HELP - Epic fight with an insurance company (ongoing)

This tale begins with an exiting overnight trip in Southern California, mostly off road, my wife on her 2010 F650GS twin ("BLUE") and I on my 2010 R1200GS ("RED") undertook this past Memorial Day weekend.

In this thread I'll write about how our trip was cut short when both our bikes broke down in the middle of the nowhere, how we struggled through miles of mountains to reach tarmac, how the kindness of complete strangers turned the tides for us, and how we thought we had put the worst behind us, as BMW Roadside Assistance managed to get a tow truck to us in less than 30 minutes, when not 3 minutes into the tow, this happened:



And that's where our ordeal really begun. You'll learn:

• how the system is stacked against you if you suffer a not-your-fault accident without any bodily injuries,
• what strategies an insurance employs to keep their cost to a minimum, which in turn set us up to be screwed viciously,
• what we did to stave off the worst of it,
• how we got unexpectedly stabbed in the back after turning it carelessly,
• and where we did find what little help we could get.

The purpose of this thread is to share our experience, and what lessons we took from it. I really hope we'll never have to go through something like this again, but if anyone else can use this to gain an advantage for himself, we'd be thrilled.

Until this fight is over, for obvious reasons, I will have to obfuscate names (the good and the bad) and locations to some extent, but in the end I plan to reveal most everyone.

HOW can YOU HELP us out right now?

1. stay tuned to this thread = subscribe to it and come back to read the posts
2. spread the word about this thread = the more readers the better
3. post your thoughts and ideas

How does that help?

There is one battle where we the only leverage I have is the threat to expose certain protagonists' nefarious ways to the public. We have a strategy to exploit this, but in addition it would go a long way if I could show public interest in this = so please stay tuned, spread the word and share any ideas you might have.

Chapters

1. Preface - How we ended up on that darn tow truck.
   • Part 1
   • Part 2
   • Part 3
2. Tow truck 101, get it up and keep it there!??
   • Part 1
   • Part 2
   • Part 3
   • Part 4
3. Why your rights don't serve you justice!
   • Part 1
   • Part 2
   • Part 3
   • Part 4
4. How eBay and Numbers evened our odds. (coming soon)
5. Once more into the breach. (tbd)
6. Epilogue. (tbd)

We ended up dealing with the Tow Truck company's insurance (that's what the Tow Truck company told us to do - and yes, there is a lesson to learn from that too). It is undisputed, that the Tow Truck Driver screwed up. However, the insurance refused to pay for fixing the car, but insists on totalling it.

ETA: of course I meant "bikes" not "car"

Well.. that's kind of a no brainer. The tow guy's liability should cover that. If you signed a thing saying they weren't liable.. well.. SOL.

Might be something that would be covered in comprehensive, but if I was your insurance company, I would (bad company) tell you to go after the tow truck driver's insurance, or (good company) go after the tow truck driver's insurance. Comprehensive covers things that have no reasonable negligent party or criminal act. This is neither. Unless straps were removed, your bike was not at all secured to the truck. Unless you did it and signed off on it, .... no, it's always the truck driver's fault for not properly securing a load. I am 100% sure he has insurance. Or at least is legally bound to have insurance just for such occasions. Again, this supposes that he is not acting in some Samaritany type way and absolved of liability. If it happened "off road" then you all might be ass out, or have a good argument on why comprehensive should cover it.

I recently had a slightly not my fault, insurance company didn't consider it my fault, negligence (children have accidents) and the insurance company paid out in spades, no problem at all, doesn't raise my rates. They told me not to even bother going after the city for the money.

Also, extent.

I spent too much time typing eh?

Of course it's his fault. Or at least legally. He's a truck driver. His load.

When my 1150 Adventure was written off, the insurance company offered me the value of a non Adventure 1150GS. My dad told me that when dealing with an obstinate insurance company, using the term "bad faith" can be helpful. It helped me in getting a reasonable settlement for my bike.

I'm very interested in the name of ins co for bikes & the tow co & drivers name & did you use AAA plus MC tow coverage.

If you you have 800 #s post them up & let the calls begin.

We'll apply all the pressure we can.

Research the legal terms "bailment" and "care, custody and control" as they relate to the tow company's liability in this situation.

Both bikes broke down? Ringing endorsement for B.

