Rincewind and the luggage update

[Anonymous]

#17462

I know a mate with a sister bike to yours (06 GSA, same colour etc) who might sell, if that helps  ;D

[Anonymous]

#17463

I know a mate with a sister bike to yours (06 GSA, same colour etc) who might sell, if that helps  ;D

Isn't it weird,I waited nearly 12 months after making my mind up beforre I found a GSA that ticked all the boxes and now I get offered one probably right on my doorstep instead of having to fly down to south island to get it.However at this moment in time I will pass,......my mind and body are a mess at the moment and I just want to focus on getting well again, I have lost so much muscle,it looks like someone transplanted my head onto someone elses body while I was in hospital.Also I have no idea about the processess involved when a bike gets written off so I haven't got the cash anyway !How much will they pay out ? ( It was insured for $20,000)How long does it take to complete the claim ? ( do we have to wait for the court case against the driver that took us out to come to a conclusion)What do they do with the wreck ? ( I notice STAR insurance sell them off,maybe PROTECTA do the same.My guess is that this will be a long drawn out process.RegardsDave

[Richard Kuysten]

#17464

Hi Dave and Barbara, just picked up on your misfortune and after hearing about poor old George Smiths off recently I find those little doubts about our chosen pastime niggling in my head. We lost a very good friend in a head on many years ago and it took me a long time to relax on the bike.  However we all know that there is not a better feeling than to be riding and it's very addictive.Jean and I hope you both fully recover and look forward to catching up over a beer at the Puhoi one of these days.

[Anonymous]

#17465

Hi Dave and Barbara, just picked up on your misfortune and after hearing about poor old George Smiths off recently I find those little doubts about our chosen pastime niggling in my head. We lost a very good friend in a head on many years ago and it took me a long time to relax on the bike.  However we all know that there is not a better feeling than to be riding and it's very addictive.Jean and I hope you both fully recover and look forward to catching up over a beer at the Puhoi one of these days.

Thanks Malcolm, we are recovering well,it's early days yet,  but when I think of the progress we have made in five weeks since the accident it is very encouraging.As soon as my neck brace comes off, the Puhoi will be my first outing I'm sure. I have an appointment with the ortho clinic on the 20th and subject to x ray confirmation that my neck is repaired I will be able to drive....I will be one miserable sod if they tell me I have to keep it on any longer.Meanwhile one step at a time....I can currently walk as far as the dairy,but from the Dairy I can see the pub...so guess what my next target is !!!!!!RegardsDave n Barb

[Anonymous]

#17466

How much will they pay out ? ( It was insured for $20,000)How long does it take to complete the claim ? ( do we have to wait for the court case against the driver that took us out to come to a conclusion)What do they do with the wreck ? ( I notice STAR insurance sell them off,maybe PROTECTA do the same.

The amount paid out would be less an excess, but if you're not at fault, then no excess on your end. Ultimately, the key steps are getting the police's report of the incident (court case outcome not normally required as the police report usually finds the at fault party), which would determine fault. That's very important for the insurers involved. Lets say both parties are fully insured, you're not at fault. You are almost not involved (other than being a party) as the companies will talk to each other. If the other party is at fault and not insured, then you may be asked to assist in providing as many details as possible to assist the company in dealing with the other party. My boss had a situation where an idiot jumped on his bonnet when he was in the city one evening... provided details to company, but it stayed on his record because they hadn't actually closed the case (ie, been paid) by the other party... not exactly fun...On the bike side, the shop usually assesses the bike (often important with the likes of BMW, since they're complicated beasts) and the assessors will usually trust the shops they deal with regularly (or have a quick look and rubber stamp the assessment). The insurance company then chooses what to do, based on the estimated cost of repairs. The metric is usually around 66-75% of the sum insured, any more than that and it's written off. This doesn't count things like the bike being less than 6 months old or the like. Some policies automatically specify a new bike in those situations. They will also establish a market value for the bike, and this is where issues can come in. Agreed value is a rare policy, usually for classics. Regular policies are market value, meaning that effectively, the bike is always over-insured. Under-insure, and they won't pay you out more than the policy value (who would), but they'll also try to pay you less than the full value, arguing depreciation etc. My simple come back is: "No problem, keep the money and buy the bike instead for me. Oh you can't because they cost more? Well, then you'd better pay out more".If it's a repair then the insurance company gives the go ahead to the bike shop to do repairs, they order the parts, schedule the job etc. If it's a write off, the company takes ownership of the bike (important at this point that anything on the bike not covered by insurance is back in your hands) and pays you out an amount - determined from the stuff above. Normally this part should take a week or two, depending on how busy the assessor is, and in my case for repairs, a bunch of people had decided to fall off at once individually, resulting in a sudden heap of work, which created a backlog. The time to resolve also depends on each company. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, but if you're in no rush, then keep tabs on a weekly basis or the like.As for how they sort the wreck, it depends, as you say, some auction them off, others have buyers take them off their hands quickly, you can also talk to the company about buying it back if you're interested. The bike specific insurers usually have a smooth process of dealing with bikes, the car insurers struggle a bit more, not being used to them. Ultimately, not something you need to be worried about, unless you want to buy back. Get your money and move on.

