I have heard precisely nothing from anyone since that last post. The police came to see me to take a statement and asked me if I was prepared to give evidence in Court (to which I answered “damn right I am!”) and there was a bit of a rush for them to get it from me. And then silence.
I’d spoken to the insurance company to ask them about buying it back when it was recovered and a week or two later got a phone call from them asking me if I knew where the bike was as – apparently – the police hadn’t been in touch with them.
Since then? Not a thing!
Well, well, well.
This morning I received a phone call from the Met. Wilf has been found somewhere in Lincolnshire!
No news on its condition or anything and of course it now belongs to the insurance company but if it’s not been totalled, I may well see if I can buy it from them. It should be worth less as a stolen recovered vehicle anyway and of course it’s almost a year older, but it’s worth asking.
In the meantime, I’ve got an appointment for early next week to give a statement to the police to say that it certainly wasn’t being used or stored with my permission so they can (hopefully) prosecute the scrote that had it.
I hadn’t realised that Mazda offer seven days insurance cover for you – their “driveaway” scheme – when you buy a Mazda from one of their dealers:
“What’s more, most new and used private car purchasers benefit from seven days free insurance. So you can drive away from our dealerships safe in the knowledge that you’re covered. Conditions for this free cover may apply.
“All you need to do is call us on 0800 048 0962 for a no-obligation quotation.”
Now, it also turns out that Mazda’s policy offers what is called “RTI” cover which is:
“Mazda Return to Invoice (RTI)
“Mazda Return to Invoice will either pay you the difference between your Motor Insurance settlement figure and the outstanding Early Settlement Balance due to your Finance Company, or pay you the difference between the Net Invoice Price of your Insured Vehicle at the Start Date and your Motor Insurance Company’s settlement figure. Your claim will be settled based on whichever is the greater amount.”
And what’s more they were very competitive on their premium, coming in at the lower end of the quotes I’d received from price comparison websites and then – after haggling – knocking off 10% so as to come in second lowest. I will be going with Mazda for the insurance because of the RTI cover benefit.
I had the delivery date confirmed to me today: the car is available for collection on Wednesday, 17th March but because that would mean me driving up to Grimsby and back the same midweek day to collect it, I’ve postponed collection until the 19th. D-8 days and counting!
In the meantime, however, I’d better get used to being pulled by the police with threats to impound the ST200 as for some reason it isn’t showing up in the MID as being insured even though it’s currently on the dealer’s insurance policy.
Just to bring everything up to date, whilst I was on holiday, eBike Insurance’s loss adjusters wrote to me offering a settlement of £3,500. I decided to mull this over whilst I was away again, but on my return I found a cheque from them for that sum in full and final settlement.
This amounted to quite a substantial loss to me but when I went through the policy and the small print, I realised they were actually being fair. I’d stated the value of the bike as £4,000 – eBay adverts the week of the theft showed that was under-stated – and whilst I was aware there was a £250 theft excess, I’d ignored/overlooked the clause that says if the bike isn’t garaged at the time in a locked garage, the excess rises by £250.
So quite a loss to me, but I can’t fault them for the speed with which they settled my claim. Recommended.
Two items of news concerning Wilf:
- The insurance company has declared it a total loss which means they’ve decided to pay up. The argument now will be over a valuation, but I can back up the value of the bike by a PDF print of the MCN used bikes of that model for sale earlier this week that were all well over £4,000. We shall see.
- Talking of total losses, the Metropolitan Police have written to me to say that due to the lack of evidence they’ve dropped the investigation. Hmm. I wonder if the lack of evidence is as a result of the lack of any investigation? They decided not to send SOCOs to fingerprint anything and they didn’t send any officers to talk to the neighbours. Too much like hard work, I suppose…
I’ve just got in after almost a fortnight away and decided to check the garage before heading off to bed.
The Gixxer has gone: stolen. The remnants of the padlock which had been bolt-cropped are still there but the thieving bastards even took the Abus chain with them. The Met. Police have been telephoned and should be in touch within the 24-48 hours to process it. I mentioned the lock and that they might be able to do something with the bits but the operator was non-committal… I doubt they’ll even bother interviewing the neighbours, even though one is almost always there. It has been alpha-dotted and marked with SmartWater, so who knows? Maybe I’ll get lucky and get it back.
So if you’re offered a low-mileage, immaculate 2004 Suzuki GSX-R750K4 engine number R741-100646 VIN/frame number JS1B3111200100375 it’s mine!
One of the adverts over on the right of this site from time to time is for H&R Insurance, peddling their bike insurance online using Google Ads.
In order to get a quote, you have to agree, amongst other things, that:
“5. The motorbike has not been modified in any way.
6. There are no accessories fitted to the bike.”
That must mean they insure very few bikes…
One little side-effect that was a tad unpalatable was the effect buying Wilf has had on my insurance premium. I renewed by insurance for the Kawasaki ZRX1200R fully comprehensive for £133.32 – I’m 47 and have been riding for 30 years with no accidents and just three points on my licence at the moment. That was with eBike Insurance, who I’ve found to be cheapest for the last couple of years and who aren’t overly concerned about modifications, providing you list them.
So adding Wilf to the policy and making sure that I was showing that both bikes will be staying down here in London from time to time over the summer, the additional premium was a whopping £474.12! Eek!
I’ve also spent another hundred quid or more on another Abus chain and a ground anchor in addition to the Meta alarm on Wilf who is also marked with SmartWater. Click that link for more details of what that is. Surprisingly, adding the chain and anchor would have done nothing to decrease the premium but had a theft occurred whilst they were not in use, the excess would have increased, so I have not added them to the policy on the basis that the insurers don’t want me to use them and it’s my choice if I do or don’t.
We’re all safe and legal now and ready to pick Wilf up later this morning…
I recently received my renewal documents for my car insurance through Norwich Union Direct: £404.17 (with £220 excess), so up a bit on last year.
We had also insured my wife’s car with Norwich Union Direct and after changing the car had had a horrendous time trying to obtain a quote for the new car as that policy too was due for renewal. We eventually received a quote for that of £200.00. Through the Post Office, we’d got insurance for £150-ish with a further £50 cash-back to come after 60 days. The new insurer? Norwich Union…
So I thought I’d do a reality check on my renewal through the Post Office. £304.69 (with an additional £50 cash-back to come) and only £100 excess. The insurer? Yes, you’ve guessed it … Norwich Union!
The Post Office quote had added £24 for legal protection that I don’t want, so I just rang them to take them up on the quote (without the £24) and got re-quoted at £287.64 with £50 still to come back later.
So I’ll be saving £166.53!
Oh and when I rang to cancel the direct debit for my old policy, they asked if there was a way they could look at my renewal quote to get it down. I said no. Too late: “you snooze, you lose”.
Recent Music
