Has anyone made an insurance claim on their motorcycle policy which uses a claims agency?
I am with Bennetts, but they use a claims agent, 4th Dimension who also take the bike away and undertake the repairs. The system seems incredibly complicated - they could not get any contact with the 3rd party, who I think is to blame, so I have claimed on my comprehensive policy, accepting the excess payment. There are pick up charges, storage charges, and now talk of legal proceedings against the other driver to recover these.
They have said I will not have any costs to pay, but I think this should all be dealt with by my comprehensive policy without bothering me with forms and requests for signatures - any thoughts?
To top it all, they are still waiting for parts to do the repairs… Speed 400, coming from India??
You don’t have to use the insurer’s approved repairer, you’re within your rights to have it repaired where you want to though insurers are often not keen on this as it may cost them more.
If you choose a dealer you’re they’ll use the OE parts and it’ll be repaired to the manufacturer’s standards. The possible downside is if there are any problems you’d need to sort this out direct with the dealer and it may cost more for the dealer to do it which might mean the bike is written off.
Having repairs done by a non frachised business may (or may not) invalidate your warranty on a bike as you don’t have the same protection car owners do under the law, which was originally EU law that we’re still using.
Don’t have a courtesy car/bike unless the other party’s insurer has admitted liability because if they deny it’s their fault you could end up paying the hire charges yourself. Hire fees are high, some would say to boost their profits.
I knew the hire bike situation was a minefield, so I said no to that. They haven’t come back to me about the claim being on my comprehensive policy yet, hopefully that will clarify things… but we’ll see, and I won’t be signing anything without checking first!
You also don’t have to use 4th Dimension, they are not a law firm but merely a claims recovery firm so they will always go for the line of least resistance as it is not financially viable to fight a case. I would refuse to let them represent and instead go somewhere like White Dalton who are a law firm run by and for bikers.
I thought I’d wrap up this post - it has taken 15 months to complete my insurance claim after a fairly minor bump in September 2024, and I received a cheque for my excess payment today. Hooray!
As I’ve mentioned before, the claim was processed by 4th Dimension on behalf of the insurers (from investigating a new policy for my new bike, it looks like they act for just about every insurer now), and in the end everything worked out fine. One warning I would offer is NOT to take the offered rental bike if you can avoid it as costs for this could spiral and you could be liable depending on your insurance cover and the result of the claim. Also, if asked to sign an appointment for a solicitor, get confirmation that all costs will be covered by your insurance policy first. I received this advice from a well known motorcycle specialist solicitor - I would have appointed them, but they cannot work in Scotland (apparently Scots law is sufficiently different).
As I’ve mentioned before poor supply of parts meant that repairs took 6 months, but by then I had sold the bike through 4th Dimension, at a bit of a loss I must admit.
Anyway, nice to know that it is all resolved, and my little bump is recorded as a “no-blame” claim, so my no-claims discount is not affected.
