My Bike Crash

[BigMark]

I have started a new thread here guys to follow through on this "sorry for hijacking the buffeting thread"
In response to the questions so far

The Insurance i have seems to be pretty good. I have now had conformation that the Car Driver has admitted fault. Only took him 2 days and a copy of his police report sent to his insurance company. Strange that, its not like i can reverse at 50mph on tigger :roll:

I am really Hoping to get Tigger fixed. Kinda got attached to this specific bike. Never had a breakdown or mechanical fault since new (2005) It has taken me and Emma all over the UK and Europe quite happily.

My insurance company delivered a nice new shiny GS 1200 today. they say they may have mine for a while due to the availability of parts both original ad aftermarket (both are insured)

  All i really have on there that is not Original would be the Thunderbike Bars, Highway Pegs and Screen but i am sure they can get them if they try. It took 4 weeks for mine to come from NZ though..

So the Shunt. From what i remember ( it was a bit of an odd moment for me) The Car hit my bike and i am presuming the Wheel. I think this because the wheel sure looked wobbly and dragging as they tried to push my bike off the road. All 3 boxes smashed up, the lights and i didnt look but that could have damaged the exhaust i guess. When he hit me my front end came up (or at least felt like it) and i presume my top box hit his bonnet as he pushed me down the road (cant think how else he would hit a top box). When the front came down the bike was seriiously leant over to the left so the bike landed pretty much on its left side hopefully not damaging the front wheel. Then i was kissing the road. Destroyed my new £420 C3 helmet and the insurance company also want to claim for leathers and boots in case they are even slightly less protective in the case of another accident. I am only worried about the Helmet to be honest. Everything else just looks a little scuffed on the left (adds character) The bike slid a little not much on the crash bars tearing off some bits of metal and light plastics which a bystander kindly collected and handed tp me while i was being checked out "thanks mate, very useful at this point in time"  

 The only concern i have is that i have to sign off the works before ot is done so that i agree it is not too much work or if i have any other concerns so i need to populate a list of what could be damaged and check it against theirs to be super safe. (they are very good but i am very paranoid)

Perhaps you guys could help with the list. original cosmetics are straight forward it is other things that could have been damaged that may be difficult for them to source so to avoid anything being missed or coming back to bite me 6 months down the line..

Please feel free to add to my list, i would be very gratefull

1) I am no 100% but i imagine a buckled looking wheel could mean a lot more or a lot less than the wheel being damaged.. So i was going to request a front/rear wheel alignment including swing arms and all that (must be a test for this and a copy of the test i can have) so i know the bike is straight and true.

2) I am guessing the tyre could be punctured or the seal to the tyre damaged.

3) Aftermarket Crash Bars and Highway Pegs - Sure they can get these if they try hard enough (Thunderbike)

4) Cant think of anything else "under the surface" but i do not actually think you can still get the Triumph Original Panniers here anymore. I asked my local dealer who said "youre best bet is ebay" But for an insurance repair they wont do that "wonder what they will do"

[EvilBetty]

Please feel free to add to my list, i would be very gratefull

1) I am no 100% but i imagine a buckled looking wheel could mean a lot more or a lot less than the wheel being damaged.. So i was going to request a front/rear wheel alignment including swing arms and all that (must be a test for this and a copy of the test i can have) so i know the bike is straight and true.

2) I am guessing the tyre could be punctured or the seal to the tyre damaged.

3) Aftermarket Crash Bars and Highway Pegs - Sure they can get these if they try hard enough (Thunderbike)

4) Cant think of anything else "under the surface" but i do not actually think you can still get the Triumph Original Panniers here anymore. I asked my local dealer who said "youre best bet is ebay" But for an insurance repair they wont do that "wonder what they will do"

Is this how it works over there?  Over here insurance companies work from an estimate provided by either the repair shop, or a field agent.  They then decide whether to total the bike, or repair it based off that estimate.  Once they make the decision to repair it, the repair shop begins to tear into the bike.  Anything they find after (and they WILL find more that is damaged at that point) that, that needs additional parts or service gets added on top of the original estimate.  I would NEVER sign off on a service until AFTER the work was completed and the bike completely checked out.

My first concern would be frame and sub-frame damage.  If you took enough of an impact to damage a wheel from a 2005, the swing arm, and area of the frame that joins to the swing arm could be damaged.  The sub-frame that connects to the panniers, rear cowling, top box, and license plate bracket could be bent as well.

