Hello, to all those who have experienced going through a crash then having estimates and repairs through a HD dealer (or other shop) on what to look out for if anything?


Does the dealer ever try to take short cuts with repairs, shotty work, etc,..


Been through this with a car and have experienced some questionable work, but never a bike and a HD dealer. I guess it can be along the same lines whether car or bike, but just want to have some idea on what to look for or any questions I might need to ask the dealer etc,..


Thanks for any advice.

 

Make sure you and the dealer understand if the estimate is for new or used replacement parts, and if for new parts make sure you get them if the dealer does the work.

 

Have buddies who had their wrecked bikes fixed at dealership no problems.could depend on dealership

 

I recently took my crashed bike to two different Harley dealers for estimates (and I had to pay 2 hours shop time for them at each dealer). My bike didn`t collide with anything. I swerved to avoid a lady who pulled out in front of me for a left turn, and my front tire washed out when it hit some pea gravel. I went down, but the engine guard did an admirable job of protecting most things on the bike. My wrecked sig bike is a CVO and still books out at $15,315. One dealer went so far as to say the front wheel and tire were damaged, along with many other expensive items that weren`t damaged. The other dealer left out the front wheel and tire from it`s otherwise inflated estimate. The estimates were respectively over $19K and $18K. I`m not an expert, but in carefully looking over the damage myself, I think it could have been repaired or even replaced all affected damaged parts that could have been HONESTLY done for under $10K. And that would probably have been at the highest amount. IMHO, those dealers deliberately committed fraud so they could total and buy back my bike at salvage prices from the insurance company after the loan company requires me to pay off the loan. Then they could repair it at their wholesale prices and sell it high. Since only a Harley dealer can get parts for a CVO, doing the math on this was pretty easy. So, I`m stuck in a box for what I can do. I can`t afford to buy it back even at salvage prices. So, when this is all settled (my wreck was on Jan. 26th) the bike will be paid off, but I will have nothing and will be out more than a year`s payments coming to about $4600. None of this was my fault, but this just proves what kind of people run Harley Davidson. In the meantime I still have to make payments until the check finally comes from the at fault party`s insurance company. Then I have the prospect of the 5 year extended warranty I paid $2K for being pro-rated and refunded to me. They`ll probably find a loophole to screw me out of that too. Take a wild guess about how I feel about Harley Davidson.....

 

Update on my crashed sig bike. The auction company picked it up yesterday, so my insurance company has done the deal with the lender. I`ll get back a little over $1400 for the difference between payoff and the book value, so at least I don`t owe anything. `Went to the dealer who sold me the bike and got the paperwork to stop the 5 year warranty, so hopefully I`ll come out of that okay. `Told one of the salesmen I`m good friends with the details of the estimates, and he was blank faced in disbelief. So, anyway, I`m through with Harley Davidson after all of this and three warranty repairs in less than a year. Many of you love HD, but my experience with the MoCo has soured me from ever doing business with them again. And this coming from a guy who bought his first one back in 1958, and five other ones since. Plus, there is an epidemic of clueless drivers out there, which would put me at risk for another wreck in a relatively short time. This was my first and ONLY wreck in more than 50 years of riding. At my age (72) I feel it`s just not worth it to risk life and limb under these conditions anymore. I`ll surely miss motorcycle riding, but I`ll move on to something else. Maybe I`ll get back into model airplane flying. At least the only risk there would be the plane and a few missing $$$ from my wallet.

 

Glad you came out on top minus deciding to not ride again, but I see you have a valid reason.


I just told the insurance I'd like to get into a another bike, but that'll depends on what they offer me. I'll post an update soon.


Good luck HVAC!

 

I'm sorry to read about your dealership repair experience. I recently had a dealership repair that went as well as I could've hoped.

Last September, while 1,500 miles from home, my 2014 Ultra Limited was backed into hard on the left side and flipped over onto the right side. It was hit hard enough that it just didn't fall over onto the crash bars, but way up to the right side of the fairing and top of right side saddle bag. Fortunately, HD engineers have figured out how to protect a lot of the critical components like handlebars and rear brake levers. So, I was able to ride it home and take the bike to my selling dealership.

I arranged for my insurance company to examine the bike at the dealership. The adjuster initially gave sent me an estimate for $1,400. I gave the estimate to the dealer, and asked them to evaluate it, and determine if they agree with the assessment. They did that, and called the adjuster back out to review things he had missed, and replacement part pricing that he had not properly identified. The adjuster revised his estimate to $5,500.

The dealership did the repairs for the revised estimate. Used all new parts. The downside was that obtaining new painted HD parts in September '14 for a 2014 bike required time, because the MoCo was in production of the 2015 models, and my paint scheme is not offered for 2015. So, I had to wait until they ran a batch of 2014 paint schemes. Took three months.

Having said that, however, the dealership did a fine job on the repairs. I am quite happy with the outcome. If I didn't know, I wouldn't know the bike had been damaged. Like all dealerships, these guys can aggravate me from time to time, however, they did me right with this repair. The insurance company handled it first class as well.