A warning to all

[firefighter]

+1

Spoke to Rebecca last night at KB to organise some insurance - was the easiest 7 mins I've spent on the phone to any company.

haha, was about the same amount of time for me too, easiest insurance cover iv'e ever had!

[jetboy]

-1
Star insurance are very good in my experience.
John baker and Star have provided excellent service to me.

On a side note, have you got a new bike yet mate?

[mnkyboy]

She spells it 'Rebekah'.

Does she know of this care and concern?

[kiwifruit]

On a side note, have you got a new bike yet mate?

Yes, I've got a (fully sponsored, and already insured) GSX1400K7

[Phurrball]

-1
Star insurance are very good in my experience.
John baker and Star have provided excellent service to me.

+/- 1

Star were excellent in most respects, until a certain very difficult claims officer (with whom I clashed) became involved.

I'm not prepared to slag anyone off in an open forum when it is a matter of opinion based on one 'bad apple'. The rest of the Star team were a pleasure to deal with.

NOTE I would recommend them unless you had to deal with this claims officer, which I'm sure could be avoided if needs be.

But that is just my opinion.

I'm with HRC now, as they have unbeatable deals for Hondas.

[Dodgyiti]

A lot of insurance companies have an unwritten law that says something like 'The longer they wait, the less they will accept'
Transportation companies have the same policies, some say:' 8 weeks for a resolution because we are very busy' is a standard claim. Makes some of the smaller claiments go away or accept a lower payout when held to ransome for a few months. Works a treat.

BTW- Sorry to hear about your troubles, it's not a nice thing to go through.

My evil stepfather worked in insurance for 35 years and spilled a few secrets from time to time. Nasty old proffession that one.

[swbarnett]

I was going faster than the posted speed

It is my understanding that the posted corner speed is a guide for wet weather only, not a legal speed limit.

[CRF119]

Do Kiwibike insure dirt bikes to? Also have to insure my road bike as state refuse to, but they are the only ones who will insure my van other then click on NAC.

[Oscar]

A couple of Questions

1 Will it effect my claim if I don't renew.
NO
2 Can an insurance company decline a claim if I didn't get charged by the Cops
Yes, they can, but the reason has to be material (to the accident). They could have a go at you about the posted recommended speed.
3 What can I do to speed it up
Call them on a regular basis, be polite but firm. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
4 I talked to Kiwibike Insurance and they said I could go through them to Star what do people think of both companies.

In respect of the last question, and all the other usual comments about this company being great and that company being cheap, I'll post my usual rant (actually copied from the last insurance thread):

What is the point of comparing premiums? What's the old quote about a the buzz of a bargain fading fast in the face of shoddy goods...?

If you buy by price, you run the risk of being back here at claim time bleating about shitty service. Insurance isn't a product, it's a service, and the only service it delivers is at claims time (I can't believe the guy who recommended an insurer on the basis that it provided a cover note - that's what they do people...).
The obvious questions are:

1.What am I worth to the insurer? In other words do you have any other business with them? In the case of a claim that could go either way, insurers do look at other connections (other policies, family or business connections etc).

2. What is the Insurer worth? Did you check it's financial rating?

3. Who is the insurer? Most of the recommended insurers here aren't insurers at all, they're Master Agents or Underwriting Agencies. They don't pay your claim, the insurer does.

4.What's their claim service like? Ask around, search here or ask an assessor or service dept (Service Managers in bike shops are a great source of unbiased opinion).

5. Now ask what the premium is.

On an actuarial basis, all insurers are dealing with the same population of bikers and the only risk variables they have are their underwriting restrictions (riders age, bike size etc). But the main way the premiums will differ are volume, claims and services standards. Therefore, the risk of a cheap premium is that it is based on bad/slow service and a claims avoidance culture (this of course may be a harsh generalisation as the price good be based on super efficient staff/systems and low profit margins - yeah, right).

[HenryDorsetCase]

Hi guys I watch these threads quite a bit but have never posted. I thought I would post this about an Insurance company that I'm having a world of problems with NAC.

Now here is the first problem I signed up with Insurance with who was the cheapest, I have not claimed in Ten Years so thought going for the cheapest would be the best way to go.

