At-fault bike write-off....what is the expected insurance premium hike?

kingsha

kingsha

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
Hi guys. Crashed the bike badly today. Its a goner for sure (engine oil was leaking from the engine!). Was my fault. No one else involved.

Thank God I have full comprehensive coverage from State Farm insurance. Will call them tmrw and deal with the entire claims process. My question is, how much of an insurance hike can I expect given my situation?

Btw, I do not intend on buying another bike this season. Will cancel my bike insurance now, but continue my auto insurance with them.
 
Mine went up about $300/yr with kingsway in 08.

I lowsided my 03 Katana a few years back and IIRC the appraisal was $4500 in Damages, Obviously they wrote it off. I ended up buying it back for $1300, put a new engine cover ($120) on it and rode it as is for another year and added another 35K in mileage on it. Then I stripped off all my upgrades, sold them separately and sold the bike for $1100 with 116K on it.

FYI leaking oil isn't always a bike deal and can be as simple to fix as changing an engine cover.
 
Sorry to hear... i have similiar dillema... i decided to cover costs myself and not go through insurance... hopefully you are ok
 
woobie said:
Mine went up about $300/yr with kingsway in 08.

I lowsided my 03 Katana a few years back and IIRC the appraisal was $4500 in Damages, Obviously they wrote it off. I ended up buying it back for $1300, put a new engine cover ($120) on it and rode it as is for another year and added another 35K in mileage on it. Then I stripped off all my upgrades, sold them separately and sold the bike for $1100 with 116K on it.

FYI leaking oil isn't always a bike deal and can be as simple to fix as changing an engine cover.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the informative reply! Well, I was a bit pessimistic and didn't look at the bike properly. But after a brief inspection today, I think I MIGHT be able to repair it myself. It needs a new body kit, fairing stay, side mirrors, integrated rear tail light, and like you mentioned a new engine cover. Probably will run me around $1000. Then again, I am not 100% on this. All the electrical seemed to be fine during my inspection. I'll check with a buddy to see if its doable.

Now my question to you is...how did you go about buying your bike back for $1300? That route seems very appealing to me? Did you just ask for it back?
 
kingsha said:
Thanks for the informative reply! Well, I was a bit pessimistic and didn't look at the bike properly. But after a brief inspection today, I think I MIGHT be able to repair it myself. It needs a new body kit, fairing stay, side mirrors, integrated rear tail light, and like you mentioned a new engine cover. Probably will run me around $1000. Then again, I am not 100% on this. All the electrical seemed to be fine during my inspection. I'll check with a buddy to see if its doable.

Now my question to you is...how did you go about buying your bike back for $1300? That route seems very appealing to me? Did you just ask for it back?
Click to expand...

You can mention the option that you want to fix it yourself, If there is no frame damage then they will look at the salvage price they would get from your bike and minus that from the cost the would pay you from writing your bike off. Say your bike is worth $5,000 and they could get $2,000 if they wrote it off and salvaged it, They can cut you a cheque for $3,000 to repair your bike.

But I believe this might only be the case if your bike is classified as a write-off to them. (Which I believe is about 80% of the bikes value in damages)
 
Im wondering if it'd be better if I just go about repairing it myself at this point. I could def. use the $3000 (given jeffjones method) but they're gonna take it back from me in the form of insurance hikes for God knows how long.

Is it really worth it to go through insurance if I can repair my bike for say ~$800 or so?
 
kingsha said:
Im wondering if it'd be better if I just go about repairing it myself at this point. I could def. use the $3000 (given jeffjones method) but they're gonna take it back from me in the form of insurance hikes for God knows how long.

Is it really worth it to go through insurance if I can repair my bike for say ~$800 or so?
Click to expand...

For $800 I wouldn't take the chance as it will be on your record for 6 years so even if they let it slide with the company you are at now, if you ever try to change companies you will get hit very hard.
I personally would fix it myself, The only reason I did it the way I did was because I wasn't at-fault for my accident.
 
jeffjones said:
For $800 I wouldn't take the chance as it will be on your record for 6 years so even if they let it slide with the company you are at now, if you ever try to change companies you will get hit very hard.
I personally would fix it myself, The only reason I did it the way I did was because I wasn't at-fault for my accident.
Click to expand...

Not a motorcycle, but I had a write off back in 2002 on a 10 year old VW GTI (gently rear-ended a truck on the 403; no damage to their bumper, about $3500 damage to the GTI). Given that the repairs were more than 80% of what the car was worth at the time, it was deemed a write off and they cut me a cheque...

Yeah, happy ending...or not.

