Why most motorcycle accident claims take time
The number one question clients often ask of their personal injury solicitor is, “how long will my claim take?”
Often, it’s impossible to answer such a question with any certainty as there are so many facets to a personal injury claim. Liability investigations, recovering medical records, Police records, ingathering wage information, speaking to witnesses, instructing medical experts, assessing vehicle damage, engaging with the third-party insurer / solicitors, etc.
These things take time and consideration. Reliance is often placed on third parties who may hold information prevalent to the claim to provide this information so the timeframe to ingather that information is obviously outwith the control of the solicitor.
Often a client will still be suffering from the effects of their injuries when they begin the process of making a claim. This adds further delay as it will only be truly possible to consider the full “value” of their pain and suffering once they are either fully recovered or a determinative prognosis can be given. Timescales of years, not months, are common, even for relatively minor collisions. However, every once in a while, when the stars align, claims can be settled quickly.
How a tailored approach accelerated Iliyas' claim
Iliyas contacted us in August 2025 following a motorcycle accident he had suffered whilst visiting family in Stornoway.
A vehicle had pulled out from a junction across his path. He sustained soft tissue injuries to his left shoulder and left hip, but thankfully walked away from the collision. However, his Kawasaki H2 had suffered the brunt of the collision.
When Iliyas contacted us, he provided photos of the damage to his helmet and motorcycle. We took a detailed statement from him and with his agreement, we were instructed to deal with the motorcycle damage as well as his personal injury and other losses.
By not involving his insurer, Iliyas had total control over what happened with his motorcycle and we could keep costs under control. Often people don’t realise that if they have been involved in an accident that wasn’t their fault, they do not need to use their insurer. We would actively discourage it. Your only obligation to your vehicle insurer is to report a collision, nothing more. You do not need to use their services.
Within 10 days, we had coordinated with Iliyas to move his bike back to the mainland. By the 28th August, we had instructed and received an engineer’s report on the damage to Iliyas’s motorcycle.
We intimated Iliyas’s claim to the third-party insurer, Ageas, with a request for payment of the pre-accident value of the motorcycle and the recovery costs for moving the bike from Stornoway. We provided all the evidence the third-party insurer needed at the outset with a detailed letter setting out the accident circumstances, injuries and Iliyas’ losses.
Why choosing your own solicitor matters
A pre-medical offer to settle Iliyas’ claim was received on 22nd September, together with agreement to settle his bike damage, recovery costs and a new helmet. Iliyas’ symptoms had largely resolved, therefore his decision to accept the insurer’s pre-medical offer (offer without medical evidence) was reasonable.
Iliyas’ claim settled for five figures. From his first call to us on the 4th August, we had settled his claim within 50 days. We were able to do this because the circumstances surrounding Iliyas’ accident and his subsequent losses allowed us to move quickly. We were able to apply our tailored approach to his claim, dealing with the bike damage and ingathering the evidence more quickly than his insurer could ever hope to and, to their credit, we had a third-party insurer who engaged with us from the outset and had a desire to come to a settlement agreement quickly.
From the third-party insurer’s point of view, there were clear benefits to our approach over the conventional involvement of Iliyas’ motorcycle insurer and an accident management company.
To start with, the costs of the claim were minimised. This was because there was no instruction of an accident management company pushing a credit hire-bike on Iliyas from the outset, no unreasonable recovery or storage costs accruing whilst the claim was being investigated, no unnecessary inflation of the cost of the claim to suit the accident management company.
The third-party insurer could see the costs outlined clearly, they were not unreasonable, and settlement was capable of agreement because of the straightforward approach.
For Iliyas, he had total control. He instructed us and we acted on his instructions alone. There were no competing interests between him and his own insurer as to what should happen with his motorcycle. He knew that he would receive totally tailored and independent expert legal advice and would have final say on any decision made in respect of his claim.
Lessons every motorcyclist should learn after an accident
Whilst speed is never the goal, in Iliyas’ case, it was simply the outcome of the approach we take to all our clients’ cases. Each client is unique and deserves their own tailored and personalised approach to their claim. Big insurance companies and panel solicitors cannot necessarily offer that. All they can offer is a prolonged process-driven claim, that results in poor service, disappointing outcomes and dissatisfied clients.
If Iliyas’ case shows anything, it is that you should never contact your insurer first. Always contact Motorcycle Law Scotland. We offer free initial legal advice to anyone who contacts us. If you are not sure, simply pick up the phone and talk to us. Never let your insurer choose your solicitor. Be like Iliyas and choose your own destiny.
Our Award Winning Team
Brenda Mitchell
Senior Partner
Brenda has been a Personal Injury Lawyer for over 38 years and for the last 20 years has specialised representing injured motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Jodi Gordon
Partner
Jodi is a Partner at RTA Law LLP with 14+ years’ experience in catastrophic injury claims for vulnerable road users including cyclists and motorcyclists.
Thomas Mitchell
Partner
Thomas represents clients who have been involved in road traffic incidents and he specialises in representing vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
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