[meinschaft]

You need an independent inspection of your bike - NOT by the dealer that crashed it.

 

[Darf]

Do not take that bike back from them. Call Yamaha corporate if you haven't already.

 

[CLemon]

You’re getting some good advice. Please take it and don’t be afraid to be assertive and hold them responsible.

 

[MK3Brent]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Unfortunately the dealership is the only Yamaha dealership in town. I will call my insurance today and ask for feedback, although it is uncomfortable that I have only owned it (and had insurance on it) for four days prior to the accident, but I know, it wasn't my accident. The bike is a 2018 with 3700 miles on it, not sure how that would play out if it were to be written off.

I was and still am suspicious as to the cause and behavior of the accident. The slide spots suggested much more speed than 15mph. Years ago my ex-wife dumped our FZ-6 going around a tight corner at about 10-15mph and all it did was snap off the foot peg and put a scuff on the bar end and rear rack, cost all of $20 to put a new foot peg on it. On the MT09 the casing on the transmission? alternator? whichever is on the left side was significantly ground down with lots of shiny metal showing, same story with the bar ends, frame sliders, clutch lever, and even a circle on the tank that looks like someone just held a sander to it until they reached shiny metal. I didn't think to look closely at the frame while I was in their shop, mostly just shocked by the event.

And don't feel uncomfortable that you only had insurance on it for a short amount of time. That is completely irrelevant to having your bike wrecked by someone else's negligence. Being the only Yamaha dealer/qualified tech garage in the immediate are only strengthens your case as you trusted them to be professional.
It doesn't need to be said I think, but you're not calling your insurance company to make a claim on your bike, you're calling them to tell them about another company's negligence and to have their information shared. Your insurance company will like to have a little chat with them.

Sadly, and you probably know this... this is going to take a LONG time to resolve.
When on the phone with your insurance company, you could also ask them if they recommend any attorneys in your area that may specialize in this sort of thing.

 

[LouG]

No, the dealers do not owe him a new bike. Would an insurance company write a 5 year old bike off and give you a new one?
They have to repair it to an acceptable standard, which they can do even if it would have been an insurance write off, or they replace it with a bike of similar age and condition.
In the 5 years I worked at a bike shop, there was only one accident by staff, a salesman crashed his work bike. This dealer sounds a bit cowboyish.
I'd get an independent report on the damage though.

 

[TopCone33]

Yea I am not expecting a new bike by any means. I am expecting the bike to be sufficiently repaired to OEM standards, or a replacement of a bike of equivalent value. I am also expecting to not pay for any of this work as I am not at fault for creating the need for this work.

I did speak with insurance and they are opening an investigation, a police report has been filed. We will see what happens next in this saga. At least I have other bikes to ride in the mean time, but man I was really looking forward to playing around with that triple!

 

[MK3Brent]

I did speak with insurance and they are opening an investigation, a police report has been filed.

Excellent.

 

[DNFDOUG]

The technician is a dumbass. Brand new tires are slippery for the first few miles until the coating is scrubbed off. No way he could crash at 15 mph, even with new tires. I hate to say it, but more the reason to work on your own bike, and there are literally hundreds of videos on how to change and bleed brake lines. As far as tires go, I would never trust someone else to get my rear axle straight and torqued properly, the manual is way off. I feel with all of my heart that if someone has the skill to ride a motorcycle, then they need to learn how to completly repair one. It is part of the sport. I only had manuals and time to learn how to work on bikes. We didn't have digital cameras invented yet or YouTube.

 

[TopCone33]

The technician is a dumbass. Brand new tires are slippery for the first few miles until the coating is scrubbed off. No way he could crash at 15 mph, even with new tires. I hate to say it, but more the reason to work on your own bike, and there are literally hundreds of videos on how to change and bleed brake lines. As far as tires go, I would never trust someone else to get my rear axle straight and torqued properly, the manual is way off. I feel with all of my heart that if someone has the skill to ride a motorcycle, then they need to learn how to completly repair one. It is part of the sport. I only had manuals and time to learn how to work on bikes. We didn't have digital cameras invented yet or YouTube.

Yea I hear ya, We have been learning how to work on our own bikes for the last year (riding for 10 years) and have really enjoyed the process of learning how to do all of this stuff on our own. That is part of the adding insult to injury in this experience, the only reason I didn't just do the work myself is I got excited about the tires and they said they could get the bike right in, so I thought if I just have them do it I can be back on the bike this weekend instead of in the garage all weekend. That's what I get for trying to take a short cut.

