Thieving scum

[21QUEST]

You must be gutted . If I cought someone nicking my stuff , I think it's fair to say it might be an ugly situation.

Cheers
Ben

[timwilky]

When it comes to thieving bike scum. As a kid a mate had his RD250 LC nicked from outside the pub. We had a fairly good idea who was responsible and about 30 of us booze maddened went round to his house. Despite the guys protests of innocence when his shed door was ripped open there was the missing LC with about 5 other dodgy bikes. Missing LC was recovered and the police recovered the other bikes whilst investigating the kicking that this guy took. Nobody was ever charged with sorting this guy out. I read in the local rag that he got 6 months as the police claimed responsibility for solving a spate of motorcyle thefts.

I can understand why kids nick bikes. But I cannot understand professional bike thieves. I assume most do it to supply to the dodgy parts trade. If bikers refused to buy cheap bits from unknown sources surely this trade would cease and hence the requirement to feed the chain.

You're absolutely right, despite that fact that a lot of us see biking as a community, a lot just don't give a **** and will happily buy stolen bikes / parts, fairly safe in the knowledge that it's unlikely to ever get scanned for the datatag / alphadot security.
I know I'm extremely unlikely to see it again but why am I nervous about the telephone interview I have with my insurers on Wednesday? What are the chances that they'll be sympatheic & understanding? More likely to be desperately trying to find a way to avoid paying out. If I'm pleasantly surprised I'll let you know!
Whilst I'm at it, why do they need a 3rd party company for these interviews and why are they called Brown Sword ?!

had my bike nicked 2 years ago, insurance took a little longer to sort out, mainly on the best price they can find on the market. i would suggest you to start checking the best price you can get for your bike equivalent, if it is on internet, print them off, if it on paper format, photocopy them and send it to your insurance. i was amazed when i got more then what i have paid for the bike when insurance paid out... mind you, i did gave them higher value of my bike then i paid for to start off with...

Naughty, but nice!
Unfortunately I bought mine new. I've got a value from Bike magazine and a mate advised me to ask a dealer for a copy of the Glass guide price.
I'm more concerned about the things like the undertray etc. which I did tell them about on the phone but have no paperwork to prove it.

Originally Posted by BaggaZee

but why am I nervous about the telephone interview I have with my insurers on Wednesday? What are the chances that they'll be sympatheic & understanding? More likely to be desperately trying to find a way to avoid paying out. If I'm pleasantly surprised I'll let you know!

Because next to the people who stole your bike, the insurers are the next biggest scumbags in the biking world. They're not all bad, but they'll almost always be looking for the smallest chink in your argument to decide they don't have to pay. An interview sounds nasty (or do they always interview when there's a theft??) as it sounds as if they don't believe you for some reason. Usually they do everything by phone and post.

I'm chasing mine right now, after they decided that £3100 is the market price for a K4 Sv650S right now. So far they're not bothering to acknowledge glass's or any other info out there. They will, but it just takes ages to force them to accept it. They only do it in the hope that you'll be put off/give up.

They'll probably quiz you about security, what you could have done to stop it, etc. so before the interview, make sure you're very certain about the exact security you had in place, that it was all working and being used right, that you did all that you could to stop the theft. If you come acroos like you didn't make much effort they'll try not to pay. Be confident and just tell them what you did to stop it happening, then they have no grounds to not pay you out, fair and square.

And good luck!