How I Dealt with Insurance After My Motorcycle Accident
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
In September, my motorcycle and I had an accident.
Going down the insurance claim ‘road’ was an interesting journey that I hope you will be interested to read about.
I have already written about the accident and posted a few pictures of the damage. This time I thought many of the EatSleepRide readers might find some useful tips from my experience winding my way through the insurance claim process.
The deceased BMW F800R was so far into the forest we could not see it from the road
To clarify right from the start, I am not a lawyer, insurance company representative or claims adjuster. I represent no one but moi.
My experience is Ontario specific, your province or state may be different. My accident was with a deer, my motorcycle and myself.
The first lesson I learned is an important one. Anytime you are involved in an accident that is animal related, make sure you call the police and have them do a formal report. Your insurance company will ask for this report.
Next important lesson; take pictures with your phone of the accident scene, damaged bike and many photos of the (hopefully) deceased animal. If you can’t do it yourself, ask someone at the scene to use your phone for photos.
Don’t just rely on the attending police, etc. to take the photos. The other important thing to remember and to tell everyone (especially the investigating police) that the deer (or another creature) hit you. This might sound like an insignificant difference given that there was an accident and an animal was involved. Why stress this point?
If you go off the road to avoid a deer = AT-FAULT ACCIDENT
If you hit a deer that was out on the road = AT-FAULT ACCIDENT
If the deer or other creature hits you = NOT AT-FAULT ACCIDENT
The eight horned buck, RIP
So the deer/racoon/dog/moose/opossum must hit you or you could be dinged with an at-fault accident. An at-fault accident means you either have no insurance coverage for your motorcycle damage or the “collision” portion of your coverage kicks in.
No doubt your collision coverage has a hefty ‘deductable’ that means you will have to pay the first $500+ of the cost to repair or replace your motorcycle. If an animal has hit you and caused the accident, then the coverage is thru the ‘Comprehensive’ portion of your coverage and won’t be counted as an at fault accident. An ‘at fault accident’ almost certainly guarantees your rates will go up next year.
Only due to a trail of stuff were we able to locate the F800R in the forest
Next thing that you need to know is that your insurance company will likely not be working your claim. They will turn the claim over to an Adjuster. Likely an Adjuster who works for a specialist Claims Management company. Also, your claim will likely be split between the motorcycle and you.
One Claims Adjuster for each part.
The “you” part of the claim will be a long and complicated process if you are injured. Questions about the injury coverage process would fill a book so I will leave this to someone else.
However, the “you” Adjuster is also the person you talk to about your riding gear. Yes your riding gear is insured too. Were your helmet/ boots/ gloves/ jacket/ pants/ glasses wrecked, lost or damaged? Take many photos of all the garments as this will help.
The Adjuster will also ask for receipts from when you bought your gear. If you haven’t kept the receipts, go on line and find the same items. Print off the online items with the price posted. You can then advise your Adjuster something like: My Teknic jacket cost $300.00 new and it is three years old. The Adjuster will likely factor the age into a partial replacement.
Don’t expect that you will get all new riding gear. I would also caution you that your gear did its job. Textile gear and helmets may not show damage but you shouldn’t assume it is OK. Replace the damaged stuff! Let me say it again....REPLACE THE DAMAGED STUFF!
These days most crashed motorcycles are “written off” as unrepairable. Let’s assume your bike (like mine was) is deemed a total wreck and will be a write off. One of the things they rarely tell you is that you are entitled to buy your wreck from the insurance company.
If you do want to buy it from the insurance company, the bike will be a “salvage” bike that likely cannot be licensed. If you want to keep your ‘wreck’ the Insurance Company will charge you the amount that their wrecker pays for damaged/destroyed motorcycles. This amount is based on the contracted rate they have agreed to with the company that buys their wrecks.
Your Adjuster will base the amount they offer you on the value of motorcycles similar to yours. Where do they find similar bikes? Kijiji, Auto Trader, etc. Do your homework and check!
There is a wholesale value book that dealers use to put a value on a trade in. Ask your dealer to see it. Print off all the ones that are similar to your motorcycle. Be sure to highlight the ones that are close to your mileage and any extras like side bags, custom seat, etc. You can include listings not in your immediate area or even in the same province. Be prepared to submit multiple copies to your Adjuster.
The Adjuster will offer an average of the values found plus the applicable cost of sales tax. Of course, I had to be realistic, it isn’t what you think your bike is worth, it is what you could realistically sell it for if you decided to sell it privately. I found there was a little bit of negotiating room based on some accessories I had and that my bike had low mileage. Notwithstanding this, the offer I got was fair.
My experience is that the process can drag out for longer than you would expect or want.
Be prepared to be patient! It is also important that you understand that this is a legal process. Commit insurance fraud and you won’t get insurance for your next bike. I was also advised that one should never change insurance companies after the settlement. I didn’t plan to, so not an issue for me.
Ride safe.
