Insurance claims, the bain of my life

[Jimmythe1]

Just wondering,

Although now that my machine is in pieces, I am fairly confident that it will be economically fixable.

If anybody has made a claim in the past, do you know if insurance companies will insist on me replacing damged parts with genuine suzuki components?

For example, I think gixxer4 rearsets cost around £60 each, however I would much rather spend a little more and get some decent adjustable ones.

Also would it be necessary to use a recommended repairer, or can I get someone with better rates to do it?
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[T.C]

The quote provided to your insurer and that was agreed will be for genuine parts at the recommended retail price. However, based on my experience when I used to do insurance repairs, if the customer said they wanted something different done to the bike, and they were happy to pay the difference, or they felt that something could be lived with but they would like an extra thrown in, then that was an agreement between me and the customer, although the insurance company were invoiced as per the estimate.

A good example used to be say for example a minute scratch which wasn't really noticeable but where a new panel had been estimated for say £150 (just an example). If the customer wanted a service, sometimes they would ask us to polish the scratch out as best we could and instead of buying the panel, service the bike instead. We were happy to do that providing they understood that there was no redress if the panel cracked beyond repair 2 minutes after leaving the workshop.

I know its slightly different in your case as you want something slightly more expensive, but the principle is the same, and providing your dealer is happy to do it then no problem.

Where the problem may arise is if you choose to do the work yourself. Insurance companies often only like to deal with bona fide dealers and the cheque is made payable to them against an invoice, so whether they will be prepared to pay you for doing your own work, I am afraid i can't answer.
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[Hex]

How much damage (money wise) has been done? You had any estimates yet?

As TC say's if you talk with the garage etc they will probably sort something out with yourself and keep the insurance company happy at the same time.

Question is how much of a hit is it going to be on your insurance in the future, for claiming now? You'll have to work out which is going to cost more - short term and long term.

Hope you get it all sorted cheaply.

Gav
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[Jimmythe1]

I'm not entirely sure how much it will cost really. I have an engineer comming to look on monday.

Asthetically, besides the fairing, nothing is damaged - I certainly won't bother about the cans, I can live with a scrape or two.

The biggest problem in my apinion is the forks, as they appear bent. The front end in general might need serious work because I dont want to be riding at 100mph to find that there was somthing screwed up there after all.

Insurance wise, I cant afford not to claim unfortunately. I figure if they pay out my premium will go up anyway regardless if it costs £400 or £1500. My exsess is £350 and my premium £400, so it will be a mere drop in the ocean for them anyway - might as well get as much as I can.

Either way it sucks, I feel like going on a scallywag bashing binge!
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[G]

I believe they do change the amount your premium goes up depending on the claim.

Right, the forks should be able to be sorted for a maximum of about £100 for new ones from a breakers etc. Less if it's possible to get them straightened.
I don't know how messed up the plastics are, but you could look around for ones on ebay etc or just get the 'fire buckets' out .
Get the frame checked out by a proper place and I reckon you're looking at less than the excess to get it back working and useable again.

I don't know exactly how much a claim and loosing your NCB will cost, but it doesn't seem worth it.
I don't know how much it's insured for, but presumably if it goes over a percentage of that then they will just scrap it and give you the market value minus your excess. Which will leave you with no bike and not much money left I presume.

[Annabella]

We had a quote for the plastics and we're looking at a minimum of £380, that was from Arnold's fairings who are pretty cheap, and wouldn't be replacing panels, just repairing.


As for rearsets and heel plates, at least £120 for the rearsets then who knows how much Suzuki charge for heelplates! I know honda ones are around about £40 each.

So a running total :

£650 (ish)
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