Mike Calderone's Ten Tips For Dealing With Dealers Shops and Insurance Companies

A bit of background. Wanderer Mike Calderone has had more than his fair share of bad luck aboard his custom painted Honda Valkyrie. He has had a boat backed into the bike while being serviced at a dealers he has had a bike parked alongside his fall over...of course his direction and damaging the Valk on both sides. Now a veteran of the shop and insurance wars, Mike has written the following in hopes others won't have to begin from square one.

Mike's Missive:

My bike is getting there, painter is done except for clear coat after the graphics person does the graphics. Painter did a good job and I am confident the graphics person will too. My bike has been in the shop since 3/29. The struggle has mostly been with the dealer. Having had a number of these experiences with major repairs (this one wasn't my fault) I might pass on to all of you some do's and don'ts just based on my experiences.

1) Before you have an accident that requires major repairs (hopefully you never will) take photos of your bike from all angles, and specifically take photos of all after market parts and any custom things you have done to the bike. Send the photos, names of the mfg. of the after market parts or custom paint jobs, copies of receipts (If you don't have them, estimate what you remember they cost) to your insurance broker and tell him to put them in your insurance file. Then, later the ins company can't say they only insured a stock bike at blue book. If they want to look at your bike or the photos and decide they want to charge more premiums (they won't bother to look) that's their right but you have put them on notice that your bike is what is in those photos, and they owe you market value, not blue book. However, do keep in mind, that mileage does reduce the value of our bikes. We have a lot of people in the club that do a lot of riding and the plus side is the enjoyment we get out of it. The downside is it does depreciate the bikes. According to ins statistics the average miles ridden on a bike are 6800 a year. We have [members] who are doing more than triple that.

2) From the moment you call your claim in start a file. Get the name of the person at the insurance company you spoke to, jot down the date and time you called and a brief summary of what was said, even if you only leave a voice mail. Keep a running history of your conversations.

3) Try to work with your adjuster but if you feel you are getting hassled or treated unfairly start climbing the ladder, get his supervisor, then that persons supervisor involved. My experience is the higher up you go the more reasonable they seem to be. In my [most recent] case the other guys insurance adjuster tried to say this accident was an act of God because the wind blew his bike over. Well, the wind would not have blown it over if he had not parked it on an upgrade. After about two days of moving up the ladder and some blunt discussions his insurance company picked up the whole tab on my bike including my deductible. You might need photos of the accident site.

4) When the dealer you take it to is doing the estimate make sure if there is any outsourcing, (i.e. custom paint job), that you have complete say on who is going to be used and get those estimates to the dealer so he can present them with everything else to the insurance company. The insurance company shouldn't give you a problem unless their prices are outrageous.

5) When the insurance company sends your dealer the check, they will send it for the full amount and ask you to endorse it. Don't. Tell them you will endorse when they are done with the bike. Otherwise, you will have absolutely no leverage in getting them to do anything.

6) Ask the dealer to assign one guy only to honcho the repair work, not necessarily the mechanic, just one guy with the responsibility of getting it done. That way there is some accountability. Also, you won't get "I thought Joe was going to order that."

7) Monitor the dealer frequently, show up in person every few days. Long term projects are not dealers forte, out of sight out of mind. But if you are there every few days asking the state of progress it keeps them moving.

8) If the parts aren't coming in and the answers they are giving you don't make sense and you get the feeling they are giving you the run around try talking to the owner. If you get no response or the same response, call the company's headquarters and ask to talk to the Customer Service Manager. That's what I did, called Honda Motor Corp. home office. I discovered the parts weren't getting to the dealer because they had a credit hold on their account for having not paid their bill, not because the parts were not available as they had been telling me. I confronted the Service Manager with this information and in a letter to him and the owner I advised them what action I would take if they told any further lies to me about the status of my parts or if the repair of my bike was delayed by their financial irresponsibility. My letter did the trick, they paid off their bill next day and picked up my parts the next day and they have been on top of everything since. This is a major dealer too.

9) Pick up your bike yourself. Check it out carefully before you sign off on it. If something isn't right, as much as you want the bike back, do not take the bike with a promise from the dealer that you can bring it back anytime and they will "finish" up. Anytime is when they will do the work, anytime THEY want. Make them finish the repairs the first time, even if you have to test ride it.

10) Above all remain calm, think of getting your bike back as a new birthday present, it may take that long.

mike c.