Fell off bike

rowanh

I wasnt injured, i have a nasty bruise on my knee and another half way between my knee and ankle, my wrist, foot and shoulder were sore but i think they are ok.

She told me she was insured.

The side fairing has a bit box shaped crack in it and a good few scrapes, the fairing around the headlight has a gouge out of it and the front mud guard is cracked. One of the indicators was lost and the gear shifter is bent. I got a hole in my trousers also, i dont think i bumped my helmet on the ground but there is a mark on the back of it and the side i fell on that was not there before and im not 100% sure.

I rang bike world, the cost of the two fairings and mudguard is about 1100 euro. The indicator is 38 euro, not sure about the gear lever, i think it can just be bent back out if its heated, its not too bad at the moment. My trousers and helmet are 120 and 225, not sure if they can be part of a claim?

I went to the police station, told them what happened and asked them to get her policy number. Axa who i am insured with told me that i need to contact the insurance company myself, the garda i spoke to thought that was very unusual.

Im a little confused as to how a claim like this would work, if i get on to them and they say the responsibility was 50/50 and i have a quote for the repairs would they just give me half the money? Also if there is a claim on here insurance and i am deemed somewhat responsible would that affect my insurance?

kennM

rowanh wrote: »

I wasnt injured, i have a nasty bruise on my knee and another half way between my knee and ankle, my wrist, foot and shoulder were sore but i think they are ok.

She told me she was insured.

The side fairing has a bit box shaped crack in it and a good few scrapes, the fairing around the headlight has a gouge out of it and the front mud guard is cracked. One of the indicators was lost and the gear shifter is bent. I got a hole in my trousers also, i dont think i bumped my helmet on the ground but there is a mark on the back of it and the side i fell on that was not there before and im not 100% sure.

I rang bike world, the cost of the two fairings and mudguard is about 1100 euro. The indicator is 38 euro, not sure about the gear lever, i think it can just be bent back out if its heated, its not too bad at the moment. My trousers and helmet are 120 and 225, not sure if they can be part of a claim?

I went to the police station, told them what happened and asked them to get her policy number. Axa who i am insured with told me that i need to contact the insurance company myself, the garda i spoke to thought that was very unusual.

Im a little confused as to how a claim like this would work, if i get on to them and they say the responsibility was 50/50 and i have a quote for the repairs would they just give me half the money? Also if there is a claim on here insurance and i am deemed somewhat responsible would that affect my insurance?

Basically all of the damages are material damages, i.e. bike damage, gear, helmet, etc. So they'd all get lumped together. Regarding apportioning blame, this can only be done by a judge ultimately. The insurance company will outline their position after investigating the accident and will likely send out an assessor to look at your bike & the damages. Once they make their position known then it's up to you whether you want to accept or fight it.

Regarding your insurance, it shouldn't make a bit of difference (I'm open to correction here). If you claim off your insurance then you affect your no claims bonus, if you don't claim then your insurance is unaffected. You have't caused any damage to her to cause a claim to come in against your policy.

My gut feeling is the insurance company will want this claim settled as rapidly as possible in the hope to ensure there is no personal injuries claim.

Not in insurance profession, just more experience (from a personal perspective) than I've ever wanted unfortunately.

aaakev

Your insurance company should have all the dealings with her one, not you. Thats what you pay them for

cerastes

I think these things are best dealt with as soon as possible, I think its been well covered even though there are differing opinions on what happened.
Unfortunate for the OP regardless, but Im glad its come up to be discussed. Id be more inclined to watch what the vehicle and if possible the driver/rider is doing (are they looking straight ahead or turning their head) rather than giving to much value to what the indicators are doing from the driver on the road of less importance perspective, that said people make mistakes, but I dont think it should be let go if someone has suffered because of a bad decision.
I think the car driver put themselves in a bad position driving off as they did, but more so if the OP had gotten a witness to that effect and reported it soon.Maybe thats still possible to do? (report)

In the event it ever comes up for me, while I wont say I'll plough into someone to confirm my right of way, Ive no doubt I'll automatically hit the brakes to try avoid a collision in a car or on a bike.

trying to come up with whats possible to take from this?

Bike/helmet cam, sounds like a good idea? (and dash cam for cars)
get details/witnesses? both if possible, or if you think of it at the time/or are able, bit more difficult if someone drives off even after a brief discussion.

AgileMyth

Cienciano wrote: »

I'm with Makikomi on this one. As far as I know, if there was no contact, the insurance companies will side with her. Doesn't mean she's completely in the right. You would have been better off hitting her in regards to making a claim through her insurance. I could be talking out my arse though.

