Are We Getting Scammed? What Happens When Your Motorcycle Gets Written Off 

Good point well made. I guess people just need to understand all that before accepting offers, write-offs or repairs. But yes to build a bike from list price spares would come out easily 3+ the price of a new bike!

II largely agree with you, especially when it comes to the price of parts... they are just ridiculous... but the point here is that many workshops greatly exaggerate the price of a repair. In order to get above the total loss value, the owner will often accept the insurance money and part with the motorcycle. The workshop keeps the motorcycle or buys it for a symbolic amount from the insurance, then repairs the motorcycle and simply sells the repaired motorcycle for commercial value and thus makes a very healthy profit... There is nothing wrong with that if it is done honestly, but the question I ask is... why couldn't the motorcycle be repaired for that amount in the first place and returned to the owner... .and then we start leaning towards fraud and this is one of the reasons why insurance premiums are slowly skyrocketing

@@PietScheffer again speaking as a workshop manager, I personally would have never exaggerated costs to repair. We had to go by labour times which the manufacturer sets. Normally they're actually less time than would actually take because the times are for a brand new part coming off and a brand new part going back on. Doesn't take into account that bolts can be seized, stripped, corroded, rubber bushings are no longer malleable but instead rock solid. We rarely purchased the bike once written off as again, it would cost us more to repair than we could sell it for, if it was something easy and we perhaps had a donor bike with a broken engine then we could swap over the plastics for example, but these are second hand as they come off another bike, something which the customer involved in the accident wouldn't want. You'd want brand new parts put on, not second hand. There are scrap companies which purchase written off bikes, but they tend to have a load of donor bikes to swap and change parts, 3-4 written off bikes may have enough good parts to make 1 decent sellable bike. It isn't as high profit as you'd think. For us to write your bike off, I'd get 1 hour labour for estimating the value of parts needed. This doesn't take into account me having to then go to the parts diagram and input each individual nut and bolt required for a panel to make the estimate. Estimate sheets would sometimes take 2 or more hours as we may have to pull a panel off to check the structure to see if other parts are needed. Yet, insurance company will only pay for an hour. If I write your bike off, I've lost the additional time used to estimate and I've lost the chance to repair. All the dealership would of got was collection fee (if we picked it up), 1 hour labour estimate fee, and storage charges, which typically were £25 a day, but we're only paid that once the estimate is sent off and until insurance company deem the bike a write off. So 3-4 days tops. So total we'd take for a write off bike if we didn't collect, £200. As you can see, the dealership is not profiting off of a write off. It's taken 2 people, (technician and workshop manager) an hour or more to go through the bike and write up the damages, could have been servicing a bike instead.

My kind of guy. I would have done something similiar. Don't let em kill off your pride and joy quite so easily. A friend of mine, also on an early model Wing took off a car door that was opened in front of him and he didnt even come off! Ride safe.

And yes. 4th dimention

My electric cars fulfil a function that has taken the hassle away from petrol cars. Nothing seems to go wrong with them, charging is invariably done from home, excellent for trekking into London with. Last night Octopus Energy paid me 1p/kwh to charge it up between 2330 and 0430hrs - amazing.

​@@roddybI think Freddie really needs to do some research into electric cars they have come a long way in the last few years.

@@chrishart8548 I'm speaking only of the US. The issue isn't the cars/trucks. The issue is the infrastructure. Yes, you can charge at home, but many, many homes will require quite a bit of electrical work. I would jump on an electric but the estimated cost to upgrade my 1960s home to "properly" have an electric car is in the ~$10,000 range. It is inevitable, but I am going to have to save to do it right. Beyond just at the home level my neighborhood (again having been built in the 60s) every year is having more and more brown outs. A decent storm is almost a guarantee of a day without power. Why? Because the municipal infrastructure was not built for the demand we are putting on it. The infrastructure including better and many more charging stations need to be built out FAR more than it has outside of "mega" cities. THAT IMO is the problem. Its also why I think that ford dealer is full of shit. 10 years? Ya maybe..there is no way we are 3 years away. Lastly, the electric bikes are still way behind IMO. Bikes are also for the vast, vast majority of people a toy. You don't care if a toy is the most efficient, or practical, or really eco friendly. You want the character to be there, you want the revs, you want the mechanics, you want the vibration. My 2 cents.

