Motorcycle Accident Insurnace Advice

real

real

real

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Joined
25 Jul 2003
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935
Location
London
Morning,

Yesterday on my way home from work I was involved in a RTC. I was filtering past stationary traffic at about 20-30mph when a vehicle decided attempt a U-turn directly in front of me. I had no time to react, hit the front wheel arch area of the vehicle and went straight over the bonnet and down the road.

The police and an ambulance were called as the bike was in a bit of a mess with fluid leaking and I had injured my foot. Luckily another biker a few minutes down the road stopped and helped me get witness details from the two drivers behind the car I hit.

As the bike was in a state I used my AA cover to get my bike taken home and was told someone would contact me the following day to arrange a replacement vehicle. This morning Helphire called to try and arrange a hire vehicle and start a claim. My insurance cover is TPFT and with this being my first accident I'm sure too sure what route to follow. I plan to call my insurance company at some point this morning but have some questions.

Who will be at fault for the accident in the eyes of the insurance companies? If as I think and hope it is seen as a non fault on my part will my insurance company recover the costs for my bike from the other persons insurance? Or is there a benefit of using Helphire to recover the costs?

Thanks
 
Not your fault IMO, the driver should have looked in his wing mirror before turning out, its obvious he did not look because if he did look he would have not turned out to do the U turn. I'm sure the insurance company will see it this way as well because when the police come to ask the driver in the car they will ask if they looked in there wing mirror, and its obvious the police probably know that they did not bother looking in the mirror at all & the insurance company will follow up on this as well.

Liam
 
It will depend on your speed. Filtering is perfectly legal, but 30mph past stationery traffic is too fast. 10-15mph is the norm, and will get you a lot more sympathy with the insurance companies. There are plenty of cases of bikers winning these cases, but in your case if there are witnesses saying you were 'flying down the outside' then its more likely to be in the car drivers favour, or most likely 50/50.
 
Think there was a new rule or something on this recently that idiots pulling u-turns and knocking off bikers it will always rule in the riders favour.
Is there any CCTV in the area?
My brother had this last year, the taxi driver admitted 100% fault but it was also on cctv so was an easy claim.
 
I had the exact same situation a few years ago. took 12 months to go to court but all went in my favour.

I had TPFT cover and used the Legal Cover to claim off the taxi driver. I had no witness and the taxi driver had about 5/6 other drivers turn up in minutes so I gave my details and did one before it got ugly. Needless to say the Barrister they sent to represent me made them look stupid when it came to the courts but they did state I was "Racing" up their inside. When they clarified "inside" as the left side, the barrister then pointed out al the damage to his taxi was on the right side and that was that, lol.

Just have patience and don't let them have it any other way. I had a couple of interviews and forms to fill out from investigators over the 12 months but all went smoothly.
 
Thanks for the input guys.

What are the opinions when it comes to using Helphire? I'm tempted because of the replacement vehicle. Although if there is a problem later down the line and say it goes 50/50 would I personally be liable for the cost?

Should I just ask my insurance company to pursue the costs with my legal cover?
 
real said:
Thanks for the input guys.

What are the opinions when it comes to using Helphire? I'm tempted because of the replacement vehicle. Although if there is a problem later down the line and say it goes 50/50 would I personally be liable for the cost?

Should I just ask my insurance company to pursue the costs with my legal cover?
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My experience of helphire is:

If its not clear who's fault it is - they stay well clear.
 
I had the same thing happen too, though I came off worse than you! Taxi driver(another one!) admitted fault and all went smoothly.
 
LEK-89 said:
Not your fault IMO, the driver should have looked in his wing mirror before turning out, its obvious he did not look because if he did look he would have not turned out to do the U turn. I'm sure the insurance company will see it this way as well because when the police come to ask the driver in the car they will ask if they looked in there wing mirror, and its obvious the police probably know that they did not bother looking in the mirror at all & the insurance company will follow up on this as well.

Liam
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Not wishing to be annoying and pedantic here but the driver may very well have checked their mirror and still not seen real, what the driver should have done was check their mirror and then perform an over the shoulder check of the blind spot, sorry.

Back to the OP, I think that so long as you were filtering legally, ie; not on the other side of solid white lines etc etc, then the only issue will be your speed and I'm not sure how that will pan out.
 
I also recall a law/policy change or something mentioned in a few bike forums a while back re filtering and blame change for the better, but alas I forget the details. As someone above said, if Helphire has helping they must be sure of a winner.

I hope your foot isn't hurt too bad fella!
 
Griffo said:
I also recall a law/policy change or something mentioned in a few bike forums a while back re filtering and blame change for the better, but alas I forget the details. As someone above said, if Helphire has helping they must be sure of a winner.

I hope your foot isn't hurt too bad fella!
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Thanks mate. The x-rays showed that nothing was broken so I'll survive! I'm just lucky there was no traffic coming in the opposite direction otherwise it may well have been game over.

Ok, if Helphire are interested then I might as well use them because I'll get a replacement vehicle which I would not get through my own insurance. I've had a look on their website and they mention something about a £10 indemnity policy which is not much to loose if the claim goes against me.
 
Griffo said:
I also recall a law/policy change or something mentioned in a few bike forums a while back re filtering and blame change for the better, but alas I forget the details. As someone above said, if Helphire has helping they must be sure of a winner.

I hope your foot isn't hurt too bad fella!
Click to expand...

But as said already 20-30mph with stationary traffic is not classed as filtering. That may cause a problem if the OP has stated the speed he was doing to the Police/insurance company. You will probably be looking at 50/50 then.
 
Update:

I chose to proceed with the claim through Helphire and a 08 Honda Hornet was delivered to me the following day. Unfortunately I am still on crutches so have been unable to ride, especially considering the nice weather we have been having :(

The customer service from Helphire was brilliant with regular updates on my claim every few days and I received a cheque from the other party's insurer a week ago. Therefore I would definitely recommend their service. However the speed of the settlement came as quite a surprise, so I can only assume that I was helped by the fact that the driver of the car immediately admitted fault.
 
Oh good news Real! I'm relieved it worked out. So the insurance chaps had no issues with your speed then, or I suppose if guy admits fault it's irrelevant. Anyway, hope you're back riding shortly!
 
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