Filtering - broken mirror

[neilwgtn]

Hi
i have just received a letter from AMI stating that they have a claim for a wing mirror from a car that supposly i hit when going down the gorge last week....
They are asking if the bike was insured and my name,etc...


I dont recall hitting any wing mirrors "very" hard last week.. and there is no damage on my bike....


What if i deny hitting the car.. well actually i dont remember hitting the car..
anyone had this experience before and what was their outcome.?

Thanks.

[Disco Dan]

Did you hit a mirror? If yes then write back saying so. If no, write back saying so.

Why start a thread on that?

Sounds like another 'if I can get away with it I will' thread.

[Mystic13]

your word against there's. Unless they have a witness and even then they'd have to be pretty sure of the number plate etc.

I'd go with deny first. After all that's where insurance company's start.

Also;

- a mirror can be expensive.
- and if you have insurance you can't admit liability. It can void your insurance claim.

Cheers

[The Baron]

Hi Neilwgtn.

Do not reply to the letter.

They are just playing mind games with you to see if you will take the bait.

[Burtha]

If in doubt, deny deny deny... at least thats what your insurance company will want you to do, but run it by them first before all else.

Edit: do you have insurance? And do they mention anything about filing a report with the police?

[neilwgtn]

yeah i have insurance but i really doubt i caused enough damage to a wing mirror for someone to claim insurance against.. else i would have felt it and it would have damaged my mirror?

maybe they were just pissed off cause they were sitting in traffic and i was not...

[imdying]

Just do what you'd want to happen if the situation was reversed. Anything less is simply cowardice.

You don't actually have to hit a cages mirror very hard to damage it, they're almost always painted these days (the old black plastic molded ones, a bit like they use on bikes still, didn't mark very easily) and are thus easy to chip.

The owner obviously knows who you are, you'd probably be upset if they 'accidentally' scratched your tank whilst walking buy it in retribution.

[Devil]

How often do you hit mirrors? It doesn't sound like this is a one off.

As stated, they're pretty easy to damage and i'd be pissed if you did it to me.

[Burtha]

First thing you need to do then is take the letter to your insurance company, don't reply to it or respond in any way to it directly yourself.

Your paying insurance premiums for a purpose plus, they would have dealt with this sort of stuff before and will advise you what to do.

[Duc]

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

(Karma can bite real hard when you ride a MC)

[Mom]

Years ago during a violent storm, my swing seat was lifted off my upstairs deck and flung over the fence into my neighbours car, doing a fair amount of damage, also wrecked the seat really. Anyway, I contacted my insurance company about it and they said I could not claim against my policy for the damage done to the car. They had to make their own claim agaist their insurance, which they did. If their insurance company came at me for the damages I had a personal liability cover inside my policy I could claim on.

I got a letter saying I was at fault and telling me I would be responsible for the repair costs. After getting advice from my insurance co, I rang them and said, nope, was nothing I did that caused the damage, it happened in a bad storm, I was not negligent leaving the outdoor swing on my deck tucked under the soffit. Basically told them to get lost. They repaired the damage to the neighbours car ( I had offered to pay the excess so this young couple were not out of pocket) and waived the excess and called it an act of God.

So, yes you can tell them it was not you and see what happens but...


The real question is did you clip the mirror, you will have a good idea you did, albeit softly. If you did, fess up and pay up, if not tell them to prove it.

[Katman]

I dont recall hitting any wing mirrors "very" hard last week.. and there is no damage on my bike....


As has already been asked, how many wing mirrors did you hit last week?

Pay up and stop riding like an arse.

[MarkH]

What happened?

Did you:

a: hit someone's wing mirror & break it

or

b: go past a fuckwit, maybe even tapping his mirror, he decided to note your number plate and tell his insurance company that the mirror that he crunched into the power pole the other day was actually broken by you.

If the answer is 'a' then you should admit it and pay up. But if the answer is 'b' (or likely to be from what you recall) then it would be morally wrong to pay up and let the jerk get away with it.

