How to get your bike repaired after a crash?

By law, all motorbikes ridden on the road, including byways and green lanes, should be insured. We hope to never need to make a claim, but accidents do occur! Not only this, but, an accident irrespective of another person being involved might be a reason why you should consider how good your insurance service is.

The Place of Motorcycle Insurance

Motorcycle insurance is usually taken out through a broker. The top brokers have connections to numerous underwriters which ensures you can always get the protection you need. An example of this is that one underwriter might quote excellent premiums for custom bikes, another for multi-bike policies etc. If you are involved in an accident and need to make a claim, the provision of bike will be analysed and either moved away or scratched, depending on the level of damage.

Making a Claim: The Process

These days your insurance company will probably encourage you to report accidents as soon as possible – even if you’re still determining if you want to file a claim. The insurer will suggest a preferred repairer, but you can elect to have your bike repaired where you want it to. It is important to consider the repairer’s previous experience with insurance companies and particularly accident damage. Although, the insurer-approved repairer will expedite the claim process and if there are ever any issues, will provide support.

Understanding ‘Write-Offs’

After the damage estimate is generated, the damage is verified by an independent engineer. They must know motorcycles since the engine repairment is a lot different from cars. An insurance company will do this by establishing a percentage of the bike’s true market value and comparing that to the corresponding valuation of mapping of the bike in some cases they may declare your bike a write-off if this scale is too heavily salted towards repair costs. If totaled out, the owner is paid up to market rate, and the bike is retailed for salvage.

Categories of Write-Offs

Total loss motorcycles or total loss cars are categorized. The categories went up to D until October 2017:

Type A

Car cannot go back on the road; every part must be destroyed.

Category B

Vehicle Must not return to the road, but the vehicle can be broken for salvageable parts.

Category C

CV does not exceed PAV, but repair costs exceed PAV + VAT; Total loss.

Classification D

Repairable total loss – where the vehicle is repairable, but the costs including VAT exceed the pre-accident value (PAV).

Modifications in Write-Off classifications

To improve security, the Association of British Insurers have discontinued the previous Categories C and D with the new Categories S and N to stand for ‘Structural’ and ‘Non-Structural’ damage at cars. It is actually mechanically classified in one of two ways: Category S, where it has sustained structural damage, a bent chassis, for example, or Category N, where the damage is non-structural, such as a bit of cosmetic damage or an electrical problem.

Category S does not exist for motorbikes; any bike which has damage to the steering, frame, or swingarm assembly, VIN/engine numbers, or irreparable engine damage is an A or B write-off, and will not return to the road. This is an effort to stop potentially unsafe salvaged bikes being sold off as repairable, though inexperienced assessors could wrongly write-off bikes which should be fixable.

A number of scientific studies nevertheless assert that minimal modifications result in the highest casualty-cost savings with majority reporting decreases in demise dangers and losses in damage statements from accidents with improved late afternoon or opposite-side harm and write-offs.

Minor damage, such as a scratch on the frame, can result in a bike being written off if the repairer does not possess cosmetic repair capability or if the damage is incorrectly assessed. Yet, we can prevent unnecessary write-offs if assessed by the right people. 4th Dimension is one of the repair companies that retain bikes for specialist repair techniques and will sometimes save bikes from the scrap heap if the customer wants to keep them.

The Role of the Customer

Customers cannot choose to have their bike declared a write off. If it can be repaired for what is budgeted, it will not be a cut-corners repair. The bike would not be rebuilt if the repair cost was within spitting distance of a specific write-off value, 4th Dimension explains, but in such instances the customer would be advised, and the likes of 4th Dimension would attempt to use specialist repair practices to save the bike, providing the customer provides the go-ahead to proceed.

Replacement vs. Repair

The Accident was not your mistake and must have been covered with Insurance if you have Motocycle Insurance that will take back you to your past state, repair it or pay you go back the money. Insurance pay-out are in accordance with the fine price of a bike thinking of its carrier records and preservation. However, sourcing another bike in as good a condition may prove difficult for anything like the market value of the damaged one. The assessors calculate the cost of returning the bike to its state before the accident, including a change in the geometry of the frame after a serious accident. Insurer-approved repairs are made; anything outside their price range gets a bike moded out.

If the cost to repair the bike to its pre-accident condition is less than the 75% of the ar value then it must/will be repaired, e.g. a motorcycle with a market value of £8,000 and a repair threshold of 75% £6,000 must be repaired if it can be repaired for under this cost. Otherwise it will be expensed.

To summarize, bike repaired it is compulsory for the motorcycles plying on the road to have insurance. In conclusion, to better navigate the aftermath of an accident, it is important to understand the claim process, the part played by assessor and the types of write-offs. Using repair companies that have lots of experience and assessors that know what they are talking about means that you are hopefully either having your bike put back to its original condition, or being paid out just the correct amount, and it means that the accident will have had the least impact on your life.