Just had my first contact with another vehicle in NZ, now looking for advice

[Eng_dave]

Hi, been riding only a couple of months here in NZ I knew it was only a matter of time before someone got a touch on me.
Here is what happened I was proceeding down a road following a white van. I know, should have been more cautious. He pulled over to the left and slowed down as if parking. I go into over take when he puts indicator on last minute and goes to do a fecking U turn. Clips the bike sends me flying and does quite a lot of damage to the bike IE: Brake pedal broke/ Gear pedal on other side of road, Scratches etc etc. I'm fine just got heavy bruising to the legs. But kid who hits me is in a work vehicle and his boss doesn't insure him. I have no insurance either. But if I'm right its his drivers responsibility. So I shouldn't have to pay a thing right? I'm from England so I'm used to just letting the Insurance companies duke it out not me. I have one eye witness got his details but didn't involve the police. Is this going to go against me?

:bye::eek5::girlfight:

[Eng_dave]

Any advice is welcome... Realy unsure of what to do next bike is in the shop and I think this guy will want to fight me on the payment.

[Mom]

You have no insurance, ergo, you have no reliance on "I'm used to just letting the Insurance companies duke it out not me". No further comment from me on that score.

Sorry dude. Best you can do is talk to the drivers boss. The vehicle owner should have insurance to cover anyone driving, or he is also fool :yes:

Go and get a quote for the damage repair, present it for payment to the vehicle owner, if he wont play the game, small claims court is your next step.

Uninsured drivers/riders suck!

[Gubb]

Go to the cops. He was in the wrong for not checking the road before performing a U-turn.

The kid will need to fork out the money if he's not insured.

[BIGBOSSMAN]

No compulsory insurance in this banana republic dude, it's in the lap of the gods now.
Bastard eh!!

[Eng_dave]

shit small claims court or police are my only options feck. That's really not good. Getting A quote from mnt eden motorcycles tomorrow hopefully. See what the boss says.

[Eng_dave]

i have insurance on the cage but never got round to putting it onto the bike mother fecker

[DingoZ]

All vehicle accidents are to be reported to the police.

If there is injury or dispute over details at the time of the accident, ring the police and they attend the scene to take details.

If there is no injury or dispute over fault. Both parties are required by law to report to their nearest police station within 48 hrs to complete a vehicle accident report. They can then follow up with all parties and if necessary press charges.

So my advice, go to your nearest station and report the accident. They can advise you on what the best course of action is...


:)

[Duke girl]

Dont understand why you didnt report it to the cops especially if you are the innocent party?. And as for the guy that hit you, his Boss should have had insurance on his vehicle especially seeing that his workers are the 1's driving them. Typical of another driver doing a U-Turn in front of a motorcyclists. Seems to be happening alot lately.

[slofox]

Wot DingoZ sez.......get thee to a coppery....

[McJim]

There is a book - best you throw it at him.

Contact the police and give them full particulars of the incident, the eye witness and your injuries.

Send him an itemised bill for ALL repairs (this creates a book debt which you will need later).

When he doesn't pay you can then raise a claim through the courts for recovery of the money.

Hopefully the weight of the eyewitness, police report and acc claim will allow you to win your claim and have the debt recognised otherwised you just wasted money on the claim...this is a real gamble.

Then if he has no money you may only get instalment payments or he may have other debts and declare bankruptcy.

Painful lesson to learn - Best get insured for the next time. New Zealand is a bit of a "Seat of your pants" country I'm afraid. They don't tell you that at the expo in Earls Court do they? (Come to NZ, Come to NZ, Come to NZ...and then when you get here it's Fuck off back to blighty :no:)

[Eng_dave]

going ring the coppers now cheers

[Road Guardian]

Road code says (sorry can't stop quoting it) any collision involving injuries/damage must be reported to a police officer within 24hrs of the collision.

Good luck anyway :)

[klingon]

Go to the cops. He was in the wrong for not checking the road before performing a U-turn...


All vehicle accidents are to be reported to the police.

If there is injury or dispute over details at the time of the accident, ring the police and they attend the scene to take details.

If there is no injury or dispute over fault. Both parties are required by law to report to their nearest police station within 48 hrs to complete a vehicle accident report. They can then follow up with all parties and if necessary press charges.

So my advice, go to your nearest station and report the accident. They can advise you on what the best course of action is...


Road code says (sorry can't stop quoting it) any collision involving injuries/damage must be reported to a police officer within 24hrs of the collision...

