ditto

 

thats what i was thinking. i've known my agent since he was a kid and best friends with my son.....hopefully, he'll give me some good advice, not just agent advice...

 

A new frame comes up as $2,258.14 ... where's the other $4,500?

What did they say regarding the policy increase? If they are going to kill your discount, you may as well have a new frame. The price seems a bit high, but generally there's no reward for saving an insurance company money, so screw them.

A road side repair guy blew my stator/rotor electrics ... so I got their insurance to replace it all with a complete CCE charging kit (as an "apology"). Probably still saved them money by not going to a factory shop to get it done.

 

Probably the 40 hours or so it'll take to completely disassemble the bike, and then rebuild it on the new frame.

 

Here are some of my thoughts:

If you forego insurance and have the frame welded/fixed on your own, plan on keeping the bike forever. If you try to trade it or sell it you will have to inform the buyer/dealer of the frame damage and repair. No one would touch a bike that had frame damage fixed by some unknown down the road. How many '13 Electra Glide Limiteds are on the used market? Probably lots in perfectly good condition. Why would they want your damaged one?

I never understood the concept of paying insurance premiums and not using the insurance because your rates may go up. Why have insurance? Statistics would say your rates are likely to go up anyhow. Especially now when insurance companies are having to pay out billions for tens of thousands of homes destroyed by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Someones got to pay for that and it is you and I.

If you buy your own frame it won't be VIN matched so it would be a salvage bike and, again, you'll keep that bike forever.

The insurance company will not pay to have a frame repaired. They will swap it for a new one or total the bike. A frame swap is $$$$$. A few grand for the frame and many hours of labor. That would be the minimum I would go for but hope they would total the bike.

Just my two cents.

 

Any chance of being able to get a pic of that tear in the metal and putting it up on here.

 

OP attached a picture in post #9

 

Because legally you have to.

It's a complex equation that depends on how much accident free discount you have, and will lose over, how many years and how much you have in the bike. And what sort of insurance you have.

I'd be interested to know what they say. It's a very long time since I had to make such a major claim and, in the past, I chose to forgo small ones precisely to grow my no accident discount. For example, making discount once achieve applied to the next 10 or more years adds up.

In addition, and I write this not just for the benefit of the insured here but anyone else reading it and wondering about their own case, the first think I'd do is strip my bike of any additional extras, and return it to as stock as possible, before surrendering it to a shop and before the assessor sees it.

Sometimes you've got to do this in order for them to not to use it against you, e.g. refusing claims because the bike was modified even though there's no rational connection.

40 hours to swop out a frame, is that how long it takes? (Honest question). I guess there must be a lot of parts to the batwing and electrics!

But, yes, I agree with you to the extent that it depends on his intentions of keeping the bike or not.

My understanding is any frame damage usually leads directly to it being turned into salvage as a matter of form.

This was an extraordinary unusual, and lucky, accident. Could have been really ugly ... the guy has his angels to thank.

 

OP/Tom,

Sorry to hear about your debris hit on the WW bridge. I was stationed at Bolling AFB fm 1995-2000 and that cross-over was "always" riddled w/$hit. Personally, I had to replace a windshield on my primary vehicle (something flew-up fm car in front) & a co-worker had a "driveshaft" impale through the rear/underbelly of his car (literally launched in air...similar to your hit). Hoping your bud/insurance throws you a bone and either (1) full frame repair, or (2) total bike. Keep us posted & be safe on those "crazy" DC Metro roads. I don't miss them one bit.

 

yeah, you're right on the frame. other incidentals they're throwing into the estimate (My HD shop who for some unforeseen reason cant provide the official estimate) are rear tire and oil pan. The tire has had a slow and irregular leak ever since and the metal is bent up against the oil pan, and the vibration has it almost through i guess. I should be a mechanic, they're charging almost $3500 for just labor. We'' see how it goes when i get back. Like i said, i have to leave for a week for training for work.