Insurance write off

[rosie631]

Hiya. Anyone had experience with having a bike written off? I am waiting for the verdict on mine from the insurance company but it sounds like it's gonna be a write off.
My question is what happens if the bike is 'written off'? I'm presuming you get the money for the value of the bike. But what happens to the bike? Can you buy it back? What is the procedure for doing so? How is the value determined? Do you get to see the bike shops assessment of repairs required?
Repairs to mine have been quoted at 10grand. I'm pretty sure I can get it on the road for less. e.g quoted 1800 for new tank. Seen one on tardme for 550. Quoted 2grand for paintjob. Have a mate who is a professional painter and will do it for me at mates rates etc, etc. I think MOST of the damage is cosmetic and not mechanical i.e. motor is fine.
Any experiences or advice appreciated.

[AllanB]

Bummer.

The bike will be deregistered by the insurance company and put up for sale (tender usually). If you have a good relationship with the insurance rep you may be able to get a buy-back price.

Another option if you are serious about retaining it and fixing it up yourself is to talk to the insurance company. Tell them you want to keep the bike and repair it yourself. If you are lucky and can provide them with a full cost report/estimate etc they may be happy to pay.

[YellowDog]

Which company are you with?

They are supposed to pay you the market value (less your excess).

They determine the market value and not you.

The way it goes is that you should go to dealers and get written quotes for bikes of the same age and K'age in readdinness for the next stage. This will take you ages so start straight away.

They make you an insulting minimal offer and you go ape shit. You state how good your bike was and produce copes of bills etc.

They then up the offer fractionally.

You go ape shit again and produce the written quotes from bike dealers.

They then up the offer to slightly more.

You say "I don't want your offer, I just want my bike back. Either you repair it, or give me enough money to buy one of a similar age/condition/k'age."

They then make you a more reasonable offer.

Should all be settled by Christmas 2011

Good luck.

[rosie631]

Sounds like it's quite a process. Anyone on here bought a bike back from insurance?

[rosie631]

I'm with Vero.
Rolling thunder have given assessor quote for repairs of 10grand. They have also given him a precrash valuation and they know the bike. Spoke to insurance today and I gather assessor now gets 2nd precrash value done. I don't know who by. After that I will get a decision.
I will have trouble getting another bike as good. I gather there is a set formula for write off e.g. if repairs are over 50 percent of value of bike. Can you fight that? Ideally I just want my baby back. RT said they could have repairs done in 3 to 4 weeks if I went with them.

[nosebleed]

What happens to the bike - depends on the insurance co. I know that STAR listed mine on trademe as an auction.

I was paid the amount I purchased the bike for. it depends on the timeframe of the accident in relation to the date the bike was purchased - i.e. within 12 months.
This will vary with insurance co.'s
I got to see the pricing schedule for putting the bike back together, as priced by the workshop.
on the STAR auctions this sheet is readily available.

So if your bike is written-off and you want to buy it back, you'll have to follow up the insurance co. and see which auction house they use (Turners/ Trademe/ etc)

[fireliv]

Pheonixgtr and I brought back his first FXR after it was written off. Wasnt deregistered (this was State) and the gave us a value that we could buy it back at. They were going to pay us out $1200, and said the bike worth $700 so they gave us the $500 and our bike back.

However when his sister wrote her FXR off, they sold it back to her for $500 but she had to deregister it too (also with State)

Just talk to them about it. I have heard some companies just put them up for sale and yor have to bid with the rest.

Good luck and sorry to hear its a write-off

[rosie631]

yeah, will discuss it with vero when they get assessors report back. They seem reasonable so far.
Insured bike for what I paid for it but policy states pay out is 'market value' unless bike less than one year old and then they replace with a new one.
Problem is that altho bike is a 95 it had a new motor and bugger all ks and quite a few goodies. If they take value on a bog standard 95 with mega ks I will be screwed.

[AllanB]

I'm with Vero.
Rolling thunder have given assessor quote for repairs of 10grand. RT said they could have repairs done in 3 to 4 weeks if I went with them.

