Motorcyclists: I Need Your Help!
Image by merrick_monroe
I *just* got word that, after reviewing the gear Makal and I were wearing when we had the motorcycle accident last month, the insurance agent took posession of ALL the gear and put it in a trash compactor.
Not all of this gear was damaged, but we submitted it for his review being under the impression that we would receive ALL gear back after, damaged or not. The unharmed gear that was destroyed included Makal’s Rx motorcycle goggles, his lightly scuffed leather coat, my leather boots (thank god it wasn’t my Docs), and my completely unharmed lambskin leather coat that I bought at the Gap in 2002.
The insurance agent has approved a payout of just over 00 for all of our gear; when Makal called him just now after trying to pick up our gear at the bike shop, the agent told him that he had visited or contacted each store from which we had purchased our gear and had approved the full purchase cost in our settlement. Oh, he just happened to visit the New York optometrist who Makal had to special-order his goggles from? He managed to time travel to the Gap 6 years ago to price my lambskin coat? Bull fucking shit; 00 could not possibly cover the retail price of everything he destroyed, let alone the memories.
The agent also claimed that seizing gear that has been in a motorcycle accident and destroying it is "standard practice" for that agency. Everyone at the bike shop was utterly shocked; as one of the largest dealership and repair centers in Portland, they had never heard of an agent destroying gear post-accident and they only deal with this insurance agency. EVERYone has always gotten their gear back.
Motorcyclists of past and present: PLEASE let me know if this has ever happened to you! I know there’s a fair few of you who’ve been in accidents yourselves, so please just leave a word as to whether your insurance agent destroyed all your gear after, and if they let you know that was going to happen. We are building a case against the insurance and your input could really help us out.
I am so mad right now. This is just absurd. BUT, it was just a coat, just a pair of boots. I’m not going to let this incompetent douche ruin my weekend.
Update: I left my own comment below, but essentially, the agent adjusted the settlement after we presented our own research and we are being fully compensated for our gear. Sucks that things happened this way and were so unexpected, but the insurance is acting fairly in their settlement so I can’t really be peeved about that. (Still, wish I had my coat back.)