Need your advise, looks like my FJR will be a total loss

[Clovis]

Two years ago my wife and i went sliding on the FJR and driving over a small patch of mud that had washed out onto the road way. Lost the rear wheel in a straight line, bike slipped out and down we went.

The bike was still perfectly rideable and I've ridden another 20,000 miles on it since then.

I intended to just replace/fix the plastics myself but got busy with work and then got busy with a new baby the next year.

Anyhow, it's a 06 and the damage estimate to repair is $8500 all though that estimate includes everything with so much as a scratch... like the gas tank. No dings or dents, but it has some scratches from my tank bag. Aka normal wear/tear.

So I presumably have a few options.

1) Ask them not to total it and just fix what I would fix (about $2500 in parts).

2) Total it, buy it back salave?

3) Total it, buy another 2 up.

I've had 4 yamahas and I love the FJR. I'm leading towards buying another Gen 2 or even a new Gen 3 with ES. The ES is great... but only available from dealers for the time being Not sure if I want to pay that mark up.

Another option I'm considering is a Ducati Multiestrada. -- Not sure about the reliability of Ducati and Yamaha's 26,500 valve servicve intervuals are tough to beat.

Plus, all 4 of my bikes have been Yamaha. Love em!

What would you do in my situation?

 

[Fontanaman]

You road it 20k miles since the accident - awesome. One of the options s/b keep your FJR and ride it. Why bother fixing it?

It may not be a beauty queen what the hell? It will not bother your when it falls over.

When it is wore out get a Gen III ES when the prices are lower. If you got money to burn go buy a BMW.

The longer you wait to replace it the more money you save.

Love Yamaha reliability but want an Duke.

That is a dichotomy . It is not that Duke are not reliable, the just require a lot more attention - ka-ching.

 

[Clovis]

The scraped plastics... some hanging on with zip ties, doesn't really bother me so much. The rides are always fun and fast.

It would be nice however to have a non damaged FJR and my wife would appreciate it since that's "our" bike (Since I bought a FZ1 last year and have turned that into my Jr. FJR or "solo only" FJR. =)

 

[Fontanaman]

If the $2500 to fix it increases your trade in value then fix it and ride it, otherwise total it and get a different FJR.

 

[Mihalis fjr]

Keep your fjr!You can find used plastics in ebay in very good or brand new condition for very good prices.Are you looking there?

If those are not in the same color,a member here in the forum,i believe could paint them in cerulean silver/bluish silver,and from what i know he does great job!

 

[Bounce]

+1 on that.

 

[BkerChuck]

Couple items I haven't seen mentioned.

Depending on your state laws, salvage title vehicle, which is what you would have if they call it totalled and you buy it back, may not be eligible to be tagged for road use again. Look into this before going that route and save a huge potential headache. State may also require additional inspections prior to putting it back on the road and may then brand your title "reconstructed" which here in PA is a kiss of death at trade in or resale time.

If your insurance pays out as a total loss, what are your rates going to go up to and for what period of time? Sure they'll pay out but don't think for a minute you won't be paying it back in the form of increased insurance rates.

The fact you tell us you've continued to ride the bike all those miles indicates damage is primarily cosmetic. Consider buying used bodywork here or E-bay and fix it yourself as you can afford. If you keep the insurance out of the picture, your rates shouldn't go up.I had a similar experience with my Buell a few years ago and discovered that if my insurance company called the bike a total loss and paid out that if I bought it back and repaired it, they would no longer insure it as they'd already paid out a total loss on that vehicle.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Geezer]

I would let the insurance company total it and buy it back as long as your state will let you continue to register it that way. You can use the cash to buy another motorcycle or sock it away for the day when you really need to replace the FJR. The loss in value from the 'salvage title' or whatever your state calls it is of no consequence since you already have that value in cash and you still get to ride your perfectly good FJR.

 

[FJRay]

I don't understand how an insurance company would even consider a claim 2 years after the incident.

 

[Diavalos]

Clovis,

You have a PM. I might be able to help you out.

Diavalos,

Pueblo, CO

 

[garyahouse]

Clovis:

Does cashing in on this insurance company offer have any effect on your record with them, or on future premiums? Might be something worth considering.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

I don't understand how an insurance company would even consider a claim 2 years after the incident.

This is what I was wondering?

 

[rushes]

1) Ask them not to total it and just fix what I would fix (about $2500 in parts).

*snippered*

What would you do in my situation?

Ifn it was me, this would be what I would try.

You love the bike obviously and you seem like you don't have to have it perfect.

You'll save them $ and maybe they won't raise your rates.

 

[infrared]

Clovis,

For that much damage, maybe you should consider taking a check for the total. Your call, though.

If you can live with a slightly damaged bike, have them replace the big things with the serious damage, and then check out the applied carbon-fiber and reflective tape "decorations" available on the market. The large reflective panels will make you much more visible, and the carbon-fiber stuff just looks 'way tough. A little heat-gun action will make a smooth job of applying the big sheets to the rounded curved panels. As long as the same size and shape of panels are applied to each side of the bike, it will look good, rather than "repaired."

Best of luck,

Infrared

 

[Clovis]

I don't understand how an insurance company would even consider a claim 2 years after the incident.

The bike has had the same insurance and coverage levels since I purchased the bike 2 years ago. I guess from their perspective it doesn't make any difference, it was insured at the time as it is now.

At the time of the accident, my agent advised against filing a claim because she was concerned they (Allstate) could choose to not renew the policy. Long story short, I have very good coverage on my motorcycles and the premiums are cheap.

