Insurance question

[cactusjack]

As most everyone now knows, I crashed my bike yesterday. Having never been in this boat before, I have a couple of questions.

How do they handle custom replacement parts?

For example, I have a customized Reckless fairing, it isn't just an off the shelf bolt-on. I can't see the dealer replicating my work, so will the insurance company just give me the money to replace it, and I would re-do my work?

What about things like my driving lights, where only one side is damaged, but they are only sold as a set?

I'm hoping someone who has been in this position has some advice about this.

[ringadingh]

I didn't know you crashed the bike, as I just logged on now. I hope your all right Scott.
Here if you have collision insurance which it sounds like you do, it will be fixed in most cases. You may have to help the dealer in providing suppliers and vendors to get the replaced parts correctly ordered since they probably don't deal with them all.
The insurance company will usually send out an appraiser to assess the damage. Many times you have to be persistant in getting things covered as they seem to want to take the cheapest way out.
Usually they will replace things in a set if thats how they are sold, try to keep your old parts if you can, but sometimes the insurance company say they need them back.
Todd may know a lot more about this stuff as he works in the business.

[Loafer]

Not all policies are the same. Call your agent, and be persistant. Keep asking until they give the right answer, that's what I do. Best of luck with everything!

[nomadbehappy]

Hope you are okay! Good luck with your insurance company, some are certainly easier to deal with than other, so here is to hoping yours is fair and gets you back on the road quickly

[cnc]

CJ You may be able to work out a deal with the insurance company with regard to you doing some of the work because the shop can not. It probably would help if you get an estimate from the shop that will do the work and you, the adjuster and the shop can work together to come up with a fair settlement. I recently had a claim on my truck and my garage when a tree fell on them. I was surprised how easy the insurance company was to work with. I made the deal to have the truck repaired and for me to do the work on the garage myself. They did reduce the labor rate some what for the garage because I did not want to use a contractor, but none the less the settlement was extremely fair.

[Jared]

Like others said, be very very persistent! My wifes car was rear-ended and Geico ended up paying out a LOT more than I thought they would have.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Scott, when I got hit by a car on my '83 Goldwing I got an written estimate from the local Honda dealer in Meridian, MS. I took that to my insurance company. The agent told me that was very expensive. He thought the bike was beyond repair. I rode the bike in a showed it to him. I told him I was going to order the parts and do all the work. He wrote me a check for the full amount of the parts. It was no hassle but I did the work for nothing. At least it was fixed like I wanted it and the parts were paid for in full. Maybe you could work out a deal like that without having to pay a deductable or anything.

[schoeney]

CJ....what happened? Any injuries?

Don't settle for anything less than what will put your bike back to where it was. Don't try to make money off of them either. That is what is right and what you have been paying for.

Good luck and I hope you are ok...I will search the board to see if you posted details.

[Jared]

Originally Posted by schoeney

Don't settle for anything less than what will put your bike back to where it was. Don't try to make money off of them either. That is what is right and what you have been paying for.

+10,000!!!

[mobandy78]

CJ, sorry to hear about the wreck. Are you ok?

I have been through this before. I took my previous bike to a shop to get an estimate. I had aftermarket parts and gave them copies of the receipts for all the extras that I had added on. The shop used all of the OEM prices for replacement parts (which were higher), plus the aftermarket prices and came up with a total "fix-it" price. The shop then sent that to my insurance company, which determined whether the bike was worth fixing. To the insurance, it was not worth it and they totalled my bike and paid me $5500 for a bike that was worth about $4500 (I had previously tried to sell the bike for $5000). I probably could have had my bike fixed, but money issues were requiring me to get rid of it anyway, so it all worked out in the end for me. I attached a pic of my wrecked bike.

Sometimes the shop that you have do the estimate will work with you to get you the most amount of money possible, then let you do some of the work so you can keep even more of the money. My insurance company at the time was very easy to work with and it was hassle free.

As far as replacement parts, the shop will usually include those prices in the overall cost of repair. You can work with the shop to include the fairing in the cost to replace it, but they will usually let you do the work if you ask them. Things like your driving lights will be included as a complete replacement.

[ponch]

Also, if the bike has a lot of damage and they still want to fix it, look into a claim for diminished value.

[oldbikers]

CJ all this talk about insurance I was just talking to my agent about add ons my policy has $5000.00 for extras like the faring and chrome but he told me to make sure and keep all my receipts for the stuff and to take pictures of every thing I bought. Don't know if this helps you but I think I read where you have been with your insurance company for a long time so if you trust your agent he can help with the adjuster.