[Anonymous]

#17467

Well folks it”s been nearly seven verrrry long weeks since that fatefull saturday afternoon when the meanng of life bubbled to the surface inside a westpac helicopter ride on the way to AK Hospital.I am as the saying goes "Doing as well as can be expected"I am currently doing cold turkey,having had to give up on all pain meds in order to give my liver a better chance of repairing  itself. This is not fun and is the second time I have been through it inside three months,sleep depravation,hot and cold sweats,invoulantary muscle spasms and a general feeling of being permanently jet lagged, plus heaps of pain from lots of places.I had my orhopeadic review yesterday and the bad news is that I have to contiue wearing the neck brace for a further six weeks, which pretty much means I am confined to barracks, which in itself is pretty depressing,but on the other hand my chest is so buggered up that a ride in any modern day cage leaves me wincing at every bump in the road.Also for some reason I suddenly have a great deal of lower back pain !!!All my puncture wounds have healed nicely along with the surgeons neelework to my left shoulder.Unfortunatley my left hand has degenerated a bit, but hopefully I may be starting physio on that very shortly to see if we can save it from nerve death.Barbara is doing really well her wounds are healing nicely and she now has 90 degrees of movement in her leg brace and has had the cast removed from her wrist,however she too has issues with her hand which will require plenty of physio over the comming weeks. Her largest source of pain seems to be her ribs.As for the bike, I have no idea,I have had no communication from protecta, apart from a claim number, and they have not responded to my previous two emails....but I am still paying the monthly  policy payments.Thanks again to all of you that have taken time to email me with kind words and thoughts, I appologise for not replying individually, I am unable to sit upright or stand for long periods of time so computer time and meal times are a painfull distraction.

[Anonymous]

#17468

Well Guys,,,it's offishal,, I am a walking miricle and I am back at work, albeit for five hours a day at the mo.Bit unsteady on my pins and everything I injured still hurts a little, my main issues at the moment are my neck and my lower back...and of course my left hand still doesn't work propely.My weight is still aound the 89 Kilo mark down from my 101 Kilo pre accident weigh in.Had some nerve conduction studies done on my hand on Wednesday and the good news is that the nerve pathways are still there, the bad news is that it could be two years before I know what extent the nerves can regenerate to.Protecta have paid out on the bike which freed us up to get Barbara an automatic car, she can't drive a manual anymore so I have got her a nice RAV 4 with an autobox. Her lovely little MX5 is up for sale now on trade me if anyone is interested in buying it for their loved one as a nice surprise PM me. It's done 53 K and is in beutiful condition, and I would take $20K for it.Barbara's knee cap is healing nicely but she still has all the metalwork attached which will have to come out later on at some time,her wrist is healed but still isn't 100%It's doubtful that I will ever be able to ride again and Babzee has no intention of ever getting on the pillion again,so I have bought a 4 x 4 JEEP Wrangler to play around in,maybe we can play support vehicle TEC on one or two gravel road rides at some time in the future !!!HmmmmmmMy fight for life on the side of the road was filmed by the guys who follow the Westpack rescue team, not exactly the production I was expecting for my 15minutes of Andy Wahol fame but I found it easy to sign the release papers to the Media company based on the fact that the programme raises so much funding to keep the birds flying and without them there is a very good chance that my membership to the human race would have expired on the 5th of January.The Helicopter got me from the accident scene to AK Trauma unit in approximatly 9 minutes airtime , my poor wife had to travel in the back of an Ambulance all the way to North Shore Hospital through holiday trafic which took a great deal longer.

[Anonymous]

#17469

Well it's been a while, so I thought I would add an update,Babzee has had the all clear to have the tin ware and screws taken out of her knee and is currently waiting for the surgeon to book her onto the conveyor belt !!Her lovely Mazda got sold a couple of weeks ago, so the garage got freed up for project Jeep which is currently underway !I am doing extremely well, I went back to work full time too early and had a bit of a set back but I have now settled into a 5 hour day and concentrate on bringing my fitness levels back to normal in the afternoons.The hand has improved immensely, my grip is now at such a level that I could pull in a clutch lever if I had to ( Shit did I just write that out loud ) !!!It's early days still as far as the nerve damage goes but my therapy is defiantly working.The old fella that took us off the Road was prosecuted for carless driving causing injury x 2, we have yet to hear what his punishment wasHope to see some of your familiar faces this summer.

[Jim Young]

#17470

Hi Dave,It's good to hear that you and Babs are continuing to get back to normal and hope to catch up with you both soon.Cheers Jim

[Anonymous]

#17471

I'm glad it wasn't a head on like Code 1 reported in the show this evening…

[Anonymous]

#17472

I'm glad it wasn't a head on like Code 1 reported in the show this evening...

I guess you have to cut them some slack, they are all volunteers after all and they give up an immense amount of time and energy.The strangest thing was that they even got Barbara's name wrong and called her "Peggy"...which when you consider she is still limping quite severely and I have had occasion to call her Peg Leg !!!was quite amusing and sort of created a bit of light relief at the time of the watching !!!!Anyway the end result was hopefully that hundreds if not thousands of people made donations on the night which will help towards the $600.00 a minute it costs to keep it airborne !Update ...Peggy gets the metal work taken out of her knee on the 24th of September !!!RegardsDave

[Anonymous]

#17473

Hey Dave,I just had a random thought about your Jeep project wile talking to a workmate about their jeep project.  If it's a Willy's Jeep, Mahindra in India still make them.  They got the licence to assemble CJ-3Bs in 1947 under the brand name of Thar Jeep, and there are millions of them still running around ergo there are a gazillion spare parts.http://www.mahindra.com/What-We-Do/automotive/Products/TharI was tempted to bring a few home with me after our trip a couple of years ago, but had already exceeded my carry-on luggage allowance  :'(Scott

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