Thats what the cout system is for, unfortunatly

First, I'm assuming you meant to say they are insisting on totaling the bike vs. the car?
Second, perhaps I'm being a simpleton but my expectation would be to be able to call my insurance company and have them "work the claim for me". I have all my insurance with one carrier. I would expect the agent and the company to step up and deal with the details. It is what I pay them to do. If the agent can't handle it have them get me to someone who can. I would not be taking no for an answer.
They pay me and then work on subrogation against the other party IF the other party is responsible. Telling you to go deal with the tow company is total BS. Failure for them to comply is going to result in me raising a stink with the State Insurance Commission (they really don't want that) and possibly seeking legal options. I'd start diplomatically but I would not be standing for any of their BS.

Lawyer up.

Insurance companies are not your friends. They are there to make money and screwing you over is part of the job.

Check out the Overview Post here

This tale begins with an exciting overnight trip in Southern California, mostly off road, my wife on her 2010 F650GS twin ("BLUE") and I on my 2010 R1200GS ("RED") undertook this past Memorial Day weekend.

(first morning - and no worries in the world)
​

All was great until RED got bogged down, after we broke camp, first thing in the morning, in very soft ground.

Even though my trusty steed managed to fight her way back out, it was the end of the line for its clutch. Now in its defense, after 18,000+ miles of mostly hard off-roading with the occasional clutch fest, it simply had reached the end of its line.

Getting to the closest 4WD road was not too much of a hassle, as the clutch still had a little grip and it was all downhill.

(You can't see it, but the 4WD trail is dead ahead, at the very end of this little canyon)
​

From there though, its was another story. At that point, we were a day ride worth away from our home, where our truck could offer a pick up. However, our current location did not have a cell phone connection, so we could neither stay in touch, if we decided to split up, or call for help.
We also knew that BMW Roadside Assistance would not dispatch a tow truck off tarmac, and neither would generally towing companies. We did have a webbing motorcycle tow line with us and my wife'd BLUE was still working fine. So looking at the map and weighing the different options, we decided to follow the 4WD road in the direction that was leading out of the mountains and eventually would hit tarmac.

I have towed and got towed in cars many times (when I was young) and I knew, in theory, how to get towed on a motorcycle: wrap the end of the towline twice over the left handle and arrest it there by clamping down on the handle with your hand real hard (read: purple); if things go sideways, you only need to loosen your grip and you're free. My wife though had never done this before (car or bike) but she is absolutely fearless and as tough as they come, so we hooked the bikes together and got into it.

Flat, slightly down or up, did not prove to be a problem. However, we were in the middle of the mountains and so the 4WD road was mostly leading us up steep inclines, with lousy ground conditions, and switch backs. There was no room for error and poor BLUE, already packed to the gills, now also had to drag the weight of the fully loaded RED up those trails. The steeper and trickier the incline, the more tries we needed to get to the top, and each failed attempt usually ended by my wife taking a fall - it's hard to judge when to release the tow line, when she was still hanging in there and when her struggle was unrecoverable. So off my bike, up the hill, get BLUE clear (rather heavy with all that luggage), all the way down the hill, and try, try, try again…

You probably can imagine how taxing this was. My Awesome Wife took every fall like a champ (that's where the years of Aikido come in handy) and never complained even once, but alas, the amount of clutch she had to use, both due to the process of learning of how to do this in the first place as well a making it up those nary slopes, eventually proofed too much for her bike's wet clutch.

Continue Reading Part 2

Check out the Overview Post here.

I learned from a accident I was in. The Insurance company is not responsible to you, the person who holds the policy is responsible. When you sue you don't sue the insurance co. you sue the carrier of the policy. make sure the truck owner knows this. You"ll be surprised how fast they will get after their ins co once they find this out. Good luck

Read Part 1 here.

We had spotted what turned out to be a little turn out at a path crossing, promising some traffic. So we decided to use what little clutch we both had left to get there. An lo and behold, still more than half way in the mountains, we came upon a family with two of those Polaris crew cabin 4WDs and a bunch of dirt bikes flitting around.

Enter Chris: Good Samaritan No.1

(Second to the left: Chris, Good Samaritan)
​

He would do no less than towing BOTH our bikes, sequentially, ALL THE WAY to the tarmac. He'd first pull me on RED (my '10 R1200GS) up the next hill. Then I'd board his Polaris and ride back with him to where my Better Half would have run out of down hill on BLUE (my wifes '10 F650GS Twin) . She and I would switch places and then Chris would tow me on BLUE up the hill where RED was waiting. Then my wife and I each would mount our limping steeds and coast down the hill as far as we possibly could stretch it, following Chris in his Polaris showing us the way, and being shepherded by the rest of the family.