No matter what happened in this case you should probably be more careful in future when lane splitting.

[munterk6]

ditch the rego plate...or at least put a false one on.
Ya see, there's a solution to every problem:innocent:

[vifferman]

I hit someone's mirror filtering at less than walking pace yesterday. I was amazed that I hit it barely hard enough to misadjust the VFR's mirror, yet the van mirror folded back. I stopped, leaned my bike away so I could carefully get past, and put the van's mirror back how it was. No harm done.
I hope whoever was driving appreciated my care.

A few years ago, my VFR's mirror fell off after hitting too many things while lanesplitting. Oops...

Once - due to the bad influence of those crazy aggressive KBers - I punched some mofo's mirror really hard, so it folded back. Hope the fucking thing broke, and cost hundred's to replace. Hope the crazy fwit driver realised what it was for. :crazy: If not, too bad. It sure didn't make me feel any better.

As for the OP - tell the insurance company you have no recollection of any such event (which is true), and they must be mistaken - probably the wrong rego number. If they come back with conclusive proof (e.g., a photo, independent witnesses, etc., then you can think about accepting liability. Don't blithely accept responsibility for something you don't know for sure happened. Surely if you hit another mirror hard enough that it's done enough damage to claim on, it would've registered? I'm sure m'cycle mirrors are generally more flimsy than car mirrors. Filtering one day with real skill in the car, I judged a gap so finely that my wife's car's left hand mirror folded back. Didn't leave a mark on it, even though I was doing about 40km/h at the time and it's a body-matched painted one. Dunno about the other car - but it's obviously their fault for parking in the wrong place....

[Tank]

Have some morals and if you did it - fess up.

or if you did it and have no morals - deny:


Ah that sucks bro. Yeah bikes are for goofing off on, and sometimes we screw it up - thems the breaks! This time you got off lightly.

Right, any damage to anyone else ? Any liability ? If so, deny everything and refuse to discuss the accident with anyone. Disappear into the long grass, and say nothing. Fix your own bike with your own money, and let your sore knee mend itself etc. If anyone wants to knock on your door and talk about the incident, tell them they are at the wrong place. If the feds turn up, tell them u dunno jack about that, and shut the door and go back to what you were doing. Letter from some insurance company demanding payment? bew hew hew, chuck it in the bin. Life goes on. Dont FFS admit the whole thing to the feds in the hope things will be better.. :rolleyes:

DB

[Mully]

Forward the letter to your insurance co - telling them you have no recollection of doing the damage (if that's true)

If you did do it, man up.

[CookMySock]

Do not reply to the letter. They are just playing mind games with you to see if you will take the bait.Fucking AMEN!

OR, you COULD just be a poor wee pawn :cry: and help the poor insurance company :cry: pay for the mirror :cry: and be a good little member of society :cry: but I say fuck that and stand up for yourself. :motu:

Throw the letter in the bin. They have insurance, so the insurance company pays. Boo hoo hoo.

Steve

[jim.cox]

I hit someone's mirror filtering at less than walking pace yesterday. I was amazed that I hit it barely hard enough to misadjust the VFR's mirror, yet the van mirror folded back. I stopped, leaned my bike away so I could carefully get past, and put the van's mirror back how it was. No harm done.

My fist has been known to hit the wing mirror of double parked vehicles that block lanes and that force dangerous movements avoiding them.

Some of the mirrors fold back.

I dont stop to re-adjust them. I figure that it might give the drivers the message about their dangerous selfish lack of courtesy to other road users.

[Tank]

Fucking AMEN!

OR, you COULD just be a poor wee pawn :cry: and help the poor insurance company :cry: pay for the mirror :cry: and be a good little member of society :cry: but I say fuck that and stand up for yourself. :motu:

Throw the letter in the bin. They have insurance, so the insurance company pays. Boo hoo hoo.

Steve

Lets assume that the cage driver is telling the truth and IT WAS him. After all they have been able to identify the bike and he was in that area at that time.

