PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I want to move to pa. There are some nice places west of me but I can’t do an 2 hr commute for work.

 

Estimate from Liberty Mutual just came in, and it's about $1,100 less than USAA...

 

We'll just see what Butch gives for his estimate; If he finds more damage then the insurance company is obligated to pay up...

 

Glad to hear your experience with them was good. Mine was the complete opposite and I hope I NEVER have to deal with them again. For my g/f and I they were the biggest bunch of scumbag crooks I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I won't thread jack this thread but if you want details feel free to PM me. Will only say we were hit head on while on my motorcycle in TN in 2019 by someone with Liberty Mutual.

 

I was reading it wrong; Turns out that it is less than $3,000 to repair and the estimate USAA gave me was before the deductible. Liberty Mutual came in at $100 less than USAA.

 

Share it here; I don't give a shit...

I wanna hear how you got hit head-on on a motorcycle and are still alive!

 

Sounds interesting. Do tell. I have never been on the receiving end of claims with LibMu as I have always been the insured. You could say I'm paying them to protect my interests which they have. I think we'd like to hear of the experience you had.

btw...been riding a long time and sold my sweet baby FJR1300 just yesterday afternoon. That's painful but sort of necessary.

 

Since you have offered your consent.

I'm heavily active on a couple of FJR1300 forums and they host a couple of forum meetings around the US every year. I've attended EOM the Eastern Owner's Meet almost every year since 2015. In 2019 the event was headquartered in Maggie Valley. NC close to many well known motorcycle roads like the Tail of the Dragon, Moonshiner 28, Blue Ridge Parkway and more. Dianne and I rode down on Wednesday September 18th and checked in to our room at the Maggie Valley Inn & Conference Center. We met up with quite a few other FJR owners, around 60-70, and had dinner that evening and drinks later. Thursday morning she and I got up and spent the day riding around the area hitting many of the great twisty roads. Friday we headed towards Gatlinburg, TN and on into Sevierville for pictures of some memorials we needed to visit participating in a motorcycle event called Tour of Honor.
https://www.tourofhonor.com/index.html
We've participated in this event for several years and really enjoyed it. We left Sevierville and were heading to go grab some lunch at a place in Newport, TN that had been listed in a FB group for motorcyclists as a "Ride to Eat" destination. We've just come through the small town of Newport and are following a tractor trailer at a low speed of roughly 15-20 miles per hour. The road is a 2 lane and to our right is another road kind of off at an angle kind of like a Y sort of intersection. The trucker in front of us has his right turn signal on and as he moves over to the right shoulder to make his turn I'm just continuing forward in my lane. There is a small car on that road and the driver decides to proceed with his left turn AROUND the now turning tractor trailer. Next thing I know I'm looking at the front of a small Honda about 15 feet in front of me and in MY lane! I applied as much brake as I could to the point I felt the ABS kick in and never even had a chance to warn Dianne. We struck the car pretty squarely and I recall landing on his hood as the bike fell to its right side. Dianne was basically pushed straight off and landed flat on her back in the street.




Traffic came to an immediate stop with the trucker blocking the entire intersection, the driver already on the phone to 911. My g/f is crying laying in the street and I rush to her immediately. She wants to get up but I insist she stay there until EMTs arrive. I've removed my helmet and most gear and do a quick self analysis that the only thing I feel might be of concern is my left wrist. I can move all of my fingers though so feel reasonably comfortable I haven't broken it. The driver of the car comes over and right away starts with the "I never saw you" mantra so common in these events. Dianne and I wear hi-viz yellow jackets and helmets and my bike had additional forward facing lights. The truck driver comes back stating he has a dash cam and got the whole thing on video and checks on both of us. Meanwhile the car driver is continuing to try and talk to me as I begin getting angrier by the minute. Police arrive which I'm quite thankful for as I'm dangerously close to removing his teeth with my helmet. Fire and ambulance arrive and they help remove my damaged bike form the roadway to the shoulder and tell the trucker to move his rig as it's blocking traffic. Much to my delight he tells the officer that his rig isn't moving until they download his dash cam video and take his statement as the car driver could have killed us and he wants to be sure we are taken care of since we're from out of state. To this day I truly regret I didn't get his name as I owe him big time for everything he did.

Statements are taken and the driver of the car is cited on the spot for careless driving. During all of this Dianne has been looked at and they recommend she go get x-rays but we decline the ambulance. Police arrange a rollback to pick up my bike and after talking to the driver we make a deal for him to transport us and the bike back to Maggie Valley where our friends and all of our gear are. I expected the officer to give us a copy of the other driver's insurance but learn it doesn't work that way in TN. Since I didn't get it from them before the police arrive I'm going to have to wait at least 5-7 days for the police report to be filed. During all of this I took several photos of the accident scene, his car, my bike, etc. One of the things I took a pic of was the other driver's license plate in case he decided to flee the scene. While in the rollback heading the 80 miles back to our hotel I called my insurance, Progressive, just to get the accident on file and start things moving.

Less than 2 hours later we're safely back at the hotel and our friends who are there come running after seeing a bike on the wrecker. The next morning one couple who'd had to travel separately to get there gave us a car to go to urgent care and get x-rays and to run to Asheville, NC to rent a car to get home about 10 hours away. I had a badly sprained left wrist and they told Dianne she should get further evaluation as soon as we got home. The x-rays were somewhat inconclusive and they thought a scan of her back might reveal more. Ultimately she had compression fractures of 2 lower vertebrae and needed months of physical therapy and even now still has some back pain. So how does Liberty Mutual play a part? The other driver had them for this insurance.

My motorcycle is totaled. My helmet, gloves, and jacket are trashed. Her helmet, jacket, and boots are trashed. We have the bill for a tow truck to haul us 80 miles to the hotel. We have to visit Urgent Care and both have follow up issues later. We have to rent a vehicle to get home. My bike had a ton of upgrades and accessories. My call to Progressive turned out to be a life saver for me at least. The hotel allowed me to leave my bike in the parking lot for the insurance company to pick up. Progressive called us that same night to see how we were and what they could do for us. I was able to send the photo of the car's plates to Progressive and they had the name and location of the driver before the police report was even filed. We didn't hear a word from Liberty until 2 weeks after the accident and that's when they called to ask both of us if we were ready to settle and what would it take to do so. Dianne went for physical therapy from October until almost March. It took us until May of 2020 to get things settled with Liberty Mutual. Progressive cut me several checks within one week of the accident which allowed me to replace my bike exactly 7 days after being hit which was amazing to me. Progressive reimbursed the towing charges, paid me clean retail for my bike, and reimbursed all the lost gear. I'm a little OCD about hanging onto receipts and such which definitely helped as I had a file folder of what gear we had and what we'd paid.

Liberty Mutual called Dianne at least every other week asking how much longer she would need therapy? How many sessions will it take? Why is it taking so long? They called me wanting to know what it would take to settle and they still hadn't reimbursed the damned rental car! From start to final settlement was somewhere around 8-9 months and more phone calls and emails that I can remember. I finally snapped on one of Liberty's agents during a phone call and told him I think he might have preferred dealing with my next of kin since he was being such a D**k. I hope I never again in my life have to deal with that company and want to throw a brick through my TV every time I see that F'n emu!

 

Why is that necessary? Love the FJR platform!

 

Hey, were you over at FJRForums with that group...BeemrDons, Garauld, Carver, Scooter, et al., and the big crowd there? I used to spend a lot of time over there a ways back aka: TreeDoc. I'm not up on the current 3rd Gen colors but was yours a '07 Gen 2? The color resembles such but that's certainly not her best side seeing her in the street like that. I had the faster, prettier '05 Galaxy Blue. First was a cervical fusion that took some time in recovery. BOunced back and hit the road but the lumbar was paining. Always paining. Then in '17 a lumbar surgery, then another in '19, and again in '20. My time on the FJR dwindled as I fought back for recovery on mountain bikes and road bikes. Next thing I know, my steed was just sitting there. Russell seats, all toured out for some pending ironbutt attacks that won't likely happen now. A close friend admired that machine from the day I brought her home. Just bought my wife a new RAV4 last tuesday and she announced she'd like to put it in the garage. IDK about that but my buddy was there with cash in hand so yesterday we did the deed. At 10pm last night I got a text from him with four words. "This.Bike.Is.Bitchin" I'm pretty sure he's STILL on it!


btw...You definitely got hosed by LibMu. I probably would have lawyered up and went to town after that. It's one thing YOU get banged up. It's a whole different game when your pax and loved one takes a hit with you at the helm.

 

Somebody upstairs likes you!

