My Commando insurance claim

Hi guys, how are you? Was back in June if anyone can recall when I said I had an accident on the commando, less than a week after I put it back on the road, and was waiting for the insurance to sort it out.

Anyway, I found out some interesting things about how the insurance worked here in England anyway, that I thought I’d share with you guys if you’re interested. I had a standard comprehensive insurance, not agreed value, with a £400 excess.

Damage to the bike that I could see were bent handlebars, snapped off footpeg, headlamp rim bent, broken offside rear indicator lens, snapped off offside seat knurled knob, the glass had come off the rev counter which I had picked up and that seems about it, with a few scratches. I rode the bike home. Accident was my fault, though obviously I didn’t tell anyone. Only reason I claimed was the damage to the car, a new Merc, was too much for me to pay out of my own pocket, even if it was only broken rear lenses and a few scratches, still came to near thousand pounds!!!

Day after the accident I notified my broker, who arranged for an engineer to take the bike away and that was all very prompt. The engineer was a reputable motorcycle firm.

That was my first mistake, I should have notified the insurance company not the broker. Anyway sorted that out and the insurance company sent its accessor down to see the bike.

Didn’t hear anything from them for a couple of weeks despite heaps of calls from me to a premium rate number. Then they eventually said the accessor had written it off! I said what? For a few scratches and slight damage? So they sent another accessor down, and this one the repair firm knows well. And he too wrote it off! So I asked why? And these were the reasons, which have taught me a bit about how it worked.

Firstly the repair company had put in a bill for £3,750!!!! It turns out not only do they repair what can be seen to be accident damage, but they do a complete job. Includes a new tank, offside exhaust, seat, panels, complete clocks and ignition console plus heaps of cosmetic work. Also the way the accessor worked out the value of the commando was by going on ebay that avo, and the only commandos there were one barn find, and a couple of mint restored commandos. Now my bike I admit was scruffy, I had just got it working after over 9 years stored in the garage, I had worked on it to pass the MOT which it had, and I was just taking it out for a good shakedown ride before next weekend doing the cosmetics in case I need to do more mechanical work on it. And the accessor admits that the bike is worth far more, but not in the condition he saw it in, only after I had cleaned it up and added some polish. And he said the bike will be worth much more to me if I buy it back as salvage than to the wreckers.
So the reason he valued my bike at only £3,000 was it was not mint like ones on ebay, and the barn find only had a £1,000 starting bid on it. Also, and this shocked me, there was a previous write off against it!!! Although he also said according to the records it was against a Yamaha with my reg. Obviously a mistake, but it’s on the records.
I of course said I will buy the bike back, as it was only a Cat C write off, which means the bike was repairable but deemed to expensive.

So I have the bike back, and so far spent less than £100 to fix everything. But it means I have to now reapply for my V5C, the ownership doc, and get a new MOT. Also the bike has a write off recorded against it, which is not important unless I want to sell it, which I am not looking to.

But the reason why I only got the cheque today is there was an outstanding finance on it from a finance company! I said no way, I have owned the bike since the early 90’s, and I brought it from a well known motorcycle firm. The insurance and finance company both accept it was not my bike, was just a typo when the records were entered many years ago, as my reg on their records was against a Yamaha! (This explained the write off the accessor found against my bike reg)
Anyway, I have the cheque, my bike is back in my garage, I am now awaiting for my V5C to come back from the DVLA, and then I can get the bike MOT’ed again and reinsured.

Of course I will be paying more for my bike insurance, as well as my car insurance when it is due for renewal.

I now feel a wee bit cheated after paying insurances for over 30 years with never a claim until now. Why did the bike repair firm quoted such a high figure and the need to replace parts with brand new items that was not damaged in the accident? They can see the few scratches on the tank and exhaust can just be polished off and not needed to be replaced with new items. Why was the only way to value my bike was to look on ebay that day only? And now my future insurance fees will be higher for this.

I know now when I am on the road again to make sure my bike is cleaned and polished up just incase, God forbid, I have to make a claim again!
Anyway, that was my whinge over with. I feel heaps better now!! am going to get back in the garage and get the commando ready again and also finish that Matchless I started on again when the Commando was in the repair shop.

cheers guys!!!

Thats a bummer,

You can get Classic insurance with an agreed value up to £5000, with no need for an independant Valuation, From People such as Footman james. Its the way to go with an old bike, and they are usually better at agreeing for you to do the work, but at least you were able to claim back the bike and get it sorted.

An insurance claim is a negotiation process, never accept the first offer and get your valuation evidence in your head before starting to negotiate.


Maybe I need to do an HPI check on My norton, you never know what that might turn up!

Good to hear that everything (eventually) worked out.

Insurance companies must be one of the dodgiest forms of life to deal with ever.
Finding one that is helpful must be close to finding the holy grail. ?
Although some try - even if they have rules against that sort of thing...

It only seems to take a few scratches on moden bikes for them to be written off. ?
Good night if there is any mechanical damage.
And good luck finding spares in that case.
At least Commandos are well catered for these days, spares are better than they ever were back 'then'. ?