So, if the same thing happened to you or a family member - what kind of opinion would you have of someone that that was so gutless to try and bullshit their way out of it. You would cry and bleat like a bitch.

What if they reversed a truck into the front of your "business van" taking it off the road before a big event. Is it ok for them to run and deny and leave you in the shit?

People like that are pathetic. Even more pathetic when they have the double standards and would raise merry hell (even taking it international) if it happened to them.

[Grahameeboy]

As has already been asked, how many wing mirrors did you hit last week?

Pay up and stop riding like an arse.

If he was there at the time then he may have to cough up....

[MarkH]

Ask for a picture of the damaged mirror, make sure that it looks like it could have been damaged by a motorcycle mirror hitting it.

[vifferman]

Lets assume that the cage driver is telling the truth and IT WAS him. After all they have been able to identify the bike and he was in that area at that time.
By his own admission he doesn't recall hitting any mirrors hard enough to cause damage.
I am BIG on personal accountability, but in this instance, he shouldn't blithely accept responsibility until he has more information or confirmation of the alleged offence, then accept responsibility.
You could equally well have said, "Let's assume the cage driver has damaged his mirror in some other event, priced it up, and found out he's up for either a ridiculous amount of coin, or his excess and/or No Claims Bonus is very high. He's noticed these blardy bikers whizzing past while sitting in his cage, and it really irritates him, especially when his mirrors sometimes get knocked out of adjustment. His mate has told him he could get one of them to pay for his mirror repair, just note the rego of one of the lane-splitters, and blame him."
Yeah, it sounds a bit less plausible, I know. However, if I was in Neil's bike boots, and someone accused me of this 'crime', I'd weigh it up before accepting responsibility. The insurance company themselves say to never admit liability unless there's undeniable proof of it.

On another forum I'm on, there was similar discussion, only this one was Mrkn. Interestingly, the law / attitude there is totally different. A guy had knocked the mirror of a pickup, with no apparent damage, and was asking if he should keep an eye out for this same pickup, and offer to pay the guy. There was overwhelming condemnation of him knocking the mirror, cries to "man up!", and that he should find the guy. From what I can gather, even just touching another person's vehicle is VERY bad, regardless of damage. Sort of viewed as vehicular assault.

[Colapop]

The only time I've hit a wing mirror - I've done it intentionally with some force and remembered it. If you can't split accurately and not know whether you've done damage then don't do it. You'll have an accident and cause more damage to yourself and others before too long.

As far as any insurance claim goes, in the first instance deny all liability. be polite. If they push the issue, ask for proof. At the end of teh day if they really really want any money out of you, they'll have to take you to the small claims court. Been there done that - though the claim was for $4500 not a wing mirror... in other words tell them to go fuck themselves.

[MarkH]

On another forum I'm on, there was similar discussion, only this one was Mrkn. Interestingly, the law / attitude there is totally different. A guy had knocked the mirror of a pickup, with no apparent damage, and was asking if he should keep an eye out for this same pickup, and offer to pay the guy. There was overwhelming condemnation of him knocking the mirror, cries to "man up!", and that he should find the guy. From what I can gather, even just touching another person's vehicle is VERY bad, regardless of damage. Sort of viewed as vehicular assault.

Bad touch! Your bike inappropriately touched a pickup truck and we will charge it with sexual assault! :laugh:

[snuffles]

Do not pay, get your insurance company involved.....its there job to do this sort of shit.

[imdying]

I am BIG on personal accountabilityNo, you're not really, otherwise you'd be asking why he didn't stop and check for damage when he hit somebody elses car in the first place. "Oh it's a light tap, not to worry, it won't have chipped the thin paint on a modern mirror" :rolleyes:

He has no idea because he didn't stop to check.

You don't fucking hit peoples cars and not stop... if we do, then it's only fair that they can give bikes in the ghost lane a nudge, you know, not "very" hard, without stopping.

If you can't split without hitting other peoples property, then fucking don't. Cunts.