 

[marke14]

Hang in there TopCone! I recently had a dealership "brick the ECU" as part of the recall flash, and then they tried to blame me for it. I made it clear that I had brought a perfectly functional bike in, and they had ruined it and were trying to tell me it was my fault somehow.

You must be assertive and take charge of your destiny here. It will work out in your favor! It's tough but worth it. In the end if it doesn't work in your favor, it doesn't. But if you don't advocate HARD for yourself it won't break your way.

As you said you won't "get a new bike" but you need to be compensated fully per your local laws. Hang in there dude!

 

[1216bandit]

Do keep us posted as to how this all works out. At the very least I would think you should be compensated fully for the bikes cost including any ad ons.

 

[Shinyribs]

I have never before heard of a shop employee test riding new tires to check the balance, or for any other reason. Sounds like someone wanted a joyride and ended up learning a lesson in the process. The only time I've ever road tested a customer's bike is when repairing a ridability complaint to ensure that we have cured the problem. That is crazy.

I'd be interested in the "scuffed" swingarm, and a close look at the frame. While I don't believe these components are weak in any way, these cast parts can be pretty sensitive to damage. If the dealership's insurance is agreeing to replace all damaged items I don't know what else they could do. However, if they mention repairing the swingarm I would be a bit apprehensive about that. I would also be concerned about the scuffed engine cases. I lowsided a bike years ago and drug a hole through the stator cover. No other damage. However, road debris/gravel entered the hole and I ended up having to pull the engine and split the cases to properly clean things out. Just popping a fresh cover on would've left me with a time bomb.

Crazy situation, man. Best of luck to you!

 

[LouG]

While I am generally in favour of people working on their own bikes. It's not quite that simple. It took a 4 year apprenticeship for me to qualify as a mechanic. At that time it was common for the average guy to know something of how a vehicle works, not so much now. They're far too complicated and reliable for anyone to become familiar with their systems. Just watch "Just rolled in" if you don't believe that.
Then there's the internet, there is a mine of helpful information in there, but you have to tunnel through a lot of utter crap to find it.
Look at some of the things people have done in here over the years.
And because safety margins are much slimmer on just two wheels, I do wonder about ill informed people working on brakes and some suspension parts.

 

[TopCone33]

And because safety margins are much slimmer on just two wheels, I do wonder about ill informed people working on brakes and some suspension parts.

This is exactly why I was hesitant to try to address the brake issue myself, I knew that the combination of my excitement to ride the bike and my lack of experience with brakes was probably a bad mix. So I took it to the dealer, and then the dealer mechanic crashed the bike.

This has been an unfortunate experience as my limited interactions with this dealer prior to this have been mostly positive. So far they have ordered OEM parts and have articulated a plan to assemble the bike as soon as parts arrive. My insurance has communicated with everyone involved and advised on the situation. I also have my attorney up to speed on what happened. In the event that the bike is not repaired to my standards I will have my attorney dig into the dealership, but I am hoping they do what they have said they are going to do, the right thing, and return to me a bike in as good as or better condition then when I left it with them.

 

[meinschaft]

Document everything.Get every promise in writing.

 

[PegasusJockey]

You never mentioned what happened to the guy that wrecked it. Was he hurt at all? That could also have a bearing on the outcome.

 

[TopCone33]

You never mentioned what happened to the guy that wrecked it. Was he hurt at all? That could also have a bearing on the outcome.

The tech that wrecked the bike was present when I initially reviewed the damage to the bike. He said he was "ok" and tried to play it off like it was no big deal. He had visible road rash on both of his forearms - which suggests that he was riding my bike in a t-shirt, or at least without a proper jacket, and also suggests more questions about the speed at which the accident happened. In discussing things with the owner of the dealership I did follow up on it and asked if his employee had been seen by a medical provider and checked for any injuries resulting from the accident and he was adamant that yes this had happened and that his employee was "fine". I am aware of the potential liability of a later claim of injury from willful use of my vehicle, however do have the owner of the dealership on record stating that the employee was checked out and was "fine".

Did I mention that all I want to do is ride my f*in bike?! This is a mess!

 

[1216bandit]

Yeah a mess for sure! Hopefully things get resolved soon.

 

[LouG]

Well that's a batshit crazy system if true. A dealers employee crashes a customers bike while it's in for work and the customer is liable? What's happened to the employers insurance, or the employees personal insurance?
What if he injured himself working on someone's bike?
I certainly never take my bike to a dealer if that's the case.