Advice please: Insurance co lost Yamaha Dragstar motorbike - Female rider!!!

vaio

Assuming you can back up the values attached to the bike etc I can see why you shouldn’t get paid out. The lessons might be a bit iffy and there is some overlap between repairing the old one (no value) and finding a replacement (valued) but the rest seems reasonable

It’s refreshing to see someone properly documenting the time spent trying to get someone elses mess sorted out. Many would say letter writing and phone calls can’t be reclaimed (from a company that charges £50 to make the minorest change to your policy.)

One thing you might want to think about, who do you proceed against? I’d have thought your contract is with the insurance company and the garage are acting under their instructions so maybe your letters should be directed at them. This give the added advantage that they come under the regulation of the FOS

mikey72

Profoundlogic wrote: »

I should have mentioned that the bike had minimal damage- broken brake handle and a scratched exhaust. I was also not told about the bike being "lost" till I called many weeks later. The bike would have been roadworthy with a day in the mechanics.

I am shocked you have such sympathy with the insurance company. If they lost your bike, didnt get back to you for weeks, sent you from pillar to post, and then you had to BUY a whole new bike months later, you'd be happy to accept £100 which is what they have offered as compensation?

Are you for real? Or do you just work in insurance???

I'm confused.
£400 or £100?
Minimal damage or agreed write off?
£800 to put it back on the road for a brake handle and a scratch?

Profoundlogic

Thank you Vaio,

You are right, it is important to claim back the lost time because mostly these companies mess you about until you just give up because you are too busy. So by telling them they are paying for your time, they can decide if they want to waste yours.

I am onto the Financial Ombudsman. It rests with them as they cover insurance. The company that lost the bike is working as the agent for the insurers so they cant try and blame eachother, which they initially started doing (the garage saying it was the insurers fault the bike was released and vice-versa).

In all, you have to fight these people.

I am left, after my accident on 18th of July STILL with no bike and no compensation. And yes, a lot of my time wasted. Thanks for posting. I will let y'all know what happened!!

Profoundlogic

Sorry mike, it is confusing.

They were going to give me £1800 for the bike but raised their valuation to £2200.

They offered me as compensation for the mess £100.

The £800 is the PROFIT in the bike if I bought it back as salvage (£500) and paid for the repairs (£300) and then sold the bike as a Cat D bike £1600 or so. Hence, I have LOST the change to keep that £800 profit that would have come with the write off if they had not LOST my bike.

But you are right math is not my strong point.

Cheers, T

dacouch

vaio wrote: »

One thing you might want to think about, who do you proceed against? I’d have thought your contract is with the insurance company and the garage are acting under their instructions so maybe your letters should be directed at them. This give the added advantage that they come under the regulation of the FOS

The one to go after is the Insurer as the garage are acting on their behalf, the Insurer has to abide by the Ombudsman, the garage does not.

See paragraph two of this link http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/10/oct-repair-replace-cash.htm

I work in Insurance as does Raskazz, amusingly you are accusing Mikey and Viao who are non insurance workers but who contribute in MSE on the consumers side.

To achieve a result you need to send your letter in (Ideally by recorded delivery) as an "Official Complaint". This will mean Axa have to investigate the complaint fully and report back to you within a certain timescale. You need to refer to the Ombudsman's guidance on miss salvaged cars/bikes and that if you do not receive satisfaction you will then take the matter to the Ombudsman.

I would suggest you start keeping a record of all of your dealings with Axa so you know the dates and time spent on each dealing.

Bear in mind that the Ombudsman may or may not agree with the levels of compensation you are requesting so be prepared for reasonable negotiation on the levels. I think (I may be wrong) the Ombudsman would not agree on the level of compensation you are requesting for the lessons. He may also not agree the amount you are claiming for the insurance depending on how you are working this out. This is because you would still be liable for the insurance premium whether the bike was repaired or written off by the insurer

mikey72

It's possible they would continue to insure if it was a repaired cat D, or transfer to a new bike. Or they could just cancel with the loss of the years premium. Check the t&c's.
I'm still not clear on the figures, as you stated £1600 with £400 compensation, then £1800, then £2200 + £100 compensation. With a complaint it is important to be clear, and to itemise the amounts correctly.
£400 on top of the initial £1600 doesn't sound bad, £100 on £2200 doesn't sound good.
It's worth claiming for the time spent sorting it out, but I still don't think you will get compensation for shopping for a new bike, that's something you would have to do regardless.

Profoundlogic

Grrr.... They upped the valuation on the nearly perfect Dragstar from 1800 from 2200 because it was really good.

so ONLY 100 compensation was offered.

I would not need to shop for a new bike if they hadnt lost mine. It is time i have to spend.

Thanks everyone for your input. I am keeping records of everything and hoping these guys will pay what is clearly right. That is what insurance is for- compensation when things go wrong. One should not be out of pocket JUST because someone else made a mistake.

dacouch

Mikey does have a point about the shopping time for another bike if one of your arguements with the Insurers is that had they not scrapped the bike that you could have repaired it and sold it for X amount of profit. If you use this arguement they may say you would have had to shop for another bike to replace the bike you just sold.

Mikey is actually on your side as he hates Insurers, starting a post with "Grrr" may put him and other posters from giving you advice which is what you are after. If you had used the grrr before I posted then I would not have posted the previous posts I made

Profoundlogic

Grrr is for AXA, not you dacouch!

mikey72

I'm thick skinned, or at least I hate insurance companies more than grrrs, so:

It's important to be clear.
Either £1600 upped to £2200 as they lost the bike, so £600 compensation.
Or a write off figure agreed at £2200 as the bike was good, and the £100 compensation on top.

If you agreed the write off, which you have said you did, you are expected to shop around for a new bike. Your time though, not theirs. If you decide not to, that's nothing to do with them.
They can sell you the bike back, they don't have to though. It is a nice little perk, but not your right. If they agree to and don't, you can have a case. If they don't ask, and you haven't agreed it's a write off, as above, that's slightly different.
The loss of training is harder, as you would have lost some time anyway due to the accident. It would be very hard to prove anything either way.
And this could go on for another 6 months.