Bike write off - could use some advice :[

[CraiGDaniel]

Friday i was involved in a classic SMIDSY (sorry mate i didnt see you) a very old pensioner pulled out of a junction just as i was going past, smashed right into the side of her and over the bonnet. Didn't even have time to try and brake just remember that horrible crunching sound.

Her husband had the cheek to call me a f*ck*ng lying bas*ard as i lay on the floor while the police questioned me (on a spine board and in neck brace at this time) pathetic little man. If i weren't on the floor in pieces he would have been!!! How do you say that to someone who's in a life threatening situation because of you. Copper told him to fack off quite rightly.

Lucky for me i have 2 solid witnesses and the police did a test to confirm my speed, which was indeed 30 mph in a 30. I did nothing wrong here They have issued the driver with penalty points and either an awareness test or will take her to court for dangerous driving. It's a clear case and liability has been confirmed 100% the cagers by the police.

The bike is in bits. Plastics smashed and hanging off, brackets and levers smashed, forks bent inwards, exhausts fell off, you name it.


Anyone have any idea how i should approach this in regards to compensation. I would be happy to have back what i had before the accident, gear and a bike. Am i expecting to much? I've been told to expect a crap valuation on my bike from the insurance. What can i do here? What sort of valuation can i expect on my Kawasaki 94 ZZR 600 E ? Will i be able to claim for all new gear and most importantly i just want another bike out of it. I've lost out on a weekend of work because they signed me off at the hospital, not fit enough. Without my bike i can't get to work so will have to quit my job, in a bit of a bad situation here. Got a baby, house and girlfriend to pay for and i'm a bit stressed.


Any advice on how to approach this or what to do from here would be great, i am waiting to hear back from my insurance to start the claim on hers, but like i said any advice on how to get the most money out of this would be super because it's not right if i should lose anything i had due to some OAP cager not being fit to drive.

I'm a young(ish) lad (21) and never been involved in a RTA before so relying on you lot to give me some solid advice here, becuase i don't have anyone i know that i can ask.

Cheers

[Supermoto_Fan]

Regarding the gear, bring it up with insurance at somepoint and you will be able to claim for it all,


Boots, jacket, trousers, gloves, helmet

(dependant if they need to see these, if not claim for some good gear)
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Yamaha MT-09 - Triple powerrrr

[Muscle Bike Rider]

All expences can be claimed for, get public transport to work keep receipts claim back, if your signed off sick claim the difference between sick pay and full salary, loss of regular overtime etc. If you need to get a taxi for social or work get and keep receipts. Bike and gear will be valued and payment for equal replacement offered. Your insurance will do all the work, just give them all the info they ask for and keep your receipts. If offered physio take it, again it will be paid for and helps with your compensation for pain and suffering
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Previously Known As A5tra_G
Old Bikes :2010 Kawasaki ER6 F & 2000 Honda VTR Firestorm
Current Bike : XJR1300

[Copycat73]

you need a solicitor to handle your claim.
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Whatever I post I have no citation and no intention of providing one..
caveat emptor

[wots]

Where liability has already been admitted on a car insurance policy you are able to claim for a hire car EQUAL size to your current car. So if you had a Mondeo, you get a Mondeo or similar. Enterprise did this for me when some twonk wrote my car off, they just arranged it with the third party insurance and I had a car next day. This is irrespective of whether or not you pay the additional loan car policy on insurance.

How this translates to a motorbike policy I don't know, but you can't be expected to be without a vehicle because of someone else. If you are capable/willing to ride a bike, check with your insurance as they may be able to hire you a bike ASAP and pass the cost on directly.
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Currently: Yamaha DT 125 LC2,Repsol Fireblade, and Bumblebee MSX 125

[Easter Bunny]

Handled correctly you should not lose out of this, 100% of all losses due to being taken out will and can be claimed for providing you are in the 100% right (I'm not saying your not) it then lessens as more blame is apportioned to you.

Speak to your insurance company who will advise you regarding the claim, tell them you have no other transport and NEED a replacement bike in order to keep your job, tell them taxi's are no good as they will cost a fortune . Keep a little book of every phone call you made and every loss or inconvenience incurred, keep your clothes and Helmet just in case they want to inspect them.

Have you considered asking the Police to prosecute the driver?
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The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train!

[Wonko The Sane]

coming from a cycling background,

don't be in any rush to race round like normal, back and shoulder injuries can take a while to show properly and a long time to sort.

I'm not saying milk the claim for all the compensation you can, but don't just settle for the bike replacing and end of, the idea behind claim and compensation is to put you back in a situation as though the incident never happened.

