Freestyle Don't forget your registration!!

[shawn_NJ]

So did I, with receipts. Didn't help. Homebuilt HIN = no insurance. Multiple companies.

Yep same here. I have friends with family in the insurance business try to find an underwriter... with no luck. Then I called over 10 specialty insurance companies. I even offered them to pay for a $500 marine appraisal to establish value. There was one company that specialed in offshore race boats that would insure a homemade hull, with (2) marine appraisials, but the minimum appraised value had to exceed $50,000 and the policies START at $3000/year. I gave up.

 

[OCD Solutions]

My fear is that a company will actually insure the ski and happily take your money for many, many years only to deny any claims because it is in fact home built. Even if it does happen to actually exceed OEM design specs.

 

[MADMAT]

My fear is that a company will actually insure the ski and happily take your money for many, many years only to deny any claims because it is in fact home built. Even if it does happen to actually exceed OEM design specs.

x2.

So are all you guys getting your skis back?

 

[Matt_E]

They're already back.

 

[WILKEY]

Glad y'all got them back fellers.

 

[MADMAT]

Great! Then we can continue our thread jack!

Dear Mr. V:

Thank you for visiting us online at erieinsurance.com

Please be advised that we are working on a answer to your question about your jet ski. Sue (the women you spoke to this morning) is working on getting the information you need. I contacted her and asked if there was an update and she would like you to know that she is working on this and will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you should have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Customer Service

 

[retroicon]

Here's the side of the story no one seems to be considering...

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that these skis WERE stolen property... and what other assumption can the authorities make when you have no documentation stating otherwise? You say they should have known they were yours, but how could anyone know that? Just because you have matching stickers on your truck, or a picture of you riding the ski on your phone? Or because your friends say so?

The only real proof is the verifiable paperwork.

I'm not sure how many of you have had a ski stolen, but let me tell you, it feels like . You want nothing more than to find the assholes who stole the ski, and for them to rot in jail for the rest of thelr lives. My ski was never recovered... it has been over 10 years, and I'm still hoping it shows up somehow.

Now imagine this scenario... let's imagine that these skis were stolen from someone here on the board. What kind of reaction do you think there would be if the cops let the guys go without showing paperwork proving they were the owners, and that they had proper registration?

Everyone on the board would be flipping out about how irresponsible the cops were, how they never do their jobs, and how they let these thieves get away with tens of thousands of dollars in stolen property... property that could have been recovered, and back in the hands of the actual owners... if they'd just bothered to check the paperwork.

These cops were doing their jobs, and the only ones to blame are the guys who didn't properly register, and title their machines. It's black-and-white.

If the shoe was on the other foot, and the machines had been stolen... you'd be screaming for these guys to lose their job for not impounding the skis when proper paperwork wasn't provided.

You can't look at it from the perspective of a guy who was being hassled for no reason, there was valid reason... you didn't have paperwork, and as I said... if these machines were actually stolen, you'd be thanking these guys for doing what they do, and for returning your $25k+ machines to you before they ended up sold for parts, or shipped out of the country.

-G

 

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

These cops were doing their jobs...

So do you believe that cops are never guilty of harassment because their just "doing their job"?

Why is that so often you see a cop following a sportbike, or sports car, or badass truck - not pulling them over, but just waiting for them to do anything wrong? I had that very thing happen to me today while riding to work on my GSXR 750, I was going the speed limit from the moment I left my house, the cop was sitting in a parking lot along the way and as soon as I went by he flew out of the lot and got on my butt. I continued driving how I was and he followed me all the way to my work (making multiple turns along the way) and then drove by as I pulled into the lot, as I was walking in to work there he was again going the opposite direction looking over at me as he passed by.

Owning a transmission repair shop I test drive all kinds of vehicles, when I'm driving minivans and grocery getters the cops never look twice. But when I'm driving one of the 1960's Muscle Cars that we've built transmissions for, or the RT10 Dodge Viper I put the high performance clutch in, then the cops are right there watching for anything. My whole life I've had vehicles that the majority of the population will never own (including most cops), I think that has alot more to do with my personal experiences with the Police than anything.

 

[slamb33]

So do you believe that cops are never guilty of harassment because their just "doing their job"?

