Car hit dad's bike. Advise needed.

Mycroft H

Well folks,

Could do with a bit of advice and experience here. Not really familiar as to how this works as its thankfully never happened before. Here's what happend.

Dad + pillion passenger driving along a main road. An Audi pulls out of the side junction on top of the bike, fails to see or yield to the bike. Bike hits car at approx 40mph.

Dad is thrown over the bonnet and rolls; minor cuts and bruises in the end. Pillion passenger takes the worse hit, she's now in hospital with a broken knee.

All wearing decent quality gear, head to toe.

Ambulance called by a bystander. Gardai arrive from up the road. Statements taken and drivers breathalysed by AGS. The pair taken to hospital by ambulance.

So now here's the fun bit. It seems like its an open and shut case; Audi fails to yield, causing the accident.

Does he get his own insurance involved? He's reluctant to.
The bike (a ZZR 1100) recently has had a lot of work done to it; new tyres, chain/sprocket and service. Will he see this value back from the other drivers insurance?
Accessories and safety gear? The givi back box is fairly wrecked and most the safety gear is scuffed (including helmets). These were quite new. Hes entitled to those being replaced I presume.

Thanks

rat_race

Mycroft H wrote: »

Well folks,

Could do with a bit of advice and experience here. Not really familiar as to how this works as its thankfully never happened before. Here's what happend.

Dad + pillion passenger driving along a main road. An Audi pulls out of the side junction on top of the bike, fails to see or yield to the bike. Bike hits car at approx 40mph.

Dad is thrown over the bonnet and rolls; minor cuts and bruises in the end. Pillion passenger takes the worse hit, she's now in hospital with a broken knee.

All wearing decent quality gear, head to toe.

Ambulance called by a bystander. Gardai arrive from up the road. Statements taken and drivers breathalysed by AGS. The pair taken to hospital by ambulance.

So now here's the fun bit. It seems like its an open and shut case; Audi fails to yield, causing the accident.

Does he get his own insurance involved? He's reluctant to.
The bike (a ZZR 1100) recently has had a lot of work done to it; new tyres, chain/sprocket and service. Will he see this value back from the other drivers insurance?
Accessories and safety gear? The givi back box is fairly wrecked and most the safety gear is scuffed (including helmets). These were quite new. Hes entitled to those being replaced I presume.

Thanks

Sorry to hear this! Glad nobody was too seriously hurt. I am not an expert, but I have read threads related to this before, and yes, all the clothing and bike accessories should be taken into account when calculating compensation. Helmets, no matter how lightly scratched, should be binned after an accident (they're single use!). Don't worry about it, and demand that everything that any of the protective gear that possibly have suffered damage, is compensated for. I'm guessing that's almost everything they were wearing! Also, the Givi box, etc. -- yep, it's covered.

F*cking blind drivers.

endacl

Didn't see you = didn't look.

bladespin

Injury - let the pros handle it, there's every chance it won't affect your Dad's NBC ect.

All losses should be covered in the event of full liability on the car driver - everything.

Mycroft H

endacl wrote: »

Didn't see you = didn't look.

You know what they say, cars don't see things smaller than themselves.

bladespin

Mycroft H wrote: »

You know what they say, cars don't see things smaller than themselves.

Had one write of my Alfa, it was big enough I can assure you, they don't bother looking then get away with it, pulling out without looking = Dangerous driving (not careless).

seamus

In general the best way to handle these is to claim through your own insurance. You do this because your insurance company will immediately pay your costs for you, and then chase the other party to recoup those costs. Plus they're professionals with experience at this and have solicitors on staff, etc.

It doesn't affect your NCB, however your NCB is typically suspended until the claim is settled, which means that you'll pay the full whack at your next renewal if your NCB is still suspended (but you'll be refunded when the claim is closed).

Alternatively you can put the claim in directly with the other party's insurer without getting your own insurer involved. That can be headache though if the insurer decides to argue over what needs to be replaced, etc etc.

Claim for every cost as a result of the accident - all hospital and doctor bills, medicines, time taken off work, *all* of the safety gear (it all has to be binned even if it looks untouched), and any part of the bike that has suffered anything more than a tiny scratch.

Effectively your father and his passenger are entitled to be returned to exactly the same financial position they would be in, had the accident not occurred.

Personal injuries are much harder to quantify as the passenger may spend the next 3 months making small but irritating (and compensatable) trips to physios, etc, so the insurance company usually try to agree a fixed compensation price with injured parties once the full impact of the injuries are known.

Tell your father it's no harm to ring his own insurance company for advice. They won't make any notes or marks against his file just for ringing them up.

BrokenArrows

If it was just damage to the bike without personal injury then I would be willing to deal with it outside of the insurance company if the driver wished.

However due to the pillion being injured medical bills may build up quickly and there could be on going medical issues related to the accident. Pillion could also be entitled to compensation.

Let the insurance companies deal with it.

Simon300

Through personal experience I would recommend getting a solicitor to look after everything. Yes it will take a bit longer but you'll see the results in your pocket. Sure for the pillion with the broken knee they alone are looking at a minimum of €16,200 compensation as per the injuries board.

Mycroft H

Thanks for the advise folks. The dust really hasn't settled on this yet, we're just glad everyone could walk (or hobble) away from it. Could have been a lot worse.

Jonty

Just to be clear:

The new sprockets/chain and service, will not be taken into account for the value of the bike, all the other stuff will.