10k - I'd say that is based on ordering new parts from HD for any damaged bits, waiting 2 weeks for them to arrive and then bolting them on. Standard practice now days.

Get the list from VERO and ask if you can come up with an alternative set of costings for them. For example a stock tank is probably close to $2k but you'll possibly get a new replica from the states for a fraction of that (plus paint) - ditto pipes, bars, mirrors etc.

[rosie631]

10k - I'd say that is based on ordering new parts from HD for any damaged bits, waiting 2 weeks for them to arrive and then bolting them on. Standard practice now days.

Yep, that's what I gathered.

[fireliv]

10k - I'd say that is based on ordering new parts from HD for any damaged bits, waiting 2 weeks for them to arrive and then bolting them on. Standard practice now days.

Get the list from VERO and ask if you can come up with an alternative set of costings for them. For example a stock tank is probably close to $2k but you'll possibly get a new replica from the states for a fraction of that (plus paint) - ditto pipes, bars, mirrors etc.

The probem is they wont go for second had bits or not stock bits cos the policy says the bike must be returned to the origional condition. When Phoenix's ZX6R had a lay down and the crash bug ripped out, the had new ones made (even though they are useless and not stock) because it had to be like it was before the crash.

The FXR was written off because 1 fairing cost $1500. No structural or anything. We brought a second hand one for $100, and continued to ride the bike.

[p.dath]

yeah, will discuss it with vero when they get assessors report back. They seem reasonable so far.
Insured bike for what I paid for it but policy states pay out is 'market value' unless bike less than one year old and then they replace with a new one.
Problem is that altho bike is a 95 it had a new motor and bugger all ks and quite a few goodies. If they take value on a bog standard 95 with mega ks I will be screwed.

Alas they are not likely to give you any "credit" for fitting a new motor. They just go on "book" value.

Sometimes you can get pricing from:
http://www.carjam.co.nz/
Just enter your number plate. Pricing info is down the bottom.

[YellowDog]

I have bought a car back before.

It has to be classfied as a writeoff and you then need to put it through compliance to get it back on the road (once the repairs have been done).

If ever you try to sell it, the buyer will know it has been written off and then recovered.

Unless you are going to do the work yourself and make a lot of money, I'd avoid the hastle.

[davebullet]

yeah, will discuss it with vero when they get assessors report back. They seem reasonable so far.
Insured bike for what I paid for it but policy states pay out is 'market value' unless bike less than one year old and then they replace with a new one.
Problem is that altho bike is a 95 it had a new motor and bugger all ks and quite a few goodies. If they take value on a bog standard 95 with mega ks I will be screwed.

Then the insurance company decides what the value is. If your policy said "agreed value" then it would be a sum insured amount set in your policy. The market value comes usually from an external company like Dealers Guide or Redbook.... but they can use an assessor to fine tune this. Your last renewal notice may contain the market value (my car policy depreciates a bit each year... but it may be agreed value - can't remember).

If the market value seems to low to you, you can complain or take it to the insurance ombudsman.

When my car was stolen, converted and written off, I got a full payout (market value though). I then went to turners and bought it back at auction and used the money to fix it up (with cash left over).

Personally - I would always go agreed value... then you know what you have insured for and can choose the amount to appreciate / depreciate each year.

[vifferman]

My 1990 VFR was written off, due to mainly cosmetic dmage totalling $6800 and I was paid the market value (around $7000, IIRC). I wanted to buy it back at auction, but my wife vetoed it ("You're not cluttering up my gargre for months with bike bits!" )
A KBer bought it, and did many of the repairs himself. His total cost - including buying the 'wreck' - was $2450. The quote the insurance company gets from repairers is for all new parts, at retail cost, as this costs less for labour. In my case, the parts included a new fairing stay ($1300) which was straightened instead, a new muffler to replace the dented one ($1200) which was instead covered with a stainless steel sleeve. Fairing panels were mostly plastic welded and painted, and parts such as indicators replaced with secondhand ones. I don't know whether the bike was deregistered or not; I think this depends whether damage is structural or cosmetic.