Insurance claim guidance please

[bicter]

Hi people,
I'm looking for guidance!!!
I joined this site a month or so back to try and get hold of soft copies of a manual for a GPX750. Since then I got the bike running well, registered, new tyres, suspension setup to my liking etc and was really enjoying riding the bike.
Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago the GPX (uninsured) was involved in a collision with an especially stupid car driver at the international roundabout at Brissy airport. Luckily the only damage was broken big toe, grazed knee, stuffed shoulder and very bruised ego.
RACQ have made an offer on the bike, $2800 less $400 being the wreck value, as I'm pretty sure the police report placed full blame on the stupid car driver.
My problem is that this valuation causes me to lose out financially as I would end up with $2400 if I disposed of bike as a wreck.
Does anyone here have any experience with dealing with insurance companies.
What I'd like to know is I can insist that they repair the bike? - They claim it will cost them $3400 to repair. How do I dispute the assessment value?
If anyone can provide guidance on the best way to deal with RACQ, feedback would be appreciated
The difference in costs may be chicken feed To me it's the difference between continuing to ride or not!

[Johnnie5]

if you believe the actaual value of the bike is more than $2800 then you need to be able to find adds of bikes in similar age and use this as your argument

what damage has the bike actually got and could you repair it yourself with $2400 ?

[bicter]

Thanks Johnnie5,
I'd prefer not to repair it myself.
While I'm technically capable, why should I wear the hassle of the repair when RACQ say the estimate for repair is $3400?
I'd love to have them repair the bike as I've already invested a fair bit of time/money on it already and enjoy riding it.
I guess this leads to the question of can I insist they repair the damage?

Regards

[bicter]

if you believe the actaual value of the bike is more than $2800 then you need to be able to find adds of bikes in similar age and use this as your argument

what damage has the bike actually got and could you repair it yourself with $2400 ?

I forgot to add, damage to the bike, from memory, is as follows:
Tank, handle bar dent
Forks, twisted, amount of damage unknown
Fork brace, damaged
Front guard cracked
Fairing upper, damaged
Fairing middle damaged
Fairing lower damaged
Mirror, RHS damged
Muffler RHS damaged
Indicator RHS damaged
Front wheel, haven't checked for damage but is where the point of impact occurred
Possible damage to fairing mounting bracket as RHS fairing popped from join to LHS at mirror.

[Strika]

I don't think you can insist on it being repaired, but you may be able to negotiate a settlement which both parties are happy with. Make them an offer, expect a counter offer and go from there. Insurance companies are no different to us, sometimes they just want a known outcome rather than additional claim costs. I would write a letter, or speak to them, explaining that 1. You are unable to replace the bike for that regardless of claimed market value and 2. The money spent restoring the bike recently is more than that sum. Then make them an offer of acceptance at a number which makes you mucho happy. You'll end up hopefully somewhere in the middle from there where both parties shake hands. Good luck!

[dave#3]

Being that they're not your insurer they can't technically write the bike off (the government could deem it to be a stat write-off if it's damaged according to their stat write-off rules, but that's another matter). RACQ have insured the car driver and as such offer him legal liability protection - you're currently his (and therefore their) legal liability. AFAIK they cannot dictate to you what you do with your bike, but, and here's the clincher, if you disagree with what they offer you you'll need to sue the driver of the car and the insurance company will represent him in court. In court you may get what you're asking for, you may get more (doubtful), you may get less (possible, see proof/evidence point below) and in a really bad case you may get less plus have to pay the drivers legal costs and court costs.

Regardless of wether you are arguing with RACQ in court or in private negotiations, you'll need to prove that the value you expect to be paid for your machine is justified. You only purchased the machine recently - do you have a receipt? Is it for more than what they're offering? Do you have receipts for the work you've had done to bring it up to the condition it's now in? Again, how do they compare to what you feel it's valued at?

To some extent you're fortunate - you're really only asking them to cough up an extra $1000 and that probably means it's not worth the hassle of fighting you - but they're also aware that if this drags on for months you're more likely to get the shits and take what they've offered than to stick to your guns, and if there's one thing going to court can guarantee for you it's a long, drawn-out process.

I went through a similar exercise with another insurance company once and the upshot of it was that I presented to them a letter of about 12 pages containing appendices, matrices, quotations, red-book values, glass's guide values, proof of purchase, etc. I didn't quite get what I was asking for, but I did a lot better than the initial offer they made me I did, however, have my own insurance as a fall-back if I wasn't satisfied - as it turned out I cancelled my policy without making a claim and got the policy refunded rather than the policy completing.

The moral of the story is fight, but be prepared to back yourself up with proof, and get insurance - if this had been the other way round (your fault) you'd be in a much worse situation now. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[bicter]

Strika & Dave,
Thanks for the replies, you've given me some valuable insight and pointers to the way forward as I sit at home on sick leave nursing the bruised ego

Regards

[Slow and wobbly]

What about damage to your riding gear?
Claim for everything you can. The driver was / is at fault and as said above RACQ have insured them against liability arising from a vehicle collision.
" USA! USA! USA!" - Follow they're lead
Or the EX-Wife war cry - " Dont' get mad. Get everything!"

[Rossi]

Gotta agree with S & W here......personal injury claim, clothing, new boots, helmet and gloves. Time off work = loss of earnings so claim them too

NEVER accept the first offer of any insurance company especially if they have made the offer within 2 weeks of the accident......they know their insured was at fault or they would have sat on it for weeks

Don't forget - You were NOT at fault here and if their insured party had not taken you out, you would still be enjoying riding your pride & joy

Submit a personal injury claim as a seperate claim or they'll drag out the payment for the bike along with your injury claim

[Slow and wobbly]

Perhaps a forum is not the place to consider your options. Talk to a lawyer and gain their perspective - The cost of a lawyer is also a claim you can make against the insured - so you have nothing to lose. Check the classifieds area of your favourite magazine or the yellow pages.
Put simply, and from the case you have put forward, you want everything to be the way it was before the "incident". Thats what insurance companies are there for. Be honest and make everything right, but be sure that the "incident" does not impend upon you.

[bicter]

Thanks everyone for the considered replies
Insurance have already agreed to cover the cost of riding gear replacement, though I haven't told them yet about the mobile phone in my pocket, again, I don't anticipate a problem there. Generally RACQ have been quite good in managing this claim, the only real issue I have is that they expect me to repair the bike for less money than it would cost them to have it done. Doesn't seem equitable to me.... anyway, negotiations will continue post Easter

Regards

[Benno]

I'm fairly sure there's a law somewhere that states if you're in an accident and deemed not at fault, then you cannot be left any worse off than you were at the time previous to the accident. You not having a bike will leave you worse off. Maybe you could try looking into that.