Insurance!!!

[Ward8124]

OK as many of you may or may not know and that is that my lovely new SVS of 5months met its end coutesy of a london bus thus being written off. I got the cheque through the door and it seems as though they are somewhat mis guided on A my sense of humor or B the cost of the bike as it was brand new (ish) had lowers, hugger,bungs......so giving me a cheque for 3200 for 4800 worth of bike is taking the p*ss.

I then though ok according to my policy in bennets it says they should do 1 for 1 as the bike is less than 6 months old.......sounded great untill i called the underwriter where i was then informed that this was not the case and that it was only 3 months! After going ape doo daa i checked my polic schedule and lo and behold a very very small section said something along the lines that this was the case.......i then called Bennetes to chew someones head off and ask why this was different from their hand book and why they didnt inform me of this detail It turns out they normaly would have the 6month policy but this one doesnt...magic.

So after gpoing back and forth between the insurers and getting no where i've reminded them that I have sent them an invoice of the cost of my bike along with details of servicing so they can review their quote and not take the p1ss. Plus ive also got my dealer to send me a letter to say the affect that my bike is worth atleast 4300 in their professional opinion so i will send these gits this as well.

Then suddenly though hey i wonder if i got gap insurance when i bought the bike on finance.........computer says no as i never knew what this was or was offered it at the time of buying the bike! bugger.

How is that im the victim of all this when its not my fault? Worse still is that now the insurers have issued a cheque for the bike i need to hand my hire back in 7 days despite the fact that Im disputing/rejecting the settlement so i will have no bike in a week, deficit of payment to finance company of about 1k if this is anything to go by and all because a fecking bus driver cant look in his mirrors.

It makes you wonder why you bother with insurance at all sometimes.

Rant mode now set to level 11.

BTW any advise on this will be nice :evil:

[GC-SV]

Insurance is purely a third party thing and you will only get what their magic book tells them, maybe a little more if you keep at them.

Did you tell them the extras that were on the Bike and insure for the value with the extras added? - not that it probably makes much difference.

Its a sad fact of life, like a lot of things, you are on your own. Nobody really gives a toss (insurance companies, courts, police etc.)
All is fine as long as ecerything is going smoothly.

Mate in work pays into 1 of these health care plans. Takes ill, then again, then agian - health care company tells him "sorry we can't fund you because you have been sick too much". Like I say you're on your own in this world. The only people who really care are your family and a small number of really close friends.

Apologies for going on so bluntly but things like this really get my back up and
sorry to hear about your situation and I hope you get some more out of it.

[Fizzy Fish]

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with this. Have you tried sending them figures from a pricing guide such as Parkers?

[Toypop]

http://www.kawasaki-bristol.co.uk/usedbikes.php

Scroll down on there and you will see my K5 SVS (although the pic aint up yet).

6 months old, 6 months tax, only 1800 miles although they have it down as 2000. It has lowers and a seat cowl and is absolutely immaculate. When I say immaculate I mean showroom condition without so much as a spec of dust. You can see the price. Show that to the insurance co as that is a direct replacement for your bike.

Sounds to me like they have given you just a tad more than the px value!

Still look on the brightside, thats £200 more than I got for mine! You can go out now and buy an SS600 and be better off than me! Pity that bus didnt write off my bike!

Or go down to my dealers and tell them you know how much they gave me for it and that you aint paying more than £200 more!

[Biker Biggles]

I think I said this before,but make up the difference on your injury claim.And was'nt your GF involved?There's her injury claim too,and all your clothing.It's got to be done,as insurance firms always do this.

[paulthewitt]

speak to the financial services authority. they are the regulators. they will be simpathetic.

and even if they cant help, looging a complaint with them cost ts the company around £100 automatically, so you'll have a small revenge.

they SHOULD NOT GIVE YOU AN INCORRECT HAND BOOK.

retain this as it will help your case with the FSA.
any probs, just ask me.

good luck
Paul

[SVTONYB]

I'm at a loss here are you not claiming the Ins Co for the bus as it was his fault :?:

[Ward8124]

I'm at a loss here are you not claiming the Ins Co for the bus as it was his fault :?:

yeah it was their fault and thats what sucks as its me who is coming worse off.