(Being towed up on of those many hills)
​

Rinse, wash, repeat. ALL THE WAY out of the mountains!

(Towed as far as legally possible)
​

His Polaris is not street legal, so there is no telling how far he'd taken us otherwise. He and his family had spent several hours of their precious memorial weekend time to haul our butts back to civilization. Lost for how to thank them, I tried to at least compensate him for all the fuel they wasted on us, but he would have none of it. In the best frontier spirit he simply asked us to "pay it forward", and Chris, we will, thank you and your family so much!

Continue Reading Part 3

Check out the Overview Post here.

Read Part 2 here.

Now, thanks to Chris and his family, we were out of the mountains, and had reached tarmac, but still no joy. We needed an address to call BMW Roadside Assistance (they seem no to do GPS coordinates) and so we pushed(!) on. Our target was the cross roads at the end of this one (way behind the hill ahead), as it had a name on the map, and so presumably a usable address.

(See where the road hits the horizon, that's where we're going, ehm, pushing)
​

While basically even or ever so slightly down hill, with only a few inclines, my clutch had finally given its last and so it was pushing for me. Luckily, there was still a tiny bit of friction left for my wife on BLUE, so she was able to mostly coast those last miles to the cross roads.

Enter Mike: Good Samaritan No.2

(Mike, good samaritan)
​

As I am pushing my big ass bike down that darn road, up pulls this gorgeously restored white Studebaker with Mike in it, asking if he could tow me somewhere. After explaining the situation to him (TWO bikes in trouble), he points out that we were still essentially in the middle of nowhere and would have a better chance for a tow waaaay further down (we did get the general direction right, though). He's got a truck with a trailer suitable for two motorcycles at home and even though I can't possibly ask him to go through that much trouble, he's having none of it: "Don't go anywhere, I'll be back in 15".

And not even 10 minutes later:

(That is one heck of a "suitable" trailer, it doesn't get any better than this. No really, read on, it doesn't!)
​

In no time, both my and my wife's bike are sitting safely tucked away on the trailer, and we are off. Mike decides, that the best place would be an In&Out Burger right next to the next Highway, it's easy to reach for the Tow Truck, plenty of space to load both bikes, and we can wait in the comfort of an air condition, and it's certainly not too much trouble for him and he just wants to make sure we're taken care of.

Well, he drove us almost an hour to the end of the goddarn valley. Looking now at the map, there would have been plenty of closer places where he could have easily dropped off, but we believe he really wanted to make sure that our ordeal was over and dealt with.

Once on the In&Out Burger parking lot my wife called BMW Roadside Assistance while Mike and I moved the bikes from his trailer. He then insisted to wait until the tow truck arrived, so we tried to treat him to a burger, but the Tow Truck arrived just as we walked towards the restaurant. Mike too, wouldn't have any thanks other than "pay it forward" and Mike, we will, thank you so much!


Continue Reading Chapter 02: Tow truck 101, get it up and keep it there!??

Check out the Overview Post here.

going threw the parties insurance that's at fault is one way to go. usually the best rout. i dont think its BS for the insurance agent to recommend this to a customer.

if you feel ull have trouble proving another parties at fault, or just want to get the claim started then go threw ur own insurance and let ur insurance co deal with it. but can take a very very long time if you ever see ur deductible money back. "this being another reason an agent will tell u first to go threw the at fault parties insurance first"

good luck with this, hope it all works out, would like to know what insurance companies ur dealing with too.

This is indeed one of the lessons.

It was the tow truck company that gave me their insurance company information and told to contact them. I grew up in Germany, where that is in fact what you do. You contact the other (guilty) party's insurance company and they have to deal with it. If you go through your own, it'll jack up your rates (no matter who's fault it was).

IF one has a comprehensive insurance policy, and they know what they are doing, using your them and let them sort it out, is indeed what we probably should have done. By the time we figured that one out though, we thought it better to press on from where we were (I will describe in detail later in this thread).

Besides, just out of principle, my insurance (and ultimately I and you through our premiums) should really not incur any cost through something so clearly not our fault...