[sidewinder]

You will be able to claim back loss of earnings.plus any other expenses from the result of the accident.postage costs phone costs and travel taxis and buses etc keep all receipts as proof.with regards to your kit go to a bike shop and get them to give you a written quote on the price of replacing your gear also if you start getting aches pains get your doctor for written proof all this should help you a lot with claims.

Get well soon buddy hope it all goes smoothly
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"Nitrous is like a cheap hooker, you want to hit it but are scared of the consequences

[j.silvs]

After I lost my leg in an accident I had a similar dilemma.

After months of research in my hospital bed I found fletched solicitors, they specialise in bikers and are amazing. Handled my claim for 8 years and understood everything as most of them are bikers and the owner was paralysed in a bike crash. They win loads of awards each year.

Do your own research but steer clear of no win no fee. They are in it for the out of court settlements.

As for your price for the bike, haggle with the insurance company and don't take their first offer. Usually it will take around 3 offers for the right one. Get some prices of similar spec and mileage selling prices. They will use glasses guide or the lesser CAP (current auction price ) calculations - none represent private sales, more so part ex value which is shite

[BTTD]

I think some of the best insurance advice I've seen has been on the Landyzone website. I think one of the guys on there must have worked in the industry, but he quoted all the rules and regs and got an old Landy repaired way beyond write off value.
It seems that if the liability is with the other party you can insist on full repairs rather than a settlement (if that's what you want). It was a long thread and took a lot of effort on his part, repeatedly having to fight the insurance company who just flat out lied to him telling him he was wrong, sending him settlement cheques etc.

The only solid advice I can give is to not believe anything the insurance people tell you. You're just a case file on some nobodies desktop that they want to get rid of, and they're surprisingly good at bs'ing.

Start doing your research, and get it all nailed down. Hopefully you won't need it again in the future, but you might, and it sure as hell won't hurt to have it.

[Frost]

Deal only with your insurance company not theirs. Theirs will try and intimidate you, discredit you, offer you the least they can. Your insurance company should be happy to bend over backwards to give you everything you want, then claim it all back off the other side.
If you're totally not at fault then you should be entitled to compensation for your pain, suffering, loss of earnings etc

[Easter Bunny]

[stocksmenace]

I got rear ended on my zzr d2 in november. Damage to rear of bike. Spoke to insurance who arranged a hire bike. My bike in my opinion was worth about 800 from a dealer, I have spent so much more than that but hey thats life, you could spend 3k and it will still have the same shop value. upgrades etc and the fact I had completely overhauled the engine. had a engineer come out and evaluate the bike.. Was chatting to him and he freely admitted he new very little about bikes took a couple of pictures and left... The insurers sent a cheque for £440 so I ploughed it backs into the bike lol....as for injuries no comment there as its still ongoing...took about a month for the cheque as taxi driver who decided it would be a good idea to kill my bike admitted full liabillity bike is cat c and I kept it
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Triumph Sprint 900..Prev-ZZR600-Derbi terra-Mz251-Hyo Aquila

[j.silvs]

[BigDan1190]

What you can claim for;

Bike - (with an old bike, most likely you'll get back exactly or more than what its worth)
All gear - (boots, helmet, jacket, gloves, pants)
Personal injury - and you'll get quite a decent amount for this judging by your comments
A hire vehicle - Either a bike or a car
Time off work


I'd recommend you contact BLD (Bikers Legal Defence), they handled my claim back in 2010 when someone hit me. I got back a good amount for the bike, and a hire bike until the insurers decided to pay out (3 months!). I actually didn't claim for gear because I kept the bike up. A private solicitor handled personal injury claim (whiplash, wrist and shoulder damage/pain).

[Vincent]

As above, find yourself a reputable solicitor. I used White Dalton and was satisified with them but that's the only time I've needed to use a solicitor for an accident so better do some research. they'll communicate with yours and your opponents insurance and you won't need to do hardly anything.

It takes a while but I was given a couple of grand up front to ease the pain.

You'll need to dig up the receipts for your damaged clobber, make sure you get the expensive ones
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Space Is Deep

[stuartt]

when my busa got hit a few weeks ago i phoned the car drivers insurance direct .

they sorted out a hire bike for me & the monday after my bike got hit there assessor came for a look & i got a cheque in the post 2 days later

[Dave70]

You'll be able to claim for all your out of pocket expenses and will be entitled to compensation for injuries sustained.

As has already been posted, get your insurance to pursue the claim.

My insurance suggested to me, after I was hit by a smidsy, that I would be better off claiming for repairs on my bike on my own policy and then claiming it back from the other driver, as my bike would get fixed much quicker. This has worked out to be the case and I kept my no claims bonus.

