question: how to determine a bike's value for insurance purposes?

[tgrrdr]

I tried to do a search (but failed to find anything) and remembered that there's some pricing guidance in the classified forum (below). I'm trying to support a more reasonable value for my bike for insurance purposes. I crashed a 2012 Tiger Explorer with just under 20,000 miles. My insurance company (State Farm) offered me $6,600 which I think is low.

Any tips or techniques you've used that could help support that my bike is worth more than $6,600? They didn't account for any aftermarket parts so I'm pricing those as step one.

I don't usually put much faith in kbb but their value is $7,700, nadaguides base is $6,895 plus option brings the total to $7,500. I looked on cycle trader and there are a three 2012s, one with 55k miles for $4,995 (TX), 36k for $5,892 (OH) and 26k for $7,995 (PA). The higher mileage ones don't help my case, I like the one in Pennsylvania. There were 16, 2013s with mileage between 5k to 34k, average price of $7,950 and a range of $6,500 to $9,000

thanks in advance for any help,
Bill

Pricing - Know the current market value of the bike. Check Kelly Blue book, NADA, CycleTrader, Ebay, Craigslist (even though some people on Craigslist are asking non-realistically high prices and will never be able to sell the bike at their asking price), and know what the current market value of a similar bike is before considering a purchase. Consider the maintenance work or fixes that YOU need to do to the bike, and factor that into the price. It is ok to pay more for a bike that has had all of the maintenance work done to it recently, or pay less and get a bike that needs some work, but you must know this in advance and be ok with it.

 

[bpw]

NADA and KBB would be the first things to use to argue for a higher value, though comps are also useful.

They may only cover a certain amount of aftermarket, I know my State Farm policies have a $500 or $1000 limit on aftermarket stuff unless I declare it ahead of time.

Don't forget they need to cover the tax and registration costs for buying the new bike as well.

 

[Bumpits]

When I had to do this a while ago my ins told me to show three listings of the same bike (same make/model/year) being sold at a dealership.

 

[bikewanker]

Allstate sent me paperwork with some comps when they settled with me.

 

[ocoas]

Part of the problem is State Farm, they tend to low ball claims.
I had to find comps when the only ones I could find were more the 100 miles I added transportation to my location. I also showed receipts for tires less then a month old.

I also was stubborn and refused to settle,(over 30 days) they finial gave in a little to get me to accept the offer.

Good luck

 

[bpw]

Part of the problem is State Farm, they tend to low ball claims.
I had to find comps when the only ones I could find were more the 100 miles I added transportation to my location. I also showed receipts for tires less then a month old.

I also was stubborn and refused to settle,(over 30 days) they finial gave in a little to get me to accept the offer.

Good luck

I actually had the opposite experience with State Farm, they gave me a value that was a bit too high if anything. I imagine it depends a lot on the bike.

 

[RightCoastBias]

When I had my claim done through foremost for my totaled FZ6, they sent me the comparables research they did. I went ahead and used searchtempest to find my own comparables, sent that in and they adjusted up a bit. Took a couple weeks, but I was happy with the settlement, as i got more money than I paid for the bike 9 months earlier.

 

[Climber]

Insurance companies will ALWAYS try to lowball you with their first offer, plenty of people just accept it.

If you don't have any leverage (injuries or at least pains) they will play hardball unless there are other factors like rental vehicle expenses.

It's a numbers game for them, they're not in the business of giving money out, they're in the business of collecting money.

Also, this is where the quality of the insurance company comes in, cheap fly-by-night insurer's will always be a pain-in-the-ass to get them to pay your claims. Bigger, more costly company's, will mostly (not always) be easier to deal with.

 

[CDONA]

Full coverage payout on my '06 scrambler might break $2 k

First year, english made, someday worth something?
or will ICE bikes be mandatory recycled when they kill big oil?

 

[ScottRNelson]

When I wrecked my Ducati Monster in 2003 I was offered less than I thought the bike was worth. I researched it for a while and couldn't actually come up with any strong evidence that is was worth significantly more than their offer. So I bought it back from them and parted it out. That made up the difference, but required about a month of boxing up parts and sending them off, not to mention the disassembly.

If you can find half a dozen current ads (or more) listing the bike at a higher price it can help. I'm assuming you've already looked at NADA and KBB.

 

[NoTraffic]

When I had to do this a while ago my ins told me to show three listings of the same bike (same make/model/year) being sold at a dealership.

Same experience here, insurance adjuster (Progressive) said it isn't uncommon that the value is lower as they take the national avg. price. He requested for me to send him two other current models available for sale and he will price it comparatively. Got what I was looking for.

 

[tgrrdr]

There are very few 2012 Tigers for sale in the country. The company they use had two comps in CA, one in Van Nuys and one in San Jose. I couldn't find the one in SoCal but it had higher miles than mine and the one in San Jose is a 2013 so they reduced the value slightly to account for that difference.

When I talked to them on the phone they agreed to drop the one in SoCal and base the value on one bike. They were close enough to what I thought was a fair number that I agreed to take it. They determined that the other driver was at fault and are going to try to recover from his insurance company and I might get my $500 deductible back.

They also issued payment for my helmet based on the price of the current model (Defiant X) I found online. All-in-all I'm satisfied with the outcome.

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

 

[mrzuzzo]

Nice!

Geico has always offered me a bit more than my bike is worth on the private market, so I never bothered arguing with them.

 

[Pushrod]

Was there a note on the bike?

My crashed unit had a hidden insurance cost built into the loan. When I paid off the remainder of the note I found the hidden insurance in the paperwork, showed my personal policy to the clerk and insisted they remove the premium payments from the settlement. Made a $500 difference to my wallet.

'Luck out there.

 

[ThumperX]

Is State Farm your carrier or another at fault part’s carrier?
demand to see their comps
State Farm is notorious for bogus comps

Make sure they are using Explorers with same package as yours

They are required to provide comps in the same market area as you or adjust accordingly

 

[tgrrdr]

Is State Farm your carrier or another at fault part’s carrier?

I have State Farm, he has CSAA.

demand to see their comps
State Farm is notorious for bogus comps

they had two, dropped the one in SoCal.

Make sure they are using Explorers with same package as yours

They are required to provide comps in the same market area as you or adjust accordingly

I was happy with the one in San Jose and it seemed reasonable to me to adjust the price to reflect the difference between 2013 (comp) and 2012 (mine).

I just checked my account and the money was deposited on Wednesday. The check they sent "overnight" to the dealer for storage was out for delivery on Wednesday but not delivered until Thursday and I picked up the wrecked bike on Friday.