Guy knocked my VFR over!

[DaveBall]

I have had similar issues with the police not wanting to bother coming out for an accident report. Especially if it is in a private parking lot. I just tell them that the person that "violence" may be involved and that I will not be responsible for what may or may not happen. It is absolutely amazing how fast the get out of the donut shop and get their lazy asses out to the accident scene. Once, a cop said that he should have me charged for giving false information. I told him to check the recording of my call and that I only said that violence MAY happen. I never said that it would. It was around that time that he wiped the donut sugar off his upper lip.

[Steve G.]

Originally Posted by DaveBall

I have had similar issues with the police not wanting to bother coming out for an accident report. Especially if it is in a private parking lot. I just tell them that the person that "violence" may be involved and that I will not be responsible for what may or may not happen. It is absolutely amazing how fast the get out of the donut shop and get their lazy asses out to the accident scene. Once, a cop said that he should have me charged for giving false information. I told him to check the recording of my call and that I only said that violence MAY happen. I never said that it would. It was around that time that he wiped the donut sugar off his upper lip.

Police in BC never come out to accidents unless there's injury.
Must have been a Tim Hortons donut...

[JerryH]

In my state, the police WILL NOT come out unless there is reason to believe it was done on purpose, or someone was injured. Traffic laws do not apply on private property, and an accident is not a crime. In fact, they can deny they did it, and unless you have witnesses, you're SOL. You could sue, but the burden of proof would be on you, you would have to pay up front, and it would cost far more than you would ever recover even if you won. Looks like you lucked out. I would definitely want ALL the damage repaired. This is the reason I drive a beater car to work. Well that, and it has A/C.

[skysailor]

Originally Posted by bunghole

Thanks for all the responses!

I dropped the bike off at the dealer yesterday. I noticed the right side fairing is sitting closer to the gas tank which tells me maybe a bent mount or radiator. Guys at the shop said it could easily top $2k in repairs.

As far as the guy that did it, I know him casually from around the building. He is the one that came up and told me in person that he knocked the bike over. Apologized profusely and said he would take care of all repair costs. We walked down and he helped me pick it up. He's a professional in his 50's and has worked in the building for years. I'm not worried that he'll do the right thing. I think he's going to be shocked at how much it costs though.

What are your thoughts on this? I noticed there was some scuffing on the left side where his car pushed the bike over, but it is minor and I'm confident it can be buffed out...in fact, it mostly rubs off with my finger. Part of me thinks everything should be fixed to how it was before, but the reasonable side of me says, the bike is almost 5 years old and has 35k miles on it and its fair share of wear and tear. Maybe I'll just let the dealer determine that. I try to be fair and reasonable in life and so far, it's worked out well for me.

Seems to me, you'll be Okay. Everybody likes to assume the worse. They scram for police, lawyers etc. However, sometimes people are not asshats. Sometimes they do the right thing. Seems to me, this guy is willing to play fair with you. Good news. Let him step up to the plate and make things right.
Cheers

[rocker59]

Originally Posted by bunghole

There is a guy that works in my building that always parks right next to my bike. He just ran into my '08 VFR and knocked it over on it's right side.

He mentioned that he can't imagine the repairs would cost more than his deductible. I'm afraid he's in for a very rude awakening.

Originally Posted by bunghole

What are your thoughts on this?
I try to be fair and reasonable in life and so far, it's worked out well for me.

Your coworker is going to shit when he hears the quote that is going to be a couple thousand dollars.

He'll end up trying to avoid you after you tell him how much it's really going to cost him!

[gplassm]

My experience has taught me that most people *are* nice about it - at first. It is only when the repair estimate proves to be many times what they had anticipated, that their real personalities emerge. That is when they dig in, and start arguing about what damage was "already there", and next, how it actually happened - and that is when the police report becomes invaluable.
I wish the OP the best of luck with this. He sounds like he genuinely just wants (and deserves) his bike to be returned to the condition it was in pre-accident, and that in itself is admirable, but don't blame us when the "nice guy" suddenly turns and runs from the whole thing.
A police report will protect you, it's free, and it is THEIR JOB. There is no good reason *not* to have one written up.

[JerryH]

Originally Posted by gplassm

My experience has taught me that most people *are* nice about it - at first. It is only when the repair estimate proves to be many times what they had anticipated, that their real personalities emerge. That is when they dig in, and start arguing about what damage was "already there", and next, how it actually happened - and that is when the police report becomes invaluable.
I wish the OP the best of luck with this. He sounds like he genuinely just wants (and deserves) his bike to be returned to the condition it was in pre-accident, and that in itself is admirable, but don't blame us when the "nice guy" suddenly turns and runs from the whole thing.
A police report will protect you, it's free, and it is THEIR JOB. There is no good reason *not* to have one written up.

Hopefully it works out for the best. Unfortunately you don't have the option of getting a police report in all states, unless it is "criminal damage" Accident damage is considered a "civil" matter on private property.

[kbasa]

Originally Posted by bunghole

Thanks for all the responses!

I dropped the bike off at the dealer yesterday. I noticed the right side fairing is sitting closer to the gas tank which tells me maybe a bent mount or radiator. Guys at the shop said it could easily top $2k in repairs.

