Just be aware that insurance claims are never simple. I was in a similar situation - given free loan bike etc etc as clearly not my fault- then everything suddenly changed, mitigating circumstances etc - if you end up with any part of the claim blame, then you can end up liable for part of the 'rental costs', which can be pretty expensive - my loan Kawa Z550 was costing over £700 a week...... and that was nearly 10 years ago. And then you have to justify why you needed a bike, and didn't just hire a Ford Fiesta for less than a tenth of the price.
So if, for example, you end up with 10% of blame (them 90%), and if you cant justify the bike (which you had for, say, 4 weeks) over a Fiesta (you have to prove that you needed the bike not a car), then the court will award you with 90% of the cost of the Fiesta (total £280) you should have hired, = £252.
You will then be liable for the rest of the costs, ie 4 weeks bike hire @ 700 per week = £2,800, minus the £252 from the other party, hence you now owe £2,548.
(Figures given as example only, my claim was complicated by the fact that the Kawa failed after a week (seat lock broke, couldn't use the mandatory lock hidden underneath), got a Blackbird (even more expensive)- whose liability was that extra cost theirs or mine? (theirs), claim dragged on 6 weeks, whose liability the extra two weeks, theirs, the repairing garage, their insurers for delaying, my insurers for demanding a second quote, and delaying authorising payment (all - and then the proportionality fight started).
Next time I will hire a car and claim loss of earnings for the extra time it takes to travel to work - courts understand car hire, they understand loss of earnings, they dont understand bike hire - and quite frankly, given the costs, I can understand why.
Oh yeah, if you do get lumbered with a huge bill for bike hire, quibble, fight, and generally make a low offer.
. Bike's now in Bluebell for repairs and I'm fine (very close to being a lot worse) Has anyone had experience of getting a replacement bike when insured with Carol Nash?
