Leave the deer remains on the bike until an adjuster looks at it...
then you shouldn't be charged with an accident.

Don't ask me how I know

 

I am torn if I feel worse for you or your bike. Just kidding.... Glad your are okay. I have so much invested in my 01 RK I would be devestated if anything ever happened to it. You start with a blank canvas and work hard getting it looking just like you want and hope something like this never happens. I have mine insured $5000.00 over in extras and that would not get me what I have today. Have fun shopping and hope you get what you deserve and really like!!!!

 

I had a 2004 Fatboy stolen from my garage in December 2007. About $30,000 invested without tax and initial license. After sending them photos and a list of addon parts with receipts the insurance co offered me $20,000 including tax and license based on outside appraiser's opinion of value. I asked for the appraiser's comps. Every one came from Cycle Trader. They said I could hire an appraiser to counter theirs. I said if all that their appraiser did was pull asking prices from Cycle Trader I am as qualified as he to do an appraisal of my bike. I valued the bike at book value for a stock bike, $14,500 or so at time it was stolen if I remember correctly and then added on the addon parts costs. I came up with close to $28,000 and change. With tax and license added I received around $30,000. Ironically the tax on $28,000 and change and the unexpired license came close to the book depreciation on the basic bike. $30,000 for a four year old Fatboy is not bad (I bought the bike in December 2003). I have State Farm; no rider. They treated me right and fairly but I did have to assert myself on the appraiser issue. You may pay a little more for State Farm but they generally give good service. Just be assertive, but polite, with the adjuster and you will probably come out all right

 

I am a Manager for a Major Insurance Company in Southern California.

Chromedome had the best and most accurate response to your question.

In a nutshell they try to figure out what you could have sold it for the day before your accident. This is based on current market value or actual cash value depending on mileage, condition, options and your zip code.

There are a few exceptions to this explination but this covers 99% of all claims for cars and bikes in CA.

They dont use Blue Book or NADA when it comes to actually paying you for your bike. They only use those numbers in the field as a tool to determine if your bike appears to be a total. Those numbers are fairly accurate but are not used to pay off of. If they believe it is a total they send it to a special department that hires an outside company to get a value. On specialty vehicles they have to use other sources such as internet, auto trader, cycle trader etc....

That outside company searches for actual vehicles that have sold. They can provide you a complete report showing the vehicles they found and they start searching within a normal radius of your zip code first. Some cars and bikes are worth more in some states and some parts of the state than others. Such as a convertible by the beach is worth more. Or if you had a De Lorean when back to the future came out you got paid more than you paid for it brand new if you crashed and totaled it.

I have been with this company for a decade and we are all shocked at how much they offer our customers for the value of their car or bike as it is normally WAY MORE than they should. It is extremely fair and when an Insured thinks they are getting ripped of we tell them to look online, look at auto/cycle trader, go to used car dealer and find same year make model with same mileage. 99% of the time they realize it is fair. Keep in mind the price listed on a bike at a dealer is normally more than they are actually willing to sell it for. They pay you an average of what it actually sold for.

If the amount they offer you isnt fair in your opinion submit your own "Comps" for them to review. Be reasonable and send bikes in your same condition and dont send the 1 add you found of the guy who wants 50k for his 07 stock streetglide with flame paint job.

I have been to court representing my company 100+ times over this and 99% of the time we win after presenting all the data we found. The vehicle owner will bring in 2 adds for vehicles that have 20,000 in upgrades which arent comparable at all and we will have 30 adds for vehicles very similar to the one in question.

If your dealing with 1 of the big 5 in CA it will be a very reasonable offer!

 

I keep a folder with receipts for EVERYTHING I have bought on the bike just for this reason.

 

First I am glad all good and your "walking" around.

I had this happen when I wrecked a custom car, and having the receipts for everything did not matter, and its hard to find comps for a customized vehical, thats why I don't customize anymore. So my rule of thumb is if I can't remove and reuse it, it's not worth it because 1 there is little to no return on resale, and 2 if its totaled or stolen its a huge hassel to get close to replacement value. Just my 2 cents on this.