Where to Buy Insurance Write Offs | The Indian and Royal Enfield Collaboration 60 Years Ago 

Motomine isn't just selling written off bikes. They are 4th Dimension. They are writing off your bike, taking ownership, and selling them on. My first dealing with them was a CBR125R (£3,600 new), two years old 26k miles. They valued it 'pre-accident' at £2,800, and valued it 'post-accident' ~£600. The difference is paid by the insurance. 4th dimension said I could have the bike back for a delivery fee (£95), or they would give me £600 for the bike. I took the money, but wouldn't you believe it, it's on the road today.... A word of warning on lease bike costs. When they deliver the bike, they ask you to sign for it, but they are actually asking you to sign for the lease contract. Any costs not covered by the claim is your liability. So if you had a second bike in good order, the claim might not cover the lease bike cost because "you didn't need it".

Regarding the flood damaged bike, I think Freddie is suffering from SMS (Short Memory Syndrome)! 10:21 "...if the engine starts and runs...no obvious signs of damage to the engine...what is the problem...?" I seem to recall your Bonneville initially started and ran following your aquatic adventures...and we all know how that ended up!

I watched these videos with interest. I work in insurance and there is a lot of misinformation being said here. This is a complex area and needs addressing properly IMO. For a start, there is no such thing as “buying back” your bike (or car). It’s always your property so there’s no need to buy anything back. Also replacement “hire” bikes are never free. You as the renter are legally liable for All costs at all times. The hire agreement is subject to the consumer credit act as credit is being extended to you. Be aware of this. I see hires of £30k and more for a hired bike. No exaggeration at all. The highest I’ve seen is £88k. For a bike! Also if you buy a Cat N (or X or even an S) be very aware of the repair costs. Ive done this and it ain’t as simple or cheap as you think. There’s usually a reason it was written off. There are borderline cases and these are known as ‘constructive total loss’. Usually if the vehicle is under a couple of years old it will be written off because the repairs are 80% (or 60% con’ TL)or more of the purchase price. I could go on but I’d be here all day.

Great you are highlighting this Freddie. When i checked to find who owned Moto Mine, it's owned by a subsidiary of 4th Dimension it seems from the Ebay seller information. Something is very wrong with this industry and only serves to increase your premiums whilst the directors of 4D appear to be the only true winners. As I said last week in the comments, you are free to send your bike to any repairer you wish, I sent mine to my local BMW dealer who repaired the bike, as good as new within one week i had it back on the road, supported by my solicitors who also sent out an engineer to assess. Also the loan bikes have massive excesses too that even if you have it in writing you are not liable for the rent…check that aspect as they can be as high as £2000 excess. Thanks Freddie

Freddie , I look forward to watching your unique weekly blend of enthusiasm and insight into the biking world, you deserve your success - all best Phil

I had the misfortune to have my Bentley driven into a few years ago. My two biggest issues were: Firstly, once a vehicle has been subject to an insurance claim its value is subsequently lowered, so no matter how good the repair job is you will lose money when you come to sell the vehicle Secondly, the 'courtesy car' offered was a Nissan Micra. The only winners are invariably the insurance company. They are little more than Ponzi schemes...

Regarding the Swedish Honda 600? They were sold in the U.S.A as the Honda Nighthawk 650 SC between 83 and 85. Exactly the same twin cam engine, with hydraulic valve lifters, so no valve adjustment needed, and the shaft drive. I’ve had one for over twenty years, commuted into London with it for fifteen years, currently on 98,000 miles. Apart from consumables, only replaced the head gasket and valve seals two years ago. Many other eighties Nighthawks out there, but these were only available for those two years. Always a pleasure to watch your Vlogs. Thanks, Geoff.

Freddie, the bids on eBay can increase massively in the last few minutes of an auction, same with synetiq/copart, bargains can be got but you're up against a lot of people wanting the same.

3k budget. I’ve just bought a FZ1 2003 for £1200 with only 9k miles. Plenty of deals to be had. I have a CBX1000z and a VFR750. The old ones are good value and hold money as well as turn heads. Good biking……good investment

We had a 1960 Royal Enfield Indian Chief at Cheffins Vintage Auctions back in 2018. It was 1960 model in dark blue & was registered in the UK in 2013. Based on the Enfield Constellation, The Chief differed from the Trailblazer with a twin seat, 16in front wheel, balloon tyres & deeply valanced mudguards. Unfortunately, I can't remember if it sold.