Well I was wrong I crashed my bike from gravel on the Road as it is alot of the time of year. I will be honest and on claim form I said I was doing 100 kph round a posted 75 corner and thought o well at least I have cover, I have a full license and never had it suspended and when I took the bike into the shop they asked who my Insurance company was I said NAC they said good luck having your bike back quickly as one of there other NAC had been waiting more than 2 months for work to start on his bike.

Now with Riding weather not lasting long enough there is no way I would want to wait that long so I get a claim form and fill out it completly, I send it through and call them up and they confirm they got it and they will get in contact with the shop. Thought cool this will be easy, go to the bike shop to follow up on the bike 3 weeks later still sitting off to the side waiting for approval from the Insurer so I call up and try and light a fire under NAC.

At this time they say they don't have a claim form so I resend it and confirm receipt and ask for an email at this time to confirm receiption and so that they can't wessel out,

Well it's 2 weeks down the track and they have yet to approve the claim but have sent me out a renewal which I refuse to pay as I still don't have a bike to insure over 5 weeks after the Accident and I'm not sure that they will pay out because I was going faster than the posted speed and have said that my speed may have caused the crash

A couple of Questions

1 Will it effect my claim if I don't renew.
2 Can an insurance company decline a claim if I didn't get charged by the Cops
3 What can I do to speed it up
4 I talked to Kiwibike Insurance and they said I could go through them to Star what do people think of both companies.

the corner is "recommended" at 75. That is not a requirement and has no legal force. Ergo the speed limit was (presumably) 100kph which you were obeying. The cause of the accident is gravel on the road which you didnt or couldnt see and which caused you to fall off. It seems to me that is entirely the reason you have insurance and there is NO ability for them to decline the claim.

You need to find out the name of whoever is the boss of their claims departmentm and bombard them with correspondence. Do not ring them, request specific timeframes (when will you accept my claim? When will an assessor be sent? when will the shop be given the go ahead? then you need to write to them confirming that advice. You also need to drop the name of the insurance ombudsman and Fair Go. (perhaps not in the initila correspondence but fairly early on.

Make it easier, quicker and cheaper for them to pay you than to not. Be polite, but insistent.
and if push comes to shove (it will)

[scumdog]

It is my understanding that the posted corner speed is a guide for wet weather only, not a legal speed limit.

Wrong.
But can't be naffed going into it.

(But you are right about it being 'not the legal speed limit'.)

[Sparrowhawk]

Wrong.
But can't be naffed going into it.

(But you are right about it being 'not the legal speed limit'.)

Just to clarify Scummy, is the 75 km/h a recommended limit for comfortable driving? And you can take that corner at any speed you're comfortable with, as long as you're below the actual speed limit (eg 100 km/h)???

[scumdog]

Just to clarify Scummy, is the 75 km/h a recommended limit for comfortable driving? And you can take that corner at any speed you're comfortable with, as long as you're below the actual speed limit (eg 100 km/h)???

It is actually aimed at HMVs, so if the speed limit is 100kph then by the laws of NZ you can go around that corner at 100kph.

Of course in the wrong circumstances the laws of physics may beg to disagree......

[Sparrowhawk]

It is actually aimed at HMVs, so if the speed limit is 100kph then by the laws of NZ you can go around that corner at 100kph.

Of course in the wrong circumstances the laws of physics may beg to disagree......

Sorry to be a dumbass, what's an HMV?

I agree about the law of physics though. There are times when even the recommended speed's too quick. Most of the drivers here in jafa-land have never had to worry about the low grip situations; snow, ice, black ice is the worst. I'm bloody glad I learnt to drive in central otago. There have been a few times since I got to auckland that I've hit wet paint, or aqua-planed, and I've just handled the cage sliding by instict. I learnt to drive on the crown range.

Big issue, like this thread, is when it's been icy, and they've laid grit on the road. Then up to a week later, the cage tyres have pushed all the grit into the middle of the lane. Then when a bike comes round a corner, and takes the 'right' line through, front wheen hits the grit

I had a mate at school that dropped his XR185 doing 70k on a 70k corner on the way out to macandrew bay. Only reason he didn't go for a swim in the otago harbour is coz he hit a fence.

[mnkyboy]

Sorry to be a dumbass, what's an HMV?

Heavy motor vehicle