[merv]

Ya f....d from the seven years bad luck now, even if ya say ya didn't do it.

[dipshit]

If you can't split without hitting other peoples property, then fucking don't. Cunts.

Exactly.

There are some fucking wankers out there on bikes.

[zeocen]

This thread is quite different from the other thread about someone hitting a number of mirrors on their bike. In the other thread there were quite a lot of people defending the mirror-hitter.

The only difference I see is that this thread was started by a male and the other by a female.

:whistle:

[scumdog]

ditch the rego plate...or at least put a false one on.
Ya see, there's a solution to every problem:innocent:

Ahhh, the old '20-20 Hindsight Brigade' - they're never wrong eh!

[Kiwi Graham]

Hi
i have just received a letter from AMI stating that they have a claim for a wing mirror from a car that supposly i hit when going down the gorge last week....
They are asking if the bike was insured and my name,etc...


I dont recall hitting any wing mirrors "very" hard last week.. and there is no damage on my bike....


What if i deny hitting the car.. well actually i dont remember hitting the car..
anyone had this experience before and what was their outcome.?

Thanks.

Sounds like you prob hit it eh!
Fes up and pay up its what your insurance is for.
Next time if in doubt about the gap wait a second or two and save youself some grief!

[vgcspares]

- a mirror can be expensive.
- and if you have insurance you can't admit liability. It can void your insurance claim.
Cheers

just want to offer confirmation that a door mirror could easily cost from $1000 up (saw one for $3,500 the other day)

and to debunk the second point - admitting liability (despite what it might say in the policy) is highly unlikely to void any claim provided you don't attempt to commit your insurance company to a specific course of action

[Tank]

This thread is quite different from the other thread about someone hitting a number of mirrors on their bike. In the other thread there were quite a lot of people defending the mirror-hitter.

The only difference I see is that this thread was started by a male and the other by a female.

:whistle:

Its not always the case - here is a thread about someone wanting to teach people a lesson by kicking their doors in (as opposed to mirrors - but close enough)

How to kick a door in thread (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=82181)


Okies, with all the stupid antics happening to bikers from non-el-thinko cagers etc, I think a useful skill to have would be "How to put a good boot-sized dent in a car door while under way on a motorcyle."


I don't want to fucken EDUCATE them you dick, I want to DENT THEIR FUCKEN DOOR !! GEEZ!

EDUCATING is for fucken TEACHERS! Do I look like a fucken TEACHER ?? Nooooooo!

DB


There is very little sympathy for anyone (regardless of sex) who seems to want to go out and do this deliberately.

[Zoolander]

Just man up you pussy. You'd be pissed off if a car scratched your bike and the driver didn't want to know about it.

[Squiggles]

Ya'all suck if you hit mirrors regularly. i think i've only touched one in the last 4 years, and that was while rolling my bike (footpower) :baby:

[rphenix]

So have you done the obvious and checked your mirrors for new scratch marks? Also if you did do it fess up to it but do that through your insurance as you cant admit liability directly if you read your insurance clauses. Last thing we need is more cagers who see a filtering bike approaching and decide to play "tinned sardine"

[MarkH]

I have only been riding for about 7 months now after a 20 year break. I started lane splitting on the way home from the bike dealers. I managed to tap someone's mirror 3 or 4 times in the first couple of months, not hard and I don't believe I did any damage. But in the last 5 months I have done plenty of lane splitting, sometimes without much room, without hitting anything at all. If you can't learn to judge the gap then you may end up in hospital wondering what happened! I would recommend getting the hang of splitting without any contact or don't do it!

[discotex]

You clearly fucked up one way or another given they got your rego and went to the trouble of filing a claim.

Next time split faster or don't hit the mirrors in the first place - depending on your morals.

[dipshit]

By his own admission he doesn't recall hitting any mirrors hard enough to cause damage.

He realises he clipped one/some that week. Just that he didn't think he hit them very hard.

If I had a nice car and some cock on a bike so much as even scratched a mirror... rest assured he would be hearing from my insurance company.