how do you find a body shop for a motorcycle?

[tomcat27]

I imagine that this question is alot like finding a perfect body shop for a car; but I have never found a shop that does a perfect repair.
In this case, I was hit from the left by a minivan, so damage to the shift linkage (it's a heel and toe setup), tank is dented, windshield, fender, turn signals, driving lights, bags, probably the foot boards, levers. I want the paint to be perfect.

Also, I commute daily 60 miles, or at least I used to. Given that this is my 2nd incident in 3 years, my wife is saying "for sale"...
And, has anyone got input on whether to use a lawyer? or just trust insurance adjuster?

 

[benjy]

prolly any motorcycle shop as parts will be replaced + usually new parts are prepainted to match OE. of course an independent will be cheeper but dealers may have parts in stock + prolly get what they dont have faster. i have + ride motorcycles but riding in congested areas on something smaller with a lot of distracted drivers is dangerous + as MCRider vids note you may be able to prevent some ops with better defensive skills. glad you were not seriously hurt!!

 

[wpod]

Also, I commute daily 60 miles, or at least I used to. Given that this is my 2nd incident in 3 years, my wife is saying "for sale"...

2 [incidents ? ] in 3 years says you are not supposed to ride a M/C, I have ridden M/C from 14 years old and I never had an [incident] Listen to the Wife , she is showing wisdom.

 

[FordMan59]

I doubt there are many automotive body shops that will work on motorcycles outside of maybe painting tank etc. if you take it off and bring it to them. If the other persons insurance is covering the cost of the repair I'd take it to a dealer if not an independent motorcycle shop will likely be a little cheaper on labor. I wouldn't want just anyone working on a bike. I'd want someone who does it for a living and knows how to do it right. I too rode for years. As for whether to get a lawyer or trust the insurance adjuster, I'd recommend a lawyer if this is a personal injury case. I was injured in a construction accident 21 years ago that left me disabled. I got a lawyer and still didn't get what I should have. If I'd have listened to my lawyer I'd have got even less. Get an attorney that specializes in personal injury not like I did and got a run of the mill attorney. As I remember the insurance companies opening offer was something like $5K. Insurance adjusters aren't looking out for you, they're paid to save the insurance company as much money as possible. I had a water heater leak in my house a few years ago the insurance adjuster recommended I get an estimate from Servpro so, I did. When I got the estimate there wasn't any mention of drying anything out just replacing some flooring and drywall. Their estimate was about $4-5K. I knew this wasn't accurate so I got two estimates of my own. One was $48,500 from a general contractor the other was from a mold remediation company for about $25,000. I had another company come out to give me an estimate and they asked if I was hiring someone to make the repair or if I was going to do it myself. I asked them what's the difference it's the same amount of damage either way. I know this is what Servpro did they gave a lowball estimate for the adjuster in case I wanted to do it myself but if they did it they got an open dollar contract to fix it.

 

[Gimpy1]

I imagine that this question is alot like finding a perfect body shop for a car; but I have never found a shop that does a perfect repair.
In this case, I was hit from the left by a minivan, so damage to the shift linkage (it's a heel and toe setup), tank is dented, windshield, fender, turn signals, driving lights, bags, probably the foot boards, levers. I want the paint to be perfect.

Also, I commute daily 60 miles, or at least I used to. Given that this is my 2nd incident in 3 years, my wife is saying "for sale"...
And, has anyone got input on whether to use a lawyer? or just trust insurance adjuster?

It a depends, a lawyer is only interested in the BI (bodily injury) portion and could care less about the PD (property damage) and will take 1/3 of the BI settlement. Its your descision. As for the PD you can take it to any bike dealer and they will fix it, 99 percent of the time it will be all OE parts, unless you have a custom bike, and btw the also owe for damaged safety equipment, including your helmet which most be replaced if it had any impact. I'vehandled alot of motorcycle claims in my insurance career but had to stop after my PTSD from my motocycle accident began interfering with my job. I'm glad your ok.