Hi freddie, i believe moto mine are 4th dimension. nice videos by the way.

another great pod cast 😄

If Indian and RE do a collaboration, it should be called "Actually Indian"

Agree that Royal Enfield Indian Trailblazer would be a hit. Absolutely love that red on with the brown seat. Great episode!

I moved to Australia start of the year, I bought a 1956 Indian tomahawk 500 when I got here. Cracking little bike

You need to have a look at the Indian Velo 500. This was a bike that crossed a Velocette 500 engine with an Italian frame and cycle parts. I believe that about 150 were built and sold as Indians in the USA.

Just love those RE Indian bikes! Interesting!

Hej Freddy, The 600 was a slightly upgraded 550 and was sold in Sweden instead of the 650 Nighthawk witch we had in ´82 what a gorgeous bike is and one of the few left on my bucket list. But they did this to get lower insurance premiums because otherwise the bike would be too expensive to insure (they learned from the ´82 model), so at the request of the Swedish importer Honda made 1000 of these CBX600e. I forgot to mention with the photos what the bikes were but here we go.... the "Indian clone" is a Kawasakie Drifter 1500 and a one year only in that colorscheme, I also had the 800 cc, the red/black cruiser is a Kawaski Vulcan 1500 , and the Candy red one is a Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic, here too I had the 800 cc, as you already mentioned, the two tone green bike is a Yamaha Dragstar 1100 Classic and here too I had the 650 cc version. will send you a few pictures of the other bikes aswell.... Greetings from Sweden......P.

Hi Freddie and Ollie. I have a W800, it’s a great bike, totally bulletproof engine, and it is certainly very different. You don’t see many of them about so be prepared to have people stop and talk to you about it. For £3k you’d have no problem getting a Honda 500, either an R or X, but my pick would be a KTM Duke 390. Great fun, nippy around town, small and light weight so you’re not intimidated by it, and can be had for under your budget.

Freddie, talking about unusual bikes, have a look at the Suzuki Cavalcade, a v4 1360cc engine big touring bike, only around for a couple of years in the 1980's. Keep up the good work !!

always enjoy your discussions. your voice would be good for audio books🙂

It was a cb750 Nighthawk also in the uk

Careful, 4th Dimensions write some of there own reviews .

Freddie, cbx 650 already exicted on the market but the 600 cc version was only made for the Swedish market and it was due to the Swedish insurences at that time.

Here in Latvia (Eastern Europe) written off means it will never ever be able to participate in traffic, no matter what and if insurer defines it as a total loss, it's written off. Then it's only scrapyard and sold for parts, that chassis number will never be on the road.

Wondering will the uk get the honda gb350, which currently only available in asian and Australian markets at the moment

Great content again Freddie but I can’t agree with your advise on the w800 because Kawasaki struggled to sell last batch in the uk and you can still pick up new or pre registered bikes for around £6000.00 which when you consider it’s 13 years younger is a no brainer.

First bike after a 125cc with 3K budget. The answer is always an SV650. The real question is SV650 or SV650X or SV650S

Ive bought 6 bike from motomine in the last few years, all were Cat N and very cheap repairs (carried out myself) and to be honest they were all mint bikes. Actually have 2 bike from MM on the way to me this week.

Hi Freddie the Honda was sold in the states as 650 nighthawk and Indian enfield is a 700 cc constilation here in the UK in 70s I think go on to hitchcocks I am sure they have couple of them I think people just bought triumph and bsa at the time

Here's hoping that's something close to what the classic 650 will look like👌🏻

The strangest Indian is probably the Indian Vincent, just prototypes I believe. If you Google it, there are pictures of two variations. One is a Vincent Rapide with americanized mudguards, seat, handlebars and crashbars, the other is a Vincent engine in what appears to be an Indian frame with plunger rear suspension and the huge Indian mudguards.

Insurers are the worst, and I know there are bad apples who milk the system and spoil for all but I still I find it hard to imagine an industry that could offer such bad service were it not mandated to do business with them. They have a license to discriminate and the only recourse is to never need them for anything and hope the extortion eases up a little over time.. In so many cases we are better off putting the money in the bank and and getting the simplest plan.

For 3k , the Honda cmx 500 is a great looking character of a bike , cheap to run , with Honda reliability of course . May be of interest to Ollie .

