I think it's been more to do with Aviva, the insurers, than Carole Nash who are just the brokers. The recovery from France, assessment, settlement and everything else has been though Aviva. They've been very good it must be said. The only real delay was the recovery from France which was just a wait for their appointed recovery firm to have a lorry in the area. Not a dedicated truck but one trundling around France collecting broken vehicles. Bike had a better tour of France than I did, went South again to St Tropez before meandering around back to Calais over about a week and a half. I could see where it was from the tracker. The added bolt on of the excess cover was through Carol Nash as something of an 'up-sell'. Offered at the time of the policy purchase last year. Was £37 for £500 of cover and something I wouldn't usually go for. Must have had a premonition... Only noticed it in the CN info pack when scanning that for my policy details. This is with AXA. I've yet to fully implement this claim as I need the settlement statement from Aviva first. As a side note my travel insurance was purchased through Carol Nash too. Bought just ahead of the fateful trip. I usually buy annual cover that specifically includes large capacity bike use, most regular ones exclude it these days. This covers me for bike trips as well as any other holidays for the year. This was also though AXA. They've been pretty good it must be said, everything settled either reimbursing me for homeward travel, €450 of prescription at pharmacy in Gap, missed accomodation on two nights following accident as well as paying hospital fees in France directly plus in hospital benefit. My only other experience with travel insurance was on a bike trip in 2019 when I wound up in the French hospital system for over a week with Sepsis. Was apparently around 24hrs away from it being fatal when admitted. Insurance that year was through the Post Office and the claims process was a shambles. The claim was passed on to another company whose sole purpose seemed to be to frustrate the claim. The French medical system was about to appoint UK bailiffs to extract the owed fees before they finally took action. All quite stressful. The French health system, it has to be said, is streets ahead of the NHS. Most citizens do pay into it, it's means tested. Not a huge amount monthly. Seems to be very effective. My EHIC card was still in date and some of the bill was covered by that this time. Just under €3000 wasn't though, so cover was well worthwhile. Everyone at both Sisteron and Gap hospitals, from the porters, nurses, transfer ambulance crew to the anethatist and surgeon were exceptionally cordial, professional and reassuring. I felt in very safe and capable hands. Both surgeon and anethatist visited before the operation and fully explained what was going to happen. Given a choice of anesthesia options, I went for epidural with a side order of morphine. Managed to fall asleep half way through the op. The surgeon visited afterwards and reported on how the surgery went. Had a private room which appears to be standard. Consultants back here, looking at supsequent x-rays, very impressed with surgeon's work. Even the neatness of the scar drew admiration. Having French friends helping me with discharge from hospital was invaluable. The amount of paperwork required, on a Saturday when admin office was closed, that helped with the claim was beyond useful. I think he'd, quite rightly, regard that as sacralidge
Just a little more to this story. Today I went to Cheltenham and picked up the salvaged bike. Bumpkin is a misnomer, he's infact a true gentleman. It was a pleasure to meet him. It's been a long day so I'll post more in due course.Thank you Charlie.
Thank you Andy, very pleased to meet you and your son. Sad to see the bike go but she'll live on, albeit as a donor. I think we're both happy with the outcome/arrangement. I now have garage space for the new chapter in my Multistrada journey
Today we charged the battery, reconnected the lcd screen and headlights and fired it up. I want to assess whether there are unforeseen problems with the engine before stripping the whole thing down. So far we've found the radiator has been pushed back onto the fan, the oil filter has been dented and is weeping, and there is a warning light 'on' on the dash (we could do with an OBDstar). Early days but all looking good.
Glad to hear that it fired up OK, that's great news. The damage to the bodywork on the right side possibly pushed the rad back, didn't notice that though the support bracket on the side of the rad did seem bent. OBDStar is a useful tool. You might find that the warning light is just down to the battery being below threshold level. It powered the tracker for over a month. Having said that the bike has experienced trauma with wiring connectors ripped out and, from what I saw, the aux socket lead shorted at the time of the accident. Though that should have just blown the 10A fuse under the seat. Good luck with it all.
All the fuses were good. The key is not talking to the ignition switch unless it is held against the panel. The oil cooler is leaking. The (full) fuel tank had jumped out of its mountings. I think you were lucky not to have come to more harm.
The frame will be scrapped along with the broken bits , the rest will be stored and used in due course. The front wheel is 2mm out of true and the LH disc 8mm out. Both can be straightened. Next job check out the forks.
Thanks for the progress update Quite how both mirrors survived intact I can't understand... Guess my groin must have dislodged the tank. There was no brusing to support that theory though. Maybe the weight of the fuel and momentum... that's probably what you're implying. I had only filled up some 20km before the prang. You got that lovely French premo petrol thrown into the bargain
Just a thought on the error light on the dash. I removed the Healtech exhaust valve eliminator module and reconnected the connector under the seat before you collected the bike. However, the valve is still wired in the open position. The valve hasn't been actuated in about 20,000 miles so may well be seized anyway.
Worth a try. Not sure if the error light persists for a while without a reset. The bike did that with the rear speed sensor error. Took a few ignition cycles with riding in between before going out.
Well that is good to see. Last time I saw this bike at the scene it was looking very sad. In fact, when I went back to the scene I was shocked by two things; 1. The state of the bike, which I saw first. It had clearly cartwheeled, bits were hanging off the front and the back, and it was in a ditch between the road and the hillside that it had tumbled from. Horrific! 2. The remarkable condition of the rider! Unbelievable! Sat on a wall at the side of the road and the injured foot seemed to be the only thing other than bruising of body and pride. Great that you’ve made a full recovery Charlie and in the end you’ve come out of it well. Also, a great parts bike for Hugo M. Although I wouldn’t be straightening a brake disc, unless of course you know better than me, which judging by your truly enviable garage you probably do. Most of the mechanical bits of that bike will be in A1 condition. What a great buy. I’m glad to hear the frame is being scrapped (probably has to be). The forks must have taken a whack too. It doesn’t surprise me the engine fired up fine, shame about the rad but you could get re-cored. Aviva Insurance seem to have behaved very well, it’s good to hear of an insurer honouring their obligations. One thing I will say though, for everyone else’s benefit. At the time of the accident the European help line didn’t even answer. I held on and on and on until boredom and my fuse ran out. We packed Charlie off to hospital with a couple who were passing by in a car. By this time the adrenaline had started to wear off and poor Charlie was starting to go green. I rang the help line again to no avail. Fortunately a very pleasant and helpful French biker stopped and gave us the number of a local recovery firm. They arrived in about an hour and took the bike to their base. No problem, no charge at the time, he’d claim it off the insurer’s. So if you’re ever in a similar situation and get no response, just sort it yourself. Everything was covered. Wishing to make up ground, the European recovery called me the next day and day after day, which was pointless. When an English guy called me in the middle of an England football match ( European Championship) I let him have it. There was nothing they could do, we’d sorted it. Fk off! I spared him the language but it was nonsense by that stage. At least they did a complete job afterwards and Charlie and Hugo M. have come out of it well. Charlie, top guy. Good rider, can’t believe this happened to him. I’d ride with again anytime and Ian too who actually saw what happened.
Sincere thanks Sam for both your, and Ian's, support at the scene and since. Was great to ride with you both to that point. The day didn't start too well but once we were on route (the guy leading us in the wrong direction didn't wait at the péage and left us to sort ourselves out) We were having a good day.
