my fz6 v's mountain bike

[SilentG]

hi guys
out for a leisurely ride today, lovely day and all that. anyway, riding down a road when a young lad on a mountain bike decided to walk out in front of me. anyway, no chance i could stop so ended up whacking the kid up in the air then proceeded to slide for about 30 meters down the road. kid just got up and hobbled off before i could get his name address etc.
i have 2 witnesses to prove it was no fault of my own which is good, also one of the witnesses knows where the kid lives.. BONUS!!! so after reporting it to the police at the local station they took all the details and said as no police officers attended the accident (typical or what!) i would receive a call as to when they will visit me for full details.
having slowly managing to get my baby back home a little crippled. handlebars bent, clutch lever snapped, huge great dent in petrol tank, dent to the frame and minor scratches here and there. i called the insurance brokers (bennetts) to which they were to pass on my details to the actual insurance company (equity red star). received a call from the recovery guys and am waiting for them to pick up my baby. obviously concerned about the well being of my bike i asked what the deal was with coverage for the bike to get tip top again, was actually told that i would have to pay the full excess on the repairs even though the accident was no fault of my own. oh yes, im fully comp and have 5 years no claims bonus. which i was told i would possibly lose regardless of fault!!!

can anyone give me any indication of if i get the excess back and if so how do i go about this. or does the insurance company sort it all out? im at a loss as i have been lucky in the past not to have anything like this happen to me.
thank god.

cheers guys

 

[08fz6]

let me get this right. You have to pay for the repairs and your gonna loose your perfect status.... Sounds like time to sue the insurance company.....

 

[Davey]

Well, it's not a legal requirement for cyclists to have insurance, so you can't claim anywhere else! It's generally known that if you claim from your own insurance you have the excess to pay, and will obviously lose your no claims bonus as you are making a claim.

If the police attended the accident, took witness statements and then did their job of finding the kid, interviewing him and then him admitting it, you might be able to use the evidence to make a civil claim against him for causing the accident at the small claims court.

It's always crap if a cyclist or pedestrian causes an accident and damage to your vehicle as you can only really go through this route which is long, drawn out and a little expensive. If you didn't have fully comprehensive insurance you'd be completely screwed!

My advice would be to look at the cost of the repairs, and calculate if it is less than the increase in your premium you will have next year (get a couple of theoretical quotes based on having made a claim). If it's cheaper to repair it yourself - don't make a claim!

 

[Kazza]

Yep, the bicycle isn't insured, so it's down to your insurance.

Not fair, but the way of the world these days

Only thing you can do is for the insurance company to maybe take him to court to recover costs - from him if he's over 18 and his parents if under 18.

 

[macem29]

let me get this right. You have to pay for the repairs and your gonna loose your perfect status.... Sounds like time to sue the insurance company.....

I believe when the OP says he has to pay the excess, he's referring to
the deductible, and if he follows through with the insurance route, he'll
lose his claims free status....sucks when there's no other insurance Co
to get involved

hard to believe the kid got up and ran away after reading about the
extensive damage to your bike

and I agree with the comment about looking to fund repairs yourself,
it may make sense to save your claim for a big one (hopefully not needed)

 

[Davey]

How old was the kid? If he was quite young, maybe you can understand why he ran off - if he was scared or thought he'd be in trouble or whatever. If he's young maybe go and see his parents or something (after any police involvement - don't go harassing them or anything!).

If he's over 18 and you really want to try to get your money back (sometimes it's all about the principle right?), do as Kazza and I suggested - civil action in a small claims court.

Do a proper job of hitting him next time so he can't run away :spank: :ban:

 

[Yammi Dodger]

hi guys
out for a leisurely ride today, lovely day and all that. anyway, riding down a road when a young lad on a mountain bike decided to walk out in front of me. anyway, no chance i could stop so ended up whacking the kid up in the air then proceeded to slide for about 30 meters down the road. kid just got up and hobbled off before i could get his name address etc.
i have 2 witnesses to prove it was no fault of my own which is good, also one of the witnesses knows where the kid lives.. BONUS!!! so after reporting it to the police at the local station they took all the details and said as no police officers attended the accident (typical or what!) i would receive a call as to when they will visit me for full details.
having slowly managing to get my baby back home a little crippled. handlebars bent, clutch lever snapped, huge great dent in petrol tank, dent to the frame and minor scratches here and there. i called the insurance brokers (bennetts) to which they were to pass on my details to the actual insurance company (equity red star). received a call from the recovery guys and am waiting for them to pick up my baby. obviously concerned about the well being of my bike i asked what the deal was with coverage for the bike to get tip top again, was actually told that i would have to pay the full excess on the repairs even though the accident was no fault of my own. oh yes, im fully comp and have 5 years no claims bonus. which i was told i would possibly lose regardless of fault!!!

can anyone give me any indication of if i get the excess back and if so how do i go about this. or does the insurance company sort it all out? im at a loss as i have been lucky in the past not to have anything like this happen to me.
thank god.

cheers guys

You seem to have joined the same club as me Did not claim off my insurance in the end wanted me to pay the access and could not guarantee that it would not go up next time. glad you are OK though. :thumbup:

http://www.600riders.com/forum/uk/30829-warning-insurance.html

 

[spine]

bloody hell. not good.

Excess you have to pay out in any claim and you wont get that back. And like the other posters have said, you claim - you loose your NCB. Its only worth claiming if you've totalled your bike or it's thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Its crap. Welcome to Britain: where the victim is screwed over by the system.