The bike's value will be based on the book value, to get anymore is tough

CJhaughey

In saying that, the ins. company usually allow you to buy the bike back from them for a nominal sum, If your father is going to replace the bike with the same type, he could buy it back and strip it for parts if they are serviceable and not bent.

Zascar

Jonty wrote: »

Just to be clear:

The new sprockets/chain and service, will not be taken into account for the value of the bike, all the other stuff will.

The bike's value will be based on the book value, to get anymore is tough

Not necessarily true. My bike got nicked a few months ago and they came back with a disappointing 4k valuation. I was hoping for closer to 4.5k. I called them and asked why the low valuation - they said they called Ducati Dublin and asked for an estimate. Ducati did not know the bike and its condition, its service history or when the belts had been done etc, so gave 3k. I got back on to the insurance company - got a letter from my mechanic, showed them pictures and also clips of other similar bikes for sale etc. It took a good few weeks but I eventually got 4k which I was happy with.

OP I'd say get as much armour in your arsenal as you can about the condition and value of your bike and argue with the insurance.

jay48

"In general the best way to handle these is to claim through your own insurance. You do this because your insurance company will immediately pay your costs for you, and then chase the other party to recoup those costs. Plus they're professionals with experience at this and have solicitors on staff, etc."


Thought the same and claimed off my policy in a fairly straight forward accident and years later a claim mysteriously appeared against my policy when the insurance company pulled out of the market and I lost my ncb . You sign a waiver basically allowing your insurance company to do what it likes if you claim off your policy . Personally I'd let a solicitor handle it .

peckerhead

jay48 wrote: »

You sign a waiver basically allowing your insurance company to do what it likes if you claim off your policy . Personally I'd let a solicitor handle it .

Exactly this. The third party insurer would love your Da to go ahead and claim off his own policy. If he does this he places everything in the hands of his insurance company, and both insurance companies will seek to protect their respective interests way ahead of your Da's or his passenger's.

Also, there are personal injuries and this case won't be settled for maybe 2 or 3 years (at best). In the meantime he will have an open claim and will be unable to get quotes from any other insurer, should he wish to. Possibly on his car policy, too, if he has one?

Even if the other side has admitted liability, he needs a solicitor. You don't say that this is actually so, just that it "seems an open and shut case" to you.

Dad + pillion passenger driving along a main road. An Audi pulls out of the side junction on top of the bike, fails to see or yield to the bike. Bike hits car at approx 40mph.

While I (and many here) might side instinctively with your Da and his passenger, there is no certainty about that at this stage. The Audi driver could claim that your Da came speeding down the road, and a court could rule that he should have been able to stop the bike to avoid the hazard.

And/or, if it's left up to the two insurance companies, they could decide to share the hit, split it 50:50 and take away both parties' NCB. And your Da couldn't do a thing about it.

Oh, and did I mention, he needs a solicitor?

GrumpyMe

peckerhead wrote: »

...Oh, and did I mention, he needs a solicitor?...

Have to second that!

Thankfully I've never had an accident with a pillion onboard.
I just wonder about the process for passengers - does the passenger claim off the drivers insurance and then they in turn claim off the other party?

DubVelo

Agree with what's been said already;

I would say it's fine to chat to his own insurance and ask for advice, but don't claim off them.
Considering the real injury to the pillion passenger you guys do really need a solicitor. (Maybe his insurance company could point him in the direction of one? You want someone who specialises.)

You can make a head start by doing an itemised list of EVERYTHING damaged and how much it costs to replace (new).
Get something to backup each price, this could be a quote from a shop, or print out from an online shop, page from a catalogue or whatever.

You'll also need to gather evidence of all injuries, request copies of medical notes etc.

Basically, document EVERYTHING. Time off work, recovery of bike, taxi home, everything. That goes for your dad and pillion.

I'd imagine the pillion should just be claiming off the other drivers insurance since they were at fault.

Muahahaha

endacl wrote: »

Didn't see you = didn't look.

"He came out of no-where" - most common answer a driver gives after knocking a biker off.

According to that logic the biker defied the laws of physics and "came out of no-where". Or else, more logically, the driver didn't look or didn't look properly.

galwaytt

peckerhead wrote: »

Exactly this. The third party insurer would love your Da to go ahead and claim off his own policy. If he does this he places everything in the hands of his insurance company, and both insurance companies will seek to protect their respective interests way ahead of your Da's or his passenger's.

Also, there are personal injuries and this case won't be settled for maybe 2 or 3 years (at best). In the meantime he will have an open claim and will be unable to get quotes from any other insurer, should he wish to. Possibly on his car policy, too, if he has one?

Even if the other side has admitted liability, he needs a solicitor. You don't say that this is actually so, just that it "seems an open and shut case" to you.



While I (and many here) might side instinctively with your Da and his passenger, there is no certainty about that at this stage. The Audi driver could claim that your Da came speeding down the road, and a court could rule that he should have been able to stop the bike to avoid the hazard.

And/or, if it's left up to the two insurance companies, they could decide to share the hit, split it 50:50 and take away both parties' NCB. And your Da couldn't do a thing about it.

Oh, and did I mention, he needs a solicitor?

Your car insurance will not be affected. My car came up for renewal whilst in middle of sorting out a bike claim and I told them of the claim and they told me it was not affected.