motorbike accident advice ;) ....... Updated

loobs40

We had a bike accident in 2008. The driver who collided with us was prosecuted. We were injured, had several operations and we were both off work for nearly four months

My husband was given an interim payment as his company paid only 3 weeks sick leave, however the compensation claim took two full years to conclude! Talking to people during that time, waiting 3 to 4 years isnt unusual. Our case wasnt particularly complicated.


Be prepared for the long haul.

im-lost

loobs40 wrote: »

We had a bike accident in 2008. The driver who collided with us was prosecuted. We were injured, had several operations and we were both off work for nearly four months

My husband was given an interim payment as his company paid only 3 weeks sick leave, however the compensation claim took two full years to conclude! Talking to people during that time, waiting 3 to 4 years isnt unusual. Our case wasnt particularly complicated.


Be prepared for the long haul.

Yes, I'm expecting things to drag on, I'm under no illusions it's going to take time.
I guess I just want the initial bit done and dusted, liability sorted, so that atleast when a sum is agreed on for the bike etc, because they have made a 'without prejudice' offer to settle for the bike already, albeit at a low figure, then it can be spent without any comeback, sorting alternative transport etc, even if it's an extremely slim chance that it'll go anything but in my favour, I'd much rather there was some certainty.

im-lost

So.... Just shy of 21 weeks, after a few weeks in this walking boot I'm able to hobble along without crutches, oh how that feels good, can't get far though but it's progress, but there's a lot of pain around the fracture sites now, early days but feel as fthough I've lost a lot of movement in my ankle, mainly movements to the left, but this, I hope will get better in time. See what my consultant says tomorrow when I go for a checkup, and to arrange physio and the like.

My poor emaciated leg is a shadow of its former self, the poor little fella, and probably couldn't kick it's way our of a paper bag, sure it'll get built back up in time with it being used more now.

Oh, and liability has finally been resolved, not that it couldn't IMO have went any other way, but it feels like one less hurdle to jump.

The reason they took so long, the woman tried to squirm out of any wrongdoing, she was offered a driver awareness course, which she refused and ignored contact from the police for a while, they finally caught up with her and was given the option of a course or her day in court, she reluctantly plumped for the former.

But, on to my reason for visiting this again.

Regarding the valuation on my bike and the unknown previous write off status.
My solicitor, although excellent and is handling things without much input from myself, has interpreted the ombudsmans advice about disregarding the previous status of the bike as it's more geared towards an insurer not paying put, in say a comprehensive policy that your claiming on. And that it's just seen as 'advice' and such 'asvice' from the ombudsman wouldn't hold up in court, if it got to that.

Although he agrees with my interpretation of it, he thinks it's unlike to sway the other parties valuation on the bike. Which to be seems a bit of a blow, considering no fault is pointed towards me, and the valuation is about £500 short if what a replacement would cost.

Does anyone have any knowledge on how the ombudsmans advice works in practice and how likely the other insurers will follow or?

vaio

im-lost wrote: »

.........Regarding the valuation on my bike and the unknown previous write off status.
My solicitor, although excellent and is handling things without much input from myself, has interpreted the ombudsmans advice about disregarding the previous status of the bike as it's more geared towards an insurer not paying put, in say a comprehensive policy that your claiming on. And that it's just seen as 'advice' and such 'asvice' from the ombudsman wouldn't hold up in court, if it got to that.

Although he agrees with my interpretation of it, he thinks it's unlike to sway the other parties valuation on the bike. Which to be seems a bit of a blow, considering no fault is pointed towards me, and the valuation is about £500 short if what a replacement would cost.

Does anyone have any knowledge on how the ombudsmans advice works in practice and how likely the other insurers will follow or?

Good to hear you are on the mend......

The FOS/legal position is as I stated in post #24 but Bert's advice in the following post (basically try and bull$hit the claim handler) is worth a try but if it doesn't work then I suppose the question becomes how you value a cat c bike.

If you bought it relatively recently how does what you paid compare to the offer? Is it an old or special bike?

Pragmatically if you can get your solicitor to be assertive then I wouldn't have thought the other side would put up too much of a fight over £500 in a claim that's sounds like it could well end up costing them £20/30k or more

fivetide

Good to hear you are on the mend.


Is it definitely Cat C as this should be recorded on the V5 if it was only Cat D then it might be worth a bit more given the lesser damage.


