Fwd: Bike "Totaled"

[Don Wilcox]

Dang it, forgot to copy the list...
Don in GJ

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Don Wilcox <leanintree at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 8:14 AM
Subject: Re: Bike "Totaled"
To: Paul Landry <p_landry at telus.net>


> Once totaled, a vehicle must pass a state roadworthiness inspection before
> it can be titled and registered again. The title will be a rebuilt or
> salvage title. This will obviously affect the resale value of the bike. The
> inspection process is a pain in the ass too. I bought a crashed stolen
> recovery bike and went through all this. I'll never do it again.
>
> Steve in Western NY
>


This varies by state though. In my run-in at the BK this summer (F250 vs.
GPZ), the barge pilots insurance (State Farm coincidentally) totalled my
Geeper to the tune of $3500 (give or take) for plastics, a handlebar, brake
pedal, turn signals and mirror. Right side mostly (also whata coincidence...
not like it's a 50/50 chance, huh?)

BUT... (here's the kicker), here in Colorado, I found out as a result of
this incident that a vehicle older than 6-yrs doesn't automatically receive
a 'salvage' title for an insurance totalling. If it's damaged bad, but
rebuildable, they'll brand the title 'salvage', if it's only good for parts,
it's branded 'scrap'. If it's cosmetic, they don't do ANYTHING. I had to
send them a COPY of my title (retaining the original) for verification of
existance, but they didn't do a damn thing to the status of my title. Which
was what I was worried about.

Oh, I did have to buy it back obviously, as I recall, they gave me 3500+ and
I bought it back for 500+/-.

Don in GJ