Insurance claim-need quick responses

[rww930]

I was parked in a parking lot and someone backed into my 98 Tourer. They backed into the left (leather, oem) saddlebag marring it up and the bike landed hard on the right side. Fork seal, mirror, brake lever, grip, engine cover scratched uph, front fender, highway peg broke off, crash bar scratced up, pipes on right side dented and scratched, dent in tank, right saddlebag damage.

Here's my question. Most of this damaged stuff is very expensive to buy new...but how do you repair leather sadllebags? How do you repair any of the chrome? My point is that we know the insurance company will try to go cheap but it seems to me these things will need replaced rather than repaired.

My bike wasn't mint before they hit it, but close.

BTW the other guy is fully insured and they are coming today to look at it.
Any comment is appreciated...

[R J]

Are youu any good at negotiating?

Ya better brush up if not.

[Ricky-D]

The claims adjuster may be independent or company, you can't tell.

They will have a breakdown of you bike already in their laptop.

It will have all the correct prices with the labor adder.

You will just be certain to point out all the damage. Any missed will not be counted!

The stuff they won't have is any aftermarket parts which you will then have to identify and put a price on!

Most adjusters are decent people and will not try to scam you. They have no axe to wield and are under no pressure to keep the estimate low, but then they will not be bowled over either.

It's all going to depend upon how you all start off, friendly and cooperative, will yield the best results!

***

[Farther]

Good advise!

[Chrisj CMA]

Here is the biggie........Take book valueX.75  That is close to exact top end they will pay.  If it goes too many dollars over that the bike is totalled.  You can always try to buy it back from the insurance co, but depending on your state you may end up with a salvaged title.

Hint.  If you get a quote from a Honda dealer, you can generally buy all the parts yourself for about half of that estimate. 

I bought all my own parts after my crash BEFORE I started talking to the insurance co.  When they wanted to total my bike I sent reciepts that came in just under the 75% of bike value and they paid it.  I would have had it totalled if I just went with the Honda quote.

[donaldcc]

The claims adjuster may be independent or company, you can't tell.

They will have a breakdown of you bike already in their laptop.

It will have all the correct prices with the labor adder.

You will just be certain to point out all the damage. Any missed will not be counted!

The stuff they won't have is any aftermarket parts which you will then have to identify and put a price on!

Most adjusters are decent people and will not try to scam you. They have no axe to wield and are under no pressure to keep the estimate low, but then they will not be bowled over either.

It's all going to depend upon how you all start off, friendly and cooperative, will yield the best results!

***

   

[FLATSIX]

If you have a list with all the accesories that you have added in time that will help too.

I have an excel-file in my computer - there I have put the price when I bought it new and then a list with all the chrome and other stuff that I added to my bike over the 13 years I posses her.

The added things came at 5170 Euro's !

I gave a copy to the insurance inspector because he wanted to totall my beauty- this helped a lot because they paid almost all the damage.

When I have fixed my beauty 100% then I will wash and polish her and go to an independent company to let her evaluate the actual value (I receive this on paper).

Next time they want to discuss I can push that paper under their nose......

 

[rww930]

thanks to all. the adjuster seems fair so far..we'll see what the actual amount is in a day or two.

[Robert]

Just another point you are thinking of this like its a car that have alot of aftermarket parts available to them all kinds of parts. These bikes are not the same it costs more to repair chrome most of the time rather than buy it new and as for the leather it will be a tossup depending on damage. Like the man said here in Florida its 80 percent of the value but I dont think your anywhere near that. 

[Madmike]

They wrote mine off and the adjuster put a low recovery value on the bike.  I negotiated that they paid the full claim with no deductible and I bought the bike back with no record of write off on the title.  I got the bike back for cost of towing and storage which I negotiated on a cash basis with the tow company before accepting the insurance company offer.  It boiled down to me making $2500 more than I paid for the bike from the insurance company and then buying the damaged bike for $1000 cash. 

I bought an Interstate tank to replace the std tank, batwing to replace the windshield and will get hardbags to replace the leather bags - plus instruments lights etc.  All in all it worked out fine other than the fact I had most of 2 years off work on disability - but work was slow and so I likely would have been laid off anyways.  Now I got a kickass job in the Arctic.

[sailed2japan]

When my vulcan got totaled my insurance gave me the option of taking a check for the maximum damage they would pay for and keep the bike. It came back to me with a clear title and $2300 check.