As above though, how old and where did you buy it from? Might be some recourse with the dealer who sold it especially if they claimed it was HPI clear or something (assuming it wasn't a private sale)

DigForVictory

When you get out of the boot, find & have a swing at Scottish Country Dancing, which is almost rugby to music. It'll get both legs fully working with much more fun than physios exercises. (Doesn't hurt the social life at all either!)

+1 for asking the vendor for any paperwork remaining/ the V5!

im-lost

fivetide wrote: »

Good to hear you are on the mend.


Is it definitely Cat C as this should be recorded on the V5 if it was only Cat D then it might be worth a bit more given the lesser damage.


As above though, how old and where did you buy it from? Might be some recourse with the dealer who sold it especially if they claimed it was HPI clear or something (assuming it wasn't a private sale)

Nothing is on the V5, I don't believe bikes need this recorded on the V5, because they don't need a VIC check after a write off.

The vehicle report says it was a cat c on the 13/04/11 I bought it on the 7/04/12 from a private seller, paid £1300 for it, the bike was in near mint condition when I bought it, if it was a write off previously, it was repaired fully, the valuation that's been placed is £750, minus £165 salvage, but they can have the bike, iI'll have a full payout lol, it's worthless to me in its current state, will cost hundreds to fix up, and even if I did fix it up I wouldn't ride that thing again it's tainted :rotfl:

AdrianC

im-lost wrote: »

But, on to my reason for visiting this again.

Regarding the valuation on my bike and the unknown previous write off status.
My solicitor, although excellent and is handling things without much input from myself, has interpreted the ombudsmans advice about disregarding the previous status of the bike as it's more geared towards an insurer not paying put, in say a comprehensive policy that your claiming on. And that it's just seen as 'advice' and such 'asvice' from the ombudsman wouldn't hold up in court, if it got to that.

Although he agrees with my interpretation of it, he thinks it's unlike to sway the other parties valuation on the bike. Which to be seems a bit of a blow, considering no fault is pointed towards me, and the valuation is about £500 short if what a replacement would cost.

Does anyone have any knowledge on how the ombudsmans advice works in practice and how likely the other insurers will follow or?

The insurers have to put you back in the position you would have been in, financially, without the collision. It's not what you want to hear, but you had a bike with a history - whether you knew it or not. As such, it wasn't worth the same as one without the history. Any diligent potential buyer would have found out it was CatC or CatD, and would have taken that into account in what they would have paid you for it. And that's the value the insurer owes you...

The valuation shouldn't be short. It should be about the right value for a bike of the same age/model/condition... with the same HPI flag against it. And, yes, that's going to be short of what you thought it was. But that's not the insurance's fault.

Good luck with the leg.

im-lost

Thanks for the replies, I guess what will be will be, although after my appointment with my consultant today, I'm feeling extremely discouraged and thoughts of any insurance claim have slipped to be back of my mind, just gonna let those guys deal with it and stop fretting.

My more immediate concern is the fact my leg isn't bloody healed, I guess that dammed boot and my joy at actually being able to weightbare after 4 long months, gave me a misplaced sense of wellbeing.

My leg is, in all respects still broken, communicated fracture if you're the slightest bit interested, a further 6 - 8 weeks in this dammed boot, not fully weight bearing, with the prospect of surgery at the end if my leg doesn't get its finger out and mend itself.

It's knocked me for six, I thought all was well, would be moving on to some physio, and now I have this uncertainty hanging over me once again.

I honestly don't know what to do, that light at the end of the tunnel has once again disappeared in to the distance, arghhhhhh will the actions of this little old lady be the cause of my downfall, after a lifetime of mishaps and misadventure,

Well, it's not that bad, could have been worse, but a relatively minor accident, and it's looking to be 7 months to 'heal' really takes the biscuit, never mind, back to the drawing board with my plans for the start of next year.

AdrianC

im-lost wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I guess what will be will be, although after my appointment with my consultant today, I'm feeling extremely discouraged and thoughts of any insurance claim have slipped to be back of my mind, just gonna let those guys deal with it and stop fretting.

The wrangling over the bike's value is fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. The major factor preventing this claim being settled already is your leg. You actually want the claim to drag on for as long as your leg takes to heal, so that you can get full and final medical and other compensation - yes, including loss of earnings - included in the payout.

And, let's face it, you wouldn't have been riding the bike at the moment anyway, would you?