HID Lights

[stick]

I have read recently that the fittig of HD lights to your bike (Ride magasine Feb issue) may be illegal.
They say that the lights may only be fitted as a manufactures accessory.
If you fit them yourself they are not legal.
Adverts for them do say for off road use only.
Do we need to worry about this with regards to insurance as we all know insurance companies will always find a way to get out of a claim.
God forbid someone has a real bad smack where a third party gets seriously injured you may not be covered.
This is only someting i have read and i am no lawer or insurance chap but thought i would post my thoughts.
Ride safe.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

I have read recently that the fittig of HD lights to your bike (Ride magasine Feb issue) may be illegal.
They say that the lights may only be fitted as a manufactures accessory.
If you fit them yourself they are not legal.
Adverts for them do say for off road use only.
Do we need to worry about this with regards to insurance as we all know insurance companies will always find a way to get out of a claim.
God forbid someone has a real bad smack where a third party gets seriously injured you may not be covered.
This is only someting i have read and i am no lawer or insurance chap but thought i would post my thoughts.
Ride safe.

If you use the search facility you will find a few threads on this. My bike passed the MOT with HID's no problem so can't see an issue.

If you are worried, don't fit them

 

[GSmonkey]

This topic is getting a bit "What oil" / "Has your 1200GS been reliable". Try a search.

 

[stick]

Mot

If you use the search facility you will find a few threads on this. My bike passed the MOT with HID's no problem so can't see an issue.

If you are worried, don't fit them

I have in the past built specials and they have gone thro an mot check as they only check certain things - but the insurance may concider differently.
I agree if worried dont fit but just thought i would post my findings.

I have read that people have sailed thro mots but my point was if you do have a big claim on the insurane ( say a fatal) maybe a different story, as they do say for off road use only

 

[stick]

This topic is getting a bit "What oil" / "Has your 1200GS been reliable". Try a search.

What ?

 

[Beemerman59]

To be fair to the op, he is asking about insurance rather than benefits of HID or ability to pass an MOT. It is a valid question and since I have done a number of mods to my 12 over the last few weeks I'm asking myself if I need to inform the insurance company. HID is not a performance enhancement in then same way my Akra can is, but may be included in an insurance claim if there's evidence someone was blinded by them. If the insurance company has been notified and they agree to insure it on that basis, you must be in a better (although not certain) position to be covered for a claim against you. I would thought this is a seperate issue to whether an MOT station passes your HID's or not.

I have HIDs on dip, main and both aux lights by the way.

 

[stolzy]

Its an interesting point. Passing an MOT doesn't magically make a bike illegal. Aftermarket HIDs are certainly technically illegal, but then so is almost any modification to a bike - aftermarket panniers, Sargent seat, all the little bits of bling we add.

Best thing might be to write to the insurance company with a list of every little modification - then at least they can't say they weren't informed.

 

[Beemerman59]

That's what I'm planning to do. I doubt a Sargent seat or panniers would be considered under the legality issue, but would be considered under the value/premium provisions of your insurance.

 

[Wapping]

It is very hard to invalidate the third party section of a UK motor policy, which is the only compulsary section required by law. That it may not pay for damage to the bike itself, value unknown, but in real terms not that much compared with the potential millions of pounds for third party claims will be the least of your worries I might suggest. I believe the all time record is GBP 48,000,000 paid by Fortis to indemnify the bod who fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover, landing on a railway line and derailing two trains, killing I forget how many people but not himself*.

The old chestnut of a vehicle being 'illegal' (whatever 'illegal' means) invalidating the third party section of the policy is a nonsense. It is definitely very illegal to drive a vehicle drunk but millions are paid out in third party claims each month from drunk drivers crashing into innocent third parties. It is also very illegal to have defective tyres / a duff horn / bad lights / a badly cracked windscreen or - as we have seen - simply fall asleep at the wheel (the list goes on and on and on.....) with or without a current MOT but, surprise surprise, millions are paid out.....

But......When you make an application for motor insurance you are asked a very simple question: "Is the vehicle standard and / or has it been modified in any way?" So, inform your insurer.... and you probably cannot go too far wrong.


*http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...d-face-pound40m-bill-for-disaster-694325.html

 

[stolzy]

The old chestnut of a vehicle being 'illegal' (whatever 'illegal' means) invalidating the third party section of the policy is a nonsense. It is definitely very illegal to drive a vehicle drunk but millions are paid out in third party claims each month from drunk drivers crashing into innocent third parties. It is also very illegal to have defective tyres / a duff horn / bad lights / a badly cracked windscreen or simply fall asleep at the wheel (the list goes on and on and on.....) with or without a current MOT but, surprise surprise, millions are paid out.....