 

[SilentG]

4 days later and still waiting for the police to contact me guys, pfft. I understand where some of you are coming from with getting the work done myself which will probably cost more than my excess anyway. I priced up a tank alone and a new one is upwards of £400!!!!
Im currently with Bennets as the broker and my actual insurance company is a firm called Equity Red Star based in london.
After scanning through my policy the news doesn't look too bad as far as my NCB is concerned. Having 5 years NCB i will get bumped down to 3 years following this claim, which aint as bad as i originally thought.
Anyway, I have decided I am going the claim route. Equity Red Star have their own repairers called 4th Dimension also based in Heathrow,London who are picking my baby up on Monday and scooting her back down to Heathrow for assessment. As I have never had an accident on this bike (just off roading is the others )and never had to get extensive repairs done I am a little concerned about the overall repairs that will in fact get done. As I said in my original post it's pretty much the whole left side of my bike, tank, engine casing, minor scrapes to plastics, handlebars, clutch and a couple of deep scrapes to the front wheel I 've noticed weren't there before etc but my one worry is the frame as there is a bit of a dent just under the tank where it no doubt kissed the floor. Although I did ride her back I'm unsure if anything internal is damaged.
As for the kid he was barely in his mid teens, if I had to hazard a guess I'd say 14-15, big lad though it has to be said. Yeh I'm sure he was a bit scared and figured he was in trouble. Never know he might have more injuries than first imagined. The f**ker would've had if I could have hobbled my ass over and grabbed him hahaha. Davey I like your style I'll try harder next time buddy. One of my witnesses knows the kid and lives around the corner from him apparently but I will wait and see what the police say when they finally arrive! One saving grace is I am in the process of sorting myself out enough money to upgrade to the daddy version, FZ1 w00t w00t.

p.s as I was checked over by the paramedics the same day I had lots of bruising down my left side which came up straight away, they are pearlers now! But when my shoulder smacked the curb which brought me to a halt I might have cracked something in there as I still can't move the damn thing right I think an xray is in order now

 

[macem29]

reading this newer post and it appears it was you and the bike went
sliding 30 metres...first read it sounded like it was the kid did the
sliding....now I understand the extensive damage...good luck man,
heal up fast and get riding again soon

 

[spine]

SilentG, me thinks you should nip hospital and get looked at. Hope you heal up soon! (and i hope the bike does too)

 

[SilentG]

Well she's gone to the bike doctors, let's hope she gets repaired as I really don't want to have to look for another one, took me ages to find the black frame colour in the first place
got my fingers crossed, got to wait for a call once they've checked her out... I hate waiting for things hahaha Gorgeous weather too and I'm missing out on it pffft

 

[spine]

Yeah, the black framed FZ6's are a rarity it seems. I didn't even know FZ6 existed til i saw my beaut in showroom. I didn't know they'd done away with the square looking Fazers pre 2004.
I hope she's ok. Did you get checked out see if you had any injuries?

First time i've rode today since Sunday. Its been too hot to get caked up in leathers. Today had a nice breeze.

 

[Cloned]

Couldn't the kid get in trouble/fined for leaving the scene of an accident? That fact right there could also get you some leverage should you decide to take him to court to pay for damages.

 

[spine]

Hi Cloned, you are right. But unfortunately in the UK, if you are the victim, you are penalised.
The culprits get off scott free and us honest, hard working victims have to pay the price.

 

[SilentG]

Guys it turns out the witness who said they knew the lad had only seen him around the area, she doesn't know where he lives or his name SH*T!!!!

Anyway, I got the call yesterday sayin g my baby is beyond economic repair GUTTED!!!!! I spoke to the appraiser (I think) on the phone and asked him if there was any chance of getting them to do the main bits i.e tank, engine casing, frame, handlebars (main ones) and I'd do the little bits myself i.e indies, mirror, mudguard clutch lever, things like that so I have to wait for yet another call from the head honcho to see if they'll go for it. It was in fact the dude who picked up my bike that told me they do occasionally do this sort of thing if it's really tight between economical and barely over so once again I have my fingers crossed.

Oh and Spine, no mate I haven't got checked out yet, my bruising is very visible now and my shoulder which was my main concern is easing as days pass. still stiff and sore but I'll cope, hell I'm a woman, we have to put up with pain

 

[spine]

Sorry to hear about the bike.
Btw, its good to meet a fellow female FZ6 rider.

 

[SilentG]

Thanks Spine It won't stop me having another anyway ha ha ha but I will make sure if anyone walks out on me in future I hit them harder so they can't hobble off without getting their names

 

[spine]

This is it. A few years ago i had a little 125cc cruiser and it was late evening, just as it was getting dark. I was approaching a cross roads and the lights were on green for me to go through, so i'm travelling then all of a sudden, 8 chavs on their bmx's and mountain bikes ride out across my path from the road on the left, into my path. I had to do an emergency stop else i'd have gone in them.
In future though, if anyone gets in my road with a bicycle and they're being dangerous and there's a chance we're going to collide - i'll try to get round them safely, but if not, i'm not swerving and coming off the bike, i'm gonna just ride through them. They won't beat my beast. That'll teach em not to cycle like divs.

 

[SilentG]

Ha ha ha ha that made me laugh spine i was surprised that me smacking a kid on a bike sent me flying if I'm honest. Fair enough he was a big lad I didn't have time to do an emergency stop as I was on top of him when he walked out on me. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure his bike wheel went into my front one as so spitting me off. I think I'm going to get the appraisers to return my baby and I'll get the repairs done myself. That is if the frame is not bent or anything like that. It gets me back on the road quicker, even if it means a different coloured tank haha