How long should insurance claims take?

[Reppyboyo]

Its been 2 months now since the accident & beginning of my claim yet still its gone no where.
My bike is still stuck in some London garage waiting repair (Been gathering dust there for 7 weeks now) but the 3rd party insurance is taking their sweet merry time for this.
I still dont even bloody know if they are disputing liability yet!

Repeated calls only turn up "We are still waiting for authorisation from the 3rd party insurance".

Should it be taking this damn long?!
Only thing stopping me from telling them to give me my bike back is that I dont know if I would get charged for the hire bike should I do that. (I dont think so however).

Royally pissed at the moment.

[Ste]

The answer is pretty much how long is a piece of string?

Have you instructed solicitors yourself or are you using ones provided through your insurance?

Where's the bike been left, is it somewhere your solicitors told you to take it or is it somewhere the third party said it should be taken to be repaired? Who made arrangements for provision of the hire bike?

[Graprilia]

Hey

Insurance claims take ages my first almost lasted 2 years basically if you hire a bike you would have to pay out of your own pocket at first. However if the third party is liable 100% you will get your money back from their insurance company , but if liability ends up being 50/50 then you would only get half back.

The problem motorcyclist seem to have is the third party will try to claim 50% liability even though it was obvious to anyone it was completely their fault. The only way to beat that is if the police attended the scene and whether or not you have some witnesses.

[Reppyboyo]

The bike is at 4th Dimension in London, this was my insurance`s choice.
Insurance again went through HelpHire for the hire bike.
Im appears I have solicitors from some company called Bike Master, as well as Help Hire`s own soliciters.

[iooi]

Is your ins fully comp or 3rd party.

If its fully comp then chase your lot up to get it fixed and they can argue the toss at their own pace. If 3rd party then you will have to wait.
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[Reppyboyo]

3rd party F&T sadly.
Never again.

[Graprilia]

i advise trying a no win no fee company as long as you are completely sure it is 100% the other blokes fault

[Ste]

[T.C]

A couple of months at the moment is nothing bearing in mind that there is a strict procedure that has to be adhered to.

Firstly, under Civil Procedure Rules, there are time limitations in place in respect of any claim.

In the case of personal injury accidents, the claimant has 3 years from date of injury or date of knowledge (whichever is the sooner) to issue proceedings, or in the case of damage only accidents, the time limit is 5 years.

Once the claim starts, a letter of claim must be sent to the third party, then copies of any Police reports must be obtained, then witnesses must be spoken to and evidence collected to help determine liability.

The third party has certain time periods in which they must respond, and even then if liability is admitted they will try and mitigate their losses by alleging contributory negligence which can reduce their losses. Bear in mind that unlike traffic or criminal law, it does not have to be proven beyond all resonable doubt, civil law works on the balance of probability.

Even assuming everything moves along smoothly, it takes an averahe of 12 weeks for the Police reports to arrive from date of application, in some forces this is taking up to 6 months, and neither party will do much without these reports.

If the third party was reported for any offences, this will also hold things up as any court appearance and its result will determine what course of action one or either side will take. For example if convicted, that will more or less prove liability, if aquitted that will give the other side more ammunition to defend itself, so this can also hold things up.

If it s damage only, then you could be looking at anything up to a year depending on circumstances, and bear in mind that if you are using legal expenses appointed law firms, they are not normally the sharpest knife in the box.

If it is an injury claim, then depending onthe seriousness of the injury, you could be looking at 18 months plus as you will have to attend independent medical examinations, and this will not be done until a full recovery has been made or the full extent of any long term prognosis has been determined.

In the case of interim payments, you have to ask for an interim payment, but this is usually only agreed to if you have suffered particular financial hardship, such as not being able to pay your rent or mortgage because of your injury, or you cannot afford to feed yourself.

If you are still receiving salary, then it is unlikely you would get an interim payment, and certainly not for the vehicle unless you can show that you are dependant on that vehicle to earn you a living and you have no other means of obtaining access to alternative transport.

Any interim payment would be deducted from your final award, so if you were to get say a £5,000 interim now, and your final overall award was £10,000, you would only get a further £5,000.

This should all have been explained to you by your legal representatives, and as one final thought, (I have seen this happen many times) be carefull with any hire vehicles as I have often seen these costs deducted from the overall award.
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It is better to arrive 30 seconds late in this world, than 30 years early in the next

[Reppyboyo]

Well none of that seem promising.

Isnt there any way I can just get my bike back yet still claim?
The garage is quoteing £2199 for the repair, which in no way can I afford. Most of that cost seems to be labour tho.
I have the parts I need to get it back on the road however, cosmetics can wait.

I really dont want to be stuck on a hire bike for more months on end.

[jagos12]

Phone them on a daily bassis, I was in a similar situation bike hit by local council dustcart guy admitted his fault couldn't do anything else as bike was parked on a near empty street but It has taken just over 7 weeks for them to aprove repairs as the council "forgot " to fill in accident report.their insurance must have more money than sense ,7 weeks of bike hire charges plus the repair costs(hate to think what they'll be as it will need a complete new fairing before they get onto the rest of the damage) It would most probably been cheaper to buy me a new bike
but keep pestering them daily