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[TheDude]

Sherry I spoke with Wes again at Wesbound and they will fight the insurance co. for you. He has a good relationship with them and he wants to help as a favor for me.

[pepsX]

I guess I had a very Good Claims Adjustor.

I called the day of our accident. Wanted to make sure I had Medical if I needed to go to the Hospital. Which I didn't. Thank God. The Lady asked me for a phone number where they can contact me and then gave me a Claim Number. I had to scramble around for a pen to write it down. Fast Service.....

My Claims Adjustor called Monday. Now remember it is Memeorial Day. I was surprised he called and stated that to him. He told me he wanted to let me know he will be by around 2 or 3 pm the next day to look at my bike. I asked him if he rode and he tells me he did 12 yrs ago when he started with Progressive/Driver Insurance but after what he has seen he decided he didn't want to ride anymore. So that tells me he knew something about motorcycles. He only looked at Motorcycles, Skyjets and ATV.

I was worried I won't remember all that was wrong with the bike so Jim went out and checked it over and wrote everything down on a piece of paper. 

Michael came by Tuesday and I gave him the list. He looked at it then he looked at the bike and everything Jim had on the list he paid. Down to the hairline chip on the front fender. He cut a check right then and there and gave me a list of all what he was paying minus the deductible....WOW

I was very impress with him and how fast Progressive paid me. 

Jim and I have Progressive Insurance with Sue Haley in the Woodlands. She rides a motorcycle too so she makes sure we are all taken care of... She has the best price for what we got.

Marigold
how did you know the check he wrote would cover all the costs? did you get estimates before he arrived? or did you just take his word for the value of the repair?

[Todd]

Todd, somehow, I don't figure that is what she expected to hear! You don't sell insurance do you?

Nope, I've just been down that road before, and seen it a time or two, too often.  An insurance adjuster's job is to settle for the least amount that it will cost the insurance company, overall.  That's how he is evaluated against his fellow adjusters.  If its an inexpensive claim - its cheaper to just pay off quickly and not to spend the time and money fighting it. Or if they think you may have medical concerns (but are not claiming it now), or obvious long drawn out medical issues, they'll pay off on the spot, but only if you'll sign that it is settled and no more claims will be made.  Whatever costs them the least. 

If there is a large sum of money involved, its to their advantage to fight every little detail, including taking you to court.  Their tactic is to wear you down, so you'll just get tired, give up, and agree to whatever price they are offering, instead of having to repeat yourself again.  They'll do this by calling you down to their offices 16 times to settle - only to 'discover' another little problem.  Or canceling and rescheduling court dates, over and over again.  Or going through each item and 'declaring' its value WAY below FMV after depreciation (at least they could be more convincing if they were consistent).  Or claiming (verbally) that your vehicle was 'defective' in some way causing, or contributing to, the accident, guilting you into signing for less.  Or that you did something wrong (again just verbally) and could have prevented it, so you'll sign for less.  Of course none of it is valid - just another ploy. Or playing used car salesman - I can get more for your vehicle, but then offering less for your medical bills, or pain and suffering, or loss of income, or incidental expenses (rental car), etc.  Or claiming that an item you are declaring will be covered under a different section of your claim - of course it's 'conveniently' forgotten when that portion of your claim is discussed and then when you bring it up they say, "well, you should have listed that as a so-and-so loss" (like you tried to initially), "now its too late" or its SUCH a big ordeal to amend that portion of the claim and re-file (causing yet another 'delay').  No its not!  Just another stall tactic.  Or claiming anything you've done to improve your vehicle was normal maintenance and is therefore not covered at all.  Or just claiming they "can't pay for custom parts".  Wanna bet!  (Disclaimer: The other insurance co. at fault will pay - you're personal coverage may not, or may cap at a predetermined figure, or the custom parts may have had to have been declared prior to damage, depending on your policy.) 

They'll go on and on and on with excuse after excuse, lie after lie, year after year.  Its just a cheap scam, and YOU just have to stay on top of them.  Don't give in.  If you let any portion, or the whole thing for that matter, slide (amazingly) so will they.  I've even seen them stall by keeping in touch on the phone until it was too late for someone to file their initial claim (I warned them).

Somewhere along the line you may contemplate getting a lawyer to move the case along.  That's OK, sometimes you have to in order to get a fair settlement.  But remember as soon as you talk to a lawyer, the insurance company will no longer talk to you, and your lawyer gets at least 1/3 of the entire settlement (and you still owe your medical bills out of what's left).  That's a lot - do the math first to figure out which way you come out ahead.  Do you end up with more money in YOUR pocket if you let them slide on a few issues, or are they really trying to take you for a ride and a lawyer will net you a big gain in the end?

