FUUUKC! SCHYTE!

[charlie b]

Call your insurance company now. You have a police report. Give them all the information. If the company is good they will take care of everything from that point on. It should not change your insurance rate.

 

You can pursue this on your own, but, it will be probably be you against their insurance company. The only exception would be if they don't want to involve their insurance company for some reason (like they've been in accidents before). Then you have a good negotiating point, IF, they have money.

 

It is up to the insurance company (theirs or yours) as to how much you will get and who will do the repairs. The insurance company will assess the damage, sometimes by sending an agent to look at the bike. If the bike is totaled the insurance company usually takes the remains. You can sometimes negotiate a price that you can pay to keep it.

 

charlie

[Dimitris]

I am so sorry. I really hope everything will go fine in the end. I know it sucks when you see such a beauty been hit.

<_>

[Woody]

I agree with CharlieB; call your company and let them work with the other driver's company.

 

I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago ( guy drove into and knocked over my Hayabusa at night in a motel parking lot). In my case the driver would not admit guilt even though there were several witnesses. My insurer (GEICO) went to work directly with his carrier and I got full coverage for all the damage from them. Took a few weeks but I was just an informed bystander through the process.

 

I feel your pain; nothing worse than your baby damaged.

 

Just make sure you have a complete and thorough estimate done and you should come out alright money wise.

 

Lee

[tmcafe]

Thanks folks, feels better you know what I mean--more so since you own one of these beauties. I'll take your advice and call my insurance as well to have them deal with the other company in case they're hard or slow to pay. In the meantime I've called the driver's insurance and spoke with a rep who just took the info from me for one of their claims adjusters, who should contact me on Monday (they work M-F ). Also I called Fred at Big Twin to have the bike towed and looked at on Monday. He said that the frame would be pretty hard to bend (sure hope so).

 

But here's the kind of crap that annoys me: the way the rep from the ins. company was asking questions, as if the answers were later to be used against me, or in their defense. Like, "would this sound good as you final statement" kind of crap. Or "in the meantime please put a hold on any out-of-pocket expenses" blah.

 

Also the driver's dad (who may actually be the policy holder for all the vehicles in their house) called and left a message saying how horribly his daughter felt for having damaged my bike, and gave me their insurance agent's and policy numbers. He was very polite and apologetic. Hope their insurance will be as nice as they seem to be.

[fotoguzzi]

In Minnesota, my insurance would go after hers and I wouldn't have to do anything. Hope for a total and a check.. then try to buy it back cheap, or call me when the insurance company wants to unload it. your insurance agent should be your friend in this case.

there is a Rosso Corsa f/s out there somewhere.

[Skeeve]

Be aware that either insurance company is going to total the damage to your bike, subtract your deductible [which in this case shouldn't apply, since the other party is 100% at fault; I'm just warning you to watch out for this trick] and then decide to total your bike since your parts + labor cost is likely going to be higher than low blue book.

 

Remember the following:

 

Your bike was pristine, meriting high blue book! [i don't care if it is a 20 y.o. P.O.S. rustbucket, stick to your guns on this point!]

 

Blue book doesn't reflect prices in your area correctly; get some *dealer* prices on used models similar to yours, to adequately reflect replacement cost!

 

If they do total your bike, offer them $500 for your wreck. Yes, it'll be salvage titled, so fixing it up perfect again doesn't make sense as you'll never get the full restitution again on it if it gets in another wreck, but you'll have a good basis for a daily rider that you won't worry about so much.

 

Remember, insurance companies are out to screw you [this includes your own insurer], as this is how they make profits and can pay their top execs seven figure salaries!

 

Best of luck

[tmcafe]

Thanks again for the tips, I'll keep them in mind. Here's the update: in the meantime I got contacted by claims adjusters from my own insurance and from the driver's insurance. The guy from my company, who's a local, said he'd come and look at the bike. He also said that "as a courtesy" my insurance would be willing to have the bike taken to my local dealer and checked for damage and an estimate. They've worked with the dealer in the past on insurance claims. Although my insurance would be paying, it's not going to affect my premium or have it on the record as a claim. The driver's insurance also said they will send an appraiser, and offered to pay for a rental car if I need it. Told them for now I make do, but they said it's open if I still need it. I'd rather get a Guzzi loaner from the local dealer . Hope it all goes smooth.

[tmcafe]

Update on the bike and insurance company:

 

Bike was looked at by a claims adjuster (not a rider, worth noting). He said I could go ahead and have the bike inspected by the dealer. So I did this, for now on my own dime, assuming that they'll pay for the tow and estimate along with the parts and labor. The dealership came up with an estimate which seemed very high as it included stuff that I wouldn't make a claim for (minor scratches that the bike had when I bought it). At the same time, it didn't mention stuff that I know got damaged when the bike was hit: a little scratch on the left side of the tank, front part of tank being slightly yet visibly offset vs. the frame, the sidestand, and the right porkchop, which got scratched/dented by the brake pedal as it broke off. Even the claims adjuster saw these and took pics, but I guess I still need an estimate from the dealer.

 

Maybe I should have told the mechanic and the job writer what to look for, but I felt it would have sounded like telling them how to do their job. But in retrospect, and having already spoken today with the service writer, I probably should have been more pushy. Don't know, I'm new to this...

[DeBenGuzzi]

WHOA WHOA WHOA, not to be rude but keep your yapper shut!!!!!! no offense here but I have a few buddies in the insurance world and I also have dealt with it before, whatever the dealer claims is damaged from the fall OR NOT don't offer up anything, let the insurance and dealer duke it out and trust me they will. The dealers often highball it knowing the insurance companies will short them and insurance companies often try to short the dealers knowing full well the dealer is trying to pad it, but really really stay out of it and it will almost always work in your favor, only pipe up if they missed something obvious in their damage inspection not if they added more than you thought. Often if you start talking about one thing you'll give up too much information about something else and say short your damage claim in the process, don't worry your bike will come back to you better than new, not costing a dime, only a little of your time. well with guzzi parts maybe a LOT of your time but still.

[tmcafe]

Thanks DeBen! Makes sense. Forgot to mention, the claims guy also asked me today how much I think the bike would be worth (probably to see if it would be totaled given the expenses). I didn't tell him, other than we (he) could check the NADA guide. I did tell him that the MSRP on the bike was pretty high.

[DeBenGuzzi]

One of my best mates is the guy the adjusters call to ask for their money, he issues the checks so he deals with adjusters and clients on their bills, if there are any questions youre unsure of or want to ask but youre scared of the answer because you might give up too much asking it for example let me know and I'll ask him the best course of action for you or what you need to ask the insurance ppl for the best solutions, not saying you have any questions maybe you don't but if you do shoot me a pm or something and I'll ask him about anything, we're also riding buddies and a few ppl commented on his black Triumph 675 and just looked past my sweet silver RSVR in the picture like it was chopped liver.

[tmcafe]

One of my best mates is the guy the adjusters call to ask for their money, he issues the checks so he deals with adjusters and clients on their bills, if there are any questions youre unsure of or want to ask but youre scared of the answer because you might give up too much asking it for example let me know and I'll ask him the best course of action for you or what you need to ask the insurance ppl for the best solutions, not saying you have any questions maybe you don't but if you do shoot me a pm or something and I'll ask him about anything, we're also riding buddies and a few ppl commented on his black Triumph 675 and just looked past my sweet silver RSVR in the picture like it was chopped liver.

Thanks, I appreciate it! As you can probably tell, I'm totally new as far as dealing with insurance companies, adjusters, et al. So I may take you up on the offer, thanks again.