Good point.

 

[littleredrooster]

Aftermarket HIDs are certainly technically illegal, but then so is almost any modification to a bike - aftermarket panniers, Sargent seat, all the little bits of bling we add.

Seats and panniers illegal? Bollocks. Where did you get that idea from?

Aftermarket HIDs illegal? Show me where it says that.

 

[Black Cloud]

HID bulbs

I have had my GS MOT twice, once by Ocean in Plymouth and once by an independant. I personnaly phoned Ocean and asked about HID, and they said as long as it wasn't illegally bright, it was fine As for the independant, i was sat on the bike while he checked it, afetr asking if i had HID......

2 passes later..... seems fine to me

 

[D6]

an hid is made for certain applications, ie, H4 takes an hid H4 fitment...
there for it works properly,
H I D is nothing to do with an m o t ? why do people keep sayin that ,?????????????
an m o t checks beam pattern, colour, and thats really it, brightness is feck all to do with it, unless its not enough
what do i do on a m o t then? take every bulb out to check it ,,,,
an hid passes mot,,,,, period .
however , an mot does not make a bike legal either,
and a CORRECTLY set hid will probably have less chance of blinding traffic than a normal bulb as the cut off is better

 

[stolzy]

Seats and panniers illegal? Bollocks. Where did you get that idea from?

I may have misunderstood, but IIRC EU regulations make almost all modifications to vehicles illegal unless all sorts of tests are passed.

Aftermarket HIDs illegal? Show me where it says that.

Here. HTH

The question is not whether they are illegal or not - the DfT have specifically said they are - the question is whether anyone shives a git.

 

[D6]

I may have misunderstood, but IIRC EU regulations make almost all modifications to vehicles illegal unless all sorts of tests are passed.

Here. HTH

The question is not whether they are illegal or not - the DfT have specifically said they are - the question is whether anyone shives a git.

in the dht,s VIEW,not law,,,,
quote
If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

wat a load of bull, the burner is specificly designed to replace a certain type of bulb, show me one that theres extra glare etc and ill show you ten more thats better than a normal bulb,
before anyone asks, yes i have access to the lastest type of mot beam tester to prove it...
get on with it, fit em and enjoy one of the best boons to safety at night going...
how many cops will pull you if they are set properly???

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

That DFT report is both unreasonable and old and it isn't law it is their view. HID burners do not change the beam pattern period. There is also an amendment to construction and use coming out early this year that will allow motorcycle manufacturers to fit HID lights without self levelling and wash. There is a link to that on this site somewhere, probably on the other thread talking about this a few months ago. Illegal or not I don't know but there are a lot of bikes and cars out there now with this conversion but I have never heard of a single person ending up in court over it. Maybe some of you have, if so speak up and let us all know. As for insurance, if you change anything or add anything to your bike you need to inform your insurance company. If they see it as fair enough it wont cost you anything but if they see it as costing them more you will pay more. As ever read the small print, some companies will cover your panniers and stuff for free but some wont. After all they are a £1000 accessory.

 

[littleredrooster]

I may have misunderstood, but IIRC EU regulations make almost all modifications to vehicles illegal unless all sorts of tests are passed.

I think you have misunderstood.

Here. HTH

The question is not whether they are illegal or not - the DfT have specifically said they are - the question is whether anyone shives a git.

The DfT have not said that they are illegal. They have said that "....in our view..." There's a world of (legal) difference. It is only their opinion and has not been tested in court.

 

[hiup]

I'm sure I learned from this site that it is illegal to retro fit HIDs to cars - but not motorcycles! Somebody

 

[Giles]

I was chatting to some VOSA blokes yesterday. I remembered this thread and asked them. (VOSA are ruthless!!! If there is a fault with your car / bike, they will find it and deal with it!)

They weren't interested. (not in my conversation obviously , but the legality of HID bulbs). They said they had no problem with them and the only thing they would be concerned with, would be a poorly adjusted beam causing unnecessary dazzle....

I don't think for one minute, an insurance company would pull the rug from under your feet just because you changed a light bulb.

(unless of course you caused a horrific accident at night by blinding the oncoming car ..... ...)

 

[Kremmen]

The DfT have not said that they are illegal. They have said that "....in our view..." There's a world of (legal) difference. It is only their opinion and has not been tested in court.


This is normally how it works ..... a large number of our lighting regs, C&U regs. leave gaping "grey areas" between what is written and interpreted.

In these cases it will need a prosecution and as stated above tested in court for a president to be set.