[The_AirHawk]

Have you asked these questions of your Agent? A quick call could answer many of these; thusly armed, you can better bargain with the insurance company. I've State Farm for my Insurance as well, they've never treated me poorly for any claim.



(you will likely be talking to an Adjuster next week - someone who has no connection with your Agent)

 

[56599]

Yep I agree. State Farm has always treated me great. I have Progressive for my motorcycle. Either State Farm doesn't sell insurance in WA or they only do liabillity I can't remember. Otherwise I would have gone with State Farm.. My wife handles all of that stuff. I wrecked my bike too. Not as severe as

this guy.

 

[NLJ]

Apparently you all haven't noticed the ongoings with State Farm in the Gulf Coast area. They've been screwing thousands of people since Katrina.

 

[50885]

My GSXR 1100 was rear ended in 2000. The insurance company totaled and allowed me to purchase the bike back for 10% of the settlement value. I was able to get a higher than blue book settlement by quantifying the extensive engine mods and aftermarket adds to the bike with receipts. So settlement was $8900 on my 1991 less 10% or $890 to buy back. This was handled by insurance company of the person that hit me and I believe it was State Farm. Good Luck.

 

[38500]

One time, back in Delaware, my car was rear ended and totalled, and I was offered the chance to buy it back for something like $150. That was before e-Bay (1991), and I did not take them up on it, but I think the buy back price might be a result of many factors. For example, what could they get from a salvage yard on that bike in your area? Ask a salvage yard what they would pay (you could say you have a bike to sell...) and make an offer just a bit above that.

 

[55024]

I just totalled my wife's Ninja 650

r w/State Farm, in GA. I don't really have any need for the bike, but I thought about the same thing. I really have no idea, but I'd think you could get it all for $1500, or so, depending on the salvageable parts. Especially since State Farm doesn't really deal in bikes as a primary business. Keep us posted. I'm sort of interested, as well.

 

[seruzawa]

The insurance companies and lending institutions use NADA figures which are much lower then KBB. The numbers I get (for my locality) are $6000 for KBB and $4500 for NADA.

 

[45861]

They wanted $1500 for me to buy back my ninja 250 after it was totaled. Not worth it at all. Way over priced for a salvage bike. It varies from company to company I assume.

 

[33342]

WOW! You done good...

I've bought back salvage, and it's usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the payout. And $8900 for a 91 GSXR-1100 is incredible.

However, the best advice is talk to the insurance agent and adjuster and arm yourself with as much information as you can before you start negotiating. Also, research your state's laws on registering a salvage vehicle, and lastly, don't forget to find out if you can insure it when it is registered. The type of insurance coverage you can get for it will let you know if it's even worth the trouble and expense of buying it back and fixing it up.

-Gabe

 

[acecycleins]

From a guy who knows: 1- ask what the buy back percentage is 2- ask if they take the "loss" to auction- you may come out better at auction 3- who'd you get the appraisal from?



Dairyland covers my personal ride ( 87 K100RS ). When I went to work at Barber earlier this year my bike fell in my toyhauler while pulling into the vendor area. The NADA on the bike is $2250 and the market value is $3500 (it's real clean). The appraisal was $1987 and DL wanted to total it. I looked for used parts made a deal with Pauleez (in Lawrenceville, GA) waited Pauleez 2 weeks (for those not on Pauleez time it a little better than a month) and all is good in whoville. Dairyland settled for $1700 and Pauleez had me out the door under budget. Everyone was happy.

Take the bike to GMD Comutrack in Tucker I think (they're in the phonebook). Let them do a proper run down of the parts and buy aftermarket plastic. Take it to a paint shop (Pauleez was fairly priced but there are other painters in GA that are good). GMD will re-assemble the bike after paint but you could do it yourself after all the hard parts are replaced.

 

[The_AirHawk]

I've noticed that ALL the Insurance carriers have complaints against them - State Farm being BY FAR the Largest carrier in the US, would naturally have the most complaints against it.

Not that I'm on the Ins. Co.'s side - but *HOW* is it that ANYONE in a floodplain/low-lying area is able to get flood insurance after the flood disasters of the mid-'90s?

Didn't the Fed. Govt. rule that there would be no more flood bailouts after moving a couple of towns? Ergo, no more insurance companies would underwrite you, for ANY amount of money. (no Fed. "safety net" for the Ins. Providers)

All I can say is thus; if the Insurance Companies were Illegally denying claims left and right; the State or Uncle Sam would step in and have something to say about it. There must be a legally-binding clause in the policies, or there would be more than a bunch of folks crying to newspapers and CNN about bein' Four-Asterisked in the Three-Asterisk: there would be people in jail - and you wouldn't hear tales of "Aaaaah! I didn't get no million bux fer my hovel!" or Aaaaah! My poor '78 Monte Carlo was worth more than the measly $25k I was reimbursed for!"

 

[49605]

My experience with my totalled Buell was that the insurance company of the at-fault party tried to...



a) lowball the pre-crash value of the bike using some dubious comps



b) pitch a really high buy-back price that I MAYBE could have recovered... after many hours of work dismantling the bike and Ebaying parts



unless you want the bike to repair yourself OR you have a lotta dead time on your hands... take the check and walk away.