Motorcycle Digest – Be sure you get the loss of use/rental value you are entitled to be paid!
We Ride……We Understand……
From Peake and Fowler Law Firm, P.A.
By Thomas K. Fowler, Jr.
Be sure you get the loss of use/rental value you are entitled to be paid!
If you’ve been in an accident on your bike in South Carolina, and the accident was not your fault, there is a good possibility that you will have to work with the at fault driver’s insurance company. Don’t let an insurance adjuster talk you into taking less for the lost use of your bike, while it is being fixed after a wreck, than South Carolina law allows. If your bike is damaged in a wreck due someone else’s fault, their liability insurance carrier (or your own company if the at-fault driver did not have insurance) owes you for three (3) things:
- cost of repairs;
- loss of use; and,
- depreciation
Loss of use under South Carolina law means that you are due the fair market rental value. Not what the insurance company wants to pay you, but what it actually costs to rent a bike like yours, while your bike is being fixed. Most of the time, insurance adjusters try to persuade you to accept much less than what you are actually entitled to be paid. They do this by convincing you to compromise and take what they can get a rental car for through some rental agency with which they have some discount deal.
Usually, adjusters will offer to pay you $20 to $25 per day or rent a car for you. Do not fall for this!
The fair market rental cost for a motorcycle is best determined by what dealers charge to rent bikes. Based on local dealer rates that can range between $45 to $125 per day depending on make and model. Even if you do not actually rent a bike, you are still entitled to the fair market rental value!
Contact our South Carolina Motorcycle Accident Injury Attorneys
So, don’t accept the rental car value the adjuster wants to pay you. It is the adjuster’s job to save the insurance company money, not meet your needs or demands. Don’t be fooled, you are most likely entitled to more, so don’t hesitate to demand what they owe you. At Peake & Fowler we ride and we understand the needs of those who ride. If we can be of any assistance, please call us at (803) 788-4370 or contact us through our website contact form.
Ride safe!
Tommy Fowler
Principal
Peake & Fowler
