Accident - someone crashed into back of bike!

chokolat2

Hi guys
A bit of advice needed really.
My bf parked his motorbike in a public road, there were no signs to say you cannot park. On the side of where he parked there is a fence of a park. On the other side of the road there are houses and drives where those who live park their cars.
While we were in the park, a young dude reversed his car from his drive right into the bike !! As it being a naked bike, quite a lot of damage was done, especially to the tank. A great big dent!
The lad was very confrontational and at first didnt want to give details of his insurance, so we called and reported to the police.

We've never been through the insurance claims process, i know they will explain everything over the phone, but can only call them Monday morning. Does anyone have any advise at all? It clearly is the lads fault, i mean he so could have avoided this by simply reversing onto a different side, a simple thing to do. Does anyone know how long the process takes approx?

Thanks guys

McKneff

Tell your boyfriend to ring his insurance company and inform them of the accident and tell them it is for INFORMATION ONLY at the moment.

The easiest way is to deal directly with the other parties insurance company who will give you directions as to what to do. The third party should have rung them anyway so you may get a call from them. They should tell you where to take the bike for a quote, authorise the repairs etc. Just follow their directions and you should be okay.

If he gets his insurance company involved it could take weeeks and weeks, doing it this way it could be sorted in a week or two.

I had the same experience, did what I said above and my car was sorted in 10 days.

Annoying isnt it when you havent done anything wrong.

McKneff

And the other fella must be absolutely furious with himself for not looking properly, he's probably done it a thousand times befoe, but that's not your problem. Presumably he has got damage himself apart from his premiums going up for his insurance.

Good luck and let us know how he gets on.

chokolat2

Thanks McKneff,

Will call the insurance company is the other vehicle in the morning (we tried today, they are closed).
To be honest, his car only has a small mark on the bumper - nothing to even worry about.
He was just very confrontational , as if he was hiding something, didnt want to give us the details of his insurance, telling us to do it privately! (is he out of his mind), or trying to blame my bf that he shouldn't have parked there (its a public road, no where near his drive)!

Thank you again.

McKneff

I would say its understandable in the circumstances, he was probably just soo annoyed with himself and took it out on the bf.
(been there, done that, i backed the OHs van out of our drive and hit the corner of a car over the road, I was upset for some reason and just didnt look) cried my eyes out, ran into the house and blamed the OH for not backing the van in so i would be able to drive it out forwards ha ha, how silly was that, you just try to blame somebody else to start with, then reality hits. lol)

Dont forget to tell your bf to ring his own insurance too for info only.

He will probably get loads of telephone calls now from claims management companies but if the other party is not denying liability then just tell them to bog off.

Like you say, dont under any circumstances take up his offer of doing it privately. It can have really far reaching effects for your bf and the other party.

Good luck.

Strider590

If contested it could be several years....

McKneff

I cant see it being contested if the bike was parked with no one on it.

missile

If he refused to give details, it might have been better to let the guy drive off before you contacted the police. Then he could have been charged with leaving the scene ...... etc
If I were your BF, I would make a claim through my own insurer. There are many risks if he attempts a private deal.

maninthestreet

Refusal to provide insurance details after the accident maybe because he isn't actually insured?

Sgt_Pepper_2

missile wrote: »

If he refused to give details, it might have been better to let the guy drive off before you contacted the police. Then he could have been charged with leaving the scene ...... etc
If I were your BF, I would make a claim through my own insurer. There are many risks if he attempts a private deal.

As no one was injured, he doesn't have to provide insurance details.

Norman_Castle

As no one was injured, he doesn't have to provide insurance details.

As no-one was injured the police do not need to be contacted. As property was damaged he is legally obliged to provide his name and address and the name and address of the vehicle owner if different.