I contacted Kim, my agent at the First American Insurance
Agency, Inc. in Chicopee, MA. I wasn’t looking to get anyone in trouble at this
point, only looking to get some perspective. When I asked her what was “normal”
she started to inquire as to the progress being made on my bike. I guess
another of her clients had been in an accident a couple of days after mine and
had already settled. I explained where the process was and she flipped. I
explained to her that I really wasn’t looking to start busting Dustin at this
point as I’m going into the negotiation phase of the process and I didn’t need
him pissed off at this point. She indicated she understood and would be careful
not to do that for me…
Now this is important to understand. Typically, you can
expect an appraiser to look at your vehicle in about 48 hours. Now I’m assuming
that’s business days so weekends wouldn’t count. Kim was quite surprised that
I’d had to wait more than a week for him to arrive and was livid that I was
asked to retrieve my bike from the tow yard. She mentioned she was going to
make a call or two and that she was going to be discrete to avoid causing me
any problems.
Well, I have no idea who Kim called but the process changed
completely. I received a request the following morning for a list of custom
parts, with price references if I had them. I e-mailed this over a short time
later. Within the hour, I received another call from Dustin indicating that he
wasn’t going to total the bike after all and that he wanted to know what shop
I’d prefer to send it to. I was floored!
Now at the time of this writing, several weeks later, I had
run into Kim at the Stearns Square Concert Series in Springfield, MA. After
giving me a good once over to make sure I was still whole, this was the first
time she’d seen me since the accident, I asked who the hell she called. Now
I’ll just summarize her comments to say ‘Anyone I could! What you were
experiencing was wrong and I was going to make it right!” All I can say is
thanks!
Dustin offered to contact a few shops in the area to get
time quotes as the shop I would’ve chosen was no longer in business. The
following morning, he gave me the good news, Valley Motorsports in Northampton,
MA had indicated they could turn it around in 1.5 to 2 weeks. Man was I
excited! I’d be back on the road in no time and would be back out and about
covering events… The next closest quote was 6-8 weeks. I jumped on this in a
heartbeat and told Dustin to make the arrangements for them to pick up the
bike.
I was told to expect a truck from the shop the following
morning at 7:00 AM and that the service manager was on vacation until the
following Tuesday so the bike would be dispositioned then and they’d get the
ball rolling for me. True to their word, the guy arrived at 6:55 or so, loaded
the bike, and off he went. FINALLY – PROGRESS!
It felt good to finally get the process moving along on the
bike. The best part was I wasn’t going to lose the majority of my riding
season. In fact, I even received a check for the cost of a new helmet and bag
to replace the ones damaged in the accident. Things were really starting to
move along…
It was around this time I received a call from an adjuster
named Susan from Safety Insurance. This was the insurance company for the lady
who’d caused the accident. She was looking to meet with me on the day after
they were coming to get my bike. I was a little nervous, wondering what it was
she was looking for. She’d indicated she just wanted to take my statement.
Though I had a few folks recommend not meeting with her, I decided I’ve got
nothing to hide and did nothing wrong so why not.
She arrived that Friday morning around 10:00 and spent about
an hour with me. She took a recorded statement, and then proceed to explain a
few things to me about the process. She also asked about medical bills, and
explained that my health insurance would be billed and they should be referred
to them for reimbursement. I asked why Progressive wouldn’t be billed first. As
it turned out, she was very surprised that I had medical coverage on my
motorcycle policy. According to her, most folks don’t carry it as it’s very
expensive. Here’s my comment on that, my Progressive agent saved me a boat load
of money over my prior year’s policy, and provided me with better coverage than
I’d had in years past. This policy included up to $2,500 in medical bills for
the rider. Chalk one up for Progressive!
Susan also asked me about my helmet and clothing that might
have been damaged in the accident. I explained that the helmet and bag were
already paid for but that I’d not been asked about my clothing. She told me to
run out and replace the pants and shirt that were damaged and to submit the
receipts to her for reimbursement. She also explained the process we’d be going
through moving forward. Specifically, that unlike a car accident, I didn’t need
$2,500 in medical bills to be eligible for a claim, in a motorcycle accident,
this starts at “dollar one”. This was news to me. She explained that once my
doctor has signed off that my injuries are healed, or as healed as they are
going to be, that Safety Insurance would offer me a settlement for my injuries.
This was also news to me.