My bike was run over by a van whilst parked outside my house the few weeks back. They obviously didn’t stop (apart from to deliver their parcel). Luckily a neighbour saw it happen and took a photo of the van when it happened. Damage isn’t too bad, broken fairings, smashed indicators, but annoyingly it has bent one of the front brake discs which is more expensive than I would have liked.
I reported it to the police and was hoping to avoid making an insurance claim for fear of increasing my premium next year.
However the police have just come back saying they have ‘decided that no further action will be taken by police.’ I am still trying to get the van drivers details, but in the scenario where I can’t, does anybody have any experience of how a non fault claim affects their premium.
I called my insurance (Lexham) to check this without giving any details and they said they cant say either way as premiums are based on many factors, but you shouldn’t be penalised for a non fault claim. I have learnt not to trust insurance though!
Now you’ve spoken to your insurance company you’ll have a non-fault accident against your name. Even if you don’t claim it’ll still be on your record. They say it won’t make a difference but they are lying.
I’ve had one in the past and they kept saying it was a claim even though they did F all for it other than take my initial call. Only when I questioned it, they said it was a non-fault claim and gave me “a discount” as if they we doing me a favour…
If you make a claim against your insurance or a third parties insurance you will have to declare that claim and as a result your premium will go up regardless of who is at fault. Obviously if it is a non fault claim your premium will not go up as much as a own fault claim. The insurance view is that you park up in areas where the risk of your motorcycle being knocked over is higher therefore the premium is higher.
For renewals always use one or other of the comparison websites as each insurance company will apply different risks.
Your premiums will be affected, but this being said it is all BS! in terms of how it is worked out, I had my mother-in-law on my insurance, she crashes the car (her fault) insurance pay out, next year my premium (minus mother-in-law) goes up £400, I put her back on, it then ends up £100 cheaper than the year before, figure that one out!!!
It is likely to go up, if you had the guys details you could chat if not, personally I’d make him pay!
Another consideration if claiming on your own policy weight up the repair costs vs your excess.
If you have the vehicle details, registration number and a witness I’m pretty sure you can get the vehicle owners details from DVLA. How this is done I don’t know but the insurance use the service all the time probably at a cost.
Legally you have had an accident already, so you should be declaring it even if no claim is made (and id assume the police have recorded it as such.
Fortunately ive not been in this position, but will the cost of a disk be larger than your excess? It would be annoying to make a claim and still have to pay it all yourself
Seems a bit weak of the police not to pursue is if they have the plate of the van unless it was a cloned plate. Have you checked the plate details?
If they were delivering a parcel to a neighbour then could you get the courier company details from them?
I had a similar incident a few years ago but the driver left their business card and it all went through their companies insurance. Cant say i noticed any change in premiums afterwards but my yearly premium is only around £100 so a few percent increase wouldnt really register.
I was knocked off my bike, the guy drove off and left me in the road. I had it all on video and the police did nothing, apparently not enough evidence!
I have little faith in them when it comes to things like this.
This is the same with insurance companies too, when I had my off due on diesel and subsequent sand the council put down in a failed attempt to clean it up. The insurance company gave up when they found out it was only bike and clothing damage and that I hadn’t hurt myself other than a sprained thumb.
Likewise, I had to fight quite a bit with MCE to get them to claim against the farm with the mud on that fateful poohsticks rideout…
In the end they did and I got my money but no injury meant they were less than bothered and I had to nudge all the way.
To @Chris.M sorry but now you’ve made it official, you will have to declare it. Make sure they list it as no fault - MCE once tried to tell me that because there was no claim, it had to be classed as a fault accident.
Chances are you will see a small impact, but not significant. You might have to bump excess up more, but then can buy an excess policy to cover yourself.
If it helps, I had about 4 of these pesky things (no damage, no fault yet had to be declared because of other parties), plus a 3penalty ticket at the same time. I still managed to get insurance, although I lived in Epsom by the time all were on my record
I’ve recently had cause to try and find drivers details via the DVLA. There is a form you can download from their website which you can fill in and send off with a small fee (about £2 I think).
BUT.
I went through all this, including photos taken from my CCTV of the car that knocked over my bike and a confirmation photo from a neighbour’s CCTV of the car including reg plate. After about a month they sent it all back saying insufficient details supplied! Basically, if I’d have been able to supply all the details they asked for, I wouldn’t have needed to ask the DVLA!
Police weren’t interested either.
