When does the insurance company quote the value of your motorcycle?
If you are a bike rider and like to ride your bike in the open air, you may have strong feelings about it. However, when someone carelessly hits you, your love for the bike comes in danger.
value of your motorcycle
Due to lack of safety equipment in a motorcycle, you get severely injured in an accident. Sometimes you even lose the ability to stand. You need rehabilitation to stand on your feet again. After an accident, the bike also loses the ability to repair or the amount of repair is more than the price of the bike. What happens next depends on some circumstances.
If you get into an accident or get stuck due to another driver, then you can demand proper compensation for your loss from that party. Apart from this, you can also recover the damages for repairing your bike.
The insurance company gives compensation overall, which means that it does not want to pay for the repair, but what will happen in such a situation when the insurance company refuses?
The insurance company keeps very intelligent and logical employees who, looking at the seriousness of the matter, keep the statement in their favor and at least take action. tries to pay
So, hire a lawyer to guide you. You will get peace of mind as he will protect your legal rights.
The insurance company tells you the total value of your motorcycle. What does it mean?
In case of an accident, the insurance policy covers the insurance company. The insurance company decides what to do with the vehicle. They inspect what happened to the vehicle, what is its overall condition and especially how much will it cost to repair it. The insurance company now decides whether to pay you money according to the value of the bike or pay for the repair.
When the accident is not big, the frame of a motorcycle that is a victim of a minor accident suffers damage, which is often inexpensive to repair, but in a major accident, it may seem almost impossible to bear the cost of repairing the bike.
Because the cost of repairing the bike to bring it to its pre-accident condition is more than the actual value of the bike. If the insurance company comes to this conclusion, it can repair the bike.
Why is the total value of a motorcycle determined?
If you are the manufacturer of your bike, a repairman or have taken great care of its maintenance, then throwing it in the heap for replacement does not seem right. But you should think from the point of view of the insurance company.
It works with the objective of saving money and wants to pay wherever it is least expensive. And if the bike has suffered a lot of damage, then repairing it can be complicated and driving it again can be unsafe for you, it can be dangerous and the insurance company can be in trouble in the future.
There are many reasons that insurance companies adopt to reject a motorcycle.
Extent of damage:
If the frame of the bike is broken or there are scratches, then the insurance company will get it repaired, but if there is structural damage, then the company can decide that it is a greater safety risk to repair.
Age of the bike:
There can be some situations where the age of the bike explains why it is totaled. Understand with an example. Suppose a bike is very old and now it has no value because it has been damaged for years. In this situation, what is the insurance company’s decision? Best of all, paying the actual cash value of the bike is less expensive
Hard to find parts:
For custom bikes that are built by yourself or have hard to find parts, restoring the bike to its original condition may be difficult.
If you decide to destroy the bike, you will get the actual value of the bike, which was its value right before the accident.
Pricing a motorcycle:
Motorcycles are just like cars because the price of a bike is determined based on its market position. A motorcycle can be very important for you because it may have been gifted to you by someone close to you on your special occasion like birthday, marriage, etc.
You have done a lot of custom work on this bike, some things have been installed by yourself, the insurance company does not keep track of this.
Instead, the insurance company does this work
- It determines the market value which includes
- The current market for that bike
- The make and model of the vehicle
- The age of the bike
- The number of miles
- The condition of the bike before the incident
- The upgrades you added to the bike, if you have included them in the policy
Whenever you upgrade the bike, add some new things, then tell the insurance company about it. These can be expensive, like a custom exhaust.
You will get coverage only if the company takes note of these upgrades.
The insurance company gives you a value which you got due to the damage to your bike. You can think of this value to be more or it can be much higher than the actual value.
You should consult your lawyer before accepting any settlement.
How to increase the value of your motorcycle claim?
You have the right to accept the settlement offered by the company. If you want a higher price, you can contact your lawyer. He can tell you whether the insurance company is taking advantage of you or not.
The lawyer can increase the value of your bike. To do this, the lawyer will collect evidence. Some of the ways can be as follows:
Get a secondary evaluation of the bike done by a third party:
Documentation of the bike from a bike expert can be better. To do this, you have to ensure that the professional does not have any bias or sympathy towards you.
Check the prices of bikes available for sale:
Present facts to the insurance company, which document the current price of a bike like yours in the market. This helps in proving a higher price than the price offered by the insurance company.
Document your investment in the bike:
Tell about the damage to your bike and tell about the improvements, what improvements you have made in the bike’s lights or what special features have been included, due to which its value has increased.
Additionally, on classic bikes, you can get a second valuation. You can also note that if your bike is classic, the policy should be updated regularly to reflect this. Mostly, with time, as the bike gets older, its value also depreciates. If the bike is more than twenty years old, you may need an insurance expert.
If you want to keep the bike then
Before deciding to keep the bike, think about what you are facing. If you keep the bike, the insurance company will pay less and will issue another salvage title which means you cannot sell this bike to anyone and you will not be able to get any insurance on it in the future
What to do if you disagree with the value of the motorcycle after the claim?
Before you can disagree with the claim, you need to take the necessary steps to report the accident and file a claim for damages. Once you have done so, keep a few things in mind:
Wait until the adjuster gives you a quote:
The insurance adjuster will first inspect your bike and determine its true value. If the bike is unique, request an appraisal.
Review your settlement offer:
Once the insurance company has worked out the total value, it will provide you with a settlement offer. This is the amount it will pay you based on the value of the bike before the accident.
Consider negotiating:
Give the insurance company some information that is important, such as added features to the bike that may increase the price. Negotiate but keep evidence to support it.
If you still do not agree with the compensation offered by the insura
nce company and you have also suffered injuries in the accident, you should contact a motorcycle accident lawyer.