As far as the guy that did it, I know him casually from around the building. He is the one that came up and told me in person that he knocked the bike over. Apologized profusely and said he would take care of all repair costs. We walked down and he helped me pick it up. He's a professional in his 50's and has worked in the building for years. I'm not worried that he'll do the right thing. I think he's going to be shocked at how much it costs though.

What are your thoughts on this? I noticed there was some scuffing on the left side where his car pushed the bike over, but it is minor and I'm confident it can be buffed out...in fact, it mostly rubs off with my finger. Part of me thinks everything should be fixed to how it was before, but the reasonable side of me says, the bike is almost 5 years old and has 35k miles on it and its fair share of wear and tear. Maybe I'll just let the dealer determine that. I try to be fair and reasonable in life and so far, it's worked out well for me.

Get a picture of the scuff.

[Contevita]

And don't drop this thread, keep us posted on the outcome.

[seetomgo]

Originally Posted by gplassm

My experience has taught me that most people *are* nice about it - at first. It is only when the repair estimate proves to be many times what they had anticipated, that their real personalities emerge. That is when they dig in, and start arguing about what damage was "already there", and next, how it actually happened - and that is when the police report becomes invaluable.
I wish the OP the best of luck with this. He sounds like he genuinely just wants (and deserves) his bike to be returned to the condition it was in pre-accident, and that in itself is admirable, but don't blame us when the "nice guy" suddenly turns and runs from the whole thing.
A police report will protect you, it's free, and it is THEIR JOB. There is no good reason *not* to have one written up.

that's exactly what happened when my wife got rear-ended (lady on cell phone)...the lady that hit her was so cooperative, friendly, and apologetic that wifey didn't bother getting a police report. once we got the estimates from the dealers and relayed them to the guilty party, she became much harder to deal with. luckily it ended ok, as the lady could have told us to go screw and we would have had no recourse without a police report.

as a side note, the cops here won't respond to parking lot fender benders either. unrelated, but years ago i even had a friend/roommate get t-boned on a city street in a hit-and-run. he waited around for over an hour for the cops (nopd), then gave up and drove to our house which was less than a half mile away. when the cops finally responded 3 hours later they tried to charge him with leaving the scene of an accident.

[GB]

Originally Posted by gplassm

My experience has taught me that most people *are* nice about it - at first. It is only when the repair estimate proves to be many times what they had anticipated, that their real personalities emerge..

That's exactly what happened to a friend's bike.. knocked over while parked, the offernder said he'd pay, till the damage estimate came back at $6000... ultimately, my buddy's insurance wrote it off and my buddy was out of pocket as he had to buy a new bike.

[scrannel]

It used to be that you could go into a police station and file an accident report yourself (if they will not respond). Not sure if you still can.

[bk brkr baker]

In early December we had the gift of a freakishly warm day so I called my bud and said let's ride to eat. We met on the road and stopped for gas as had been aranged. I topped off and pushed my bike forward to give him room. I turned and walked toward him a couple of steps , then heard tire squeal followed by a crunch. i couldn't see what happened as there was a pick-up leaving the station that was blocking my veiw.
I turned toward my bike and saw a black mini-van slideing sideways toward it.I checked my urge to rush to save the bike and went with posative thoughts like, it's not going to hit my bike and it's going to stop. Then it did hit my bike and swatted it off the sidestand and several feet into my friends bike , while he was pumping gas.
The mini-van had turned into the station directly in the path of a Honda car that couldn't avoid it. The local deputy's showed and got all the info, I had my camera and recorded the scene , the mini-vans driver was hauled off by ambulance and I rode home on my damaged bike.
After a few days I went to the sheriffs office and got the accident report, the I went to the closest State Farm agency which , turned out to be the van drivers agent.I had already taken the bike to the dealer for an estimate so the agent faxxed that to the head office. They sent out an adjuster to make sure the damage was real and he and I found a few things that had been left off.
The bike is an '04 ST3 Ducati with 43,500 miles showing and a book of $5572. The damage estimate was higher so the totaled the bike. I elected to retain the bike at a cost of $800 and received a check for the balance.
The next chapter will see the Duc as a sidecar tug set up for rough road travel.
Good luck with your bike repair , I have a feeling the next time something like this happens you'll want the Po-Po involved and the insurance companies.

[ph0rk]

Originally Posted by GB

That's exactly what happened to a friend's bike.. knocked over while parked, the offernder said he'd pay, till the damage estimate came back at $6000... ultimately, my buddy's insurance wrote it off and my buddy was out of pocket as he had to buy a new bike.

of course, even in cases where insurance does pay, you are often stuck trying to replace a bike with only a fraction of its value.


it's annoying as hell but I'm calling in the cops and immediately photographing/taking video walk around shots of the scene no matter what the next time this happens to me, even if its only a vstrom they knock over (a bike that can take it, or at least look just like it did before after)


the op is lucky he was even able to identify the offender, in most cases they just leave.

[sparkymcgee]

I'll keep this thread updated as I learn more...still no estimate from the dealer. Hopefully today.

The guy that did it is the president of a RE development company. This is a small building where everyone kind of knows everybody. If he didn't do right by me, I would make his life difficult. My company is part owner of the building and my boss is an attorney, so we would have some fun. Very worst case scenario is that he disappears and my insurance covers it. I use USAA and they've always been very cooperative. Maybe I'll call them just so they know what's up.

Anyhoo, as stated, I will keep everyone updated.