Re: Indian just type Royal Enfield Constellation (or early Interceptor) same bike without Indian Badges I believe.

It would be better perhaps to look at the eBay sold price filter for the true outcome?

It's all well & good to buy a seemingly easy repair bike & dave some cash. The problems start when you try & insurer it. Most companies will decline......

Can anyone recommend motorbike hire in the UK? I’d be heading from south wales to Northern Italy so somewhere along that route from south wales to Dover would be ideal. Thanks!

oh dear Freddie , Ive bought a number of bikes off Motormine , theve now got far to expensive and not worth the trouble , the pictures dont always show every thing and very often there are more parts required , they dont give you a list of required parts as it can be down to how many scratches or dents you are expected to accept , can even include bent forks on a cat N , and Copart , require an additional fee to join thecauction , not all roses

That flood damaged bike probably does run fine. But its likely to be a nightmare of problems in about a year.

What am I missing here? You look at an auction that hasn't finished yet, see the current bidding price and exclaim"WHAT A BARGAIN!!" ...??? The auction hasn't finished yet, the price it's at now is absolutely irrelevant. What is going on with the complete disconnect of how auctions work? Does Freddie think we're idiots?

That XSR you showed sold for £3100 and it was showing that as you spoke over it, weird!!

In the 80s in SF, 'Murca, the "Nightmare" 650 were a dime a dozen & generally laughed at by Real Bikers. Don't know why as they seemed perfectly good Honda runabouts....

I have never been offered a loan bike by insurers in 35 years of insuring bikes. I did however, have a stolen bike offered back to me by the police....3 years after it was stolen! They still wanted me to take it, even though I pointed out that it belonged to the insurance company now and not me!?

OMG!

Cbx600. Looks like FT500 crossed with a cbx550 the 550 was a 572cc anyway

I genuinely think the problem with insurance companies is something that affects all walks of life nowadays, a combination of stupidity and laziness. It’s a lot easier to just write the bike or car off than deal with the problems of repairs especially given the long wait for spares and having to provide hire vehicles. Most insurance companies won’t risk repairing vehicles with used or pattern parts as it could easily come back to bite them. If the owner chooses to do that fine good luck, they are not ripping anyone off, but it is simply easier and safer for insurers to write the vehicle off and up everyone’s premiums. After all we are all made of money so we don’t care!! In the old days if they repaired a vehicle there was a thing called “betterment” where once repaired the vehicle was better than before so the insurance company would expect a contribution from the insured. This was terribly complicated and led to lengthy arguments - so as I have already said they prefer to write it off and have done.

You can't compare the price of an insurance write off when fixed with a non write off bike. You are also not factoring in cost of repairs.

I spent Saturday at the Stafford classic motorcycle show. Fantastic day. The auction was fascinating. Other than a Vincent HRD rapide that made £238K, the rest of the bikes seemed very cheap. Manx Norton and BSA goldstars for around £10K. I thought they were at least £20-30K. Plenty of other cheap classic British bikes. Made the eBay and Facebook Marketplace bikes seem very expensive. What's going on there? Is there a downturn in classic bike market?

Perfect bike for 3k, Honda Monkey 125, has everything he requested.

It is far better in countries that do insurance bonds and you cannot even buy sell a car without insurance. The bonds are issued by the government so there is no disputes as such like these are. Ie Norway / New Zealand. Also once the car is insured ANYONE can drive it legally. This is just another UK smank

is this site solely for uk? (im from belgium)

When you getting the Commando 961? ❤

Would never buy a written off bike, could have a world of problems and some insurance companies won't insure and sometimes insurance on a cat n will be more than a bike that isn't a cat n

What no latte no cake no Monica what’s going on?

Under 3k, characterful... maybe a used RE Interceptor?

Hitchcock motorcycles may have one or two Indians.

Hitchcocks had a 1959 Royal Enfield Indian Chief:- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i340NHl9448.html

Modern Indian looks don’t hold a candle to RE, the Indians look like die cast models made from cheap molds. Some REs actually capture the curves, lines, and subtle design cues that makes motorcycles beautiful. Indian could learn from RE but I don’t think it works the other way around.

Why would u trust lawyer

Sounds ptetty ridiculous. Retired expat living in Thailand. Dontmknow what happens here with writeoffs. I thjnk the first class insurance is good. Mostly small scooters here.