A Person Hit My Motorbike and I Have Questions about Insurance. PLEASE HELP

LSTAZNA on 05/10/2016 - 00:10

On the 19th of April a person reversed into my motorcycle while it was parked and stationary, i was standing behind the bike and was about to jump on when he floored it backward and knocked over my bike and took off. I chased after him and got him to pull over, and he said ohhh i didn't notice i had hit your bike.

After his parents screwed me around for about 4 months they have at last told their insurance of the hit. (I didn't have any insurance on the bike as it was a restoration bike and was about to sell it.)

I had 3 quotes from 3 companies that the bike was going to be a write-off due to the cost of replacing parts on the bike which was more cosmetic stuff as well as replacing a swingarm, cost of parts and labor came to about 6.5k.

Their insurance (AAMI) said it would be faster and best to go with their preferred repairer (which i choose to select and now regret) and rather than replacing most of the parts they choose to repair, but some parts need to be ordered.

My main question is can i ask for their insurer to reimburse me for the money i lost in rego and CTP as due to the damage to the swingarm i haven't ridden the bike and now they are telling me that parts are not in stock and will be on back order for at least 6 weeks, and that totals to at least 6 months of rego and CTP out the door.

You might say cancel the rego and CTP, and i have thought about that but it becomes a pain to organise for shipping of the bike to their repair facility and a pain as im unsure if they will reimburse me for that as well and it is a long process to re-rego the bike which takes my time.

Automotive

Comments

  • bargainslut on 05/10/2016 - 04:43
    +1

    Because you had no insurance at the time of the accident you may need to take this matter to the small claims court.

    I had a similar issue once and unfortunately had to take this path. It was pretty stressful but I was in need of the money for repairs.

    Perhaps call citizens advice, they are usually super helpful and very accurate in my experience, hope this helps:)

  • chumlee on 05/10/2016 - 07:02

    You want to spend hundreds of dollars to claim back hundreds of dollars?? if so lodge a civil claim, otherwise just suck it up as a pain in the backside and move on.

    • STAZNA on 05/10/2016 - 21:39

      Just letting you know that AAMI has offered to pay for the quotes i went and got, and all i was asking in short was it possible for me to ask for them to pay for my ctp and rego.

  • Glider on 05/10/2016 - 11:20
    +1

    You can ask for anything you want, but whether they pay is a different story.

    Their insurance should cover all of your losses to make you whole again. No profit for you, but anything you legitimately lost should be covered. Therefore, it is reasonable for you to ask the insurer to pay for the rego & CTP, & towing costs (and even a hire car if the bike was your primary mode of transport, though from your description I suspect it wasn't). You have a better chance of success if you can write these down professionally and provide evidence supporting your calculations to them in a letter of demand, and don't back down immediately when they try to avoid paying.

    You may have success, you may not. It's worth a try though.

    PS. It seems like a mistake to have accepted repair on a vehicle you had intended to sell that 3x repairers confirmed would be an economic writeoff. It might be too late now, but if the repairer hasn't already started repairing/ordering parts, you could provide AAMI with the writeoff assessments + your other costs & unreasonable repair timeframe, along with evidence of the pre-accident value of the bike, and request a payout. It might help you to draft this letter yourself but pay a solicitor to send it on your behalf. Again, you may have success, you may not.

  • Well Wasted on 05/10/2016 - 15:12

    so… the bike was still rideable after the accident? it sounds like someone is inflating the cost of repair… also… keeping your bike uninsured is pretty stupid thing to do. what if the young bloke didn't have insurance? you would've had to pay for repairs yourself and try to get money out of some-one who doesn't have it… think yourself lucky.

    • STAZNA on 05/10/2016 - 21:58
      +1

      For your information bike was not ride-able as the rearset on the bike had embedded itself into the swingarm which jammed the rear brake of the bike on.

      No one is inflating anything, if you have ever tried to buy an OEM part be it for a motorcycle or car the price for those parts are stupidly expensive. Taking into consideration that there are 4 basic panels on a bike and each costs $500 each there is about $2000 in panels.

      I had only got rego and CTP for the bike as i would only be riding it for max a week as on that day i had just privately purchased another bike that i would keep for a long time and for your information this bike has insurance on it.

      Hey mate i appreciate your input but no need to grill me on my choices. I'm not your kid you can lecture to about life i know all the stuff you have said and it was a gamble I KNOW OK.

  • Lucious on 05/10/2016 - 23:36

    Short answer. AAMI won't pay for your "wasted" registration costs.

    Longer answer. Firstly, AAMI weren't responsible for their insured's delay to lodge a claim so they would only consider reasonable costs incurred from the time the claim was lodged.

    As for whether they should pay the rego while the bike cannot be ridden, when someone causes damage to your property, they are liable to fix the damage caused as well as any unavoidable additional costs incurred as a result of the damage caused (eg. hire costs if your vehicle is not drivable). The registration costs were not incurred as a direct result of the incident and therefore you would have a very difficult time convincing AAMI to reimburse you for them.

    Personally, in over 10 years managing motor claims (not for AAMI), I never once reimbursed someone for their registration costs while their vehicle was not drivable.

    If you do intend to ask for them to pay them I would suggest that you advise them you intend to hire a replacement bike until yours is repaired (and provide a quote for hire of a similar bike) however would be willing to forego the hire if they paid you a cash settlement in lieu of hiring a bike. Justify the amount you are asking for given claims consultants are generally quite principled people and do not generally pay people what they are not entitled to, however if it makes financial sense (cash settlement cheaper than reimbursing hire costs) and they can somewhat justify the reasons then they may agree.

    Edit: pressed post too early.

    • STAZNA on 17/10/2016 - 02:50

      Thanks for letting me know.

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