My insurance doesn't give hire bikes out but, fortunately the nice man at my local bike shop (from were I buy all my bikes and bike related gear from) loaned me the use of one of the shops bikes for a fee of £100 per week for as long as it took to get mine back on the road and was happy to wait until the other guys insurance coughed up the money for it. (I claimed the bike as expenses as I had no other form of transport)

My insurance also sorted me out with a solicitor to pursue the claim. I got the repair costs to my bike (£3,500) and bike hire costs within about 6 weeks. The claims for my injuries and damage to clothing is still on going but, should be settled any day soon.

Get well soon and hope all gets sorted ASAP

[Vincent]

The highest payout I've known was a mate of mine who claimed for loss of earnings as a brick layer after injuring his right arm in a bike accident - £125,000
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Space Is Deep

[CraiGDaniel]

Superb replies thanks everyone. Too many of you to reply to each i think but i feel like i know what i'm doing a bit more.

Not sure what i could claim for personal injury wise. I had an emergency doctors appointment last night (sat night) because my neck and back were really playing up and making it hard for me to get around.

I've been prescribed some pain killers and something else and it has helped a lot. Oh and i've got some serious bruising on my left leg and both feet, limping everywhere.

The tests they did on me in hospital for any pain would have been a waste as i was dosed up on morphine half hour before the test were carried out. Not too pleased about that one.

[Old Git Racing]

Keep a written record of everything, mileage to and from hospital, doctors, prescriptions, anyone who has to run you around, specific times when you couldn't see the kids, service the wife, go to work, all the pain and stress etc. be more organised then them and you will win.
if you don't firebomb him.

OGR
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2022 Tiger Sport 660 2019 Street Twin 2003 K3 gixxer 1000 1998 Srad 600 track hack

[BigDan1190]

Solicitors will arrange for an appointment with a private doctor and probably physio for you.

Honestly, contact a solicitor.

[Wonko The Sane]

[T.C]

Firstly, it appears that thankfully your injuries were not too serious, which means that your claim will be on the fast track scheme and legal fees will be capped at a minimum of £1400 unless liability is disputed in which case it will get transferred to the Multi track scheme.

The fast track scheme handles all claims with a value of £15,000 or less (This changes to £25,00 later this year).

The claim is divided in to 2 specific areas.

General damages which covers your actual injuries with an additional payment for pain and suffering

Special damages which covers any damage to property, bike etc, out of pocket expenses, loss of earnings and the like, so that you are returned back to the same financial situation as you were pre crash.

Each injury has a specific value.

At the bottom end of the scale, a broken tooth is worth about £675 whilst at the top end a serious brain injury, paraplegia or tetraplegia is £275,000.

When you hear of multi million pound settlements, this is where there are special care needs, adaptations to property perhaps, loss of earnings over the remainder of the lifetime of the claimant etc, so you do not get rich on the specific injuries.

The fact that you have 2 good witnesses works in your favour.

The first thing to do is for a letter of claim to be sent to the third party (the other side) who should pass it onto their insurance company.

The other side usually respond with a request for time to carry out their own investigations, and will then either admit of deny liability.

If they deny liability, that that is when the fun starts and all the evidence will be required, if admitted, then it should be fairly straight forward unless the other side make an allegation of contributory negligence.

One think to bear in mind is if you can try and avoid a hire vehicle under a personal contract agreement. The courts are now throwing a lot of these hire costs out because claims management firms have been proven to be over charging and the other side are disputing these costs and the courts are agreeing. You then become liable for these costs.

Speak to a local solicitor who deals with fast track personal injury cases, avoid using a claims management firm as they simply sell on your case to the highest bidder (outlawed from April this year) and you often end up with someone at the opposite end of the country handling your case and quite often a paralegal or legal exec.

Use a local law firm and you will have a qualified solicitor handling your case.

Once you have the letter of claim sent (which your solicitor will do), the rest is fairly straight forward as they will do the work, and then in due course you will be asked to attend an independent medical examination close to where you live or within easy travelling distance as this medical will help determine the value of your injuries as well as offer a long term prognosis which also has a bearing on the value of your claim.

Keep copies of all receipts and keep a diary of expenditure. All out of pocket expenses can be claimed back, but they are often disputed by the other side, but if you have receipts (where possible) and a diary entry such as for car parking, prescriptions and the like, the other side cannot dispute these costs and they can soon mount up.

And lastly, don't be put off by having your case funded under a no win no fee arrangement. It is the best way to have your case funded, but if you have legal expenses insurance, the insurance companies can no longer force you to use their panel firms as this was ruled illegal by the High Court about 2 years ago.
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It is better to arrive 30 seconds late in this world, than 30 years early in the next

[daffy]

i was stationary in traffic and got rear ended, i had a witness, two weeks off work and my claim took about 9 months. ( totally his fault and he got sent on one of them courses ) it would have been quicker but his insurance was taking the piss.