being messed by insurance

[shleppy]

bike crash the other day; bloody taxi. right so i have fully comp and my mechanic told me all damage was cosmetic. the insurers classed it as b and have moved it to a breakers yard ('secure compound') and they say i cannot buy it back.

if its cosmetic surely its a C, and them stopping me buying it back suggests they want to sell it, its pretty much perfect cept for scratches and a bent calliper.

i just want my bike back and enough to cover general repairs. theyres really f**king me over.

any ideas anyone?

[duhawkz]

what bike was it? how old was it?

[Polo]

I guess it is their call as to how they want to A) class the write off and B) once the claim is settled - whether they want to release the salvage back to you.

My opinion, nothing you can do really unless complaining loud enough forces some leeway to get you to shut up.

Nothing to lose though.
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My mum smells your fingers

[Hetzer]

The bike is your fvcking property until you have accepted and received a payout.

I suggest you go and collect it and present the criminal scum at your ins company with all relevant bills, plus a big fat invoice for your time and trouble.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[shleppy]

honda hornet '99, fair few miles. but nice cond.

[shleppy]

i havent settled, am refusing, my bike was valued at 2000 at the begining of the year.

just rung the broker, who got onto them, theyre now reveiwing re-classification and i have the brokers garuntee its not going anywhere in the meantime. the reason im so worried is it basically needs a new calliper to get it on the road, the cosmetic stuff is fair enough but im not having some greasy breakers yard guy riding off with a mint bike.

my insurerance broker also said it had been valued at 2000, so 1600 is grossly inaccurate.

the reason a 10year old bike is costing so much, is it has an alarm and a scottoiler and bridgestone tyres pretty much new, and theres a big call for em, just looking on ebay and autotrader alone i was surprised at how much the avarage one costs.

[Polo]

You won't be able to haggle up the price using the tyres as a bargaining point as they are required in the day to day running of the bike. It's akin to asking them to add £15 as you had just filled up with petrol and another £25 for the fresh oil.

The scottoiler and alarm you can use in finding similar bikes for sale
where the cost is closer to £2000. Check bike trader etc and save ones most similar to yours in age and spec.

The goons at your insurers will have thumbed through Glasses/Parkers guide books etc and seen the value and then taken their obligatory 30% off.

Nobody says you have to take the first offer - just treat it as the starting point.
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My mum smells your fingers

[t121anf]

you wont be able to buy a Cat B back as they aren't legally allowed on the road, breaking only on that classification.

[gazzeh]

Chaucer offered me 1700 for my SV that was written off, i just didnt put the phone down until i got £2000.

[Luke_Retrofly]

Sucks to hear you got punted off your bike mate, Glad your alright. Hope you get the bike sorted soon.

Cheers

Luke

[Chriss]

Hi, at Saga, if there was a car/bike we wanted ourselves, we used to tell a customer it was a cat B, just before we bought it our selves.
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[shleppy]

thats what im worried about. im gonna make their life hell if theyre planning on doing that.

[shleppy]

ringing them today, 5 working days after they said they would reschedule the engineer viewing. they have now told me the dispute was put through yesterday and that it would be a further 7 wokring days. they apparently called the engineer who made up the forks were bent, but i know for fact they wernt. i asked to speak to someone of more authority and they told me i wasnt allowd to speak to anyone else. so then i rung the engineer myself, slightly angry from this whole inccident and told him id be hastling the company till i was happy.

this engineer was driving on the phone and basically told me it would all be too much hastle for him, and he was never going to change the cat b rating.

i then rung my broker who listening to everything and got through to some department i wasnt able to access before, who then kept me on hold while he contacted the engineering team in his department who told me it would be looked at today or tomorrow at the latest. so i am now waiting for another engineer to call sometime between today and tomoz, to see if the cat has been changed.

here is a list of everything thats wrong, mostly scratches on these items:
handlebars
mirrors
handlebar end weight
front brake lever
fork slider
fork seal kit
front brake caliper
front mudgaurd
exhaust silencer shield
rear brake lever
footrest and hangers
right hand indicator
front wheel
brake discs
brake disc bolts
brake pads?
footrest hero bolt
engine crash protector

does any of this sound cat B to anyone? if so please correct me.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Looks like it should be cat c to me. Nothing critical beyond the front wheel and that is a bolt on easily replaced part.

