Car Insurance

John Ford must be directing this scene through a celestial bullhorn. Tall hats etch the skyline under the desert sun, as our horses pick their way around a crumbling sandstone ledge of Thunderbird Mesa, beside a vertical drop of 200 feet. It’s best not to look down.

This is Monument Valley, on Arizona’s northern border with Utah where, nearly 60 years ago, Ford shot his classic western, Stagecoach, and a clutch of later movies, immortalising the actor John Wayne. The awesome scenery hasn’t changed in more than a thousand years and it still takes some rugged riding for disciples of the Duke to follow in his shadow.

Jingling spurs and the creak of saddles are the only accompaniment to our anxious traverse, led unconcernedly by the white Stetson of what must be Wayne’s reincarnation, Don Donnelly, chewing a trademark toothpick, his grey mount, Steel, stepping confidently over rock scree on a serpentine descent. A few paces behind is a figure with Hollywood good looks, in cavalry uniform, gold epaulettes on a Yankee shirt, straight out of central casting. Bob Marelli, a mounted policeman from Newark, New Jersey, has been a devotee of the Duke from childhood. He had his attire - after a Wayne character - personally tailored, and he’s become known to us as Cap’n Bob. It is his second trip, and three of his police colleagues - one a motorcycle cop and two desk-bound lieutenants - have joined him. At his heels shambles another rider in dusty brown chaps, and collar- length lank hair under a black hat. He could pass muster among the Hole- in-the-Wall gang, until you speak to him. Ian Drake is a computer analyst from Essex, complete with appropriate accent, who belongs to the British Cowboys Rodeo Association and began riding three years ago. “I never thought I’d be praying for my horse,” he said as we negotiate a precipice. The ride has attracted 29 of us from the States, Europe and Israel. Lawyers, policemen, engineers, estate agents, a store-buyer, a retired headmaster, an interior decorator, ranchhands, grandmothers, and a couple from a kibbutz. “We cater for all sorts,” says Donnelly. “It helps if you’ve been on a horse before.” The valley is mercifully free of 20th-century toys. “If you’ve brought any mobile phones, fax machines, or computers, you can drop them in the bin here,” he says. The landscape bespeaks scores of famous movies it has inspired, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Cheyenne Autumn among them. This is Indian territory, with the Navajo reservation inhabiting Monument Valley, ironically given to them as land the White Man didn’t want and which is now a major tourist attraction. Its towering monoliths and mesas, once the bed of an ancient sea, were eroded by wind and weather into mystical shapes the Navajo have named the Ear of the Wind, the Eye of the Sun, the Bear, and Camel Butte. They now live in scattered communities, some in traditional dome-shaped hogans. They are silversmiths and rugmakers, tending their sheep - and the tourists who are now a prime source of revenue. The valley spans 40 by 50 miles, stippled with black and purple sage, cactus, juniper and yucca. Jack rabbits bound among the brush. Our horses take us to the parts others rarely reach. We visit ruins, a thousand years old, which were once occupied by the Anasazi, cliff- dwellers who mysteriously abandoned the valley in the 15th century, leaving their petroglyphs for us to decipher. We camp at Pancake Flats, cavalry fashion, in orderly rows of tents big enough to stand in. They contain a steel chair, a canvas bed, a sleeping bag and - a nice touch, this - a sweet on the pillow. The valley is without water or electricity. None the less, a generator provides illuminated washbasins, hot showers and Portaloos in the open - “five-star camping,” the Donnellys assure us. The food from the chuckwagon tent is pretty good, too. Fruit, cereals, and cooked American breakfasts. We ride out for six hours, with a picnic lunch, or barbecue carried on pack horses. Snacks await our return, before dinner - salads, steaks, joints and poultry, with sweets from a French chef. The lure of the West has brought Donnelly a lucrative living. He has much in common with the Duke. At 6ft 4ins he’s the same height, with a matching drawl and years of experience conducting sorties into this wilderness. The only complaints I heard were of aching muscles. Most riders considered it a fantasy fulfilled, the experience of a lifetime. As we ride out of the valley onto dirt roads bringing in busloads of visitors, other tourists leap out with cameras, little knowing the riders they photograph are as metropolitan as themselves.