Why is that so often you see a cop following a sportbike, or sports car, or badass truck - not pulling them over, but just waiting for them to do anything wrong? I had that very thing happen to me today while riding to work on my GSXR 750, I was going the speed limit from the moment I left my house, the cop was sitting in a parking lot along the way and as soon as I went by he flew out of the lot and got on my butt. I continued driving how I was and he followed me all the way to my work (making multiple turns along the way) and then drove by as I pulled into the lot, as I was walking in to work there he was again going the opposite direction looking over at me as he passed by.

Owning a transmission repair shop I test drive all kinds of vehicles, when I'm driving minivans and grocery getters the cops never look twice. But when I'm driving one of the 1960's Muscle Cars that we've built transmissions for, or the RT10 Dodge Viper I put the high performance clutch in, then the cops are right there watching for anything. My whole life I've had vehicles that the majority of the population will never own (including most cops), I think that has alot more to do with my personal experiences with the Police than anything.

I have to disagree about the cops "just doing their job" and "if your not doing anything wrong they won't mess with you". I think jealousy is a massive issue with many Police (not all), if you have something they don't or are doing something they can't (for example their wife or job won't let them) it's amazing how many Cops will then try to wreck your enjoyment.

That has rang true my whole life having had many toys, one of the best examples was with one of my cars. I started a Tool & Die apprenticeship right out of High School which set me on the fast track to earning great money at a young age, when I was 20 I bought a 2 year old customized Corvette that was a real head turner (but 100% street legal). I quickly found out that getting pulled over was going to be a regular occurance - in the first several years I was pulled over in excess of 25 times for everything imaginable. Ironically I only recieved 1 ticket which was for speeding, that was a speed trap that was set-up out in the country (speed limit reduction sign hidden by an overgrown tree - ticket later dropped).

I got to the point with that car that when ever I saw a Cop I would intentionally turn and go a different way if at all possible. I was taking my girlfriend home late at night and saw a cop sitting on a side road watching traffic, I told my girlfriend I was going to go a different way because if I continued straight I figured I would get pulled over, she didn't believe me so I continued on to prove it to her. Sure enough I got pulled over, I provided registration and proof of insurance, then the cop started looking over my car trying to find a violation. After finding nothing to write me a ticket for he sends me on my way saying that he pulled me over "because I looked like a suspicious vehicle" (as I was traveling the speed limit on the most heavily driven multi-lane road in that section of the city).

I have what seems like endless amounts of Jet-Ski, ATV, Snowmobile, Motorcycle, Car, & Truck stories like that. I've only had a few tickets ever in my 42 years, but those have all been dropped by simply paying the Police more money - ironic how that works.

On top of being a Tool & Die Maker I'm also a business owner who's generally dressed and groomed well - especially on the day in the example I gave above. I mentioned my girlfriend at the time was with me, she's gorgeous to the point where the cop seemed unable to stop from constantly checking her out. I've been told by numerous people (especially women) that I have a very business / leader type of presence.

"one creepy dude" - LOL

are we bragging about our money, jobs, women, clothes, cars and toys? or discussing registration?

 

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

are we bragging about our money, jobs, women, clothes, cars and toys? or discussing registration?

I was discussing the fact that many Police do indeed discriminate against and target certain groups of people simply for what those people have or what they do purely out of jealousy - in this case Jet-Ski's (which are hated by many Police).

I gave other examples to help provide reasons as to why I have that belief while supplying enough background about myself to try and help paint a picture that I'm not some unemployed loser stoner thug who's out looking for trouble, I try and avoid trouble as much as possible.

 

[MADMAT]

Great! Then we can continue our thread jack!

Dear Mr. V:

Thank you for visiting us online at erieinsurance.com

Please be advised that we are working on a answer to your question about your jet ski. Sue (the women you spoke to this morning) is working on getting the information you need. I contacted her and asked if there was an update and she would like you to know that she is working on this and will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you should have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Customer Service

and.....still nothing...they are clueless but will sell you as policy as fast as they can!

 

[Big Kahuna]

I was discussing the fact that many Police do indeed discriminate against and target certain groups of people simply for what those people have or what they do purely out of jealousy - in this case Jet-Ski's (which are hated by many Police).

I gave other examples to help provide reasons as to why I have that belief while supplying enough background about myself to try and help paint a picture that I'm not some unemployed loser stoner thug who's out looking for trouble, I try and avoid trouble as much as possible.