In the 5 years up to 2012 Allstate had paid out around $19,000 in claims yet collected... $1500 or so in motorcycle premiums?

I don't care about the policy going up, it could double and not break the bank... but getting a policy canceled, that would be something else.

For reference, I have identical coverage on both bikes. Full coverage, $250 deductable, $3000 optional equipment (covers things like helmets, leathers, ect).

2006 FJR is $239.20 per year

2007 FZ1 is $294.92 per year

So $536.12 total.

Where Allstate does make money however is on my home owners and car policies. At the time we were paying $5000/yr in insurance premiums between our cars and house and never had a claim in 10 years.

Now we pay a slightly modest $3400 for the cars and the new house and that's with super coverage.

The motorcycle, home owners and auto policies are all separate so a claim on one doesn't effect the others. So my motorcycle policy increasing only effects the bikes...

Heck, back in 2007 I bought a new R1, crashed it and the next year when my policy renewed it actually went down. I lost my good rider discount but the bike was cheaper to insure... that was after they paid out $7500 or so for a low slide.

That's a big reason I buy Yamaha's... super cheap to insure. Sere above 2007 R1. I was choosing between a new R1 or a new GSXR1000. My insurance agent asked "Aren't these both basically the same bike? Because the GSXR is $1500/yr with a $1000 deductible... and the R1 is classified as a "standard motorcycle" and is $440 a year with a $250 deductible..."

Made my decision easy! My FZ6 was $80 a year to insure, same awesome coverage.

 

[Clovis]

Couple items I haven't seen mentioned.
Depending on your state laws, salvage title vehicle, which is what you would have if they call it totalled and you buy it back, may not be eligible to be tagged for road use again. Look into this before going that route and save a huge potential headache. State may also require additional inspections prior to putting it back on the road and may then brand your title "reconstructed" which here in PA is a kiss of death at trade in or resale time.

If your insurance pays out as a total loss, what are your rates going to go up to and for what period of time? Sure they'll pay out but don't think for a minute you won't be paying it back in the form of increased insurance rates.

The fact you tell us you've continued to ride the bike all those miles indicates damage is primarily cosmetic. Consider buying used bodywork here or E-bay and fix it yourself as you can afford. If you keep the insurance out of the picture, your rates shouldn't go up.I had a similar experience with my Buell a few years ago and discovered that if my insurance company called the bike a total loss and paid out that if I bought it back and repaired it, they would no longer insure it as they'd already paid out a total loss on that vehicle.

Good luck and keep us informed.

That's a very good question. I'm in Colorado... as far as I know you can still title/register a salvage vehicle but I'm assuming this because I've seen "salvage title" bikes on Craigslist. I'll have to call the DMV and ask.

I guess the choice to "buy the bike back" or not will depend on how much they want. If it's say under $2000 I probably will.

The concern, besides being able to register and ride it (because it's not like the FJR makes a good "track bike") is that I will eventually want something else. Either another FJR or something else.

I would really love to get a new 2014 FJR ES but I can wait. Since I have 2 bikes again, the FZ1 is my solo bike and the FJR is my 2 up bike. My wife and I just had a baby 12 weeks ago so her riding is very limited.

The FZ1 converts very nicely to a mini FJR in the touring department.

So if I took the cash and no bike, my options are:

Buy a 2014 FJR and eat the depreciation hit.

Buy a used Gen II FJR

Wait 2 years to buy a used 2014 FJR with ES for 1/2 the cost

 

[Clovis]

Clovis,
You have a PM. I might be able to help you out.

Diavalos,

Pueblo, CO

replied!

 

[zenwhipper]

Another option I'm considering is a Ducati Multiestrada. -- Not sure about the reliability of Ducati and Yamaha's 26,500 valve servicve intervuals are tough to beat.

If you want a Ducati... I would not worry about the reliability - since there is no reliability issue. This always cracks me up when folks bring this into the discussion of a modern motorcycle... they all are reliable. Just saying... and trying to help your decision.

 

[Clovis]

Another option I'm considering is a Ducati Multiestrada. -- Not sure about the reliability of Ducati and Yamaha's 26,500 valve servicve intervuals are tough to beat.

If you want a Ducati... I would not worry about the reliability - since there is no reliability issue. This always cracks me up when folks bring this into the discussion of a modern motorcycle... they all are reliable. Just saying... and trying to help your decision.

You know, what got me to consider Ducati's for the first time was a 2 day trip I did two weekends ago with two riding buddies. They were both on Ducati Hypermotards and wow, those bikes look fun! We went through Colorado into New Mexico to Taos, NM following roughly this route:

The FZ1 is great for being a jack of all trades, master of none bike. Granted they're better riders then I me and one is semi-pro but that was the first time in years where I had to push myself to keep up (or at least a respectable distance behind) in the twisties.

And funny, over the two days we must have had 6 random strangers come up to us at gas stations and comment or ask about the ducatis but not a single person asked about my Yamaha, ha! It became a running joke... we did another ride this last weekend.

2 random people "what year Ducati is that?".. no love again for the Yamaha.

Anyhow, besides the Hypermotard's 3.3 gallon fuel tank and pitiful range (we were stopping for gas every 50-70 miles... really killed our time) it was a fun machine. So that prompted me to research and learn there is a Hyperstrada and Multistrada. The multistrada I was at least quasi familiar with... another friend of mine picked one up a year or two ago and looked like he was having a great time.

But valve service every... 7500? miles or so. That's every 3 months for me and the service is $700 or 800 from what I remember.

But still... sex on wheels a ducati is.