Your bike has been written off. Now what?
A write-off offer is frequently the first thing riders disagree with after a crash, and often with good reason. The first figure offered is a valuation, not a fixed price, and valuations can be challenged with evidence. This guide explains how they are reached and what riders commonly get wrong. It is general information, not advice about your own bike.
Contents
What the write-off categories actually mean
A bike is normally written off when the cost of repair is uneconomic relative to its value, not necessarily when it is beyond repair. Category A and B are the most severe and mean the machine, or at least its frame, must be destroyed. Category S indicates structural damage that was repaired or repairable, and Category N indicates non-structural damage. The category affects both what happens to the bike and its future value, so it is worth knowing which one is being applied and why.
How your bike gets valued
Valuations are typically based on what it would cost to replace your bike with one of similar age, mileage and condition, rather than what you paid or what you owe on finance. Trade guides are commonly used as a starting point, but they are a starting point. They frequently fail to reflect genuine condition, service history, low mileage or the money riders have put into a machine.
Why the first offer is often low, and what to do
Evidence is what moves a valuation. Advertised prices for genuinely comparable bikes, ideally several, carry real weight, as do service records, MOT history, receipts for parts and any documentation of condition. Photographs taken before the accident help. If the offer does not reflect the bike you actually owned, say so and show why, rather than accepting it as final.
Where non-fault changes the picture
If the crash was not your fault, the valuation is part of a wider set of losses being pursued against the other side, which can also include your gear, your excess, and a replacement bike while things are resolved. Riders sometimes accept a low write-off figure without realising the rest of it was recoverable too.
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