You would be surprised. Ebikes are alot of fun.

@@christophercolon6418 are you sure they aren't a lot of fun ?

And if the repair you make results in less than perfect operation results normally with people selling the bike on and putting someone else in potential danger from an amateur repair job. This is also a bit scamish.

This is exactly why we have to pay a fortune to insure vehicles.

I was told that my bike HAD to go there even when I wanted it to go back to a my home. Clearly a deliberate policy of misinformation which is difficult to challenge without full knowledge of their dirty tricks. I’m sure there is an ‘understanding’ between the companies.

My wife wrote off our car when someone pulled out of a car park onto a 60 mph road in front of her. We were given dash cam footage by other drivers indicating the other driver was a fault. Insurers didn’t want to know. They seem to take the attitude that if they each pay out to their own insured , irrespective of fault, it’s ‘swings and roundabouts’ for the insurers in the end.

@@Howard1776 That sounds about right. In my case I didn't make an insurance claim, so I assume reporting it to the police had triggered an incident report that was subsequently passed onto the insurer. Or less likely, the driver of the following car had reimagined the incident with himself as the offended party when he'd sobered up, which is why I reported him to the police initially. However you look at it the insurers don't care or haven't got the resources to investigate who's right, and we pay for their laissez faire approach to blame.

Knock for knock hasn't existed for 20+ years, and when it did, that's not what it meant. It meant insurers don't bother to recover money from each other, usually when they're owned by the same group. It has nothing much to do with liability. You're grossly mistaken.

Nicked over £1000 quids worth of accessories off me and then told me because they weren't factory fitted my accessories cover wouldn't pay out for them. Didn't tell me that when I took out the insurance cover for them.

Indeed. Sunak has already pushed a 2030 deadline back to 2035 and people are waking up to the Electric con. Internal Combustion engines will be with us for some time yet. They are desperately trying to frighten folks into a poor decision to go electric.

Thanks very much for sharing this, very useful to hear it!

Me too...bought exactly the same chrome model at the age of 62. Beautiful.

I'm 81 and I hope my present Bonnie isn't my last bike!

don't vote labour they are out and out communists - tories are lost, voting is BS - we are screwed unless big change happens somewhere

Fascinating to hear it is wide spread! Thanks for the insight, Piet

I don't think much will have changed in 10 years time. If anything they will have just priced us out of private transport altogether. Still loads of Ice or electric you choose as long as you can afford it.

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Written of for a 5pm crash!😳. It may be auto-correct; what’s a “50p pen”?

@@tuesdayatdobbs Freddie, you are so gullible sometimes. Pen, write, off, gettit?

Damn it, straight over my head!!😆

Very good question- someone else mentioned this. I think you do need to pay for the subscription (at least for one month)

Ahhhh yes of course! Remind me, Tim- do you still have the bike?

@@tuesdayatdobbs sadly no I sold all 3 of my bikes (interceptor, classic 350 and old 1200gs to get into a t120, a bike that provides a bit of all 3). I love the t120 but I do miss the classic but had my sensible head on at the time trying to reduce overheads. 6 months on and I am currently saving up for the classic 650 likely out next year or an older 500.

If you are going up to Mt Teide make sure you take some warm gear. I went in early March and hit low cloud and rain and was frozen.

​@@Howard1776many thks for the tip.

Teide, Plaja Benijo, Masca (before 9am!) and La Laguna!

Cheers Freddie

The maths works out fine for them. It works out extra fine for everyone else in the chain involved with a claim and they heap on extra cost and expenses because they know it will all just get passed on to the customers and their next years premiums.

Ministry of transport certificate that’s says it is safe for the road… need one of these on bike 3 years and over, every year

Thanks David. Apologies Iggy- I’ll make sure I make it clearer next time

I do actually agree with you. Toyota’s stance on EVs has been very interesting

You're absolutely correct, a friend knows someone in the power generation industry who states there isn't enough generating capacity and they can't build enough to meet the 2035 target.