I was knocked off my Harley 4 weeks ago by a guy who (surprise surprise) didn’t see me. He claimed responsibility for the accident at the scene, in front of police, so there should be no problem there. My physical injuries were quite severe, and will probably prevent me from returning to work in an acute psychiatric setting, the most likely scenario being I will end up dismissed on grounds of ill health. Anyway, all that’s to worry about in the future. What’s really boiling my piss right now is the ridiculous offer the guys insurance company have made for my bike, which is due to be written off as the repair bill would be around eight and a half grand. I had the bike valued on my own insurance at around ten grand, and have a quote from two separate harley dealers stating it would cost me around that amount to buy a bike of the same year and in similar condition.
The chaps insurance company offered me five thousand eight hundred pounds, so I asked my solicitor to arrange an independent engineer to assess the bike, and now he’s come back with a similar quote, though added in a salvage fee of a grand and a half (not sure if this is deducted from the figure, still awaiting written confirmation). I’m absolutely gutted about this, though from speaking to one or two other people, it seems like fairly standard practice. To make it clear, I don’t expect to profit from this, but would have thought it would have been possible for me to replace a much loved motorcycle with the same or similar.

Insurance value doesn’t always equal retail value.

I would certainly go back and refuse the offer, you could ask for a replacement of equivalent bike instead of cash.

Are there any similar bikes of year/mileage/model on the market? If so, what are they going for?

I’d also speak to the engineer and ask how he came to his figure ie just pulled out a guide and used that.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.

Service history, letter from dealer, adverts for similar bikes. What my boss used to call the “doof” factor, as in collect as much paper as you can to overwhelm them. Did that with last couple of cars that needed insurance cash, was happy enough with result..

That’s crap all round. Surely an engineer would just confirm the damage and work required to fix it, not a valuation.

Anyhow, I was told that you can sue the bloke who knocked you off for uninsured damages by my union legal advisor when I was bounced off my (push) bike recently. Might be an option if there is a gap between insurance valuation and what you can actually replace it for. Approx 4 grand is well under the small claim value too.

(obviously I’m not a lawyer, you’ll want to check this out for yourself naturally before you go for it)

Good luck though.

I’d agree, I think they’re all just working on guide price. All the bikes of the same year in similar condition I’ve seen advertised have been between ten and eleven grand. My solicitor initially stated that this is how insurance companies operate and that “we’ll recoup the money at some stage of the compensation claim”, but I’m not happy with that, I honestly feel that, in spite of the fact I can’t physically ride at present, I should be able to go out and buy a similar bike to the one I had without having to take on further finance, etc.

Are you communicating directly with the other guy’s insurers, or through your insurance company? I’d expect my insurers to deal with everything, including pressing my point with them. Does your insurance include legal aid?

If you claim on your own insurance, you get what the policy says you get. If it says there’s a reduction for age of bike, or wear and tear, or you didn’t state a high enough value when you insured it, that’s all they have to pay you. BUT when it’s the other guys fault, you’re claiming damages from him of whatever your damages are, which is what his 3rd party insurance is for.

I would be wary of accepting any offer of damages for the bike until you’ve sorted out damages for your injuries; or if you do, make it very clear that it’s only partial settlement.

IANAL.

Your bike was valued by reputable sources at c10k. The Insurer needs to put you back in a situation that you would have been at the time of the crash. Not offering you bottom-end trade in value as you can rightfully argue to be put back onto the same bike it would be alot more. Dont accept. Theyll use time to drag out the process in the hope you’ll just want to draw a line under the process and move on. Print/provide lots of ads, written quotations etc etc and supply to them. Hope you heel good too 🙂

Your bike was valued by reputable sources at c10k.

Eh, the OP said he’d “valued” it at £10k for insurance purposes – that is not the same as worth. And he then had an independent Engineer who valued it at the offer price.

The bike was valued on my own insurance for ten grand because that’s how much it would cost to replace at current market value, which should equate to its worth. As it is, I’m just going to push (or try to) the guys insurance company to find me a replacement bike for the money they’re offering, as I know they won’t be able to. This then may make them rethink their offer, though I’m not holding my breath. Things may become clearer once I speak to my solicitor on Friday.

Insurance ombudsman is clear that market value is cost to replace with as near as possible identical, so as said, get adverts etc printed out (but remember that advertised price is not expected sale price)

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/22/issue-22-motorinsurance.htm

The first offer is always a low blow offer. You just need to provide some proof of why you think the bike is worth more than they are offering. The engineer’s report, the previous valuation and a few adverts of similar condition bikes should give you with more than enough ammunition to get a better offer.

My car was written off a few years back, I think i went through 3 or 4 iterations before they gave me a good offer. Each time I just went onto Auto Trader and got links to similar cars clearly showing their offer was crap.

Good luck hope you get back to normal soon.

