Mike Wilcox

On 30/04/2017 I got hit by a French boy on a BMW 1200GS who forgot which side of the road he should be on and swung wide on a bend on the Bealach na Ba. He was riding as part of a group, so group mentality meant he was not concentrating on the road ahead and making his own decisions and, I think passing places were a foreign concept to them.
 
So, a GS with hard luggage down the offside of my bike (and me) from fairing to number plate and an unplanned grass tracking trip with the K1300S as I was knocked off the road.
 
Fortunately, the engine bobbin, which was ripped off, deflected the GS enough to prevent my leg getting mangled. So, all in all  I got off quite lightly with a few aches and pains with bits of bike bent/removed and my soft luggage and contents spread across the road. However, as the French boy admitted responsibility and completed the French Constat form to that effect, it looked like it should have been a quick fix.
 
I contacted Equity Red Star (ERS) who were the underwriters on my BMW approved policy, and this is where my problems started. After several calls, it became apparent that ERS were not interested and would only, reluctantly, process the case as a claim against my policy! This meant that parts like the bobbins that had saved my leg were apparently not covered under my policy. A high number of ‘have you been in an accident?’ cold calls suddenly started hitting me and the level of shit from ERS got deeper by the day.
 
The French boy was insured through AXA, so I attempted to contact them but after 3 months had made no further progress, being passed from department to department and person to person. The only thing moving slower was ERS. So, with some trepidation I told ERS to sling their hook and contacted Motorcycle Law Scotland.
 
I say trepidation because I view claim chasers as parasites and the American claim culture they generate as a major problem and corruption of society values. However, in this case I could not have been further from the truth as Motorcycle Law certainly do not fit into this category. They are very professional, specialise purely in motorcycle claims and of course, I had to contact them. Indeed, without them I think I would still be trying to get settlement.
 
Motorcycle Law Scotland were a breath of fresh air in the miasma of effluent I was wading through with the insurance companies. My case was handled by Roz Boynton (initially Jodi Gordon), who was really approachable, easy to deal with and kept me informed throughout each step of the process, despite the hurdles put in our way by AXA, in what should have been a straightforward claim.
 
AXA finally approved the work required on my bike and it went to BMW to be fixed in February 2018, but it took a lot of effort Motorcycle Law to get AXA to pay the bill and I was not able to collect my bike until the end of May 2018!
 
Then the mammoth task of getting settlement for clothing and injuries with more legal, but devious tactics, employed by AXA to prevent payment. Only the persistence of MotorCycle Law, who had to initiate court proceedings, has brought this sorry mess to a conclusion (almost) and I now have settlement (although the legal wrangling to recover court costs is still to complete).
 
Thank you, Motorcycle Law Scotland for the excellent service, and if anybody else is struggling, then I have no worries at all in recommending their services.