Finally, I'm not advocating faking a neck injury to defraud the insurance company out of money.  I'm talking about only legitimate claims here, only legitimate losses, only at fair market value (everything depreciates).  If someone backs into your bike in a parking lot and knocks it over while you are in the store, sorry, but you shouldn't be able to retire on the settlement.

Todd

(Man, I'm opinionated.)     

[VTXLady53]

I guess I had a very Good Claims Adjustor.

I called the day of our accident. Wanted to make sure I had Medical if I needed to go to the Hospital. Which I didn't. Thank God. The Lady asked me for a phone number where they can contact me and then gave me a Claim Number. I had to scramble around for a pen to write it down. Fast Service.....

My Claims Adjustor called Monday. Now remember it is Memeorial Day. I was surprised he called and stated that to him. He told me he wanted to let me know he will be by around 2 or 3 pm the next day to look at my bike. I asked him if he rode and he tells me he did 12 yrs ago when he started with Progressive/Driver Insurance but after what he has seen he decided he didn't want to ride anymore. So that tells me he knew something about motorcycles. He only looked at Motorcycles, Skyjets and ATV.

I was worried I won't remember all that was wrong with the bike so Jim went out and checked it over and wrote everything down on a piece of paper. 

Michael came by Tuesday and I gave him the list. He looked at it then he looked at the bike and everything Jim had on the list he paid. Down to the hairline chip on the front fender. He cut a check right then and there and gave me a list of all what he was paying minus the deductible....WOW

I was very impress with him and how fast Progressive paid me. 

Jim and I have Progressive Insurance with Sue Haley in the Woodlands. She rides a motorcycle too so she makes sure we are all taken care of... She has the best price for what we got.

Marigold
how did you know the check he wrote would cover all the costs? did you get estimates before he arrived? or did you just take his word for the value of the repair?

Jim and I checked the prices on the OEM Board, HDL Store and a Honda catalog I have from the dealship where I bought my bike. The Parts Manager and I get along just fine....He knew what he was doing when he gave me the catalog.....

Michael had books, catalogs and in his computer he had the OEM prices for the Honda parts. He looked in The Kuryakan catalog for the replacement prices for my Kury parts. He asked me who was going to fix my bike and I told him Jim. He told me HOH is one of Progressives Repair Station and gave Jim the same Labor rate. He gave us more then a fair amount for Labor.  When I compared the the OEM prices and the amount he gave me. He added alittle more to each item. He gave me more then enough to fix my bike............ Not only was I Blessed not getting hurt any worse then I did. I was very Lucky to get a good Claims Adjustor.

I just hope Sherri's Insurance Co. treat her as well..........

[sherri]

Nothing new on my insurance, I got a little busy with work and some other stuff. Although I did talk to customer service and they seem to want to be more helpful. I will probably take my bike to get an estimate tomorrow.

I will give an update once I meet the adjuster and he goes over the estimate.

Sherri

[sherri]

I just got home from Northwest Honda, and Jerry, I think they found the hidden damage. The estimate was for $5600 apparently there is some frame damage which really shot up the $. This should be interesting my bike with out accessories books out $3570 according to Kelly BLue Book, I have an add on to the policy for $2000 for accessories and a $500 deductable.   


I will call my adjuster on Monday and fax him the estimate.

sherri

[VTeXan]

See what thier buyback policy is on a total.

Brian

[VTXDEMON]

let them have it... get another bike...  if the frame is bent, it will cost you to get it fix... 

if you want to keep it, they will determine what the salvage value is, then they will subtract it from the final settlement + deductible... so if your bike is woth $6000 and they can get $1000 for it they will give you $4500
and they will report your bike as a total loss... you may have a good title for it, but there are ways on finding out that the bike was totaled if you ever sell it. 

I would never consider buying a motorcycle that was a total loss from anyone, even if it was my own bike.

[VTXLady53]

I agree with Gabe and Jerry........Sounds like too much trouble to me...

[twistedrcpilot]

Oops I forgot a minor detail.  If you have a salvaged title, it is harder to insure.  I think they won't give you collision.  I change my vote to a new bike.

[sherri]

In looking over the estimate and noticed that in parenthesis behind the word frame is said scratch on bottom. I am going to have someone take a second look. Cuz if it is just scratched............. well that changes things.

Sherri

[RedDragon]

I thought the bike, just slid and went down. It didn't hit anything did it? If it just slid and at a slow speed, I wouldn't think it could screw up the frame that easy. I think I would definetly get someone else to look at it.

David

[vernjoe]

A friend told me that insurance companies were totalling "any" bike that was involved in a accident and had "any" type of damage to the frame.  Not sure if it is true or not but he is usually a pretty reliable source.