How does the insurance adjuster decide if your bike is totaled or not and what is the percentage paid out based on the value of the bike

 

I believe its negotiable. I am in the same situation. I don't want them to total my bike...I want them to fix it. I don't know where your bike is..but at Harley...they go over the bike first. they estimate how much it will cost, then the insurance adjuster will come and look. I also relayed my feelings to the guy at Harley on what I wanted them to do. I believe they hash it out. You just reminded me to call right now. I'm dying to know if my bike was totaled or not. My bike wasn't hurt nearly as bad as I was. and NO NO Fault in NY on motorcycles...I have to sue. I'm pretty banged up. Miss my baby girl. I want her back in my possession. OH and the amount the adjuster usually pays is most likely the percentage of fault. If your weren't at any fault..then 100% or if it was 80/20. Then YOU need to speak to your insurance Co. and READ YOUR POLICY. sometimes, your insurance company will pay for everything...depends on what kind of insurance you have. I'm finding out the insurance company's don't do a very good job when you buy a policy for your motorcycle insurance..they don't explain to you what they will cover and wont. Its in your policy and even then its a difficult thing to read and understand.

 

Mine is at the dealer right now waiting for the adjuster to stop by and compare estimates with them. From what I was told by the dealer, the insurance company will write the bike off as a total if the repair cost is 50-70% (depends on the ins company) of the value of the bike. The dealer said that they would be flexible with the end result, meaning if I didn't want the repair cost to be more than the percentage for totaling, we could go over his estimate and eliminate things I didn't want fixed or weren't necessarily from the accident. Doing so would lower the cost of the estimate and possibly allow the insurance company to write a check instead of writing it off as a total. I'm told, again by the dealer, that the insurance companies are getting more than they used to from the salvage yards for bikes so that is why some companies will total the bike if the damage is 50% of the value of the bike.

 

Some insurance companies dont send the bikes to a salvage yard. Some auction them off like autobidmaster.com. There they can get some of their money back.