Minster Law signs new deal extension with Principal to manage bike claims

Minster Law has signed a new five-year deal with fast-growing specialist broker Principal Insurance, to provide non-fault motor legal services to their 50,000 UK customers.

The deal extends the 2019 contract and underlines our continuing presence in the market for specialist bike injuries, and according to CEO Shirley Woolham, enables Principal to take full advantage of the move to a digital service.

Shirley said: “The partnership with Principal has been a great success. As specialists within the bike market, together we’ve been able to deliver a first class claims experience for Principal customers. This new deal cements Minster Law’s market position in bike, providing a platform for a renewed push to further build market share – we believe our model will prove attractive to other insurers and broker with a footprint in bike.

She said that motorcyclists are classed as vulnerable road users and are outside the reforms to personal injury set out in the Civil Liability Act. The Act – designed to reduce the number of whiplash claims – reduces compensation awards for minor road traffic accident injuries via a tariff matrix. Bike customers’ injuries are still valued outside the new tariff and submitted into the MoJ claims portal.

“Minster Law was one of a number of firms who campaigned for there to be no change to bike customers’ access to justice, because motorcyclists rarely suffer whiplash-only injuries in an RTA (road traffic accident).”

Principal is approaching its 10th birthday which has coincided with reaching a 50,000 policy milestone.  They have seen an 11% policy count increase in the last year.  Principal has 100 employees and a turnover of £7m.  Their book comprises 65% bike and 35% car and motorhome.

Commenting on the new deal, Dave Bowcock, founder and CEO of Principal, said: “Our partnership with Minster has been integral to delivering a high-quality claims service to our customers. We share the same ethos of delivering excellent customer outcomes, so it was an easy decision to extend to the current deal to 2026.”