (i.e only petrol costs or no costs provided) then most insurers will classify it either under domestic/pleasure or under voluntary use. best bet is to speak to the insurance company and get their advice. remember to take the name of the person andthe time of the call just in case.

i arranged one and my boss's, boss's company car was used as a support vehicle so not too much of an issue for us. its nice to not have to carry lots of energy bars in your pocket if you can help it!

 

[Ian H]

I fail to understand what 'safety reasons' there might be that a following car could provide. 100 miles is just a normal day ride.

 

[ianrauk]

It's just a car (vehicle) following a cyclist.

 

[Spinney]

I fail to understand what 'safety reasons' there might be that a following car could provide. 100 miles is just a normal day ride.

It might be for you. It isn't for most.
This is a forum that caters for cyclists of all levels - that isn't a very helpful or encouraging comment.

 

[jefmcg]

But how does it provide "safety"? If it's by following the last cyclist at 10mph for 10 hours, that seems like a recipe for disaster. I'd rather not have any car behind me for any length of time. If they lose concentration for a moment, then it's bad. And what if they fall asleep? That's got to be a pretty boring day. Or another driver doesn't register the van is travelling slowly, and rear ends them?

If they aren't following closely behind, I don't see how "safety" comes into it.

Sag wagon is different, and I can't see any reason to even tell the insurer about it, as it's just driving between two points at the same time others are doing it.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It all comes down to the question raised in @I like Skol 's post above.
If "safety" is protecting the riders from unpleasantness in needing to bail out, mechanicals, running out of food and so on then it makes perfect sense and I've seen it work well. 100 miles is a heck of a long way, and isn't a normal day ride for any but a small minority of cyclists.
If "safety" is physically protecting riders by trundling along behind, then it could well be counterproductive.
I think we're obsessing over the meaning of one word. Perhaps the OP can clarify.