Wrecked Bikes

[Dave]

Thinking about Scott's wrecked bike got me to wondering. When an insurance company totals a bike, what happens to that bike? Does the insurance company take ownership of it? I'm thinking Scott's bike would have a bunch of salvageable parts on it.

[ballast]

Like a car you can generally buy it back for a portion of the settlement.

[sly]

Originally Posted by Dave

Thinking about Scott's wrecked bike got me to wondering. When an insurance company totals a bike, what happens to that bike? Does the insurance company take ownership of it? I'm thinking Scott's bike would have a bunch of salvageable parts on it.

they will probably sell it to a salvage yard, they will strip it and sell it off part by part

[lonewolf]

When the insurance co. totaled my 06, they sold it to a salvage yard. almost made me sick the way they threw it on a pallet and hauled it away ! Seemed to me that bike, even tho totaled deserved a lil more respect than that! ! I could have bought it from the insurance co for the totaled price, but i didnt.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

That is one way insurance companies recoup their loss. I had a car that I totaled when I was like 17 or 18. A really sharp '57 Ford. They paid us to purchase another car. My mother talked the adjuster into letting us keep the wrecked car. Ended up and sold it.

[Kawhead]

With my last wreck, the insurance co. gave me a salvage price on my bike. It was resonable, but I was to banged up from the wreck to do anything with it, and the bike was a couple hundred miles away. They compensated me very well for the wreck.

I hated to see her go.

[cactusjack]

I didn't even inquire about buying back my bike, for a couple of reasons. 1 - I didn't want to fix it and obtain a salvage title. 2 - I didn't want to part it out and have to deal with the hassle of selling and shipping a bunch of stuff.

The adjustor did tell me if it wasn't for the frame damage, they wouldn't have totaled my bike and would have fixed it.

I did see in the total loss settlement work sheet the adjustor went over with me that the bike was going to a salvage yard in Phoenix. I'm glad I didn't have to watch it get loaded on a pallet with a forklift or something.

[ringadingh]

When I wrecked my Suzuki 1100 about 28 years ago I bought it back from the insurance company for $500.00. I replaced the handlebars and a foot peg withing an hour of bringing it home and rode the bike another couple years until i sold it. It also had some very slight frame damage where a crashbar pushed in the frame a slight amount. You never would have noticed it unless you looked really close at it.

[egetaseb]

Originally Posted by Ringadingh

When I wrecked my Suzuki 1100 about 28 years ago I bought it back from the insurance company for $500.00. I replaced the handlebars and a foot peg withing an hour of bringing it home and rode the bike another couple years until i sold it. It also had some very slight frame damage where a crashbar pushed in the frame a slight amount. You never would have noticed it unless you looked really close at it.

This is a very interesting topic. For those who chose to buy and fix the salvaged bike or car, how easy or difficult was it to insure? and did you have a very high premium?

[sly]

I'm not sure about insurance, but here, to plate the bike or car that has been declared totaled it must go through a mechanical inspection... And that could be a rough time

[ringadingh]

When I bought my bike back there was nothing to do at all, I fixed it and kept the insurance premium paid and just rode it. The Ministry of transport never would have known it was a writeoff, and it never changed ownership until I sold it a couple years later.

[Top Cat]

I don't think it is legal to put a salvage bike on the road here in NY State. This state sucks in more ways than you can imagine. ::)

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by egetaseb

This is a very interesting topic. For those who chose to buy and fix the salvaged bike or car, how easy or difficult was it to insure? and did you have a very high premium?

It probably varies by state, but salvaged vehicles generally can only obtain liability coverage.

[mikeyger]

I found here in nashville on the internet they have autions for wrecked bikes Good deals! Some from wrecks,floods,theft and other things Look some up in your area!

[bobhamlin]

This is how I have acquired my last several bikes--buying salvage and restoring them. If you have room for projects and like to tinker, this is the way to go.

Up until the Nomad, my plan was to buy a salvage bike in late summer, restore it during the winter, title it in the spring and sell my previous bike (Since it is a restore, I feel better about selling it after I've ridden it for a year). I have a Victory Touring Cruiser waiting for me to really get serious about working on it. I REALLY like this Nomad.

With a salvage title, once I restore a bike, I have to get a safety inspection prior to getting a new title. My Nomad was a NY state bike. I had to get it to rideable condition, then take it back to NY for a theft inspection before I could get a salvage title from NY. I knew I would have to do that prior to buying the bike.

Insurance companies have various deals. After declaring a "total" bike, some have contracts with buyers that have agreed to buy the company's totalled bikes at a pre-determined percentage of book price. Buyer wins on bikes that have light damage; suffer on total losses.