OzT said:

Hi guys, how are you? Was back in June if anyone can recall------
eventually said the accessor had written it off! I said what? For a few scratches and slight damage? ---------Firstly the repair company had put in a bill for £3,750!!!!---------So I have the bike back, and so far spent less than £100 to fix everything.------------I now feel a wee bit cheated after paying insurances for over 30 years with never a claim until now. ------------------Why did the bike repair firm quoted such a high figure and the need to replace parts with brand new items that was not damaged in the accident? They can see the few scratches on the tank and exhaust can just be polished off and not needed to be replaced with new items. ----cheers guys!!!

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. My take is that the repair company is looking to make money, and they can make more off of 3,750 than they can off of 100.

"I now feel a wee bit cheated after paying insurances for over 30 years with never a claim until now."


They've made a shit ton of money cheating us all a wee bit then. Insurance is the only thing you'll pay for your whole life and never really want a return on your investment. Now that's a hustle.

Don't know much about British Ins. , but over here on this side of the pond there are less rules and regulations to deal with (The Brits invented them ,look at double- economy India) , have heard of this new propensity to write-off a vehicle too as several partys benefit from it. You are at-fault so be it. Over here we have a differing system of no-fault. Many forms of ins. concepts have been and will be instigated in the future. Banking including the selling and promoting of debt. continues to be the world's most profitable legalized business out there followed closely by ins. That's why B.'s are selling ins. recently here as weak politicians cave in to the constant moneyed lobyings. Admirable that you value your work $o low but inflation takes it's toll. Good thing to have her back.

Ugh, the life and times this cycling exposes us too. Banks and Ins. both come under gambling law in the states, same as casino's. The policy holders installments and the coverage claims out, are a fairly small part of Ins. business behind the scenes and its in Ins. company interest to get big claims made against it, as they can then set aside an event bigger amount, supposedly to cover the claim, but takes it off their taxable income and puts in on the loss side for tax and accounting. That set aside can get rather large and can be tapped for political favors and other non policy funny business. Better luck next time out.

Wow, that was a tough experience you had with the insurance company, and the incredibly expensive repair job.

I had an accident with my Mark 3 about 3 or 4 years ago, and my experience was completely the opposite.

First, my bike was damaged quite a bit more than yours -
- bent forks
- bent front and rear fenders
- bent handlebars and mirror
- broken tail light assembly
- smashed header pipes
- broken gear shifter, and foot peg assembly
- bent frame (discovered after repairs began)

I called the insurance company right away, and the service was incredible. They told me to take it to the shop of my choice, which I did. The initial repair estimate was in the area of $1,400, parts and labor.

The insurance company went to the shop to see the bike, looked at recent sales on ebay, and agreed with my valuation of about $8,000 (the bike was restored and in perfect condition).

After the repairs began, the shop called to say the frame was bent. I called the insurance company and said I would not ever feel safe riding the bike in the future with a damaged frame (hidden hairline cracks at steering head joint?, etc.) They agreed to revise the repair estimate up to around $2,800, which was $800 for a new frame, and the labor to pull everything off the old frame.

The called me weekly to check in on the repairs, always polite and helpful. I even completed a customer satisfaction survey after the repairs were complete - needless to say they got a 5 out of 5 from me. Great experience all around (other than running into the rear of that Honda Accord, of course).

Guess I won't even say better luck next time....

This side of the pond better ?

I had a low speed get off from a diesel fuel spill and emailed photos and parts list for approximately $1000 and insurance mailed me a check. Didn't want to see the bike!

Wow you guys done ok in the states then! It did cross my mind that the repair shop was hoping I would NOT have brought the bike back off the insurers and they could fix it up themselves for cost rate and put it on sale.

I think that is why the insurance accessor, who is meant to be an independant, hinted to me on the phone that it is worth me buying the bike back.

I'll look into Footman James, but it seems you have to be a member of a motorcycle association, they asked for a membership number.

Well I wish the repair shop had just fixed what was needed without pricing in all the new parts that were just cosmetics. They said it it their job to fix the bike properly, that included new parts always for any that were scratched, even though I am sure they knew the tank and exhaust for example was just normal wear and tear.

Anyway I have the bike back and off today to get new handlebar and footrest rubber, then I am stuck now until DVLA sends me my V5C, which is my ownership doc, then I can arrange for another MOT to be legal on the road, oh and I need to also get new insurance as my one expired when they wrote the bike off (after less than 2 weeks of a year's policy!).

I'll look into Footman James, but it seems you have to be a member of a motorcycle association, they asked for a membership number.

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That's just for the discount, no membership then they insure but no discount. I stopped using them when they started give huge renewal quotes which if you rang up magically dropped to the same as the previous year, Carol Nash gets up to the same tricks too. I am now with Peter James, £85 per annum for 3 classics.

ditto the agreed value route. I have that on the majority of my bikes although I've not had to use it yet.

I even convinced them to cover my 2001 Ducati since it was a special edition model.

We'll see how they are if I ever have to make a claim. I do get credit for multibike discount etc. since my butt can only be in one seat at a time. And the fact they are all in a secured, alarm protected garage etc.

You just need to join the UK Norton owners club...the discount on the insurance pays for the club membership, but as Kommando says get various quotes. fJ include legal cover, foreign travel cover and a uk and European get you home cover in their quote. This is worth it to me as I usually use my airheads abroad a couple of times every year.