RE: PH2: Bikers Friend app

RE: PH2: Bikers Friend app

Wednesday 13th February 2013

PH2: Bikers Friend app

New accident app promises help to bikers involved in crash, including a controversial 'compensation calculator'



There are rumblings on Biker Banter about Bikers Friend, a free app claimed to provide an effortless way to document a motorcycle road traffic accident from your mobile device. So far, so straightforward.

App wraps up all you'd need in case of a shunt
App wraps up all you'd need in case of a shunt
Created by an 'innovative media company' the app is also effectively a fast track way of putting you in touch with a 'no win, no fee' solicitor. The app gives you the ability to photograph, video, record and also pinpoint your location on a map or call the emergency services. All features that a normal iPhone or Android phone can do - but the app combines all these on one homepage. So, should you have an accident, you can collect all your own evidence.

This isn't a bad thing, and the list of 'what to do' instructions, although fairly obvious, is pretty good as well, up until you reach number seven. This instruction says 'Contact Motorcycle Compensation'. When you fill your accident details in and agree for them to be sent they are fired towards the company Motorcycle Compensation, who will then pass them to a 'no win, no fee' solicitor who will call you back and, according to the app, 'allow the user to view instantly what they could be awarded in damages from the fault party.'

"I've been a marketer of legal services in the UK for over 20 years as well as an avid motorcyclist," says Colin Mahoney, creator of the app. "I was always being asked to look after bikers' injuries so I launched motorcyclecompensation.com. Very quickly we realised that any injuries over £5,000, the insurers automatically deny liability. What I decided to do was provide the insurer with hard evidence as to exactly what happened, so we created the app."

So what's in it for his firm?

Hit OK and expect a call in short order
Hit OK and expect a call in short order
"We don't, under any circumstances, get paid by any of our solicitors for referring business over to them," he says. "We are a marketing company who markets on behalf of a collective of solicitors. We do not make money from the clients, we do not put a client with the solicitor who pays us the highest amount of money and we have no referral fee. We work with 10 solicitors who contribute a marketing contribution to me and in return I give them access to my database of clients who have had incidents."

Why is this? As of April referral fees are no longer allowed to be paid by solicitors to people putting them in touch with accident victims, hence the distinction. But the fact there is a 'compensation calculator' on the app that claims within an hour you can learn how much you could be awarded speaks volumes.

We brought this point up with Mahoney who said, "Well, why would you call us then?" Fair enough, and if you're looking for financial recompense from an accident this is a very quick way of getting in contact with people who can help you do it. Whether this is something to be encouraged is your call.

Author
Discussion

WMP

Original Poster:

154 posts

198 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all

Two (initial) words - "Ambulance" & "Chasers".

Following on :-

a) If a motorcyclist has indeed received significant injuries they are unlikely to immediately get their iphone out and begin taking details.

b) The sooner the middlemen (claims managers, marketing men etc. etc.) get taken out of the loop the sooner our premiums will reduce.

c) It would seem that the inventor of this app has already bypassed the ban on referral fees by 'marketing' his services.

Soon nobody will be able to insure a motorbike/fast car etc. because of the above, I despair.

blacksunmanta

7 posts

161 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Sounds like a smoke and mirrors way of getting paid for the referral. Got to love an over complicated legal system that allows this sort of ambulance chasing rubbish workaround.

Prof Prolapse

16,160 posts

189 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Not sure I agree.

I don't really see this like "whipcash". Accidents caused by negligent car drivers are a real problem and if it takes a compensation culture to address this then so be it. The scale of the problem is so big that government is currently spending over a million on their "think biker" campaign, to try and educate the public in the use of their observations. This is a massive proportion of their budget.

Tragically, perhaps it has become necessary to sue (or whatever the term is) car drivers for their negligence. If nothing else to try and bump up their personal premiums as an "education".

To negate shared increases in premium, perhaps insurers could try passing on the costs directly to the at fault claimant? This would be a lesson learned and would warn other motorists to be vigilant. Hit a biker? Enjoy your 500% rise in premium on renewal and keep your eyes open next time. The effect on the wider insured would be, at the very least, limited.

Besides, it's still a good app for reminding people what to do in that scenario to avoid messy complications later on from what I hear.

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
My neck hurts.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Nasty, despicable ambulance-chasing man/firm.

In no way was the app EVER written to help motorcyclists. It's a convoluted way to screw even more money out of our insurance companies, pushing premiums up further.

PH, I'm slightly disappointed in you. You had the opportunity to stick the boot in (how many PH threads are there moaning about the state of insurance claims/payouts etc?) and it actually reads a little like an advertisement.


Freakuk

3,105 posts

150 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
To be fair I see use in the app but in some circumstances not the biker. I was knocked off last year into a wall, pretty dazed and confused as you can imagine, bike totalled and upon inspection by the medics to busted legs and a smashed up back basically I was in no fit state to take photos, witnesses and all of the other stuff etc.

