Just bought my first Ducati Monster. Love it. 3rd day out I get rear ended at a stop light by a mini van. I haven't even straightened out the paperwork on the transfer/safety. Luck has it I'm not injured. I'm not sure if the bike is fine or not. It looks ok but I'm concerned about the rear wheel and tire. Also not sure if the exhaust and tail light have been compromised. The woman said she'd pay repairs directly without involving the insurance companies. Any advice?
aloha, Z
ps- I hope this is a proper introduction... I'm from the east side of Oahu and i love to ride.
Aww man - harsh way to start the days with your duc.
My advice is take it to a shop, and have them do a complete inspection. Make sure she pays for this. You will be shocked!!! at how much OEM parts are for the duc, and she probably will be to - but this is why you document it all. You got at least one photo I see. Police report? Please say you have one. And be sure to document EVERYTHING she says. IF you can, emails or written correspondence. Also, if you haven't written down your memories of the incident, do so before they fade. You want to have everything as clear as possible if this get's messy
A shop will act as an unbiased 3rd party, which will be important when she shits a brick to find out the costs. Just make sure they understand they are not to do any work beyond the inspection and repair estimate write up.
To give you a sense of scope, the OEM exuasts cost about $800 for one. So if she damaged your exhausts (both) $1600, tire $250, wheel (probably) $800. So from this you could very well be looking at a bike getting totaled on cost. And if she bent the frame at all, then it will be totaled.
She's probably thinking that since it's a bike, it'll be cheap to fix. But she'll soon find out that it's going to run her a lot more than a couple Bens. At that point she'll freak, so be ready for her to try to change her tune - laying blame on you or anything to dodge. Hopefully she won't but I've seen this movie before. That why I said get everything written down.
- Also even though this is your intro(ish) you might move to to general monster and give it a more relevant title - like about the accident and dealing with it. That way you'll get more input. There's a few law dogs and lawyers on the board that will ahve some sage advice too. If you need a hand on that reply here or shoot me a PM.
~ good luck
Glad you aren't hurt! SP's words sound wise to me. Get an admission of liability from her before she sees the bill!
Note that when you go to do the repairs you aren't contstrained to use OEM duc stuff, but that's what'll be used for the estimate. For example, I sure wouldn't buy new oem duc exhaust - get some sweet termies instead [thumbsup]
Yeah - as a hand waving generality you are entitled to have your bike returned to the condition it was in before the accident, or the financial where withall to do that. I talked about OEM, because it looks like you have a mostly stock bike.
If you had some aftermarket cans ,you be entitled to the replacement cost for that aftermarket kit. Ironically, 9.5 times out of 10 the nicer after market stuff is less expensive to replace than the OEM.
And I made the point about not having the shop start any work without express permission because if you get her, or her insurance to cut you a check, it's (usually) up to you how to to use that check. Many times folks will end up with damaged stock exhausts and use the insurance check to buy aftermarket replacements, or get OEMs through ebay or here (at less than dealer cost). Once you get the money, I've got no problem with the shop doing the work, just make sure you use the funds as you see fit - unless there's some insurance mandate to another end.
Thanks SP and BP. I took it in first thing and had the woman sign off on an estimate order. She wants the option to use her insurance company. I guess admission of guilt isn't an issue at this point, just method of payment.
Right off they noticed the frame was bent (minor) and the right foot peg frame mount was also cracked. Of course the final verdict on the damage won't be known til tomorrow or Monday. My guess is the repairs will exceed the value of the bike. It's going to be interesting to see how this is handled.
re: moving to a new thread... don't know how doh...
aloha, Z
Hmmm sounds like you'll be getting a big check - one about the size of replacement cost of the bike. A frame bend will pretty much total the bike. Now it might not really have killed the bike, but if insurance was involved they would want it fixed/replaced. And it's not really easy/cost effective to fix the frame at the end of the day. So with that, the cracked mount and whatever else, you're probably quite right in thinking the repairs would exceeded the price you paid/replacement cost.
Bummmer. Keep this thread updated. Hopefully she'll step up and you won't need advice. But, if she's suddenly confronted with a $4000 bill when she thought it might be $500, she'll have a bit of a freak
And you might not be able to move it now - but if needed a mod can move it easy enough.
^ Exhaust + frame + labor will almost certainly total the bike. Also, the at-fault driver is liable your helmet and any gear that was damaged and any other expenses (towing, DR's checkup etc).
Very good point. The diver is on the hook for any expenses incurred as a result of her actions - even if it's a buddy coming to get you, you can put down the mileage, and check if vs the IRS rates per mile.
And as pilot said, if you got tossed and your gear, clothes etc got damaged, that would be covered under insurance, so she's on the hook.
Towing, Medical, the shop inspection fee etc etc
Any updates Z?