Hastings Insurance "no buy back" policy

[ophic]

I was in an accident last Thursday and I made a claim through my insurance as it appears very likely that it's the 3rd party's fault. The damage is minor, standard right hand side drop, bar end, brake pedal, scuffs to plastics, exhaust etc.

However due to age of bike, 2004 registered SV650SK3, they say it's very likely they'll write it off.

However now I've learned that they have a "no buy back" policy which means that I won't get the opportunity to buy it back if it does get written off. This is very annoying as I've had the bike from new and it only needs a new brake pedal to be roadworthy.

Does anyone have any advice about what I can do? The bike is due to be collected for inspection tomorrow. I know it's not worth a great deal but it's in good mechanical condition. I'm thinking now it was perhaps a mistake to claim.

[Dipper]

Perhaps you could try coming to a settlement with the 3rd party's insurance company direct.

[Red ones]

Can you nominate the garage for the estimate?
The garage will advise insurers of both the repair estimate AND the bike value. Ask the garage to give you the estimate first and then review the repair list to get the value below write off.

This happened to me last year. I had to lose £1,000 off the estimate so I chose to not have an OEM exhaust and had a Scorpion Red Carbon end can instead. That dropped the repair estimate enough to keep the bike.

[Bibio]

from what i know if it's found to be the 3rd parties fault then you can demand that the bike be put back to how it was, this is due to you not being at blame and the damage would not have occurred.

if you have fully comp and your claiming on your insurance till the third party settlement then yes your insurance company has the right to write it off, you will also loose your no claims till the final settlement from the third party.

[Red Herring]

As far as I am aware you are under no obligation to accept their settlement and they certainly can't take your bike off you and offer you money for it without your consent. As you are claiming off them they do have the right to say they won't repair it as in their opinion that exceeds the value of the bike, in which case you can try asking them for a settlement figure where they will just give you the money and let you take care of the repairs (this is pretty much what I did when someone ran into my bike).

In your position I would forget about claiming off your own policy, get yourself a brake pedal so that you are back on the road, and make the claim yourself directly against the third party, or their insurance if they refer it to them. Be very careful about letting any insurance company take your bike away for assessment, you will find all kind of garage and storage fees will then crop up and confuse the issue. Again in my case I insisted they came in inspected the bike at my home address and we agreed what was damaged and what they would pay for there and then.

[timwilky]

Agree with what others have said and claim directly against the 3rd party. I have done this several times as I have not wanted to get my insurers involved. Agree with others do not release the bike until you have come to a full settlement. However, this has work when the bike was recovered into "free" storage when I demanded its return on failing to agree a value and they then disclosed the bike had been scrapped and had to pay my (and Glasses) valuation.

[Biker Biggles]

As above,and also you need to be clear about who you are talking to.Hastings Direct are a broker,not an insurance company.They dont dictate who can and cant come to whatever arrangement over value/buy back or anything else.

[ophic]

Thanks for advice chaps. They have now agreed to send an engineer around to assess the bike at my property, and will then consider a repair payout.

Thanks for the fast replies. I'd read horror stories similar to Tim's and was getting a bit worried, but now the bike stays with me.

I'll happily repair it myself anyway.

[madcockney]

As above,and also you need to be clear about who you are talking to.Hastings Direct are a broker,not an insurance company.They dont dictate who can and cant come to whatever arrangement over value/buy back or anything else.

Yes and no. Hastings are a broker, but as far as I know they only handle their own group underwriters. With their bike policies it is certainly true and in all sense you are dealing with the front end of the underwriting company.

[Mauler]

Years ago Elephant tried to write off my old 2.8i Capri when some div shunted me into the back of a brand new Mondeo. I absolutely refused to send them any of my official documents or the vehicle itself and after mentioning the ombudsman in a strongly worded letter I got a phone call to settle pretty sharpish.


Red is spot on. :)