When my OH arrived I asked her to take photos, which she did... but ONLY of my bike, not the car or the scene of the accident so this would have been useful for her not me in these conditions.

Craiglamuffin

358 posts

179 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
The real tragedy is how the rider in the top pic is making a perfectly nice Monster look silly by wearing wearing all those clothes to tell everyone it's a Ducati.

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
8/10 R1 owners won't leave the driveway without it.

rofl

Prof Prolapse

16,160 posts

189 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
laugh

Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Ambulance chasing masquerading as benevolence. The true bikers' friend is the plod who nicks every fker they see on the phone while driving.

Rat_Fink_67

2,309 posts

205 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
..........Awaits Loon hehe

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
'Rumblings on biker banter'

Translates to a thread with about 4 replies on that I missed and most others seemingly don't care about.

Just looks like another way of getting your details and selling them on.

sprinter1050

11,550 posts

226 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
I put it on BB yesterday (slightly tongue-in-cheek) http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... but I did think some of the supposed functions, GPS locator etc might be helpful.
Not to suck in the "let's see what we can get out of this shunt" brigade..

Of course it all depends on whether the rider is sufficiently in one piece to be able to find/use a smartphone.. rolleyes

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
sprinter1050 said:
I put it on BB yesterday (slightly tongue-in-cheek) http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0... but I did think some of the supposed functions, GPS locator etc might be helpful.
Not to suck in the "let's see what we can get out of this shunt" brigade..

Of course it all depends on whether the rider is sufficiently in one piece to be able to find/use a smartphone.. rolleyes
... and whether the phone survived! Mine got smashed to fook last year.

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
The two times I've crashed, I've nuked my phone in the process so it wouldn't be much use hehe

In some ways I can kinda see the point of an app like this, but I don't know if this is the right one. After a crash, adreneline runs high and it's easy to forget things like taking photo's and writing down reg plates and stuff as you get in a bit of a tizz.

This one certainly shouts "quick, claim" to me, which is an attitude i don't like one bit.

Beanoir

1,327 posts

194 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
oh boo F****** hoo. I'm fed up with hearing the "think bike" nonsense.

When motorcyclists abide to the same road laws as cars then i'll sit up and listen. But for now my feeling on the matter is that if you want to engage in a hobby that is by it's very nature dangerous, then you must accept the risks attached to it.

If motorcycling suddenly became safe, and as a result boring then I guarantee a large number of people riding bikes would probabaly jack it in as the adrenaline buzz had gone.


moanthebairns

17,918 posts

197 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Beanoir said:
oh boo F****** hoo. I'm fed up with hearing the "think bike" nonsense.

When motorcyclists abide to the same road laws as cars then i'll sit up and listen. But for now my feeling on the matter is that if you want to engage in a hobby that is by it's very nature dangerous, then you must accept the risks attached to it.

If motorcycling suddenly became safe, and as a result boring then I guarantee a large number of people riding bikes would probabaly jack it in as the adrenaline buzz had gone.
see what you’ve done, you have allowed a wker into BB.

I’m sick to fk fed up of the I hate bikers grrrrrr cause there isn’t any aholes in cars response. Or I always wanted a bike but then I realised I don’t have the balls to go on one its much easier to push a pedal whilst being protected by millions worth of steal/aluminum/carbon fibre.

Seriously, PH is getting really ste these days, I hardly ever leave BB.


RB Will

9,662 posts

239 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Would be a nice idea if it were not for the claims side of it.
Having an app that was essentially a check list of things to do when you have a bump would be handy for a lot of people.
If it took you through steps to make sure you got other partys name address insurance details, pic of their vehicle , yours, how many people in each vehicle, short description of what happened, location and the wider situation.

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Beanoir said:
oh boo F****** hoo. I'm fed up with hearing the "think bike" nonsense.

When motorcyclists abide to the same road laws as cars then i'll sit up and listen. But for now my feeling on the matter is that if you want to engage in a hobby that is by it's very nature dangerous, then you must accept the risks attached to it.

If motorcycling suddenly became safe, and as a result boring then I guarantee a large number of people riding bikes would probabaly jack it in as the adrenaline buzz had gone.
I'm a sensible rider. You'll find the word sorry starts with a wiggly s.

Once you've said sorry I may not think that you're the helmet you appear to be.

dc2rr07

1,238 posts

230 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Beanoir said:
oh boo F****** hoo. I'm fed up with hearing the "think bike" nonsense.

When motorcyclists abide to the same road laws as cars then i'll sit up and listen. But for now my feeling on the matter is that if you want to engage in a hobby that is by it's very nature dangerous, then you must accept the risks attached to it.

If motorcycling suddenly became safe, and as a result boring then I guarantee a large number of people riding bikes would probabaly jack it in as the adrenaline buzz had gone.
Did not know there was another set of road laws for bikes, personally I use the same laws whether in the car or on the bike.