KiOgon

I have a couple of friends who have both suffered severe motorbike accidents, which meant a long stay in hospital to rebuild them.

Both of them got a large amount of compensation/insurance.

With the money, both of them went out and bought a more powerful bike than the one they had the crash with.

You didn't do that did you, you're far too sensible?

My Dad 'knew' a solicitor and offered to put me in touch with. Total waste of time F'ing useless, long story short = I got nothing.

However I did rebuild my bike and raced it for 3 years. It was ex works production racer, I got it straight from the factory via local dealer, 1964 Norton 88 500SS, racing at mostly Brands and Lydden, won a few, beat lots of Manxes, G50s, Speed twins etc. and many 650/750s.

Can you call that sensible? Probably not, but it was fun.

After one of my accidents I used my legal insurance to pursue my uninsured losses.

My injuries were not life changing but they were assessed by a couple of medical experts, including one appointed by the driver of the vehicle that wiped me out.  He'd come across from the other side of the road the day of the accident.  My injuries, although fully healed, significantly increased the odds that I would suffer arthritic pain in later life.  My insurers added a claim for compensation due to pain and suffering to the other losses.

It takes a minimum of three years before a case involving personal injury can be brought against someone.  Approaching the three year mark, I was offered a settlement out of court.  That was less than the amount claimed.  I declined.  On the day the date for the court case was announced I got an offer for the full amount.  I accepted.

I bought myself a nice machine then.  I enjoyed many miles of enjoyment with that, my last motorcycle, until I hung up my leathers for good in my early forties.