However at new prices and with labour pretty certain that adds up to more than the normal ~2/3 value write off point.

Also worth mentioning that some salvage yards are not careful in the slightest when picking up written off bikes. Heard stories of lightly damaged write off being picked up from dealer by salvage guys who have attached a winch to the bike and dragged it onto a flatbed (with the bike falling off the side stand within a foot and after that just being dragged on its side). Could easily be more damage from something like this.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[shleppy]

well i hope not, that would suck.

[iooi]

Not a expert in anyway here.
But if the front wheel is in need of replacement, fork seals and caliper are too.
Given that, I would expect the fork stantions to be bent and they will bend a lot easier than a wheel will.

You may need to get a independent person to check the bike over if they still say cat B and won't budge. But that will cost you to have done.

At the end of the day you will get cash for a replacement, less the excess.
Personally i would not want the bike back, as its never going to be the same. Will not be as easy to sell on as its had a major shunt.
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[Ichy]

Personally I don't understand the obsession with having the bike back but I'm sure you have your reasons.

It wouldn't matter if they had 100 enginners look at it, it would be extremely unlikely that they will disagree with the original report since it would mean they made a mistake.

Put the effort into getting as much as possible off the insurance, search the 'net for higher priced ads and send them to the insurers.

I have to agree with Kickstart, my sons scooter was recovered by a local firm having been stolen and 'dumped' all of 20 yards from the house. Because the steering lock was on they tied a rope around it and winched it across a field then picked it up and threw it on the back of a car transporter. They just assume that the insurance will cover all the damage.

[shleppy]

the wheel wasnt bent, the wheel was marked, all those components were marked, i think the disc was bent, but thats it, and the forks wernt bent either. literally guys 100quid 2nd hand parts and its on the road, with what theyre offering im not gonna get close to a 600cc bike again.

[Ste]

Argue your case for how much they pay you. Find adverts for similar bikes to show how much a replacement will cost. If you just want the bike back on the road at minimal cost why are you claiming from the insurance?

[shleppy]

a car hit me, i was advised to claim as if i didnt and he did, then would look suspect, dont know how good that information was. the accident was also the taxi drivers fault but without witness' i wanted to make my side of it as open as possible.

[Ichy]

[shleppy]

they offered me 1600, minus excess its 1350, it should be more like 1800 as the bike was proably worth just under 2000, with insurance ontop of that, as i now need a new policy, and being a student with a non existant income, that gap is quite large, obv not to you guys with jobs, but unfortunately for me it is.

so for 100 quids worth of repairs to a bike i know i can get on the road quite easily, i rode it away from the accident. looking back i probably should not of claimed but told the insurance company of the accident, but on fully comp and riding the bike from the accident i beleived it would be minor damage that would of been easily fixed and that i wouldnt loose any NCB due to the fact the taxi turned infront of me without indicating and hit me, unfortunately there was no witness' and the taxi didnt take responsibility, the insurance company has classed it as a cat B despite most damage being scuffed metal, and they are unwilling to reclassify due to the fact that would be admitting theyre wrong.

all in all i think im fairly buggered and im going to have to get probs a 400cc bike, and in the meantime insure myself on my little rxs100 again.

tbh i am sad, the hornet was nice, expensive to run but nice, and i think theres been some sentimental connection with all the bikes ive owned nomatter how poor they were.

The most annoying thing here is that the bike is obviously not a cat B, all i can think of is why do they care; all i can come to is they dont wont to admit theyre wrong. i find that petty tbh, and that annoys me more than anything out of this. i dont see what they loose or gain from this so why not just help me out?

[Kickstart]

Hi

Until you accept it and they pay out it is yours and they are in no position to categorise it as a write off.

If the claim is found to be the other drivers fault then you shouldn't lose your no claims or pay the excess. However if you are found to be at fault then you will.

Was the taxi coming the other way and turned across in front of you?

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[shleppy]

the taxi had parked up on the left and was waiting there for a few seconds, i then indicated and pulled out to overtake, and then he literally just turned right into some guys house. splattering me all over his rear right passenger door.

[Skudd]

if you are claiming from the other person then you do not pay any excess, if the insurance company pay out who cares who buys it afterwards? Get more than the £1600 offered and go look for a new bike, there are plenty of 600 bike for £1500.
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