My bike was knocked over in a parking bay by a car driver. The driver left contact details on my bike and with the supermarket, which also captured the whole thing on CCTV, so no major problems.
But I seem to have entered a nightmare world. I phoned my insurer, and the call was answered by a claims management company. As I was not injured, I was offered what I thought was a courtesy bike while my insurer dealt with the modest repairs. I took the courtesy bike, and my bike disappeared in a van to a storage depot. Then nothing for 11 weeks. My bike came back repaired. It was okay – I may be being a bit picky but there was overspray and some hairline cracking left on some panels, but I wanted my bike back.
I have now been approached by what I think is a firm of solicitors telling me they need my assistance to recover the “hire charges” and “credit repairs” for what I thought was a courtesy bike and fully comp repair. The tone has become quite strident. I have been told if I do not give my bank statements, credit card statements and any savings accounts for the past three months, I will be paying £16,000 myself.
I have also been given a witness statement to sign that states “I always knew I was liable for hire charges” and it shows a document which has my signature on it agreeing to this. Apparently, there is about £16,000 of hire and repairs on my bike, which was worth no more than £6,000, and the driver’s insurers are kicking off.
I don’t want my financial details kicking around. I am comfortable, not rich, but have substantial savings. Can I refuse?
Answer
I wish this was a new query, but it’s one we hear all the time.
If you have a simple collision, use your fully comp insurance. Your bike had some modest cosmetic damage and would have been repaired quickly. Had you used your fully comp cover, your insurer would have ‘recovered their outlay’ of about a grand from the driver’s insurance, your no-claims bonus would have been reinstated, and you would not be contacting me. You’d have had your bike back in about three or four weeks.
Courts have got wise to the practice that ‘accident management companies’ massively (and legally) inflate minor claims so a grand gets multiplied by a factor of 16 and everyone’s insurance goes up. The solicitors for the insured driver play very hard on inflated claims and take a lot of cases to trial.
You signed a hire agreement that binds you. The fact you didn’t read it is of no help to you. If you bring a credit hire claim, there is now established law that if your finances are being raised as an issue as to why you needed a hire bike, you need to prove your finances.
The draft witness statement troubles me. You can say: “I signed the document but did not read it and therefore I cannot say I always knew I was aware I would be liable for the charges.” However, you are on the hook. You do not suggest the document was obtained by fraud, but by your carelessness and perhaps trusting nature. Those are not good defences.
In your longer correspondence with me, I’m struggling to see that you lacked funds to hire another bike. You were also straightforward with me – you use your bike for occasional weekend runs or a trip out for a cream tea with your wife on nice days. Your MoT records for the bike show you use it for less than 1,000 miles a year, so I am not surprised a query has been raised as to how a £1,000 repair is now a £16,000 claim.
You can’t pretend a motorcycle was an essential for you, nor can you pretend you were skint.
My advice is you cooperate with these solicitors and read very carefully what you sign because casually signing court documents can get you prison time if what you sign off is not true. Taking documents on trust is not a brilliant idea – it has got you into this problem. It can get a lot worse in the court system – you should expect to be cross-examined in court by a specialist barrister about any statement you sign, so be very careful what you put your name to.
Andrew Dalton
RiDE– August 2025