The left side fall, if it landed hard on the engine guards, could have caused damage to the frame or engine mounts, front forks near the axle, handle bars, mirrors, hand guards,  bent, pegs, side pannier mounts.  

Front fairing sub-frame could be bent from the impact as well.  If the pegs didn't survive, the side stand, kickstand and associated switches could be damaged.

That's just the structural part.  Front tire may be fine, but with the rear wheel totaled, the rear wheel is probably trash too.  A hard impact could have caused damage to engine parts, electrical parts, and of course the body parts.

Triumph can still get the factory panniers and top box parts.  They may not have some colors available, but those same parts will be near impossible on eBay as well.  Little easier on the UK side of course.  (ask me how many times Lucifer Orange panniers and fairings have come up on eBay UK vs. eBay US   )

If you can't get a guarantee that your bike will be put back together in exactly the same condition it was before the accident, or better, than you may actually want them to total it out.  I would not sign ANYTHING until the bike is repaired %100, and you are healed up %100.

Best advise I can give you.  If you're hurt, go to your doctor and get x-rays, and anything else he recommends outside of that, as soon as possible.  After I got rear ended last year, I felt just bumps and bruises a for the next week.  Then my neck and back started to more and more sore.  I ended up having to go to physical therapy 3 months later to heal up all the soft tissue damage and bad posture that resulted.

If the insurance company starts to jack you around and ask you do things that do not have your best interests at heart, contact an attorney for advise.  You don't need to sick the dogs on them, just find out what your rights are and get some direction on how to negotiate with them.

If you let the attorney take over the insurance company will stop dealing with you until after the trial, and it may be a long time before your bike is fixed or medical bills are paid out.

[Chris Canning]

I've read your posting 3 times!!,thats a write off,it'll be cheaper for the insurance company to pay you out and sell the bike as a cat C or D.

[GWL]

Sometimes the insurance company won't write it off for some strange reason. Last year I was riding my BMW R1150R down a country lane following a funeral directors limousine. Suddenly he stopped.I stopped approx 20ft behind him thinking there must be something coming the other way which I couldnt see. Next thing I know the reversing lights come on and the limo starts reversing at speed. :shock:  Before I have time to do anything, he's hit me and I've been knocked off to the ground. I jump up and the first thing I do is go round and leave a nice impression of a size 10 doc marten boot in his door, asking in a not very polite way what he thinks he was doing.  I then notice that the face looking back at me is just a kid. Turns out he was 18 and just bringing the limo back from a funeral for his dad. The reason for him reversing was that he thought he saw something in a field and was reversing back to have a look. Didn't even know I was behind him even though I had been following him for about a mile with my light on. :roll:  Anyway the insurance company collected my bike and delivered a loan bike--a brand new Harley Heritage Softail  (heap of junk). The cost of hiring this bike would have been £104 per day. It took them just over a month to repair the BMW. It needed new front wheel,new forks,new mudguard,new headlight,,new handlebars,new brake lever,new rocker cover,new front brake lever,new indicators front and back.All this expense for a bike that was worth about £3500. Even the garage doing the work thought it should have been written off but the insurance company refused to do that. If they had written it off it would have probably cost about half as much as it did. No wonder our premiums are so high.

[EvilBetty]

If it's repairable and will result in a safe and sound bike it's the way to go.  I've heard horror stories of the amounts people have been given for their cars and motorcycles when written off / totaled.

But you need to make sure a competent mechanic (preferably the dealer) has been through the bike as deep as they can go checking for frame alignment, structural integrity and any other damage that was caused, or that may be occur later as a result of the wreck.

Then again I've heard of people getting really nice checks now and then paying above and beyond for what they paid and had into a vehicle.  But unfortunately it's all up to the insurance company.

Just don't sign ANYTHING until you're confident the bike is sound and you're reasonably sure you're going to fully recover from any bodily injury.

[oxnsox]

Figuring you're both right... in the UK it seems the paperwar makes it easier for them to justify a costly rebuild, where Stateside (and down at my end of the World) the Acessor looks at the cost of the parts against the value of the bike as a 2nd hand (used) vehicle.

I've had a mate get his 2 week old bike written off for what was mainly cosmetic damage (low speed slide out of a corner, on tarseal, due to gravel in the corner), and essentially because the high cost of the mainly cosmetic items were ludicrously expensive. The machine was still ride-able!!

