Insurance total loss / salvage / track bike experiances?

[Canali]

Please share any experiances or thoughts you have with a total loss insurance claim / buying it back as a salvage / turning it in to a track only bike. Thank you!

I crashed my street/track bike on the street recently. Blue book value is $7400. Repair estimate is $7300 to make it like new for the street. So obviosuly that will be considered a total loss when I call my insurance company, State Farm. I guess I'm going to go with the total loss, buy it back as a salvage, and turn it in to a track only bike. I just want to hear from other people first about similiar situations. I don't want to pony up for a new street bike or deal with the mess of salvage bike on the street. Thanks!

Chris

 

[drizkol]

My first bike I ever had through State Farm I totaled (on the street) and bought it back for $500. Sold it to a buddy, we put new plastics on it and called it good. The title never changed to a 'salvaged' title. As a matter of fact, nothing happened with the title at all.. maybe they changed that now...? :dunno:

 

[Canali]

Chris,

Did you keep or drop your insurance with State Farm after that? I'm wondering what it's going to do to my rates. Thanks.

Chris

 

[drizkol]

chriscanali;47446 wrote: Chris,

Did you keep or drop your insurance with State Farm after that? I'm wondering what it's going to do to my rates. Thanks.

Chris

Funny thing actually... I was on a 2002 SV650S at the time, and a week after my accident I picked up a brand new K7 GSX-R 600, and my rates went from $55/mo to $45/mo for full coverage (smaller cc's I guess..)

Since then, I've gotten 2 speeding tickets (on my gixxer), and wrecked my '06 Dodge Ram (~$6k in damages) :banghead: :doh:. Went to put liability on my R6 last week and was notified that the underwriters at State Farm had dropped me like a bad habbit :argh:... so now I'm on Progressive.

I would say call your State Farm agent, and ask him what your rates will do.. they should be able to give you an idea. You can also ask them about your title status after you get your claim $$$$, I bet it will be a clear title though

 

[Vega]

As an insurance agent, I'm compelled to respond. Each state can differ on how they handle salvage titles. Chances are, your bike will end up with a salvage title. From an insurance stand-point, they will probably require proof that all damage has been repaired before re-insuring it. Contact the DMV to find out what hoops they will want you to jump through to put it back on the street. If you don't intend to put it back on the street, a salvage title is pretty irrelevant.

Regarding your rates, they have a snowball's chance in hell of not going up. In the case of a claim, they will probably only increase if they have to pay out.

I don't know what state you are in but I'm licensed in seven and every one has it's differences. Also, I work for Geico, so your mileage may vary.

 

[daddyo]

I just went through this with my R1 last year. I bought it back for $2000 and put it on the street. The worst part was rebuilding the bike to the states standard. My rate stayed the same but coverage was reduced.

 

[Canali]

Thank you all for your replies. They are very helpful. I'm in Maryland, don't intend to put the bike back on the street at this point, and started the claim process last night. Anyone know how the buy back amount is determined?

Thanks!
Chris

 

[ahastings]

In md you will most likely have to surrender your title to state farm and you will get issued a salvage title from the state . Also with state farm if this is your only claim and you have no points it shouldn't affect your rates. But get a second one within 3 years and they will def. go up . salvage bikes make great track bikes. I have bought at least 5 of them in the last several years to make into racebikes.

 

[stow]

chriscanali;47786 wrote: Thank you all for your replies. They are very helpful. I'm in Maryland, don't intend to put the bike back on the street at this point, and started the claim process last night. Anyone know how the buy back amount is determined?

Thanks!
Chris

They will get a quote from a couple of salvage yards that they work with and give you the first right to buy it at whatever they are offered. I bought back my 04 Daytona 600 for $2000 and it had very little damage. If you own the bike out right they will just deduct the buyback amount from your claim check.

 

[Katie785]

YOU GOT LUCKY! Maryland is an easy state to deal with (not as easy NJ but soooo much easier than PA ) . You're going to have to give your title to the Ins Co so they can sumbit it to their salvage unit to get branded as a salvage title. They SHOULD give you a check for the ACV (actual cash value - usually nada and another source averaged) less the salvage value (usualy about 35% of ACV for a Japanese sport bike) when you give them your title. You'll get a salvage title in 6 weeks.. from there, if you want to register it for any reason you have 75 days to show the state that the bike is rebuilt and legal. I used to work in the total loss team of a major auto/motorcycle/commerical insurance company so if you have any questions and want to PM me feel free. I worked out of PA and NJ but we got the occasional MD guy who flipped a car on the blue route.

 

[SimplyRed]

Isn't it better to have a 'repairable' claim than a 'total loss' claim? You could always work with the repair shop who did the estimate and have them remove certain repair items (cosmetic, for example) off the bill to get the total estimate to a repairable non-salvage cost. That way you keep the clean title and get an ins check like normal. Sometimes you can work with the ins company (depending on who you're with) to up the bike value by itemizing any custom parts or proving it's a special edition bike, etc. Just my $0.02

 

[Canali]

Katie - Thanks so much for the info. I should be hearing from State Farm by Friday after the adjuster checks out the bike tomorrow and does all that stuff. I may PM you. Thanks again!