[fizzwheel]

When my car got written off they offered me £2430 for it, The car was worth IMHO £3000. I went on the autotrader website and printed off around a dozen adverts for the same spec and lower spec cars that were all advertised at £2995 I wrote a nice polite letter and put this in with the adverts and sent it to the insurance company.

In the letter I explained that in my opinion I could not purchase another car in as good a condition as mine was for the money that they had offered me.

I was told to cash the initial cheque and that this wouldnt prejudice my disputing the offer.

Two weeks later I got a nice letter back saying that had looked at my claim again and were uppping their offer to £3000 and a cheque for the extra they were offering me.

If you got hit by a bus you insurance company will recover the loss from the third parties insurance company once the claim is settled IIRC. Well thats what they did with me anyway.

As for having no bike. If you have legal protection or a good solicitor. Go and hire a bike and then keep the receipts and then claim it all back off the third party that hit you.

HTH good luck with getting it sorted, it just takes some perseverance and patience.

It took nearly 3 months to get my car claim all sorted out, it is very frustrating.

[timwilky]

OK Bennetts are simply the brokers who sold you the policy, who are the insurers?.

You should reasonably expect the full pre accidental value of your motorcycle, plus the replacement costs of hemets/leatheres etc, less of course any betterment.

Sounds like you have been given a preliminary settlement offer. Reject it explaining the bike was only 6 months old and the price of an equivilent motorcycle (AT THE TIME, NOT NOW) was £....

Ask for a copy of their inspecting engineers report and valuation. It is not unknown for a bike to be incorrectly identified. You would also be suprised as to how many bikes are not even inspected, they simply accept the dealers word that it is a write off and are therefore unaware as to the "extras" that have been fitted to the bike etc.

The engineers report should detail anything than in his opion would add/detract from a valuation. so evidence of pre accidental damage would detract etc.

[howardr]

They (your insurers) are obliged to pay "the current market value" for your bike. They usually use Glass's Guide or CAP to determine this. Your settlement sounds a bit low.

Have you got ULR (uninsured loss recovery) on your policy? This should cover you for any additional losses you have incurred that are not covered by your main policy. Even if you don't have it, it sounds as though the 3rd party have probably admitted liability so any 'ambulance chaser' would probably take on your case to pursue your additional losses.

Remember, big companies (like the bus company) are usuallly sh*t scared of compensation claims and they'll probably settle without too much of a fight. Seek legal advice, it looks like this time the law may actually be on YOUR side. 8)

[Ward8124]

Cheers guys all useful stuff and just the reason why i joined the ORG in the first place :)

[Kate]

Is your bike brand new, as in a K5 or something? If so, that seems damn low. I'm going through the same process and they offered just over £3k for my K3. They use Glasses Guide in making their offer, and unless you've declared any extra's to the insurance company then you won't get anything for them.

If you do not have a vehicle whilst this is going through because you have to give the hire bike back, then hire a bike, keep the receipts and send them through to your solicitors as it can be claimed back as part of your personal injury claim. I'm building a nice collection of train receipts as I still can't really ride into London yet.

The whole process does suck. It took almost two months for the third party insurance company just to admit liability! Anyway, this is your ranting thread, not mine.

[lew893]

They valued my K5 with 1300 miles on it as £3300 which i was very annoyed at! I disputed it but my solicitor said it didn't matter as it was geting repaired, that was December the 17th my bike is in Daytona's now gettin sorted it's been in for two weeks. I was shocked at the price of a genuine Suzuki exhaust £600.00!!! Hopefully my bike will be back soon! just waitin for my injury claim so I can buy an Octavia VRS! :twisted: