the assesor who reported on the scoot has right annoyed me i can tell ya!

he has declred the bike a write off - no surprise or complaints with that. what has hacked me off is his valuation. he says the retail on the bike is £5300 and has deducted over six hundred quid because its used (? - it was seven weeks old!) so this takes it to £4700. He has then given it a salvage value of £750 meaning they will pay me £3950 for a bike that cost me five grand a couple of months ago!

My problems are these :_
given that the bike was less than two months old i expect it to be replaced with new or at least valued as new. the retail price ( according to february 2004's edition of Glass's guide is £5754 and not the £5300 that he reckons.

the valuation of £750 as scrap is rediculouos. How many Tmax scooters have any of you lot seen on the road? Do you think you're average breaker is inundated with requests for parts for these bikes?
My personal valuation of the scrap is £0. No breaker would pay me anything for it coz they wouldnt want it.


The breaker that this bloke contacted is a friend of mine and he told me that he advised the assessor that the value may be as much as £200 but that no-one would touch it because they dont sell the bits. So where along the phone line did this turn into £750?

Absolute a9999holes mate!

So anyone know where i satand in asking for a FULL value of my bike and not any deductions for age being that it was practically brand spanking at the time? And also where do i stand about saying I dont want the bike for salvage but would rather they took it away and just gave me the money? ( for this question it says in my policy that in the event of a write off the bike becomes the property of the insurance company)

Feck me..

Why should you be out of pocket because some half blind idiot decides to knock you off of your bike.

Shocking..

What is also worth noting is that when this geezer turned up he went over to the fazer and got his notepad out. When i pointed to the tmax he said, 'what is that? Ive never seen one of those before!' - now he's a fecking expert on the salvage value of it!

For what its worth i guestimated the price of all the parts at £3350 and they actuially turned out to cost £3407 - I could do his fecking job!

First of all the first rule in dealing with insurers is never accept their first offer.

Second is this your insurers or the other blokes that have made the offer and have you got any legal expenses cover either on your bike insurance or under maybe under your home insurance? If you have you can look at persuing the other bloke for uninsured losses such as your excess, any new kit you have had to buy as well as personal injury. It may take a while you just have to hang in there.

Thirdly they cannot force you to take the salvage, its your choice so you don't have to take the hit you can take the full wedge and get them to take the bits away. Its then up to them to try and get their £750 from a breaker and good luck to them. Or you can try and negotiate a better deal by presenting a reasoned argument (or shouting very loudly if you prefer).

Fourthly, and you're not going to like this one, unfortunately it is a fact that as soon as you wheel a new bike out of the showroom it is no longer worth what you paid for it unless you got an extremely good deal that meant you paid less than second hand prices (not likely). The contract with the insurance company is to cover the amount of your loss up to the maximum amount you have insured for not to cover the cost of replacement. There is a difference which it is why it is important when renewing a policy to adjust the amount of cover to the current value not just accept a premium based on last years value. The amount of your loss is the value of the bike at the time of the loss not what you paid for it. They won't insure someone's stupidity for paying over the odds (not that I am saying you did you understand, its just an example). (For anyone else don't get ideas about insuring for less than true value to save money as it is false economy. If there is a claim they will only pay out a proportion of the cost as you have effectively chosen to self insure part of the value so you must pay part of the loss from your own pocket, afterall which part of the bike was actually insured?)

Fifthly, did you take out any finance on the T-Max or was it a cash deal. If there was finance (not a personal loan though) then they will be interested in getting their money back and may restrict what you can actually do in terms of accepting the offer without their agreement. Check the wording of the agreement. If there was finance was any gap insurance included, if so this could make up the shortfall for a new bike.

Good stuff ian.


in answer this is a cash bought bike. No finance.
Having said that it is not being claimed off my my insurance but rather the twonks insurance that hit me. I dont see why i should take a loss on a new bike because of their clients ineptitude as a driver. It is however, my own insurance and their appointed solicitors and assessor firm who have come up with this valuation - big fecking surprise when you look closely and realise that we ( myself and the aforementioned twonk) are actualy insured by the same company. The salvage value and the instruction to me to dispose of the vehicle and recover said salvage value are a simple attempt to 'loss adjust' for the insurance company. They must think im fecking stupid. And thats what annoys me. They can blow me if they think i will accept this and a letter of far greater eloquence than i ever display here will wing its way on a breeze of righteous indignation to them laying plain my moaning and gnashing of teeth. I will include a photocopy as evidence of the bikes 'Glass's' value as this is a true indication of its retail value and if they want to deduct a certain amount from that because its 'used' then so be it. I intend to recover the bikes value and not what some twonk who doesnt even recognise the model designation thinks its worth - i will let you knopw how i get on.

thanks for that Ian and i will be refusing the option of disposing of the salvage myself.

as i said earlier to u today mate . if i was you id ask for a either
a replacement bike of same age condition/ milage or cash equivalent.

Seeing as thery will not be able to get you a 2 month old t-max from anywhere i agree that you should get either a new bike or cash to the sum of buying a new one. The accident was not your fault and you should not be penalised. But i get ians point you may have to take the other bloke to court for the difference if the insurance company wont budge.

Ian,

Very useful... I have a problem in that my car was "non-economical repaired" about 4 months ago and I've yet to have a penny... this will be very handy

Zee, remember the Alamo... and the banjos jangling quietly in the background



PS. I am quite sure I know what I'm talking about

Zombie - give TC a shout - he's our resident expert, and may be able to suggest the best wording or course of action to get the best settlement.

or ooga

she's good at answerin law type questions too

Ok zombie, Ooga says that this is not her area, as BG has said T.C is your man. I would have a good long chat with him.

EB is also right, i know some one who had a similar problem and he basicaly said the same, if they can replace it like for like with the value they are offreing then so be it, if not , gimme the money.

You have to be tough with them, they will take the piss. Also you could try finding some adds for the same model for sale with the same specs and send them in, preferably from a dealer as they tend to load their prices.

What ive got is a copy of glass's guide dated february 04 stating the retail price as £5700 (ish). I have looked in mags and on the net but cant find any tmax's that are seven weeks old with a thousand miles on them for sale! I have composed my letter giving the reasons I object to the valuation and stating my dismay at having to recover the salvage cost myself - i have stated mt total disagreement with the valuation in this area too.

My basic point is that I had a new bike and now i dont coz of this tosser and whay should i lose over a grand just coz he cant look in his mirrors before he changes lane. currently the issue of liabillity stands un commented on by the third party insurers so its still all up in the air as they say. I shall keep you posted as to the prgress and pass on anything more i learn about the lying robbing sh!tehawks that populate the insurance industry.


ME - insurance then, how does that work?




Insurance bloke - you give us money every year........




ME - yeah and?





Insurance bloke - Thats it really!

Unless I'm missing something you are claiming from his insurance as you weren't fully comp, right? If this is the case, as they (they being his insurers albeit they were also yours) have made you an offer they have in effect admitted liability. If they were disputing any liability they would not be making an offer just yet (why would they if they weren't liable) and if they were claiming 50/50 they would only be offering half, the rest would be down to you.

sounds about right........
it would seem the insurance companies have us over a barrel, can't live with it can't ride without it..
i hope you get a result zomb....

Ian this is MY insurance company's valuation of my bike! Im being stiffed by my own side!

So what happened in the end Zomb!e? Did you get the full new value? Its not uncommon to see policies say that if a vehicle is written off in the first six months it will be replaced with a new vehicle, provided you bought from new yourself. I think both of my bike policies say that. Obviously that only applies if I claim on my own insurance, but if you have that clause in your policy, given that his insurance company is the same one as yours, you have a reasonable expectation to get the same treatment off his policy. Dont you?

Blimey. I got a sort-of "opposite" deal out of my insurers, I think. The damage was evaluated as £3,600, but the book price was £4,100, so they "made-up the difference" and paid out the £4,100, minus my excess.

I think I got a good deal.

Um, I think you might be being every-so-slightly naive there Z

I'd put all them B****** on the other side of the fence from me!