4th Dimension - no escape

[Berin]

It has been posted on a number of occasions ( over a number of threads ) that an insurance broker /company cannot force you to use 4th Dimension , if you have a non blameworthy accident my first port of call would always be to contact the offending vehicles insurer and deal with them directly rather than both you and them getting shafted by 4th Dimension claims handling and subsequently 4th Dimension repairs .
In the past I have had it noted on my insurance file that I will not have any dealings with 4th Dimension and will not under any circumstances authorise them either getting their hands on my property or dealing with any claim . Currently with CN and made them aware of this both verbally and in writing and was still given cover.
Claims handling firms are becoming a f*cking nightmare , a couple of years ago my brother in law had his car written off in a non blameworthy (he was waiting to turn right and a driver who was not concentrating ran into the back of his car ). The claims handling firm rang him up at least once a day for over a week to try to force him to take a loan car , he did not want one as they have another car and he was working offshore and only back for 2 weeks in every 4 . There were even veiled threats that if he did not take a loan car it "might" delay his claim being processed.
In the end he told them that the calls were being recorded and blocked their number .
Claim was processed within 2 weeks of him blocking their number and telling them to contact him in the future via E Mail only

Yep, with Mrs Berins accident - rear ended on the bike- that’s what we did, looks like no injuries so no comp claim. She has a medical assessment next week as she had a bit of a bad back, but looks like that’s now resolved but worth a check anyway.

The 3rd parties insurance company (or really their claims handler) offered £1000 to let them deal with the claim.

The only thing slowing it down at the moment is getting an estimate from the garage, but it’s our choice of garage so we can’t moan about that

 

[Neil W]

Yep, with Mrs Berins accident - rear ended on the bike- that’s what we did, looks like no injuries so no comp claim. She has a medical assessment next week as she had a bit of a bad back, but looks like that’s now resolved but worth a check anyway.

The 3rd parties insurance company (or really their claims handler) offered £1000 to let them deal with the claim.

The only thing slowing it down at the moment is getting an estimate from the garage, but it’s our choice of garage so we can’t moan about that

The offending parties insurer is usually more than happy to deal with a non or slight injury claim and use a main dealer to do the repairs rather than being stiffed by a third party agency who from the start of the claims procedure have an agenda which is to screw as much as possible out of the claim for their own coffers and for their benefit

 

[Berin]

The offending parties insurer is usually more than happy to deal with a non or slight injury claim and use a main dealer to do the repairs rather than being stiffed by a third party agency who from the start of the claims procedure have an agenda which is to screw as much as possible out of the claim for their own coffers and for their benefit

That’s good to know. Not having had a claim other than when a deer hit me (decker wasn’t insured ) I haven’t had a claim in decades.

 

[tspivey]

That’s good to know. Not having had a claim other than when a deer hit me (decker wasn’t insured ) I haven’t had a claim in decades.

I’ve just escaped 4th Dimension because the 3rd party’s insurance company Admiral have accepted 100% liability and recovered my bike from them in Surrey, taking it back to the BMW dealer (Grimsby) that I had it recovered to after the accident.
Admiral are paying the full repair costs at BMW plus the 4th Dimension costs for doing nothing, other than collecting my bike and storing it.
I will not be using any insurance company in the future that contracts out claims to a Credit Storage/Vehicle Hire claims handling company like 4th Dimension. The costs are phenomenal if you agree to their storage/hire/repair services and we end up paying for it in our ever increasing premiums.
Plus, the contract they insist you sign makes you responsible for the costs if the 3rd party insurance won’t pay in full.
Like you I’d never made a claim in many years but this experience has taught me a lot.
I will never go near Hastings Direct ever again, plus I’ll be asking questions of how any future insurer handles claims.

 

[Berin]

I’ve just escaped 4th Dimension because the 3rd party’s insurance company Admiral have accepted 100% liability and recovered my bike from them in Surrey, taking it back to the BMW dealer (Grimsby) that I had it recovered to after the accident.
Admiral are paying the full repair costs at BMW plus the 4th Dimension costs for doing nothing, other than collecting my bike and storing it.
I will not be using any insurance company in the future that contracts out claims to a Credit Storage/Vehicle Hire claims handling company like 4th Dimension. The costs are phenomenal if you agree to their storage/hire/repair services and we end up paying for it in our ever increasing premiums.
Plus, the contract they insist you sign makes you responsible for the costs if the 3rd party insurance won’t pay in full.
Like you I’d never made a claim in many years but this experience has taught me a lot.
I will never go near Hastings Direct ever again, plus I’ll be asking questions of how any future insurer handles claims.

This is the one that catches people out. They happily sign up for a replacement bike for weeks on end, because it's offered, and then end up liable for the outrageously inflated costs if they are not recoverable from the 3rd party

 

[tspivey]

This is the one that catches people out. They happily sign up for a replacement bike for weeks on end, because it's offered, and then end up liable for the outrageously inflated costs if they are not recoverable from the 3rd party

£388 per day for an Africa Twin, they even tried to get me to accept it even though I had/have a wrist injury and told them I couldn’t ride. “Keep it your garage for when you can ride again”
Admiral offered me a bike and said it would cost them £41.69 a day.

 

[Santa-2512]

When my car was involved in a prang some years ago i had a replacement vehicle provided

A bonkers supercharged merc.

2 weeks of free hire cost the poor sod who hit me over 4k

kerching!!

 

[Paul G (BHT)]

A friend of mine had an almost 0mph spill on his R9T last year.
The only damage was a small hole in the rocker cover, a small mark on the exhaust, a broken clutch lever and a broken indicator.

