Four Dimension claims handling

[The Spin Doctor]

Any experience of them?

My brother has just had a minor bump on his Beemer (seems he'd stopped but the van coming the other way on a narrow road didn't quite manage it) and he now has a leaking fork seal - so presumably some front end damage, possibly a slightly bent fork.

He's with Bennetts, and they seem to have bumped him straight over to their claims handler Fourth Dimension.

He's not too happy with the T&C which seem to make him responsible for all charges until they are claimed back from the other party's insurance. I'm sure that the other driver won't admit liability so I can see this getting messy.

My gut feeling - knowing how quickly storage charges and courtesy bike hire racks up with outfits like - is for him to walk away, get the job sorted himself then send the bill to his insurance company.

Thoughts?

[MrLongbeard]

They were the claims handler when my Speed Triple got written off.
They gave me no bother or cause for concern and got the job done, although I'll caveat that with the fact I was 100% the innocent party, with what you describe above I can see the possibility of a 50/50 claim which may affect who pays storage etc.

[asmethurst99]

I was reversed into - cracked mudguard but Bennetts insisted on going the whole nine yards - every time i spoke to them i reminded whoever it was that I was the innocent party as above.
The bloke that reversed in to me worked for some wine delivery firm -their insurers coughed for everything including a replacement bike for 3 months.
On reflection i think I got lucky as i had texts etc agreeing i was not liable .
Insurance firms gaming each other ( and yes we always want the cheapest deal and complain when our quotes go up)

[scottyuk]

I've used them twice. They are thorough in their approach. i.e. they ensure they know exactly what's needed first, get it all ordered etc before they start the repair. In theory no extra delays and changes of date. Their thoroughness is the justification for being slow. I ended up with a VFR loaner for a month. The fees for the loaner covered half the cost of the loan bike!! There seemed to be no rush.
It's easy to think that the more expensive the whole claim the more all those involve make and that all of us end up paying for it in our policies.

The jobs were completed well but but it felt like I was part of a money making machine.

[The Spin Doctor]

Interesting... what bothers me is the fact it'll be almost impossible to prove fault in this kind of head-on incident as I am 99% certain he doesn't have an on-bike camera - I forgot to ask. I'm sure the the delivery van would have dash cam footage but I'd be surprised if it was made available if it shows their driver at fault.

I don't think he needs a loan bike - he's barely ridden the thing for the last two summers - but if it's taken away then takes a while to get the repair done, leading to big storage fees piling up, I am not sure who pays. At very least he needs to check who's responsible if the other party doesn't cough.

When I checked online reviews, there are a worrying number of 1* reviews OR there are 5* reviews. If not everyone got great service, you'd expect 2, 3 or 4* reviews as people got it all done but were not entirely happy because it took a long time, or were reasonably good with the service with a few issues such as delays or having to make chase-up calls. But with a 1 / 5 split and nothing in the middle, I always suspect the 5* reviews to be planted to get the overall rating up. Maybe I'm too suspicious

[Horse]

Interesting... what bothers me is the fact it'll be almost impossible to prove fault in this kind of head-on incident as I am 99% certain he doesn't have an on-bike camera - I forgot to ask. I'm sure the the delivery van would have dash cam footage but I'd be surprised if it was made available if it shows their driver at fault.

Does he have any photos of tyre marks etc., showing how the bike was pushed if the bike was stopped.

[Mussels]

Interesting... what bothers me is the fact it'll be almost impossible to prove fault in this kind of head-on incident as I am 99% certain he doesn't have an on-bike camera - I forgot to ask. I'm sure the the delivery van would have dash cam footage but I'd be surprised if it was made available if it shows their driver at fault.

They can try worse than that. I was stationary and hit from behind by a riderless motorbike, the other side tried claiming I had swerved in front of it so they could go 50/50.

[Pgm]

I had them deal with my claim which was non fault, bike written off and a personal injury claim.
When it was all done and dusted I honestly feel I’d been just a pawn in everybody else’s greed.
For what I got out of it I actually feel I’m worse off.

[Cousin Jack]

There are 2 sorts of claims handlers

Type A lie about what you can claim, cut everything to the bone and save the insurance company money while ripping you off

Type B add bureaucracy and slow everything down, rip the insurance company off, and cause you aggravation.

[The Spin Doctor]

Does he have any photos of tyre marks etc., showing how the bike was pushed if the bike was stopped.

I'll ask... but if he's anything like me it's the kind of thing I remember the following week.

[Scootabout]

Some years ago I had an incident on the NC that wasn't may fault - it was a rear end hit from a car shunted into me by someone behind him - and it was dealt with by a claims handler under the no fault arrangement. Similarly to others, things seemed to drag on and on, with fees being taken for a loan bike. I wasn't disadvantaged - I had a newer NC to ride, which I took to Scotland and back - but I felt it was probably a process of milking the insurers of the liable party, for which we all pay eventually in increased premiums.

[The Spin Doctor]

Thanks all - he's going to handle it himself. The bike's rideable, and he doesn't need it anyway.

[wheelnut]

I dont recall the claims handling company but I had a claim grind to a halt with Carol Nash because I didn't want a courtesy car, storage etc. I think the claims handlers must make their money on that stuff and they actually said it had stalled because I didn't want all that stuff.
Luckily it was a minor scuff so I just drove around with the damage for the best part of a year but its worth bearing in mind, trying to keep things simple actually complicated the claim.

The firm of solicitor/claims handlers who did my claim when someone drove into me 5 years or so ago did this. The upshot was that they had they own ‘car hire’ company which was wholly owned by the claim handling company. They rented the car from europcar (say @£100 per day) and then recharged the TP insco @ £700 per day.

And we wonder why our premiums only go one way.

[Trogladyte]

They did the claim when my KTM was nicked and recovered. They were pretty good. They missed something ( scratches on the TFT dash), and sorted it out swiftly with no quibbles. And they returned it with no toolkit, which they also sorted quickly by sending a courier with one. It was all a bit slow, but it was at the beginning of lockdown.

[Whysub]

Had this some years ago when my GSX-R750 was written off. I knew it would be as it flipped end over end twice and then flipped over side to side. It was obviously destroyed! Don't hit 150 mm high kerbs avoiding U-turning vans kids.

I did not want a loan bike, and I wanted the bike taken to my home address (400 yards from the repair shop they were going to use). Insurers seemed to be so pissed off with me, especially as they were getting no hire fees or storage fees from the other insurers.

I also rang them at lesst twice a day to find out when they were sending an assessor. Got paid out for way more that the bike was worth after just 7 working days, although my personal injury claim took 3 years.