Modern Buddy

I'm posting to point out that it's always a good idea to use that little loop on the kickstand to attach your lock to.

In this case, I had a noose chain around a lamppost, then another chain around the waist (footboard) of the scooter. I usually attach my lock through both chains and the kickstand loop - but didn't this time. The thieves laid the scooter on it's side, then smashed some of the body panels so they could get the chain off the waist and over the handlebars. When I came back outside, both chains were still locked to the lamppost, but the scooter was gone. If I had used the kickstand loop, it would have been a lot harder for them (but not impossible, of course). Alternatively, perhaps I should start using a shorter chain around the waist.

We recovered the scooter a block away in an alley - but in addition to the damage they did getting it off the chain, they did even more trying to get it started. Unfortunately, it was totaled. Fortunately, I had insurance.

Just getting around to replacing it now. I think I'm going to get another 170i -- I just don't see anything else on the market I like as much.

Jerks!

Sorry you had to see that happen to your baby...

that sucks! so sorry to hear about your experience. good thing you had insurance. thanks for the tip re: the kickstand loop thing.

Ugh... I hate thieves. All these reports have me rethinking not having full coverage.

Those photos of your busted up Buddy made me sad. If that happened to my scooter, I would be very upset. That was a really nice Buddy they trashed. Sorry for your loss. I hope your insurance company takes care of you and you are riding again soon.

Smittydc wrote:Alternatively, perhaps I should start using a shorter chain around the waist.

Instead of wrapping a chain around the scooter (which can be defeated if the thief is willing to do enough repairable damage, as in this case), I run the chain through the side-to-side metal tube that hangs down just a little from the underside of the floor, located roughly where the center stand is attached. It's a rigid, load-bearing part of the frame, and forms a closed loop with the rest of the frame. I can't see any way for someone to remove a chain that's been run through it and locked to itself without defeating the lock, cutting the chain, or cutting the frame. A thief without the means to do one of those things should quickly reach the conclusion that there's no easy way to free it, and give up.

Sorry for your loss and thank you for sharing the experience. I never bothered chaining it up at all since I have insurance and live in a pretty small community but "it never happens until it finally happens".

TVB wrote:...or cutting the frame.

I've seen a photo where they did exactly that. The best insurance is still insurance. I desperately wish things weren't this way...

jrsjr wrote:

TVB wrote:...or cutting the frame.

I've seen a photo where they did exactly that. The best insurance is still insurance. I desperately wish things weren't this way...

The best insurance is the insurance you don't file a claim on. There's no such thing as perfect protection (which I know all too well as an IT professional), but you can discourage a lot of mischief by making it harder to succeed. And when it requires little or no additional effort to use a more secure method, I think it's worth encouraging.

How is that scooter totaled ?

I assume your question is 'How did the insurance co. conclude this is a total loss?'
If I'm right, I can make some sense of it.

The adjuster looks the machine over.....every scratch, bruise, cracked, broken, part that can be attributed to the theft is recorded.....this will include refinish work to the frame if required.

The total of parts, sublet (frame refinish), and labor are added up.
If the amount reaches somewhere between 60 to 70% of current N.A.D.A. book value for the model and year, the machine is considered a total loss.

The percentage of value is used because there is the possibility of 'Add on Repairs'.
These are additional parts/labor required for repair found after disassembly or during re-assembly.

For example, during reassembly, the repairman finds the panels he is trying to install are not lining up properly with the mateing points on the frame.
This is a indicator the frame is twisted....not enouph to break paint, but enouph to have dimensionaly changed.
So now, the repairshop must call the insurance co. for a add order.
Because the job has started and parts have arrived, the insurance co. has no alternative but to continue with the repair.

If the repair total had been written for, say, 75% of book value, and now it needs a frame plus labor to exchange everything, the insurance co. has now spent more than the machines retail value to repair it.

Bad business.....you would really complain about rates if they continually made that error.

Hope that didn't muddy the water too much.

Rob

I get what Robbie is saying, I think all the body panels replacement cost is $300 to $400 plus a new ignition switch that don't seem like much to get back on the road. No resale value with a salvage title bummer

TVB wrote:

jrsjr wrote:

TVB wrote:...or cutting the frame.

I've seen a photo where they did exactly that. The best insurance is still insurance. I desperately wish things weren't this way...

The best insurance is the insurance you don't file a claim on. There's no such thing as perfect protection (which I know all too well as an IT professional), but you can discourage a lot of mischief by making it harder to succeed. And when it requires little or no additional effort to use a more secure method, I think it's worth encouraging.

