| Author | Message | ||
     Trolldaddi |
As some of you may or may not know, my Chief backed into my bike with a fire truck. The backing part caused just a scuff on my front fender, the fall caused $1600.00 more damage. Is it legal for me to get an estimate to have the work done from a dealership, have them do some of the work, and me do some of the work? I was planning on doing mirror, turn signal, foot peg, grips, and small things like that. Thanks Steve | ||
| Glitch |
It's probably up to your insurance policy holder. | ||
| Whodom |
It also depends on whether you own your bike outright or if you're still making payments. If you're still making payments, the title holder will want to ensure the bike is repaired to their satisfaction. They may send someone out to inspect it before they cut a check and may not be willing to cut 2 checks (one to shop and one to you). If you own the bike outright, you should be able to get the check since hopefully your fire station's insurance is paying the bill. It shouldn't (emphasis on "shouldn't" ) be any of their business what you do with the money. Good luck. | ||
| Jb2 |
State laws come into play on this issue but in Indiana you may do your own repairs but the insurance company will do a re-inspect to make sure the damage was actually repaired. This CYA policy proves you did the work and protects the insurance company against fraud. Your state laws may vary greatly. If you own the bike outright(no lien-holder) you can accept a cash settlement and do the repairs yourself but again they will require a re-inspect before insuring it at full book value again. | ||
| Tramp |
it's legal, but the adjustor for the underwriter for the culpable pary has to OK it. I was a collision manager for an M/C shop, so lemme kopw if you have any specific queries. who's the carrier, anyway? is it a volunteer fd or a muni? that will affect it, considerably | ||
| Reepicheep |
The only time I heard of somebody in trouble for this was when they had an at fault accident, claimed the money for the front end car repair but never performed it, and then had another at fault accident, and tried to claim that front end car repair again. Regardless of the fact that even if they *had* fixed it the first time, it still would have been broken on the second bonk, the insurance company claimed since the first repair had never been performed, that money should cover the second repair. It put the guy in a bind, as the first repair was mainly cosmetic, and the second actually made the car undrivable, but he had already spent the money elsewhere. I was glad to see him off the road, he was a rolling hazzard. (Message edited by reepicheep on August 10, 2005) | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Is it legal for me to get an estimate to have the work done from a dealership, have them do some of the work, and me do some of the work? 3 questions: 1) Who's insurance is covering this? 2)Was it done on "City Property? 3) Was your bike parked in a proper spot at the time of damage? IE: a parking space where its OK to park or was it say, in the Firehouse where you parked it for a second to do something...etc etc etc... otherwise I am trying to get an answer for you but I know those 3 questions will be asked. My fiance is an adjuster by trade. | ||
| Tramp |
gee- wish i asked those questions.... add on WHICH INSURANCE COMPANY will be underwriting the responsible party, as they all have different approaches to estimating | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Tramp, the differing methods of estimating still have to follow state law. Its not the estimate that is at question, but the legality of the use of the funds once the money is cut. What she went on to explain is that if there is a lein holder involved, the insurance will only cover work to be done by the dealer, and it might be in your best interest to allow the dealer to do the entire repair. What you might be able to do is work out an arrangement with the dealer for the new type of parts you wish to have put on, instead of the estimated replacements, with you covering the difference in cost. This way it gets covered as work done by the dealer and any issues that might arise in the future can't be pointed back at you saying "you made an installation error." If you have the bike paid off, with no lein holder, then you are free to do with the money what you wish. You could do all the work or have some other shop do the work. Its up to you at that point. However as Reep pointed out, if you choose not to have the repair work done, and then have another incident that further damages those parts, the insurance company doesn't have to pay a dime for them, on the basis that they were infact already damaged with no true way of knowing of those parts would have been damaged had they been replaced prior to the secodn accident. It is set up that way to help prevent fraud. Sometimes its a bit rediculous, but in most cases, the insurance would simply deduct the cost of the previously damaged parts unless they were structural parts that would have prevented damage to other parts had they not been already damaged. In Reeps example above, had the guy gotten his front end fixed, which looked like cosmetic, the insurance can claim that since the bumber was invovled and not replaced, it didn't prevent damage to the radiator in the second accident. | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Changes from State to State, If they are going to fix it all then why bother to do some yourself. | ||
| Tramp |
dearwycked flesh- first- WHAT state/legal entity misspells "LIEN?  Every insurance company can set their own mandate regarding how they go about shopping estimates, as long as it's within the home state and supercedent laws. said latitudes are wide enough for some wild ad libbing on the aprt of individual insurance companies. seriously- i worked with this industry as the bodyshop manager of a large motorcycle dealership, with many underwriters. Where did you DIG up that mumbo-jumbo with the misspelled legal terminology? \ (Message edited by tramp on August 10, 2005) | ||
| Trolldaddi |
USAA insurance City property Illegally parked, because we don't have a legal place to park motorcycles. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
the misspelling is my own, sorry no cut and paste involved  that was me typing while she talked to me over my cell phone. My fiance is a licensed adjuster, who has to handle claims all over the country, she is licensed for almost all of the states, with MI being one of them she is licensed for. (the few she isn't are passed on to another adjuster in the office who is licensed for that state) home state and supercedent laws. The home state being the state the accident happened in, NOT the state the insurance company is from, nor the state in which you reside if other then the state the accident happened in. Was very surprised to learn that last night. You are right there are latitudes about what the insurance company can do for estimates, but they still have to meet the requirements for MI in this case. His question wasn't so much about the estimate, but how he could distribute the funds after the check was cut. That was what my question to her pertained to, not about the estimate itself. I have helped her in a few cases with estimates on bikes, just to make sure someone wasn't getting shafted(low ball estimate, the estimator unaware of how long it would take for a pinstriped fender and tank replacement), or that there wasn't any REAL fraud going on (claiming a turbo on a bike that didn't have one for instance) | ||
| Tramp |
i'm the crown king of mistyping... | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
I am just the court jester at mistyping...  | ||
| Tramp |
we all aspire to somethngi |