These are interesting points, and I hope it goes better for Eng_dave than it did for me.

I was hit from behind at a stop sign when I stopped and the car behind me didn't. We exchanged details at the scene. My priority at the time was to get my bike towed somewhere safe, then after that went to the A&E and found I had fractured ribs, severe bruising, a damaged eye, etc.

Within 24 hours I made a full written statement about what happened and dropped in to my local cop shop. They refused to even accept my statement. They said that because the other person & I had exchanged details, it was now a civil case and had nothing to do with them. It didn't matter that I had been injured.

My policy is now if I'm ever (touch wood) involved in another crash while on my bike, I will always call the police. Chances are I will have some kind of injury, even if I don't know it at the time, which makes it compulsory for both parties to stay at the scene until the police arrive. That way if the other party disputes liability later, there will be the evidence of statements taken at the scene.

Good luck Dave.

[BMWST?]

a teh others have said...by law any injury accident must be referred to police within 24 hrs,property damage 48 hrs...I would be amazed if the business has not got 3rd party insurance at least...

[Eng_dave]

a teh others have said...by law any injury accident must be referred to police within 24 hrs,property damage 48 hrs...I would be amazed if the business has not got 3rd party insurance at least...

Trust me no insurance, Fecking Christmas tree delivery company BAH FUCKING HUMBUG imploying kids with pimples AHAHAHAHAHA :weird:

[westie]

Tell the kids boss to say he was driving it at the time so his insurance will pay out.
Or the other scenario would probably be more messy for him. ie worker done for dangerous driving and big bill for repairs etc.

[Road Guardian]

My policy is now if I'm ever (touch wood) involved in another crash while on my bike, I will always call the police. Chances are I will have some kind of injury, even if I don't know it at the time, which makes it compulsory for both parties to stay at the scene until the police arrive. That way if the other party disputes liability later, there will be the evidence of statements taken at the scene.

Yip Yes and Yes, and also the police can find out who is at fault, and give that person a fine, or Dangerous Driving (causing injury if it does) charge, if it is that serious.

[BMWST?]

Trust me no insurance, Fecking Christmas tree delivery company BAH FUCKING HUMBUG imploying kids with pimples AHAHAHAHAHA :weird:

sorry dude that sucks big time....

[Badjelly]

...(Come to NZ, Come to NZ, Come to NZ...and then when you get here it's Fuck off back to blighty :no:)

Some people are a bit slow to take a hint, apparently. <_<

[Eng_dave]

So mnt Eden mtotrcycles has had the bike for two days and well done to them at this busy time to get a quote out to me. But its for $6,658 more than the bikes worth. Holly fuck, reported the accident to the police, What do i do

[Eng_dave]

So mnt Eden mtotrcycles has had the bike for two days and well done to them at this busy time to get a quote out to me. But its for $6,658 more than the bikes worth. Holly fuck, reported the accident to the police, What do I do get the full amount out of the guy or do I just try to get the bike fixed and back on the road at a reasonable rate, and take the hit now that my bike ain't worth shit that its been in an accident.

[Swoop]

Good luck getting any money out of the guy. I can see the person "disappearing" once an amount like that is shown.
Remember folks. Photo ID is the only acceptable guarantee* of who a person is, in an accident situation.

* All guarantees expressed or implied are null and void until verified by an officer of the law.

[SpinFx]

Probably won't help ya but...................

Heres another aspect for ya, exactly same thing happened to me three weeks ago except........ the biker did the u-turn into me in my bosses work van. AND the biker was a gang member too.... not to mention his back up wheels was 4 cars behind me.

Being a fellow biker my first reaction was to get out and make sure the guy was alright ( bad move ) as i was then given an altermatum to fix the bike or face the consequences. No one would stop and assist or call the cops.

Options I had.........

1. Attempt to smash the f^&%$#, then get hunted by his bro's and probably killed.
2. Do the runner in a marked work van, then get hunted and probably killed.
3. Ring the police afterwards and go on witness relocation program, family dissruption, loss of job and looking over my back constantly.
4. Offer to pay & repair for the damages there and then regardless of who was at fault or what is the right thing to do and attempt to walk away ( with my knees & life ).

So i did the later and I actually gained the respect for fronting up and helping the biker regardless of the laws and what others would recommend.
Cost me well over $2000 but cheaper than my life or any other option.

LESSON: Never trust the driver / rider in front of you.