To both posts. I've never had one of my toys stolen, but did lose my first ATV trailer while stored at my brother-in-laws used car storage yard. It was locked with a heavy chain, but that didn't prove to be much of a deterrent.

Anyway, this thread reminded me of an older article/interview I'd read with a former bike thief. Much of this we already know, but there are some different perspectives here. Also, it has me wondering about bike tracking devices. In the past they were cost prohibitive for inexpensive bikes, but I'm not sure that's still the case. Might be worth a check.

For those interested, from the Ride Apart:
http://rideapart.com/2012/05/ask-a-motorcycle-thief/

Rob

Can you at least get your front and rear racks? That would only be fair (unless the insurance company buys you new ones...)

I appreciate the perspectives from an insurer's point of view, but even without that I have no trouble seeing this poor scoot as totaled.

Sure, all the panels that are completely broken may not add up to more than a few hundred dollars, but I'll bet they scratched pretty much every panel and part on the side they put it down on to get it out of the chain. I can see, for example, that the brake lever got the knob scratched off. The front blinker panel, while not broken, got a good scratching up, and the front rack has at least one big scratch. The foot peg on the right and just below it got scratched, as well as all along the bottom edge. The glove box and the opposite side on the top took some scratching as well. And that's just what we can see in the photos, and scratches I think rarely look as bad in pics as they do when you are looking at the scooter IRL.

And that's before you even get into the ignition and column lock damage.

Not trying to be a smartass, but yes, this poor baby looks totaled to me without question.


GRR I hate this. What total lowlifes to wreck this scooter so badly.

They used to shoot horse thieves. They used to keel haul pirates. I guess good insurance is more humane. Sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss of time and to replace the scoot. I recently had to go through this with my insurance company although I just downed my Stella. I understand the point of view from the insruance company but I feel that if you are paying the insurance company and the bike is fixable that the insurance company should do their job. Not try to find the "easy way out". And trust me the insurance companies know this. They just don't tell the consumer so they make up this nonsense about percentages to get out of loosing money. They don't do it that much with cars but to a motorbike that is relatively cheap in thier eyes they almost always "total" it even if it is repairable.
I fought my insurance company and made them pay to fix my Stella. As I wasn't going to take "No" for an answer. I could see if it was completely totaled but it wasn't. In short if your paying full coverage, expect full service. They are going to make the money back regardless.....

They do the same thing with cars. Insurance "totaled" my Miata which I then repaired for $300 in used parts and an afternoon of my labor. I made sure I got the old "wreck" from them with its value deducted from what they paid me. The best part was they forgot to notify the state. I still have a clean title!
Totaled still doesn't mean gone forever. I have owned two Ducatis that had cosmetic damage to their frames and had salvage titles before I got them. The parts and labor to repair them would have been astronomical but I was able to buy some great bikes at half price.

Hello Smitty,

Where in DC did this happen? I just got a 170i which I park on the street in the Nation's Capital.

Thanks,
Vincent

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sorry that you went through this Smitty.

The video above (a similar theft in DC) shows exactly how many of the thefts are occuring, particularly in the DC area too, as my wifes first Buddy was stolen this way. She had a 7 foot onguard chain looped over the floorboard and the chain was found as we left it, without a scooter in the middle. It was taken from outside of our building in N. Arlington and found several weeks later in a public housing block where Benning Rd, Bladensburg Rd, Maryland Ave, Florida Ave and H St come together in Northeast DC. Fortunately, we had comprehensive coverage. No area is immune from thefts around here, as I'm sure our bikes were being cased. Mine had a Xena lock on it and a tighter chain (5') locked the same way. Hers had a Xena lock, but it was acting up and randomly alarming for no reason the past few days (possibly debris on the contact), and we didn't have it on.

Everyone, lock you're bikes up securely and insure them!! Too many posts like this lately, but at least Smitty had insurance.

These photos show where I secure my Buddy. The underside of a 125/150/170 will look different, but that tube should still be there to loop a cable or chain through. Wheels can be removed with simple shop tools. A chain wrapped around any part of the scooter can be unwrapped (see above video). But this is going to be secure against anything short of cutting tools, and it's really very easy to use (easier than wrapping around the floor): just thread the chain through the loop directly under the foot of the kickstand. The weakest point here is the chain, and if you live in an area with better-equipped and more-determined thieves, you can use something better.

I run my cable lock thru the rear wheel. Thieves have to remove the exhaust to get the back wheel off.

This is how the underside of a Buddy 170i looks like and how I locked it today (please forgive the low quality photos):