Been there many, many moons ago. I got a quote from a dealer and said ummmm I think you are having a laugh. They offered me £3k less than what I needed to get the same year car. Tell them to jog on.

(or try to) the guys insurance company to find me a replacement bike for the money they’re offering

I imagine they’d turn up with a Yamaha thats 2yrs younger and say ‘its a close match and newer’.

If you’ve found some trade adverts of a similar bike/age/mileage print them off. The more the better. From this you can calculate a mean average and propose this. Get on autotrader, ebay, harley forums and get collecting.

You just saying it’s worth £10,000 and someone told me it was worth £10,000 is worthless. They need evidence.

Don’t leave it until later and try and make up the difference with the rest of the claim.

Went through this all 18 months ago.
Very frustrating couple of months.
My van was “written off” for a scuffed panel and they offered me £2.5k. I did some research and told them that it was going to cost me in the region of £7-8k to replace what I had and not be left in a worse position before the accident. Van, respray due to company colours and sign writing.
After a lot of stressful phone calls they finally agreed it was repairable but I did have to threaten them with the ombudsman.

Refuse the offer and tell them to come back with a sensible price. The offer will rise but only by a small amount as they won’t want to pay full whack.
Don’t mention the ombudsman just yet, keep that in reserve if they’re still messing you about in a few weeks time.

Hope you get better soon.

what the others say they know most folk need the money ASAP to get a vehicle so they try to pressurise you to take a cheap offer just to get wheels

Dont accept and just keep sending evidence

they know most folk need the money ASAP to get a vehicle so they try to pressurise you to take a cheap offer just to get wheels

This.

Refuse the offer and ask them to find you the same bike in the same condition, sending adverts as suggested to make it as easy as possible for them.

Tell them you’re prepared to wait as long as it takes, but in the meantime will need them to cough up for a hire vehicle of some sort so you aren’t inconvenienced as a result of their party’s negligence.

the ridiculous offer the guys insurance company have made for my bike

This. Not your insurance, his. It’s not in their interest to make a ‘generous’ offer, they’ll try and slice it where they can. Refuse. Tell them to try harder.

I’d be having a long look at your solictor, too. It doesn’t sound like he’s really on the ball.

Make the difference up later? And if you can’t?

We had our Skoda value upped through the good work of my wife: it was a Pacific version so limited edition, it had low milage, a new gearbox, the bills from the last few years services, similar models for sale for much more than their initial offer. Lots of documents to prove her valuation.

Hope your other injuries are not as bad as you first feel and you can get out on a bicycle.

Are the two insurance companies part of the same group?

I N R A T S but you just need to say no until they make a good offer – may take a while.

Don’t take it personally, it’s a game for them.

Greybeard – Member

If you claim on your own insurance, you get what the policy says you get. If it says there’s a reduction for age of bike, or wear and tear, or you didn’t state a high enough value when you insured it, that’s all they have to pay you.

Is this bit (in bold) correct?
When I recently insured my car, they asked the value and I said I wasn’t sure because similar age cars go for X amount, but mine has a lot more miles than those, so it’s probably worth Y, because of that.
The girl said that my valuation wasn’t really important as they will give market value for the vehicle anyway. Which does beg the question of why they even as how much the vehicle is worth, if they then look to the market valuation…

Which does beg the question of why they even as how much the vehicle is worth, if they then look to the market valuation…

If your vehicle is worth £10,000 and you insure it for £2,000, the most you’ll get is £2,000. You still need to give a reasonable figure but obviously if you insure a 1995 Fiesta for £100,000 you’ll be getting a tad less than this come claim time ie market value.

Standard insurance practice, offer as little as you think you can get away with. Plus the longer you can delay the payout the better. “Loss Adjustment”

The offer has nothing to do with what you insured your bike for with your insurer, its a claim on the other insurance company

Just keep pushing, as you say the loss of earnings claim will be much much higher anyway. Don’t get mad its just the company following normal practice, keep pushing.

What ninfan said. I went through this with a car earlier this year and a bike 3yrs ago, and ended up getting slightly more than market value both times. Some insurers are more reasonable than others, but they’re all bound by the same rules so in the end it’s all about how you hold them to account. Be firm, polite, persistent and thorough – if your demands are reasonable then they will relent.

Yup, what ninfan said. I had similar earlier in the year. Took 3 months of back-and-forth with adverts and prices until I stumbled across the Ombudsman advice. One quick email and a cheque for the amount I was requesting arrived in the post the next day.

I’d be tempted to just tell them, as they’re clearly taking the piss, that you think it’s best for the issue to be referred to the ombudsman straight away.

probably been said already. had a similar scenario with a car where they were offering £12k less than it was worth. I put together a dossier of information of effectively 8 other cars of the same age, condition, mileage etc which all were within +/- 5% of what i thought my car was worth. I sent this to their insurance company stating that my research for them was for now free of charge, however if they didn’t agree I would be adding research charges of $150/hr to the bill. They paid.