4th dimension turned up the next day and recovered his bike and left him with a Honda 750 twin courtesy bike. He told them he didn't need the bike as he has two other bikes, but he was told it is all part of his cover.
Once I had spoken to him and told him what was going on he contacted them I told them to take the loan bike back.
It took them a week to come and collect it.

He never saw his immaculate R9T again as they wrote it off.

It took almost a year to sort out the settlement with the other party as they were contesting the extortionate loan bike fees and delivery/collection fees.

 

[Santa-2512]

A friend of mine had an almost 0mph spill on his R9T last year.
The only damage was a small hole in the rocker cover, a small mark on the exhaust, a broken clutch lever and a broken indicator.

4th dimension turned up the next day and recovered his bike and left him with a Honda 750 twin courtesy bike. He told them he didn't need the bike as he has two other bikes, but he was told it is all part of his cover.
Once I had spoken to him and told him what was going on he contacted them I told them to take the loan bike back.
It took them a week to come and collect it.

He never saw his immaculate R9T again as they wrote it off.

It took almost a year to sort out the settlement with the other party as they were contesting the extortionate loan bike fees and delivery/collection fees.

A mate at work had a low speed spill on his S 1000XR , black ice ..

he had a small scuff on the RH fairing, the lower fairing and exhaust end can

It was repaired by BMW, the cost 8K

Now you can see why things are written off for such trifling damage

 

[tspivey]

A mate at work had a low speed spill on his S 1000XR , black ice ..

he had a small scuff on the RH fairing, the lower fairing and exhaust end can

It was repaired by BMW, the cost 8K

Now you can see why things are written off for such trifling damage

Mine (2024 R1300GS TE) needs a new front wheel, new pannier, new cylinder head protectors and a spark plug cover, £1864.12 inc VAT, parts and labour repaired by BMW dealer, which I don’t think is unreasonable.
I can’t imagine what figure 4th Dimension would have come up with.

 

[Neil W]

Mine (2024 R1300GS TE) needs a new front wheel, new pannier, new cylinder head protectors and a spark plug cover, £1864.12 inc VAT, parts and labour repaired by BMW dealer, which I don’t think is unreasonable.
I can’t imagine what figure 4th Dimension would have come up with.

Write off , 12 weeks storage at £25 plus per day , transportation fees and probably a £8000 bike hire fee (just to ice the cake) ?
This is why I struggle to get my head around the way that the brokers are determined to use 4th Dimension who's raison d'etre seems to be screwing as much money out of insurance companies

 

[tspivey]

Write off , 12 weeks storage at £25 plus per day , transportation fees and probably a £8000 bike hire fee (just to ice the cake) ?
This is why I struggle to get my head around the way that the brokers are determined to use 4th Dimension who's raison d'etre seems to be screwing as much money out of insurance companies

It’s £43.20 a day storage at 4th Dimension and £354 each way transportation.
Not all insurance companies/brokers use Credit Storage/Vehicle Hire/Repair claims handling companies luckily.

 

[mikeyboy]

The thing to remember ,
The bike is your property until you agree anything.
I would say,the most important thing is to get it into safe storage.
Whether that is someone like myself or a similar business or at home..
Make sure you can control the process..
Once the bike is gone you will have little or no control.

 

[Engineer]

4th Dimension asked me if I needed a loan bike, I said no thanks and they said OK - no problem. Very odd how people have completely different experiences with 4th Dimension.

I didn't use 4th Dimension for the repairs either.

 

[er-minio]

He never saw his immaculate R9T again as they wrote it off.

After 18 years living in the UK, I still honestly don't understand how this is allowed, since it's your property.
Surely you should agree to it before it happens?

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

£388 per day for an Africa Twin, they even tried to get me to accept it even though I had/have a wrist injury and told them I couldn’t ride. “Keep it your garage for when you can ride again”
Admiral offered me a bike and said it would cost them £41.69 a day.

FFS

 

[karlp]

After 18 years living in the UK, I still honestly don't understand how this is allowed, since it's your property.
Surely you should agree to it before it happens?

Seems a good way for a company to get a supply of decent repairable bikes/cars on the cheap.

Do insurance companies care - as they just pass the extra costs onto us

 

[Wapping]

Has anyone thought to complain to the FCA or similar body, vis-a-vis their outrage and / or the underhand trickery reported in this thread? Failing that contact Which magazine or any of the consumer rights channels. It has all the ingredients of a real exposé: Forced or pressured selling of services, overcharging, gross inefficiency and, to top it all, ‘rip off’.

Or just stay moaning, if that’s easiest.

 

[Neil W]

Has anyone thought to complain to the FCA or similar body, vis-a-vis their outrage and / or the underhand trickery reported in this thread? Failing that contact Which magazine or any of the consumer rights channels. It has all the ingredients of a real exposé: Forced or pressured selling of services, overcharging, gross inefficiency and, to top it all, ‘rip off’.

Or just stay moaning, if that’s easiest.

Mate who had mission creep on repairs done by 4th Dimension on hus fjr 1300 ( job estimated by local Yamaha dealer at less than a day and at most £1000. Took 4th Dimension 12 weeks and many timesxthat in storage and transportation and he was left trying to fight the £8000 hire bike charges.
Reported to Financial Services Ombudsman ( or whatever it calls itself) who were not in the least interested

 

[tspivey]

Has anyone thought to complain to the FCA or similar body, vis-a-vis their outrage and / or the underhand trickery reported in this thread? Failing that contact Which magazine or any of the consumer rights channels. It has all the ingredients of a real exposé: Forced or pressured selling of services, overcharging, gross inefficiency and, to top it all, ‘rip off’.

Or just stay moaning, if that’s easiest.

I looked up last night how to raise an issue with my MP. In my discussions with Hastings and 4th Dimension I discussed furthering this to the Ombudsman and they appeared not care in the least if I did.