insurance claim help

Wrote the bike off on Tuesday ,phoned insurance all OK , I'm fully comp , they sent a lorry up on Thursday to pick bike up to take it away for engineer report , got a letter on Friday from insurance saying that from the description of the damage I gave when I called them they be leave the bike will be a total loss , and there for can I send them my v5 , not, keys for bike and any other documents to them so when I get the engineers report and offer it can be dealt with quicker , is this right ? To me the bike is still mine till I accept there offer , if I give them the documents then to me its like I have gave them my bike documents and they can say this is all were offering you , take it or lump it we have all your documents so the bike ours now , surely I shouldn't hand over this stuff till if accepted the offer and happy with it , what have you done in this situation ,? Would you send them the stuff now or wait , just not sure what to do , please help , thanks

Not a bike I know, but I had a vehicle nicked at the end of last year. The insurance company, who were very good incidentally, didn't ask for the V5 till it was all settled.

[TamSV]

If you were dealing with a third party insurer then I wouldn't give them the documents or the bike.

However, it's your own insurer, you also think it's a write off and you don't want to keep the bike - so you'll be giving them all this stuff anyway.

It doesn't put you in a different situation. You can still negotiate the settlement if you don't think it's fair and, once you've reached agreement, you'll get your cheque quicker because they already have the documents.

OK thanks for that , no other vehicle was in involved , so it is my insurance asking for documents , just seems strange , like handing over my bike and documents to someone then them saying will sort out what I will give you for it latter ! But if this is norm then I will just post it to them thanks again

They are contractually obliged to pay you. If for any reason they don't, call a law firm.

[NTECUK]

The V5 isn't a document of ownership. It's just a notification of the person who is Keeping it.
So your not giving up title to the bike

OK thanks for that , I did think it was proof of me owning the bike , so now I know , so what is proof that its my bike and I own it ? I'm sending away my docs after all your advise , but it still doesn't seem right , thought I'd have to hand them over when iv accepted there offer , but you learn some thing new every day ,

[NTECUK]

Your have a receipt (Hopefully).
If you read the V5 it does state that.

Yes I do have a receipt , but bought bike privately so its just a hand written one , i could off done that myself ! I got the bike a lot less than book price , so won't be sending that to the insurance , as insured it to a lot more ,

[NTECUK]

Well you won't have to send it off but it is your safety net.
When they collect the bike make sure you get a one too Take pictures of the bike as it is. Attach one to that and one copy to the collection driver one for your records. With a signature.