Maybe the green herd in the mother country have made the bureaucracy more worried about the look of being seen to be adding to the pile in the bin, so would rather spend on fettlers retwisting and straightening and....
adding character....

[Chris Canning]

9 times out of 10,bike goes to a dealer and have a cost report done,it's not smart to leave it there too long as he charges storage,bikes get shipped off to a breaker before the owner even knows about it,because it's the insurer thats in the driving seat.

If you've had one repaired to shows all things are possible,but that ain't the norm by a long chalk,and before you ask!! yes i do have a bit to do with cat C's and D's,people make a nice living out of them.

[Tiger-G]

Here's a tip to help prevent rear end shunts ??

When you pull up at a junction or traffic-lights, stay in first gear and check your mirrors until you know exactly what the the next vehicle joining the queue is doing. Always have an escape route planned, up the kerb, over the junction, off to the left or right, etc. When stationary, leave a 3 bike safety gap between you and the vehicle in front, again so you have an escape route to the right or left should the vehicle behind not stop.

Or better still, if you can, on the approach to a junction or traffic-lights slow down earlier and control the flow of traffic behind you to a safe stop.

As bikers we must take control of every situation as we are so vulnerable.

Just advice, take it or leave it  :D

[BigMark]

Just to clarify from what my Legal rep tells me they will send me the proposed works for repair. I think I am then given the opportunity to say "no, its too much work" and have it written off for the cost of what they would have spent on the repair or what they deem the total value of the bike is worth "whichever is less".
 The bike is signed off by an independant body altogether if repaired and even then i am fully covered for anything else that goes wrong realating to the incident for some time.

 i think they will be 100% but i would like to have a report from them saying they have checked everything that i am concerned about (may help in the future if it comes back to bite me)

[Sin_Tiger]

Who's your insurer if you don't mind me asking and how are you healing? Since you seem more concerned about the Girly, can we assume you are getting better, you still havve your sense of humor at least that didn't break off in the shunt  :lol:

[BONANZA]

An ex work colleague was stuck in traffic coming up to a roundabout(no room for filtering). Luckily for him he had pullled to the left hand side of the carriageway when a car shot past him at about 30mph and hit the car he had stopped behind.He was still shaking when he got to work 20mins later.

[zombie]

for me getting hit from behind with that much damage would leave me thinking write off.
Thats a lot of force you took to the bike and I would be thinking swingarm , subframe and maybe even shock and mounts got tweaked , not sure if I would completely trust the bike again but thats just me

[Chris Canning]

Just to clarify from what my Legal rep tells me they will send me the proposed works for repair. I think I am then given the opportunity to say "no, its too much work" and have it written off for the cost of what they would have spent on the repair or what they deem the total value of the bike is worth "whichever is less".
 The bike is signed off by an independant body altogether if repaired and even then i am fully covered for anything else that goes wrong realating to the incident for some time.

 i think they will be 100% but i would like to have a report from them saying they have checked everything that i am concerned about (may help in the future if it comes back to bite me)

With respect that ain't how it works,insurer will get a price to repair from who ever checks the bike,they will look at the figures and make a decision on writeing it off or repairing it,you'll have no say in it,when you say the bike will be signed off by an independent body,thats a first on me,you'll sign for it the buck stops at you,and thats the reason so many get written off because joe bloggs won't take the risk.

Reading your write up,spend you efforts on how big the cheque is going to be,and go and buy another.

[BigMark]

Either way it is done now so cant change it. We will of course find out the process in due course. Everything i have written i have been told or i have misunderstood. :?

 i am looking at prices on 2nd hand ones, trouble is when you have something from new it is impossible to get another which you know 100% of its history (i raised mine from a cub :lol: )

 feeling much better thanks sin. Have to see a physio soon for my aches and pains and off to get my shoulder checked again today. but all in i reckon i got off lightly.

[Chris Canning]

Do your home work price wise,E-bay/MCN/Biketrader/Pistonheads,make sure you can find all your paper work,and the chances are the first offer is be a bummer,as luck would have it winter isn't far away so unless you ride year round your not going to miss much and you've got time to buy another.

All part and parcel of why i have run more than one bike,insurance/dealerships/manafacturers will always to try to have you over a barrel,and if they know you've only one, they'll do their damdest to hang you out to dry.