After years of stagnant or declining sales owing to a harsh economic climate, the motorbike market is again booming. Twelve- month sales figures to August show bike sales rose 39 per cent towards the 85,000 mark, with the 900cc bracket accounting for most of that growth.

According to Tony Woodall of Metropolis Motorcycles, a bike business in London, the major growth area for bikes is now with upwardly mobile executives and directors. “This includes the born-again biker who may have had one 15 years ago and is now in a position to spend over pounds 9,000 on a top-of-the-range Honda, Suzuki or Kawasaki.”
One key factor behind the resurgent bike market has been the purchase of machines for leisure, fuelled by a prosperous economy and fine summer weather. This is combined with the practicality of using a motorbike to negotiate the traffic-clogged streets of urban areas to reduce travel time. But bike riders need bike insurance,and bikes create special problems. They are four times more likely to be stolen than cars, and the lucrative market in spares makes small bikes just as likely to be targeted by thieves as the expensive super-bikes. Only 25 per cent of stolen bikes are recovered. According to Ken German, technology officer at the Metropolitan Police, recovered bikes are piling up at police stations all over the country because their identification marks have been removed. Bike riders are also at a higher risk of accidents than drivers of four- wheeled vehicles. Two per cent of women riders and 3.7 per cent of men had serious accidents in 1995, excluding riders riding on car licences. This means that, pound for pound, bike insurance will be dearer than for cars. Comprehensive insurance covering accident damage and parts for bikes is also more costly relative to third-party cover than in the case of cars. Traditionally, Norwich Union has had the dominant share of bike insurance, but direct marketing has brought new players into the market. Mike Bowman, marketing manager at Hastings Direct, says: “We saw a gap in the bike insurance market for a direct service similar to that provided to car owners. As a result, we launched a service this year which offers bike owners a free-phone number which can be called 12 hours a day, over-the- phone cover and flexible payment methods.” Insurers have also become more imaginative in marketing their policies. The AA offers its members a 10 per cent discount on insurance. Norwich Union has announced that bikers who have not made a claim in five years are entitled to a 50 per cent no-claims discount on its Premier bike policy. Eagle Star, another major player, also has a deal which cuts the cost of insurance for new policyholders if they take an advanced training course. Malcolm Nash, a director at specialist bike broker Carole Nash, said: “Approaching an insurer direct means they will only quote you their own policy. An established motorbike broker will have access to a range of different policies from which they can choose the most appropriate. Brokers also have a degree of specialist knowledge about bikes which a direct insurer may not possess.” Nash offers owners a 10 per cent discount for fitting approved immobilisers, 5 per cent off for Datatag security devices, 5 per cent for mechanical locks and garaging and uninsured loss cover of pounds 10 for the legal costs of fighting disputed claims. Motorbike manufacturers also provide insurance for their customers. Honda customers have two choices - Honda Care and Honda Cover. In the case of Honda Care, the Honda customer will benefit from a 45 per cent discount if they have five years’ riding experience - not bad if you have a five- year no claims bonus and are paying over pounds 400 to insure a Honda Fireblade. Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha also provide insurance for customers. Yamaha is offering free insurance for any 1997 model Yamaha motorcycle bought in October. Otherwise, Yamaha’s insurance arm will charge a 35-year-old man living in central London an annual premium of pounds 526 fully comprehensive for a 900cc Diversion, reduced to pounds 306 in an area deemed less risky. Motorcycle owners in South Wales and the west country will soon be able to benefit from a new service launched by Holman Superbike Plus. This service gives brokers access to the majority of insurance policies on the market for bikes from 50cc up to 1,000cc. If the scheme proves successful, Superbike Plus will become available to brokers in other parts of the country. q Contacts: AA, tel: 0800 125 620; Hastings Direct, 0800 00 1066; Carole Nash, 0161-927 2424; Premium Search, 0990 134920. Eagle Star and Norwich Union sell through brokers.