My father had an accident a couple of years back. There was a jeep pulled in on the left hand side which did a u turn just as he came to it. No indication or lights on or anything to suggest he was going to do it.

He reckoned he could get behind it but would have to drop the bike. It was either that or a head on collision so he went for it. No contact with the car but plenty with the tarmac.

Your man's insurance paid out as he was obviously at fault, despite their being no contact.

arybvtcw0eolkf

AgileMyth wrote: »

Your man's insurance paid out as he was obviously at fault, despite their being no contact.

But thats not comparing like with like.. A U-turn is an illegal turn whether the driver has indicated their intention to move or not.

By his own description the OP contributed massively to his own accident.

OP what value is on your bike?.. Because an insurance assessor may say its beyond economic repair and scrap it, in which case go with this and enquire as to how much you can buy the bike back as salvage ~ repair the bike, get an engineers report on the repair and either keep the bike or sell it on, either way there's a good chance you'll make money on the deal.

Frigga_92

rowanh wrote: »

I wasnt injured, i have a nasty bruise on my knee and another half way between my knee and ankle, my wrist, foot and shoulder were sore but i think they are ok.

She told me she was insured.

The side fairing has a bit box shaped crack in it and a good few scrapes, the fairing around the headlight has a gouge out of it and the front mud guard is cracked. One of the indicators was lost and the gear shifter is bent. I got a hole in my trousers also, i dont think i bumped my helmet on the ground but there is a mark on the back of it and the side i fell on that was not there before and im not 100% sure.

I rang bike world, the cost of the two fairings and mudguard is about 1100 euro. The indicator is 38 euro, not sure about the gear lever, i think it can just be bent back out if its heated, its not too bad at the moment. My trousers and helmet are 120 and 225, not sure if they can be part of a claim?

I went to the police station, told them what happened and asked them to get her policy number. Axa who i am insured with told me that i need to contact the insurance company myself, the garda i spoke to thought that was very unusual.

Im a little confused as to how a claim like this would work, if i get on to them and they say the responsibility was 50/50 and i have a quote for the repairs would they just give me half the money? Also if there is a claim on here insurance and i am deemed somewhat responsible would that affect my insurance?

Glad to hear you are not too badly injured.
Any gear damaged should be included as part of the claim. Most definitely include your helmet as part of the claim, that small mark could be something far more significant in the inner shell of the helmet.

As regards Axa, it is up to them to handle this matter for you, that is why you pay your insurance. Once the claim is being processed be wary of any phone calls you may get from the other driver or her insurance company and make sure you direct everything back to your insurance company.

At this point you really need to make a decision about whether you are going to involve your insurance company or not as it is now nearly a week since the accident.
It's all fine and well for posters to give you advice etc. but there are no absolutes in litigation and every case is different so the only way you are going to get definitive answers is to make a decision one way or the other with regard to your insurance company.
In my experience, the way two insurance companies might handle a simple case which only involves material damage (which seems to be what you are leaning towards) is very different to the way two insurance companies might handle a personal injuries case with regard to both the liability aspect and the monetary aspect.

Frigga_92

AgileMyth wrote: »

Your man's insurance paid out as he was obviously at fault, despite their being no contact.

Sydney Jealous Hamster wrote: »

But thats not comparing like with like.. A U-turn is an illegal turn whether the driver has indicated their intention to move or not.

It's all to do with causing someone to alter their course.

rowanh

I rang my insurance company on Monday and explained what happened then went to the garda station and went through what happened with them. The person from Axa thought that her insurance company would accept responsibility, the garda i spoke to thought it would be split between us.

The bike is an 09 ninja 250 with 5k miles or so, i bought it for 2800, id say the market value is probably a bit less. I read somewhere that if the repair cost is 80% or more than they scrap it though im not sure if thats accurate.

I was thinking the handle bars didn't seem to be pointing straight forward when going straight when i was first driving it, i haven't since, im not sure if i just got used to it, i should probably get a mechanic to look at it incase im missing something.

So im waiting for the girl to bring in her insurance to her local station which she has ten days to do, then i need to follow up with the garda because "ah you know, we have piles of paper her to get through and its easy to miss things".. In fairness the guy i was dealing with was fairly sound, he had something similar happen to him years ago on a bike.

I thought it was a bit strange that Axa said they are not dealing with it, they sent me a name of a claim handler to contact if i have any questions so i will get on to him and see what they will and wont do for me.