SimplyRed - Yes, a non-salvage title would be ideal, but I'm more concerned about completing the whole process as fast as possible and getting back on the track. I'm still not sure of how much damage it takes for State Farm to call it a total loss and even if I did there may be a lot of back and forth to get it all right for the repairable path to work out. I figure keeping it a track bike in good shape with a salvage title won't be too much of a problem down the road whenever I sell it. Your 2 cents is appreciated.

 

[SimplyRed]

No worries. Sounds like you have a plan. Hope it all works out well and quickly so you can get out there on the track.

Just for info (I've been thru a similar situation before), to go the clean title repairable route: Usually blue book value is the cutoff for total loss, but the adjuster should/can tell you what that number is. Tell the adjuster (without giving him your title or the bike) you want to work with the shop to reduce the estimate to a repairable value, since many items are prob just cosmetic. With the initial itemized repair estimate from the shop in hand, just a quick chat with the shop and they'll take off whatever items you want to get it below the adjuster's number. Have them write up the new estimate and that's what gets submitted for the claim.

 

[Katie785]

legally, if an item is damaged in a loss it has to be on the estimate. It's considered "an act of bad faith" if something is taken off the estimate. It's illegal to due so in order to keep the bike from being a total loss. Sometimes you can get a "contract repair" from a shop that says they will repair the bike IN FULL for the x amount (remember it's NOT the Kelly Blue Book as that is NEVER a state approved method, but it is the ACV MINUS the Salvage Value) Like I said before, the salvage value of a sport bike is GENERALLY 35% so if the ACV is 9k the salvage value is about 3 or so, making the repairs for the bike needing to be UNDER 6k in order for it to remain a clean title.

 

[ninjamansc]

ugh. this thread makes my brain hurt.

 

[SimplyRed]

I assume Actual Cash Value (ACV) may be determined differently amongst ins companies, but the goal is an estimate of fair market value, correct? In the past for me it's been in the vicinity of blue book value. Certainly you know how it was calculated for what you've done. Yeh you're right (of course), it's ACV-Salvage Value (& other items like rental, storage, etc) for total loss break pt.

Wasn't suggesting doing anything against the law. The "damage" has to be determined and estimated correctly/appropriately and that can vary depending on who does the estimate and what they assumed (e.g. repair vs replace, prev damage vs current damage, correct part# vs incorrect part#, dirty vs actually damaged, LOL). There should be some give/take there to get it right for the customer. This has been my experience - hopefully it's not the exception wrt customer service.

My tank is empty, back to regular programming

 

[SimplyRed]

ninjamansc;48002 wrote: ugh. this thread makes my brain hurt.

LOL, I think I blew a brain gasket. I'm out.

 

[Katie785]

lol... yes.... what you said is right... as for the legal part.. i really dont care what you do either way lol , but its rare that the insurance company will go for a contract repair if the prelim estimate and any possible supps are too near the break even point...

I have seen KBB do alot of wierd things: usually they are inflated prices... I would reccommend trying nada and price digest as starters - they are much more near what an insurance company will come up with (and for some it's those 2 averaged for a motorcycle)

bottom line is: if you can get your hands on that bike and keep it, it's worth it as long as there is no frame damage. Even if you then resell it, you'll be on the better side. People make a living buying wrecked bikes from insurance companies and reselling them as-is, and i know there is a huge market for that within the track day/racing community. Also remember that if you have ANY (grips etc) custom accessories it will be added on top of the acv up to the limit of liability (usually around 1-3k) so your break even point is going to go up if it's modded in any way.

 

[Vega]

Katie, thanks for the great info. I work on the service side and don't have as much in-depth knowledge of the claims process.

 

[jfeagin]

chriscanali;47786 wrote: Thank you all for your replies. They are very helpful. I'm in Maryland, don't intend to put the bike back on the street at this point, and started the claim process last night. Anyone know how the buy back amount is determined?

Thanks!
Chris

I'm in Maryland, too. Totaled my street bike last week. I'm with Progressive, so the company procedures may differ a bit, but the state has a law/regulation put in last October. If the repair estimate is 75% of retail value, it's a total. The bike will get a salvage title if you put in the claim. I'm not planning to put my bike on the track since I already have one for that. But if I was going that route, I'd think it would work pretty well, financially.

As for how they determine the "buy back," I'm told it's a simple matter of adding the retail value with any aftermarket bits you've put on and determining salvage value from that. Seems to be about 1/3, at least for mine. Then your "buy back" is set at a level that's sort of like wholesale (versus retail salvage, if that makes sense). You don't pay it, the amount is just how much your claim settlement is reduced.

Whatever you do, good luck with it. I'm happy to say that Progressive has treated me quite well so far. Hope your experience is as good.