Afterall he can just claim you ran into the back of him - unless theres actual proof otherwise. ( which needs to be proven in court at your expense ).

Lifes sucks in NZ mate - get used to it - at least your alive.

[El Santos]

fuk dude that sucks, i hope u solve it :2thumbsup

[motorbyclist]

my experience is even if you've had police on the scene, the other driver was unlicenced and has a big dent on the side of their car matching the bike skid marks and smashed front end, and the police agree that is was entirely the drivers fault, you will be lucky to get a cent out of them

small claims was in our favour 3 times, and we were only asking for half the value of the bike she had written off. we never got a cent. lesson learnt never ride without insurance cause you never know what some f**kwit is going to do

although she DID have to pay the fines associated with driving unlicenced and causing the accident - justice eh?

[Yossarian]

Hail!

Kind of the same thing happened to me self when I was in the 'Land of the long white uninsured cloud'.
I got clipped at a roundabout by a dude that failed to give way to me, made me drop my bike and cost 1500 bucks worth of damage...both meself and him self were not insured...(mine had just lasped, straight up) and we both went to the cop shop around the corner. All the relevent details filled in by both parties, but I did'nt have the sense to take a photo of the damage done and his plate number.....I got the right royal runaround trying to take him to the small claims court as he provided a false number plate that I could'nt get an address to give to the small claims court.
Had to sell the bike as I was on the bones of me arse, it was still in good nick though, just could not afford to get it fixed at the time.
Hope you had the sense to photograph everyone/thing for future reference?

Good luck.

[Stromble]

Hi, been riding only a couple of months here in NZ I knew it was only a matter of time before someone got a touch on me.
Here is what happened I was proceeding down a road following a white van. I know, should have been more cautious. He pulled over to the left and slowed down as if parking. I go into over take when he puts indicator on last minute and goes to do a fecking U turn. Clips the bike sends me flying and does quite a lot of damage to the bike IE: Brake pedal broke/ Gear pedal on other side of road, Scratches etc etc. I'm fine just got heavy bruising to the legs. But kid who hits me is in a work vehicle and his boss doesn't insure him. I have no insurance either. But if I'm right its his drivers responsibility. So I shouldn't have to pay a thing right? I'm from England so I'm used to just letting the Insurance companies duke it out not me. I have one eye witness got his details but didn't involve the police. Is this going to go against me?

:bye::eek5::girlfight:

I was gonna say "Welcome to NZ.." but you could have been here a while and only just started riding a bike here.. and if you have, you mustve noticed by now just how bad the drivers over here are.. not to mention how young they let them out, and without insurance. (tut tut)...rant over..

But yes, absolutely his fault, glad to hear your not hurt, thats the main thing..

Some prick did exactly the same to me last week, signaled left, pulled over and then just swiftly did a fast u turn meters away from me.. luckily I was suspicious and slowed well down, but if i hadnt, Id have been into the side of him..

They are right on here, you gotta think that everyone is trying to kill you out there..

Stay safe, and hope you nail the little bastard.. surely the comapny has some public liability insurance??

[HungusMaximist]

Yeah fuck, ya gotta ride like your bike in the city as if every driver/rider is blind.

Never second guess.....

[MarkH]

Tell the kids boss to say he was driving it at the time so his insurance will pay out.
Or the other scenario would probably be more messy for him. ie worker done for dangerous driving and big bill for repairs etc.

I am not too sure that advising someone to defraud their insurance company is a particularly good idea, mainly on account of it being illegal and all.

But this is a good lesson to all - get full insurance and in a situation like this you give all the details to your insurance company and let them try to get the money out of the other driver. It becomes their problem, not yours.

[MarkH]

Hope you had the sense to photograph everyone/thing for future reference?

I would at least write down the other vehicles number plate in any accident (I did this in all three where the other driver was at fault - but I just passed the details on to my insurance company). Luckily mine have all been in the cage - no injury to me in any of them.

[MarkH]

So mnt Eden mtotrcycles has had the bike for two days and well done to them at this busy time to get a quote out to me. But its for $6,658 more than the bikes worth. Holly fuck, reported the accident to the police, What do I do get the full amount out of the guy or do I just try to get the bike fixed and back on the road at a reasonable rate, and take the hit now that my bike ain't worth shit that its been in an accident.

Give the quote to the other driver with a request that he pay up - if you are lucky his parents have money and will bail him out. If you are not lucky he will be too poor to pay and just ignore you, it will then be a right bugger of a mission to get paid anything.