I think my neighbour's builders have knocked over my bike

[ice.shark]

Hi, there is a house next to mine that is being renovated. I left my bike on the driveway today and when I came back it was moved and a plank was put under the stand (and more planks in the builder's waste bin). I won't bore you with the details but looks like it'd been knocked over.

I didn't see who's knocked it over but I think it's the builders. In the 1 year I've had the bike it hadn't been knocked over so I don't think any of my neighbours would have accidentally done it.

I'm not really sure how to proceed.

[Ariel Badger]

What is the damage?
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[ice.shark]

The exhaust can is bent and some oil has spilt out everywhere. There's brake fluid everywhere as well. It appears one of the brake hoses has been disconnected (I don't know how). I couldn't examine it properly as it was dark. It's not totalled or anything - it was just knocked over but it appears it has some damage.

[CaNsA]

from experience.

[ice.shark]

[Ariel Badger]

Are they a reputable firm of builders or just the normal cowboys? You might stand a chance with the former but the normal self employed one man outfit will just tell you to P off. You could get your insurance involved but they will tell them to P off as well and as your insured property is of no interest to your insurance company all they will do is put your premium up next year as you will have had the audacity to have made a claim.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[CaNsA]

[ice.shark]

[MC]

They could easily say it fell over on its own, and they used a plank to stop it falling over again. Without witnesses/CCTV its gonna be difficult to prove anything.
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[Ariel Badger]

Basically it is your fault and you pay for the damage, this may not sound fair as the builders damaged your bike but that is what you get for paying £400 or £500 pounds for your insurance each year. Sorry.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[gorillaonabik...]

Don't know if this is useful but I had a not dissimilar incident and a positive result. My incident was a roof slate which went through the bonnet of my car in my driveway.

The neighbours had a bunch of builders working on the roof. To complicate matters, the builders doing the work did not speak English.

Anyhow, I waved my hands around, made faces and shouted a lot until they brought their gaffer in. When I met him, I put on my posh voice, was very calm, showed him the damage and told him we could do it through my insurance company or he could do this cash in hand. I gave him one opportunity to get a quote from the BMW guy who does my car and after much remonstrating, he eventually ponied up.

At all times, I was very calm but firm and gave him two solutions: Specifically, either to deal with my insurance company or for him to deal with it the cheaper way. I told him I just wanted my bonnet fixed.

Why did he do it? Well, I can speculate that he was using illegal Chinese immigrants (was he insured?) and was being paid in cash so he didn't want a load of grief.
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FZR400 (blown engine), ZXR750 (blown engine), ZX6R (accident), CBR600 which had engine issues after which I learned to change gear..., CBR900, CBR924 (stolen), CB600, CB1300 (everything blew up), BMW K1300GT (written off, hit from rear while stationary), Bandit 1250 for a couple of months, Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (nicked) and somewhere in there, I wrote off a Ducati 748 at Cadwell.

[CieL]

Back in the day when s**t happened to us it used to be just that...s**t happened. Find the mirror broken in the parking lot, we'd curse and go buy another one. Now we need to find the culprits, we need restitution, we need all kinds of s**t even for the tiniest nuisance. What happened to us, where did everything go so f**king wrong man?

[sabian92]

[Wonko The Sane]

[dydey90]

[CieL]

[map]

Just skip read the thread but has OP actually tried the old fashioned approach of actually talking to the neighbour and/or builder involved to discuss what happened?
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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[The Disapproving Brit]

[Kris]

[smithyithy]

I drove into a new Fiat 500 yesterday at the motorway services.

Couldn't find the owner, wrote out a full letter of apology explaining what had happened, all my car and contact details, admitting fault and saying the contact me and I'll sort everything out (company car, no f*cks given), left it securely but visibly under the wipers.

A day and half later they haven't bothered getting in touch

[Commuter_Tim]

[gbrand42]

I heard of a similar thing in a supermarket car park. Bloke comes back to his car to find a nice scrape down the side and a note under the wiper:

"Loads of people witnessed this and so are watching me leave this note for you. But it don't contain my contact details. Tough shit lol"
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Yamaha RD50M, Honda C90, Yamaha RS100, Yamaha RD125LC, Honda XL125 V9 Varadero, Honda NT700VA, Honda VFR800X, Honda CRF1000L, Honda ST1300 Pan European

[smithyithy]

[Commuter_Tim]

In fairness, that was a flippant comment, its not something I have actually done before.
Thought about it, and in a logical world if a person doesn't know they have been "fined" they should not be to blame, but in reality, who knows..
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The above post is most likely nonsensical.

I ride a Bandit 600... badly.

[Rogerborg]