Insurance settlement

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds like a bunch of cosmetic damage and nothing vital was involved in the drop. Good that the bike was fixed but bad that the powers that be did not inform you of any decisions made on your behalf. Now all that is needed is a good shake down ride and check over to varify all the nuts and bolts are secure.

[alanmcorcoran]

I'm reluctant to comment further on this as it might come back to bite me in the ass. It did seem to me that the estimate of damage was overly, shall we say, "thorough." Perhaps that might have played into the rush to fix it without my authorization. Legally speaking, I could have held my ground and insisted on them returning the bike to me, but... minus the new parts (?) I didn't think it would be too smart to take them to court, and then have them removing stuff from the bike. Furthermore, I don't really have a lot of other service options around here for my three bikes if I went for a scorched earth approach. And I would have probably had to hire a lawyer which could easily consume 2 grand. Finally, I never (initially, anyway) expected the settlement to be what it was - I expected it to be more in the $1500-$2000 range, so, I kind of ended up with the high end of my original expected settlement, plus a completely fixed up bike. I suspect that the insurance company was not thrilled with the estimate but was happy I did not pursue medical damages against their insured as they concluded that the other party was 100% at fault.

I actually thought long and hard about not filing a claim at all, as I was not hurt, and even though he nearly killed me, the guy just made a blind spot error, owned up to it and was very apologetic. But, given the KLR was practically right off the showroom floor and I couldn't be sure that my warranty etc, would be any good afterwards, I thought it'd best to proceed. Now I know a little better to be even more explicit about the difference between an insurance estimate and authorization to repair the damage.

In case anyone is interested, according to my adjuster, claim filers take the cash over doing repairs about ten percent of the time (and it is perfectly legal to do so.) I would have thought it was higher: I lived in near poverty for much of my early adulthood and among my peers it was common for people to drive around with half bashed in cars and nobody thought it was any big deal. I recall friends and acquaintances paying off heating bills, credit cards, back rent (and the "lucky" taking vacations) with insurance proceeds from fender benders, while slapping a mismatched door/quarter panel/hood/whatever from the Pull-Your-Own-Part junk yard on their ten-plus year old vehicle. (both of my cars are over ten years old at the moment, so I guess times haven't changed much for me in that regard. Neither is "two-toned" though...)

[dhgeyer]

Well, your experience is like mine have been in some ways, but very different in the fact that the repairs were done without your authorization. It has been my experience in the two cases I filed claims (my accident and my daughters encounter with a deer last year) that the insurance companies replace anything with even the slightest damage, resulting in surprisingly large settlements.

I did make it a point to call all the parties involved frequently during the process, and went to the dealership where the bike was a couple of times in the interim. In the course of our conversations I made it very clear that nothing was to be done without my say so, and that my say so was going to be on an item by item basis. It's a dealership I've been going to for 8 years and know the family that runs it. Maybe that's why we had different experiences in that respect.

Anyway, it's good that you came out of it unhurt, with your bike restored, and money in your pocket.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by dhgeyer

It has been my experience that the insurance companies replace anything with even the slightest damage

Over here the cash vs repairs doesn't come into it. When the girlie reversed into my parked bike, last year, I took the bike into the local bike shop, & the guy had to photograph the damage, & send the pictures to the insurers, together with a quote for the parts & labour. When the o.k. came back, I had to sign a form authorising the shop to do the repairs, but at no time was I offered a cash settlement. It's "have the vehicle restored" or "nothing".

However, every tiny nick & scratch was photographed. The exhaust had a ¼" scratch on it, & was replaced, so I now have a new exhaust on the bike, with a slightly scratched spare in the garage, along with an engine guard with a slight dint, because the bike shop guy didn't want them cluttering up his workshop. :2tup:

[alanmcorcoran]

Yep, the slightest scratch rule prevailed here as well, and I suppose it's better than having to haggle over each piece. If I thought that a more sensible approach would lead to lower insurance costs, I'd be all for it, but somehow I feel the savings from sensibility would end up in the insurance company's pocket rather than the insured. I might have paid closer attention to things had I not been 2000 miles away in the interim. Sort of expected at least a phone call or an e-mail before anything was done (I never even agreed to the settlement before they "fixed" it!) I guess now I know better. Still, other than some inconvenience and some unpleasantness with the dealer, I think I've come out of this one okay.