Can anyone shed light on insurance companies policies on repair costs vs. bike value. Curious to know what the limit might be before a bike is written off?
Still asking for a friend.
May depend on the bike. A fully faired bike where some possible damage can’t be seen until after stripping down may be written off sooner than a bike where they are certain they have accounted for everything.
Would ‘your friend’ rather it was or wasn’t written off?
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Varies, one of my Bonne’s was written off at 60%
As above, it will all depend on the day. One of mine was just plastics which were damages but they still paid out to be repaired, paid out the value of the bike on that one.
So going to largely depend on the assessors view on the day.
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He’s in two minds. He wants to know that if it’s repaired it will give no trouble and ride straight, peace of mind if you like.
Of course, swapping to another secondhand bike doesnt guarantee anything.
That’s interesting. Apparently the cost of repairing the bike in question is close to £9k!
I once heard of a special edition Impreza that was written off from a broken bumper. Couldn’t get the parts from Subaru, can’t repair the car, car gets written off.
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One thing people don’t seem to factor in to repairing crashed bikes is a mechanic’s time. On my tracer the headlight unit is something like £1000 in the first place. But it’d take 3 hours to take that 1 thing off, swap it, and put it back together.
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If you were to ask for a breakdown of the costs involved, you may find that a noticeable part of that £9k is labour costs at £100+ per hour. That being so, your friend could entertain having the bike rebuilt by a cheaper shop/mechanic. Your friend could also entertain having the bike written-off, and buying back the salvage. I’m sure there are many points of view on that, and enough people on here to give their advice and experience of such.
If the accident has already been accepted as non-fault to your friend, then cost is no issue, it’ll be coming of the third party’s insurance and his ncb will/should not be affected. In that case, I would only have the bike rebuilt by it own dealership shop, and ensure that the relevant warranties for parts and labour are received.
Personally, if it was me, and it was a bike less than 15 years old, I’d take the money and buy a new bike. But if it was an old bike that I cherised, like an 80’s bike, then I’d do everything possible to keep it, as long as I didn’t end up at a financial loss.
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There is apparently something like 18 hrs of labour involved. No word from the insurance company yet. He’ll make a decision when they get in touch.
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