Insurance pay-out offer

Finally managed to get the offer figure from the insurance company
today: GBP3300. Arse.

Our friendly local bike mechanic told me that the book price for an '00
Falco, on a W, with 12000 miles was GBP3850.

Given that mine had almost double that mileage, am I going to be on a
hiding to nothing trying to get an increased offer?

I've had a quick look on BikeTrader, but (ignoring the bashed-up
ones[0]) there's only one example that's comparable, a private sale at
GBP3495.

I guess the next step is to buy a copy of MCN (*spit*) and see what's in
there. Any other good places to look for evidence of a higher value?



[0] "mint bike pre accident". WTF is the point?

 

I thought that the rule was: "never accept the first offer". I mean,
they owe you a bike, there's no doubt about that. They're not going
to decrease the offer because you ask for more.

 

Just tell the insco to supply you with an equivalent bike at that
price. Or demonsatrate that they can't by sending them aforementioned
adverts and the reason why the one close in price is not suitable
(private sale, no warranty, etc.).

As Andy says, what have you got to lose?

 

Well, yes. I'm certainly going to try.

Perhaps I should rephrase my question: what are my chances of success?

 

Definitely - that's why I was wondering if there were any better sources
of information than just Bike Trader and MCN.

Nowt.

Mind, it certainly looks like a Z1000 isn't a possibility until I get
the "other" insurance payout. Not that I expected it would be.

Hmmm... anybody flogging a Bandit12 cheap?

 

In

Arse indeed. When you paid for your insurance what value did you pin on
your steed?

 

Eddie says...

D K Motorcycles is always a good place to look if you want a
nice valuation.

http://www.dkmotorcycles.co.uk

 

GBP4800 - but they're hardly going to take any notice of that, are they?

 

Oooh, ta.

Hmmm... slight problem: they haven't got any. That'll teach me to buy a
"non-mainstream" bike.

 

Nah, he undervalues everything.

Aren't there laws about sending dangerous goods through the post?

 

Eddie wrote

Better than if you roll over and tiuta.

 

In

Well they would if you had said GBP3000!

 

When my TCat was written off they initially offered 2200GBP. I took
adverts from Bike Trader and MCN for every Tcat for sale private and
dealer. I then did a table detailing number of bikes of each year and
average price/year. I also got letters from all the local dealers quoting
what price they would sell a bike of same age/condition/mileage etc. These
all suggested a price of £4K wa reasonable. In the end I settled for 3650.

 

<snip>

Ask him to work out what the book price is for one with your mileage.

Bike Trader has an 02 reg SL Falco (dunno if this is exactly your model)
for £3,895. 15,569 miles, Hyside M/c in Romford Essex.

HTH,
Martin.

 

I don't think there's an exact formula for working from the "average
mileage" book price to a book price for a specific mileage.

Well, that doesn't help much, 'cos it's newer than mine.

I've had a quick flick through the private ads in MCN, and they're not
much use for arguing the price up. Need to check the trade ads, 'cos
they're going to be a lot higher.

 

Ta, but they haven't got any either.

 

Exactly... as long as I can find some trade ads that support my argument.

 

There is such a formula in the car books: I assume the same goes for
bikes.

As the book price is £3,850 at 12,000 miles, what do you reckon yours is
worth at 24,000-odd? £3,500, £3,600?

Based on the figures you gave they are knocking off around £45 per
thousand miles over book.

Sorry.

Adverts supporting your value are the way to go. Why not also get your
local dealer to do you a letter stating what they would expect to sell
your bike for, at this time of year?

HTH,
Martin.

 

Ah, I didn't know that.

*shrug*

As much as I can get for it, really.

.... which might well be correct - I've got no idea.

No worries - it was worth a try.

Hmmm... Aprilia dealer (with whom I have no previous dealings),
ex-Aprilia dealer (where I bought the bike new), or friendly
dealer/mechanic? Would any of them really hold any weight with the
insurance company?

 

The insurance company? Ummm... not yet, I guess, as they've based their
valuation on an independent engineer's report, and there's no way he
could have found out the mileage - the clock and computer were totally
fucked.

But they will do, as they'll want the logbook and service record when I
start trying to argue the valuation.