 

I always feared this would happen to me

 

I never expected it to happen to me; About three grand to fix! Truck has almost 150K miles, but thanks to it's insane resale value at the moment it is nowhere near totaled...

 

Sorry about your accident. However if the tables were turned, progressive would of done the same thing. That’s how insurance companies work. When they have to pay out, they are cautious as to how everything is handled. What they say and how they say it. Trying to come to a settlement is always in their favor. The more run around they can give you the more accepting they feel you will be to a settlement. If they call asking you how everything is going and being super apologetic, it doesn’t look good and a lawyer uses all that as leverage if it goes that far.

 

I actually met Beemerdons and Carver. Bought stuff from Garauld. Haven't met Scooter as yet but he's on my list! Unsure how much you were still active the in 2019 but I was the guy who gave that 07 to an IBR rookie on day 10 so they could finish the rally. I didn't just lose a bike I lost a friend! Have 5 Iron Butt Association certs hanging on my walls and Dianne has 2 as a pillion.

 

Oh I get it and know full well that they're in business to make money not give it away. That said I've had dealings with several insurance companies through my years both my fault and not my fault. These people just sucked. Dianne broke down and called a lawyer from a TV ad just for a free consultation to see what they could do especially for her as her injuries were greater. Big issue became we're in PA and the accident was in TN. I firmly believe Liberty Mutual used that to they're advantage to bone us. I have NOTHING good to say about them.

 

Very cool. I live about 30 minutes south of Carver. Did a couple RTE's with him and the group when it landed in our region, here. Puppychow is the one that got me sold on the FJR. He came and stayed with me at my house on one of his rides back in '08 when I had a tricked out 'zuki SV650 with panniers and was solo touring a lot. I always wanted an FJR but after that encounter, I was sold. A few weeks later I found mine. Sitting in a garage under the OEM FJR cover with 1700 miles on her. Couldn't get the money out of my pocket fast enough.

My wife is very close to retirement from the education system. We're outta-here immediately after and looking to head to Tennessee. At that point, I may jump back in the game and if I do, I'll likely just go buy a brand new FJR to celebrate.

 

@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Red Alert
@shakerhood
@Squatting Pigeon
@Taco critter
@TnShooter

I don't know how in the hell I encounter these people, but anyway, please read and respond...

My parents and I donated a substantial amount of food and medical supplies to this Ukrainian cultural center in Jenkintown, which in turn is having it shipped to Ukraine; I picked up the food at an Acme supermarket in Jenkintown. An employee helped bring the stuff outside and then waited with the two carts of groceries while I ran out to my truck to bring it up the store for loading; As I was running to the left, there was this older black guy walking to his Porsche SUV that was parked straight ahead and maybe three spaces from my Tacoma.

Before I even knew what was happening, he spins around and gruffly says "You're gonna get yourself killed running up behind a soldier like that!"

I did not see a gun, but I am pretty sure he was armed; He was also wearing a cap that identified him as some sort of veteran, so I don't think he was making up the "soldier" part. I said something like "Dude, I'm just running to my truck." I was dumbfounded, as he was walking straight ahead and I was not only going to the left but was also two or three parking spaces away from him...

He grumbled a few things under his breath as he hopped in his Porsche, and I continued to apologize, but he just looked straight ahead and turned the Porsche's stereo up really loud (his window was down) as he floored it of the parking lot. He was going way too fast, and this poor bastard in a white sedan was backing up. The guy in the Porsche almost T-boned the white sedan on the passenger side, but he slammed on his brakes and laid on the horn until the white sedan pulled back into the parking space to let him by. Porsche man then recklessly hauled ass out of the parking lot...

My parents don't think I did anything wrong, but that I need to have a bit more situational awareness. The Ukrainian center is one thing, and I'm making a few more donation runs back there this weekend, but after that I am not driving anywhere south of the Turnpike on-ramp on 611; The closer you get to Philly, the crazier people get!

Not even a week ago, I witnessed what I'm pretty sure was an attempted drive-by shooting in front of a specialty dealership in Philadelphia when I went there to take pictures of Mitsubishi Delicas!

 

Doesnt sound like you did anything wrong, maybe he was just having a bad day or something

 

Sorta what I was thinking; One of my coworkers is a combat veteran with PTSD and I could not begin to imagine what he goes through on a daily basis, so it's quite possible that the guy with the Porsche had some sort of war flashback.