have i made a mistake??

[richy rich]

well some of you know i had an accident about 4 months ago involving a car hitting the side of me and mashing up a few parts of the bike and me!...

yesterday i got so annoyed with it looking like a lorry had run over it i decided to put the bars back to normal and hit the exhaust back into place a bit(needs replacing is totally mangled) and i was going to see if i could straighten the wheel a bit....

the other insurance company who im in the proccess of claiming off, are supposed to be sending someone out to look at the bike and to assess whether or not its bent/dented or cost to much to fix....
but they havent yet been and looked at it or said when anyone will be looking at it...

was it stupid of me to sort a few things out on the bike before they come and look at it?????? when they do come ill tell them what i've done its just i did it without thinking..... tbh i'd rather they didnt right it off because it will only mean more hassle when i have it back when i fix it up... im not looking to geta load of money off them for the bike i just want it fixed up so that i can get riding again...

i personally dont see it as a problem just putting the bars back in properly and what not.... anyones opinion is welcome :)

[Lateshift]

You should have waited for the insurance people to assess the damage ;)

Partly because by tampering with the bike before they have looked at it, they are likely to overlook something and take it as read that its okay, but also because anything you have touched now they dont necessarily have to pay out for (can you prove that anything you have changed was now caused in the accident ;) ).

What you should have done is pestered and harrassed the insurance company to get someone out and get the bike assessed, the longer they take to get the bike assessed, the longer you are at in an inconvenience, just remember you didnt cause the accident and by them dragging their feet you are being kept waiting to have something repaired!

Leave the bike alone, get in touch with your insurance and tell them that the longer this goes on, the more you want to take legal action for inconvenience, you need to shake people sometimes to get the ball rolling ;)

[richy rich]

well it was only the bars tht i ended up doing so i shall put them back ot where the were :)

[NitroDaze]

Sorry matey. Lateshift is dead right. However it is not the end of the world. I would suggest you do not do anything else though. Insurance companies are slippery, they will make any excuse not to fork out for the full damage if they can find an excuse. In your case they will be asking themselves if the bike was already damaged before the accident occured. Your trying to fix thing may tempt them to come to that conclusion.
You have two choices here, one is to leave the bike in its current state and tell them nothing when they come to inspect it. Don't try to bash it back to the way it was. That will only make the situation worst. If the police was called to the scene of the accident, the police report will also contain descriptions of the damage to your bike which will not be far of from the current state. Bashing out the can and straightening the handle bars will not remove the obvious structural damage which would have occurred if the wheel and handle bar was twisted due to impact of the accident. And the trained inspector will see through what you have done. Therefore, if you want to be compensated for the damage, you will have to be patient. You still have a good chance.
Your other choice is to tell them what you have done. I must add here that they would certainly use that information to their advantage if possible.

[richy rich]

i didnt straighten the bars they just got pushed all the way through the clamps so i put them back central... i can put them back though!... i dont think you could tell if anyone did anything to the exhaust its mangled, although i didnt touch that so thats not a problem

[Hells]

DEFINATLEY leave it as it is...

Insurance companies DONT want to pay out any money, if they can find a technicality then they will!!!

LEAVE it alone, and pester the hell out of the insurance people to get their act together!