Actually you are coming off as bragging........ We all get that some cops get a little too aggressive. In this case, they were just doing their jobs. There was a Administrator for Construction and Administration at the University of Alabama who I use to have to deal with. He was difficult as hell to deal with. He was also a likeable guy. Guess what, most of the time he was being difficult, he was 100% correct and following the specs and rules regarding contracts and pay applications. If a Pay App was off by $10.00 or $.01 he would send it back for correction. Guess what, He was correct, he was just doing his job, he could have processed the pay app and the next pay app it would have balanced out, but he did not "Bend the rule". And I totally respected him for that.

 

[shawn_NJ]

and.....still nothing...they are clueless but will sell you as policy as fast as they can!

I am not surprised at all Matt.

 

[motoman96]

So do you believe that cops are never guilty of harassment because their just "doing their job"?

Why is that so often you see a cop following a sportbike, or sports car, or badass truck - not pulling them over, but just waiting for them to do anything wrong? I had that very thing happen to me today while riding to work on my GSXR 750, I was going the speed limit from the moment I left my house, the cop was sitting in a parking lot along the way and as soon as I went by he flew out of the lot and got on my butt. I continued driving how I was and he followed me all the way to my work (making multiple turns along the way) and then drove by as I pulled into the lot, as I was walking in to work there he was again going the opposite direction looking over at me as he passed by.

Owning a transmission repair shop I test drive all kinds of vehicles, when I'm driving minivans and grocery getters the cops never look twice. But when I'm driving one of the 1960's Muscle Cars that we've built transmissions for, or the RT10 Dodge Viper I put the high performance clutch in, then the cops are right there watching for anything. My whole life I've had vehicles that the majority of the population will never own (including most cops), I think that has alot more to do with my personal experiences with the Police than anything.

Stroke that ego...... If I was a cop I'd harass you too, sounds like you need to be brought back to reality.

 

[Matt_E]

You think the cops pull you over because they are jealous of your stuff?

 

[motoman96]

^^^ DUH! The mans holding him down obviously. Next time you get pulled over Mike, tell them you can make them a badass holster out of billet cause your the shiznit. Should get you an outta jail free card.lol

 

[OCD Solutions]

They pull over sports cars, Street bikes and such because of the nature of the beast. I'm not saying that the owner of every performance toy out there isn't a hot head adrenaline junkie but they aren't usually librarians either of you get my drift. People who follow all the rules, drive Volvos not corvettes. People who buy power. Are not usually too interested in doing the speed limit. As idiotic as habitual drunk drivers are, they figured this out years ago. Do you think it's by coincidence that they drive minivans and other inconspicuous vehicles? They full well know what flies under the radar.

People also buy that chit because they want to draw attention to themselves. Why then are they always surprised when they draw the attention of the cops too. Like a hot chick wearing next to nothing complaining because all the undesirable guys are gawking at her when she clearly only dressed up for the good looking rich men. How about that kid on the subway pierced and tatted up head to toe who says, "what are you looking at?". People have to pull their heads out of their asses and learn a little thing about perception by others. We all seem to understand it when talking or viewing others but seem to have blinders on when we look at ourselves.

P.S. my comments above are in no way related to the original post, just the rambling afterwards about cops being jealous. Zack and the boys appear to be the victims of a gung ho wannabe water cop that set in motion a chain of events that just played out wrong. It happens.

 

[tom21]

Hey who's calling some one a dock?

thats an insult to docks everywhere!

 

[Big Kahuna]

P.S. my comments above are in no way related to the original post, just the rambling afterwards about cops being jealous. Zack and the boys appear to be the victims of a gung ho wannabe water cop that set in motion a chain of events that just played out wrong. It happens.

I have always been the Devils Advocate here......... No Reason to stop now........ Even though that "Dock" may have been a Dick, He just did his job. Without the paperwork, he had no way to know if these three were legit or were they 3 guys who went and stole someones ski's. They could not produce any paperwork on the spot to prove ownership, so, they did the best thing, they impounded the ski's and said "Provide all the correct documentation and they will be released pending verification of ownership". It was a pain in the rear for Zack, Jack and Stanton to deal with, but in the end it was still the correct action.

 

[motoman96]

Try driving a car around with no VIN, guessing not only will the car be impounded, but your ass is going to jail. It's illegal to drive a vehicle with no identification, whether it be a boat, ski, car, truck, atv etc.