niuparent

I hope someone can give us a clue about how to determine an older bike's value. My son was involved in an accident at his university, and besides his broken nose, chipped teeth, and stitches, his 1990 Schwinn 754 aluminum bicycle was damaged. My son bought the bike used a few years ago, replaced the tires and a few minor parts, and has loved riding it ever since. We have a "College Student Insurance" policy that says they'll estimate losses "according to actual cash value with proper deduction for depreciation." We aren't sure what that means in practical terms. Can anyone help us? Thanks in advance.

10 Wheels

Take the bike to a Bike Shop and get a written estimate for the insurance company.

IthaDan 

Your best angle might be to find closed ebay auctions and take screenshots to establish value.

Poguemahone

+10. It will be higher than anything we give here, plus the Insurance company will discount any appraisals from internet yahoos like us (even though we are prolly closer to market value).

niuparent

Thank you for the replies thusfar. I'm still hoping someone who has dealt with a bicycle insurance claim might be able to give us a little more information, especially about the depreciation question. What is the typical "life expectancy" of a bike? I understand where an insurance company might say that computer equipment, after 5 or 10 years, is obsolete, but a good functional bicycle, even if it's 20 years old, seems like it still has value to me.

From what I can gather, a person who has a replacement insurance policy (which I don't think is what my son has) would get an equivalent item for whatever was damaged. The college insurance policy says "Loss valuation shall be ascertained according to actual cash value with proper deduction for depreciation." If, for example, an item was $1,000 new, and they say it straight-line depreciates 10% per year, then after the first year, the insurance would probably pay a maximum of $900 for repairs, after the second year, only $800...after the ninth year, it's lost 90% of the value and they'd only pay $100, and if it's older than that, then they might claim it's zero.

We did take the bike to a local shop, and they estimated some repair parts (the fork, etc.) but the unknown is the aluminum frame...The owner suspects, from looking at the paint cracks, that it was also stressed, and he said it could last another 20 years, but he wouldn't guarantee that it wouldn't deform the next time it hit a big pothole, either. Therein is the biggest dilemma...

Scooper

The problem in calculating depreciation is determining the useful life of the 1990 Schwinn 754 Aluminum.

The MSRP of the 1989 754 Aluminum was $749.95 (see 1989 price list below).

Here's an article on the Livestrong website about calculating bike depreciation:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/11...-used-bicycle/

PartsMan

I wouldn't spend a lot of resources figuring up the value of a 23 year old bike to and insurance company.

Your best shot with them might be it's weight in aluminium.

niuparent

Scooper, thank you VERY much for the information.
If the claim was being made under our homeowner's insurance, the deductible alone would be more than the bike is/was worth, but his college student insurance plan only has a $25.00 deductible. If they ask us to provide some estimates of current retail value, from what I've seen on ebay & Yakaz, they're running from $250-$750, but it seems like most are in the $350 range. I guess that's as good a place as any to start with.

frantik

it's probably worth about the same as what he paid for it a few years ago

zukahn1 

I'm all for the others that have said take it to an established bike shop and getting them to give a estimaite preferably in writting to either properly repair or replace the bike with something similar. Insurance companies will just not except estimates from some guys on the net.

niuparent

Thank you again, to all who've replied. To update you, we called the college insurance company, and they actually wanted the claim filed online. They also asked for emailed photos of the damaged bike. It sounds like an adjuster may contact us later if they need more info. (Perhaps, dealing only in college student insurance, they are more comfortable with online communication, and WOULD accept comparable price estimates off the internet. I guess we'll find out soon.)

FastJake

I would go along with what the insurance company policy, until they try to screw you (if it gets to that point.) I have not had to deal with insurance companies but I've heard from friends that if they try to rip you off you need to be a pain in their neck until they cooperate. Online claim = make sure to get in contact with a real person if it's not doing what you want.

I might not personally pay $300 for a Schwinn 754 but I think one is worth that much and I would not settle for any less.

wrk101

Look at completed auctions, not what people are asking. I doubt the average of completed auctions would be $350, and one will not sell for that $750 mark, unless the buyer got totally ripped off.

$300+/- would be a nice settlement, and the bike has the quill style seatpost, so be sure to nab it as that seat post has really good market value.

At the 20+ year old point, the bike is well past the time where it depreciates. Since your son just bought it a couple of years ago, the price he paid would be a nice settlement, particularly if you can keep that seat post, or any other parts for that matter.

A nice 754 frameset just sold on ebay for $82, partially due to missing the quill seat post. Quill seat posts alone will bring that amount or more.

I've always had good treatment from adjusters on insurance claims. Be fair and realistic, and you should do fine. Assuming bike was in good condition, $250 to $300 is just about right.

niuparent

We did try to look on ebay for completed auctions, and didn't see any for a "whole" bike...There were several parts, including a fork, but I don't recall seeing a seat post auction having closed in the past 90 days, either. (Thanks for mentioning it, though; I'll pass the info to my son.) There was one 754 currently for sale on ebay for $549, and several on Yakaz...the one most closely like his is $400.

IF insurance is willing to give my son a reasonable settlement, $300-$400 since it was in good condition, they may ask for the old bike parts in exchange, so he might not even have a chance to salvage individual items, but it helps to know what to keep an eye on! Thanks again!

P.S. can anyone tell me how to increase the time that the system keeps me "logged in?" It seems like it's less than 5 minutes. By the time I compose my responses, and hit "submit reply," it often tells me I don't have permission to post because I'm not logged in...

wrk101

That ebay bike at $549 will not sell. One just like it listed for $495 did not sell.

FastJake

Is there an option like "keep me logged on" or something? On my personal computers I can shut them down and come back to BF tomorrow and I am still logged on. I never have to log on except on computers other than mine.