Knocked Off

Hi everyone, great forum here so wondering if anyone has any advice on how to handle my first incident. I was stationary at the traffic lights today as was the car behind me. As the lights changed and the van in front of me drove off the car behind forgot I was there and being blinded by the sun he moved off and went into the back of me. Although it was slow speed I just wasn't expecting it so came off the bike and dropped it on its left hand side. I'm okay, all my gear is okay and the bike from what I can tell is in good running order (rode 30 miles home fine) just a broken gear lever peg and scratched across the lower fairing so pretty lucky there. The guy gave me his name, phone number, address and I've got his reg number and another person kindly stopped to offer his details as a witness. The guy said he was happy to pay for the damage to be fixed so will get the bike checked over properly and find how much it'll cost to repair. Although I was a little shaken at the time I'm not too upset about what happened - the guy made a mistake and said he was sorry and offered to fix the bike so not much more I could ask for. I'm happy to sort this privately rather than via the insurance company so is this okay - do I need to report the incident to the police or inform my insurance company (in case he decides not to cough up)?

[mr.anderson]

Glad you're not hurt. I think you'll find somewhere in your insurance agreement that they require you to report any incident even if you don't claim.

I would certainly get in contact with the witness, and then if the bloke does decide not to pay up you have some proof. He may decide not to play ball when the quote comes in to fix it.

Somebody with more knowledge than me will be along soon I'm sure.

had a similar thing a few years ago - personally i wouldn't mess about with insurance just for that if it's only a few quid. Just make sure you get it sorted really quickly. as you can still report it in a week or 2 without any issues if he gets funny about things.

I would get all my pricing done this week and present it to him and make sure you get the cash next weekend at the latest.

job done, everybody happy.

Originally Posted by sayani

Hi everyone, great forum here so wondering if anyone has any advice on how to handle my first incident. I was stationary at the traffic lights today as was the car behind me. As the lights changed and the van in front of me drove off the car behind forgot I was there and being blinded by the sun he moved off and went into the back of me. Although it was slow speed I just wasn't expecting it so came off the bike and dropped it on its left hand side. I'm okay, all my gear is okay and the bike from what I can tell is in good running order (rode 30 miles home fine) just a broken gear lever peg and scratched across the lower fairing so pretty lucky there. The guy gave me his name, phone number, address and I've got his reg number and another person kindly stopped to offer his details as a witness. The guy said he was happy to pay for the damage to be fixed so will get the bike checked over properly and find how much it'll cost to repair. Although I was a little shaken at the time I'm not too upset about what happened - the guy made a mistake and said he was sorry and offered to fix the bike so not much more I could ask for. I'm happy to sort this privately rather than via the insurance company so is this okay - do I need to report the incident to the police or inform my insurance company (in case he decides not to cough up)?

Dude sorry to hear that, good news is that everything is okay.

I would go through insurance, thats what you pay money for so you don't get stuck with the hassle of it, why is he not wanting to go through insurance, that to me sounds bad right away.

I would call your insurance company asap with the details and the witness as we. Then go to the police take all your docs with you, not sure how the other forces work. With any luck the guy will get stuck on for driving without due care.

They get your bike checked over to make sure everything is okay.

Take care dude

[Biker Biggles]

Doubt police will want to know if no one injured.But make sure you check everything on the bike for damage and get the money.Any funny business and go straight through the insurance.

[Shellywoozle]

Ahh sorry to hear you had a minor error but seems like a decent bloke !

As insurance details were given at the scene the police will not need to know as it is no longer a reportable offence. Only if someone was hurt or there was damage to street furniture or animal that the police would want to know.

You have a witness and the reg number, so I can't foresee problems. The only thing I would do is inform my insurance just in acse there are problems or he changes his mind. Just tell them you are logging the accident but ARE NOT claiming. I have done this in the past and it has not meant any charges on policy as there is no claim, but if he decides not to play ball you can go down that route if need be.

Originally Posted by mike_avfc

had a similar thing a few years ago - personally i wouldn't mess about with insurance just for that if it's only a few quid.

It wouldn't bother me if it was simply 3 or 4 quid, if I were you I'd still inform my insurance company just in case the bloke tries to pin the fault on you and make a claim against your insurance. Sometime they are all nice and frendly at the time, and then things change later when they find out just how much that 'cheap little motorbike' costs to repair - don't take a chance on it.

[glade]

Sorry to hear that - i know how stressful it can be in this circumstance, even though it might not look like much.

I'd report it to the police, and report to insurance.

If the quote for the work turns out to be expensive the other party may suddenly not be so co-operative.

Unless you can afford to foot the bill (should it all go tits up) I'd go via official channels.

I was knocked off, the other party admitted fault, and I haven't suffered any increase in insurance premium after getting my bike repaired.

[yorkie_chris]

Broken gear lever £30, respray the fairing... dunno. Get a quote and give him that.

Pretty obvious he won't want to go through insurance for something which has caused no real damage. a <£100 bill to get it back to pristine would probably get written off by insurers

Bluethunder, if the situation was reversed I think your attitude would be very different. You nudge someones wing mirror and break it, offer to pay £50 (for example) to replace it and have it fitted. The guy goes through insurance anyway and next thing you've lost your NCD, your next years cover would be 3 or 4 times the price.
"Just go through the insurance" seems a bit shortsighted, at least give the guy the chance to sort things out properly!