Official Parts....How Much??

Originally Posted by tomjones2

Same situtaion as yours, don't know if u rember but i was knocked off in germany in the summer. The final bill for parts was just under £2k for the various bits for a new front end, could have done the work myself for around £500-700 with parts of e-bay etc. If i had fitted the offical exhaust instead of the scoption it would have probaly wittern the bike off. How longs your claim been ongoing, 9 months for me . I'm beggining to think they have no intention of paying out as they admitted full liabilty 5 months ago.

Mine was early december, so 5 months for me. I took it to an official suzuki dealership to ensure it was "mechanically sound" and that I could ride it and got a repair quote, other lot have sent an engineer to look at the bike and haven't, as yet, contested anything to do with the claim amount. Other party has been an absolute swine; he pulled out in front of me on a roundabout, leaving me nowhere to go and as I swerved to avoid him (whilst braking heavily on the gravel coated road surface) I came off, unfortunately only damaging me and my bike. I'm almost wishing I'd just ploughed into him, it'd certainly simplify things.

As usual, he tried the common man's "logic" of "my vehicle wasn't hit, so I didn't cause the accident", even though he admitted at the time to having stopped his car way over the give way line (don't have "proof" of this, sadly)! The chap then played silly buggers with the claims form paperwork; claiming not to have recieved it, then to have lost it, then to not understand it, then to have sent it back, etc. the 3 month period that they have to make a statement on liability has now elapsed and I was under the impression that after that, they lost automatically. Sadly not the case; it just means we can now take him to court if they don't play ball, but my lawyers still don't want to resort to that yet.

I've pointed out to them that this isn't a case of them having just been a bit slow with the paperwork; their client is being obstructive, which to me, suggests guilt. If he genuinely thought he was in the right, surely he'd of filled in the form saying so and sent it back? I'm hoping that's the way the magistrate will see it too, if it comes to that.

They way he is carrying on, I'm beginning to wish I'd pushed for a PI claim too (my doctor is a biker, so no problem there ), rather than done the decent thing and saying, "well it hurts, but it's nothing long term, so I'll let that slide and just claim for the bike."

Luckily, I have 2 witnesses who are prepared to make a statement (now it has come to that), so it looks like the chap will be taking the insurance hit after all. Still doesn't help the fact that:

a) I've been riding around on a decidely second hand looking bike the past 5 months. Even if it's fixed to my satisfaction, I'm unlikely to get any compensation for this. I'm just glad I'd had the bike for over a year when it happened. Had it been brand new at the time of the off, I'd be livid.

b) He should have been prosecuted for dangerous driving; he was 90+ and could barely stand or talk, let alone drive. Another accident waiting to happen. He got off lightly, what if I'd not had time to swerve? Police didn't want to know. Apparently their stance on attending accidents has changed from, "only get involved if someone is injured" to, "only get involved if there's a fatality or very serious injury."
Next time, I'll be informing the police that I think the other party has been drinking, if they won't show.

What annoys me most is that I'd conservatively estimate that £300 worth of my time has been spent chasing insurers, solicitors, witnesses, getting estimates etc. and I'll never have that time back, or recompense for it. Not to mention all the stress and aggro of the whole thing. I really understand why people sometimes say not to bother with minor claims...

Ceri i fearr things are a lot more complicated in this counrty.

I hit the other driver and the postioning of his vechicle clearly showed he was at fault. I was really impressed with the german police, apart from me not having any papers which confused the officer they were great. The germans actually turned up, took photos and there report left no grey areas or loopholes for the driver/insurnance companies to wriggle out of.

Attmittedly i don't know if it is german policy to attend every accident and the other driver was v.coperative but i couldn't keep thinking they have a better system for dealing with accidents. Also being right outside the nurberg ring meant that they were well used to having accidents so i got a medical as well.

I actually felt a bit sorry for the guy, he though he killed me becasue i lay on the ground checking that all my bits were still there, still dont know how he missed me though, anyone who knows the main road outside the ring will know its wide, there was no other traffic + good visibilty. Although i didn't understand his statement fully the english guy translating said he hadn't seen be at all. Oh well i walked away which is the main thing.

Hope things work out for u, once my course is finsihed i'm going to start getting on companies/solcitors backs to get this is resolved. I have no doubt that the other company are delibarley stalling so they can earn interst on the money etc.

Originally Posted by tomjones2

I was really impressed with the german police

It's not unusual...