Please help! Partner had a motorbike accident

trumpettrousers

My partner had a motorbike accident on Wednesday evening last week on his way home from work. He was travelling down a main road at approximately 20mph and a car pulled out from a side street on the left into his path to turn right. My partner had to swerve to avoid a collision and came off his bike. He didn’t touch the car at all.The driver of the car admitted fault at the scene and said that he just didn’t see the motorbike. The police were called and had the motorbike recovered and sent my partner off in an ambulance to hospital. 2 witnesses details were taken down that saw what happened. The police took all details, photographic eveidence etc. The accident was just like the TV advert –(T Boned). My partner has Third Party Fire and Theft insurance with Adrian Flux / Bikesure and apparently there is an Accident Management Company which will work on his behalf called Angel Assist / Helphire. I have read quite alot of stuff on here about Angel Assist etc and it has not been very complimentary.

On Friday morning Angel Assist provided a car for my partner as there is no way that he can emotionally or physically get on a bike. His job is very manual and there is no way that he will be able to return to work for a short while until at least the bruising to his hip , inside legs and shoulder subsides until then he will be on SSP.

Friday afternoon the RAC/ Norwich Union Direct telephoned my partner. They said that their client had telephoned them told them about the accident and admitted fault and that they put it to my partner that they would be happy to handle the claim direct instead of going through accident management company / solicitors – no pressure but said it would be quicker no middleman and that they would be fair! They would also send a cheque as a gesture of goodwill upfront now to cover expenses etc for £200.

Any advice on going direct with the insurance company?

Quentin

As he is going to claim for personal injury, loss of work as well as the damage to his bike it would be worth having someone on your side dealing with this for you (rather than put yourself in the hands of the insurer whose main interest is keeping their costs to the minimum).

The £200 now they are offering is of no consequence, and if you accept it remember that they will be clawing it back by way of a deduction from your final payment.

trumpettrousers

Many thanks for your reply.

trumpettrousers

Has anybody had any dealings with the third party insurance direct? and if so how was it?

mattymoo

There is a potential problem.

The offer to deal direct has come from a department that deals with bent metal only. They have admitted their client is at fault (which is a good thing) and are now looking to get things moving and stop you racking up a large vehicle hire bill. This is to be commended if we are simply talking about bent metal.

However, once you mention that there is a claim for injury and loss of earnings the matter will transfer to the injury claims department. They are not geared up for speed since injury claims take a while to settle.

If I was your partner I would probably make use of the assistance the broker has put forward. It is someone who will fight your corner. Because injuries are involved they will need to appoint a solicitor. If things do go awry then there are formal complaints procedures you can follow.

As quentin says, the £200 is of no significance in the grand scale of things. It is simply an inducement to deal direct. The eventual claim will certainly be well into 4 figures.

Love the user name by the way.

Pssst

Just say no...

Crazy_Jamie

Quentin wrote: »

As he is going to claim for personal injury, loss of work as well as the damage to his bike it would be worth having someone on your side dealing with this for you (rather than put yourself in the hands of the insurer whose main interest is keeping their costs to the minimum).

I agree entirely. Ultimately, whilst they may promise to make things quicker, certain things need to happen here before this claim can be valued. First of all you cannot know the extent or ultimate severity of your husband's injuries at this stage. Is it just bruising that he has problems with? How much pain is he in? Where is this pain forming? Leps, hips, lower spine etc? Any issues with generic actions such as walking, getting up and down stairs etc? Once his injuries have settled it is likely that a medical report will need to be obtained. Then earnings information will be needed to calculate the loss of earnings claim, as well as quantifying the damage to the bike. All of this has to be done irrespective, and you might as well instruct a solicitor who will take your case on a Conditional Fee Agreement, and who is trained to value cases of this nature.

On a side note, make sure you keep a record of all expenses incurred as a result of this accident, including trips to hospital, painkillers etc. All of these are recoverable. It is also worth taking pictures of the bike damage (if you still have access to it), as well as your husbands bruising as evidence of how it develops.

On Friday morning Angel Assist provided a car for my partner as there is no way that he can emotionally or physically get on a bike. His job is very manual and there is no way that he will be able to return to work for a short while until at least the bruising to his hip , inside legs and shoulder subsides until then he will be on SSP.

Be very careful here. Credit hire is a notoriously tricky area, and credit hire companies often do not handle things the way that they should. Does your partner need a car from day to day whilst he is not working? If he using it? If not then you really don't need a credit hire care and should not be incurring the expense of one. Angel Assistance have no doubt made lots of promises about how you won't be charged, but you are under a duty to mitigate your loss, and if they don't recover these charges it would be far from unheard for them to come back at you. Make sure you know exactly what you're getting in to with this.