As jeffjones points out, this will remain on your record for SIX (6) years, and has the potential to screw you for up to a decade (as when you try and get new insurance, there are companies who ask if you've had an at fault claim in the last 10 years). IF you're in the 20-25 year old age bracket (hell, even under 30), be prepared for some serious angst when attempting to get new insurance on anything (e.g. back in the day, my ex's insurance company actually found out that I had an at fault claim for the VW and made me sign a form stating that I would NOT drive her car, at all, ever, even in an emergency or they would promptly cancel her insurance should I refuse to sign or get caught driving her car). It's just NOW that I can claim normal rates (no other fines or infractions on my record outside of that blemish...go figure).

My advice (and this is ONLY based on personal experience) is to suck it up, DO NOT claim the accident, and try and fix the bike yourself.
 
My bike was written off due to cosmetic damage so it wasn't branded in any way. The buyback at kingsway was 30% but it varies by company. If there is any frame damage there's a chance they will write the bike off and brand it salvage, if that's the case they may not let you buy it back.

Take a good look at your bike and decide what you can live with. What has to be replaced to ride the bike etc etc. Also find out if you do the buy back if the bike has to be repaired and in what time limit. BusaBob had issues with his insurance company and how and when they wanted the bike repaired.
 
kingsha said:
Hi guys. Crashed the bike badly today. Its a goner for sure (engine oil was leaking from the engine!). Was my fault. No one else involved.

Thank God I have full comprehensive coverage from State Farm insurance. Will call them tmrw and deal with the entire claims process. My question is, how much of an insurance hike can I expect given my situation?

Btw, I do not intend on buying another bike this season. Will cancel my bike insurance now, but continue my auto insurance with them.
Click to expand...

Expect not to be able to afford to ride for a while. Is your bike for sale I may be interested in it despite the crash damage.

Edit:

Not sure how buddies insurance only went up $300.

I've seen it double, maybe different age categories are penalized differently. but just remember even @ $300/yr which I doubt it's still $300X6yrs which is $1800 total. Not to mention in 2 years they might realize people with previous accidents are riskier and the hikes will definately be targeted at you.
 
Last edited:
Hi guys. I checked out the bike again, and I'm thinking the repair cost will be $1200 minimum...this is not including wheel replacement as both rims are bent slightly (fukin expensive to replace wheels!). Anyways, I discussed this with some of my buddies and one of them came with an interesting notion.

He pointed out that my bike insurance policy is separate from my car insurance policy at State Farm. I actually have 2 separate policy numbers. He told me to report the claim and take the write-off check. And thereon, not buy another bike and essentially, cancel my bike policy with State Farm. I told him that this would cause an at-fault claim to be on my driving record and will affect my car insurance policy come renewal time this September for the next 6 years. He stated that it doesn't work that way. Bike and car claims are separate and my car policy will not be affected by this claim whatsoever. Only when I decide to buy another bike, in the future, will my bike insurance be really high due to this claim.

Can someone with knowledge of insurance policies please confirm this? If this is true, I'm thinking this is my best and most hassle free option.
 
This depends on the insurance company I believe. So if statefarm will accept this then you better stay with them. I am with TD and for bike insurance they ask me if I made any kind of claim ever.
 
The concern is the future cost of insurance.
If you get an accurate repair cost you know the number. On the other hand you can estimate the future insurance costs but the number could change. The rate system could change and it never seems to get better. Secondly you could get a ticket or two that would compound the rate increase.

Not mentioned is any police involvement and therefore a record of the crash. You may at some time be asked if you have had any collisions or claims. If you say "No" and they find out it's cause for cancellation / fraud label etc.
 
I wouldn't go through insurance if you can. My last at fault forced me to take an 8 year break from motorcycling. :(

It was a low side and no one else was involved.

It also affected my car insurance.
 
Your buddy is wrong. Any claim on your bike will also affect your car rates for some time.

Your policy numbers may be different for car or bike, but your driver's licence number is the same for both. The "At fault" finding will be against that licence number.
 
Freestyle72 said:
Not sure how buddies insurance only went up $300.
Click to expand...

My bad, with insurance threads you have to give more details. Mine went from $700 to $1000, so while it was a only $300 increase that works out to about a 40+% increase. Add to that I had a katana and went to a VFR, both considered sport touring so no surcharge, 38 at the time and living in the boonies helped too.
 
Reading about all these write-offs... i wonder why my Ninja wasn't a write off considering that it cost the shop almost 5k to repair it...
 
This might be a tough pill to swallow but maybe you should just not report it, get a new bike and switch your coverage?

You'll lose the money you might get from the write off but at least your rate won't go up and your record is unblemished.
 
So you are saying that an animal ran on to the road and you swerved to avoid it and went down right?
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom