It finally happened....

It happened on Saturday, nice day for a ride here in Fort Walton Beach, warm, sunny.... Riding down greenacres Road... 90 Deg right turn, almost through...and then it happened... Car speeds to the corner into my lane I swurved<(Of course I saw him comin, and new he was gonna try something stupid)> he clipped my rear tire. His bumper actually made contact with about 2" of my rear tire, off onto the pavement I go.
Bike is scratched, frame is good, fairings are meesed up good, I'm ok, landed on my back, THanks TO ICON back armor!!! I survived with some bruises and a scratch on my hand. Did I ever mention I hate SRT4's!!!! Stupid driver.
I think the insurance company wants to total it out becuase it's a 95 with 43000 miles, they have to replace + paint all fairings and tank, rear rim and tire, chain, sproket and brake caliper.. Should I let them? I can fix it, may take a bit.. Should I take the check or just tell them to replace some stuff and be off?
HELP!! I love this bike!!

 

Well that sucks! You may want to ask the insurer what it would cost to buy the bike back after they have paid you out. Generally it is very expensive to fix bodywork. However, there have been a number of good sites mentioned here for getting bodywork at a more reasonable cost. Sorry can't remember them as I have not had to deal with this problems so far. Touch wood. Good luck. And I agree about 4x4's they mostly seem to be driven by aggressive road hogs.

 

I have been down that road of despair when it comes to deciding to fix it or total it. Lots of things to think about and items to prioritize before making a decision. Sometime the obivous damage is only the begining.

I went down on my ZX-7 in 89 after colliding with another bike of all things. It was basically a explosion of plastic. Too make a long story short, I decided to do all the repairs myself and reap the rewards of the money I saved. It was not as I predicted and problem after problem pop up. End result was, I had spent so much time and money, it was nearly a year before I got the bike back to a markable condition. Like Reg71 has stated, "the practical thing would be total it, take the money and buy another in comparable condition."

Other things to consider, is your frame, sub-frame, triple clamps, and fork legs all straight with-in factory tolerence? For my incident, my zx-7 look good, but after I replaced all the plastic and the radiator, my zx-7 rode like crap. It was later discovered that all those items that were tweaked.

Best of luck on your decsion and getting back on the road.

 

Ok, so today they decided to total the bike... The price of total was going to e $3379. They kinda hooked me up, they got the bike looked at and found that everything was straight, so the only damage was cosmetic... I took a hit on a few cosmetic things and was able to keep the bike and get a check for $3129 for damages... I think I did the right thing, I know that the money alone will not cover parts, labor and paint but I think I can put a little extra in to make it nice.
Can anyone help me with good shops for paint, and parts to replace? Basically everything plastic from front nose, all the way down the right side. I know tail section is one piece so that doesn't count.
Another quick one, would changing the color of the bike make me a bad owner? I really would like to see it black, but I may just buy an 06 to get the black... Thanks for the kind words and help... Back to riding soon...

 

Damn, dude, who cares what we think? It's YOUR bike, do what you want to it.

 

I agree that the practical thing would be to buy a new one... but I am glad you keep it.

If you buy Honda plastic (at least for my year) it comes pre-painted / stickered. (don't go to the dealer though $).

If you paint it black, and sell it later it will be more obvious that it has been in an accident... but if your not interested in selling it soon... paint it as you wish... like the other guy said... it is YOUR bike.

Good luck, glad your okay.

 

Give it to the gods and get a different VFR.

'95 is way past (IMO) the age of readily available OEM replacement parts. I loved my '94, but after the guy I sold it to wrecked it, I got the chance to buy it back for almost nothing. The problem was I didn't have the desire to slave away fixing it, when I could be back on the road with another bike.

As for color, REV's right...