In order to get a fair payment out of the other insurance company you need an advocate. Insurance companies try to pay out as little as possible but with a lawyer you can get a better settlement.

I was rear-ended at a stop sign in 2000 and got horrible whiplash. I waited to settle but decided to get help and found Bruce Wolf in Seattle to be a highly ethical personal injury attorney. He was very clear with me about each step of his handling of my claim and in the end I got a settlement around $7000, of which I got around $3800 after his fees.

It is not unheard of to have physical symptoms contine to emerge after a year or two. I went to see a chiropractor right away and went for regular massage therapy and still just over a year later I woke one day and couldn't turn my head and felt like I had screws going into my forehead. I had to go for physical therapy for 5 months and was prescribed muscle relaxants by my doc.

I'm sorry you were in an accident and I do wish you and your family a quick recovery.

operating -
Ramps and HOV lanes and the Express lanes of North 5 and I-90 are all ok for motorcycles to use with a single rider.
Used to be you didn't have to insure your motorcycle so that was a big get.
While 520 is no cheaper, the ferries, and highway 167 hotlane are free or cheap for motorcycles.
With better MPG comes fewer gas taxes paid - and gas taxes have gone up over 15% in the last ten years.
Best reason: motorcyclists here are hardy, observant, and very supportive of one another.

Parking -
You don't have to purchase a RPZ permit to park in zoned neighborhood parking with a motorcycle -as of about two years ago.
Parking is significantly easier to find in neighborhoods that are generally a nightmare --such as pioneer square, capitol hill, belltown - since you can slip into end spots, and spots that are too small for cars.
Spread throughout the city are parking slots for motorcyles ONLY. If you happen to do business a lot where these are, then you win the parking lotto.
Many parking garages let motorcycles park free in the wasted triangle spaces (until these spots are filled).

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111289349892739264829.0004656bf6227d23b2c61&z=13
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/motorcycleparking.htm

Hey Reutte, the bridges will be back and forth with traffic for a while. The 520 toll is here to stay and will be locked in at the present rates for several months. It'll just take some time for drivers to get used to the rates and adjust their schedules/acceptable driving costs.

If you're moving back, I'd recommend living nearer to I-90 if you can. With the 520 toll and continuing construction on the new 520 bridge, both bridges will have traffic issues, but I-90 may just be easier in the long run.

Full Disclosure: I'm a roadway engineer that specifically bought a condo along I-90 a couple years back to ensure we'd avoid the impending mess on 520 :)

So, I'm one of the people who is directly affected by the tolling. I live in Greenlake, and commute to Bellevue. When I did the math, if I continued to drive myself alone to/from work each day, it would have added nearly $200 a month to my expenses, which is more than I'm willing to stomach.

However, I've been taking the bus recently, and although it is waaay slower than driving (an hour and ten, vs. 25 mins driving), I find I'm using the time to work, read, listen to podcasts, etc. While it's not ideal (I really, really, really wish there was a bus that went from a park and ride north of Montlake directly into Bellevue without first going into downtown Seattle), I'm making it work.

I do also drive still one day a week, but that's usually on days when I have errands, so I'm not hitting the tolls at peak times. One of the benefits of occasionally driving is that the drive is now WAY faster -- 15-20 mins, compared with 35-40.

If I were moving and expected to live in Seattle and work on the Eastside, I would make sure I was moving somewhere with a transit option that I could be happy with.

There was a time (ten to fifteen years ago) when it was legal to park your bike in between cars in Seattle. That was helpful.

In short, I don't think there are any significant Seattle-centric advantages to owning a motorcycle.

State law does not require mandatory insurance for motorcycles. I pay about $100/year for pretty comprehensive coverage anyway so the savings aren't that much (but I don't own a $20K Harley). Not unique to Seattle.

Motorcycles are faster in most types of traffic as they are smaller, more nimble, quicker and slightly less likely to create road rage driving competitions and challenges. I do things on a bike that I would not do in a car but nothing egregious. But not unique to Seattle.

You cannot lane split in Washington so that advantage is a non-factor. There are times when, if traffic is ridiculous, I will zoom ahead to see what the heck is going on. Ditto on unique.

Most bikes get at least 40MPG which is pretty good. However, older bikes probably put out more GHG emissions than a brand new Hummer. And the 2-stroke bikes and scooters are flat out eco-killers. Applies everywhere.

Parking isn't as Wild West as it was a decade ago but there are lots of places you can stick a bike that you can't stick a car where it is free to park and safe. Under the viaduct and at the ends of overpasses like the ones that come off of Capitol Hill and first hill into downtown. A little sketchy sometimes...

One of the biggest advantages is that if you get a parking ticket for not having one of those little slips you are supposed to stick on your headlight you can contest the ticket and so long as you are not there daily the judge will let you slide. Tell him you had one but it got stolen. It's a lie but I'll leave the ethical quandary up to the individual.

Parking in garages can be cheaper or even free. Some garages have gates that are not manned and lots of bikers just slip in and out of those. Some garages will charge a very low monthly rate for parking bikes- as little as $25/month. All on the up and up.

Of course having such excellent hospitals in Seattle is a big deal. Everybody eventually crashes. And if you don't make it, your organs will be that much fresher for donating to someone who needs them.

Compared to other parts of the world Seattle drivers are quite deferential to motorcyclists. Ever since I eschewed my leathers and cafe racer for a dual sport bike and Hi-Viz yellow/green road gear with orange helmet I have had virtually zero issue with drivers. If you've ever ridden a bike in California or New York/New Jersey you will understand how much better Seattle drivers are. And if you count Mexico or the Philippines than Seattle drivers are the epitome of grace and forbearance. Sure, there are the occasional knuckleheads and dumb-asses but I swear it feels like open season on bikers in parts of California at times.

The proposed registration fees like the ones defeated on the last initiative really pissed me off. I own several bikes because I am a hobbyist. To pay $80, $100, $120 for each bike is bullshit as I can only ride one at a fucking time. And that it cost the same as a car at all is also total bullshit. I voted for it anyway as I am a supporter to the things that the initiative was trying to accomplish but it pained me to do so.

In Seattle you can pretty much ride year round. That’s pretty awesome. So long as there is no ice I’m riding. There is heated riding gear available if you need some extra warmth.

Seattle has a decent motorcycle infrastructure. Nothing like Southern California but still OK. The Suzuki shop on Aurora is staffed by some good guys and the Moto Guzzi shop up the street is probably the best motorcycle dealer I’ve ever dealt with. The BMW dealer (Ride West) is good and Mick Valentine’s shop on Aurora can handle nearly anything German and English at a cheaper price. My experience with the Honda shop has not been particularly good and I’ve heard mixed things about Lynnwood Cycle (Kawasaki and Triumph et al). I hate 99% of all Harleys so don’t know anything about them or the local resources. There is also a good café racer scene here with some specialty shops staffed by reasonably knowledgeable fellows. Langlitz Leathers is all the way down in Portland but they are considered one of the best makers of leather gear in the world.

Well, I probably digressed into some points that were not exactly pertinent to your question, but if you have any follow up I’d be glad to try and help.

Well you'll save on gas and it is easier to sneak into a parking space. Most scooters can't go on the freeway unless you get the bigger engine type ( my sister just got one that will do freeways I think it was a 110 type). She had a scooter then went back to a car for a year and then got a nicer scooter cuz she missed it so much but she's never really been a car person. I think it depends on what you want from your vehicle. But yeah parking is the same price , just don't usually have to hunt as hard for it

I believe the question that you want to ask yourself in order to help answer this question is: What is your car worth?

I would say that the lower the value, the less you will want to spend on the selling process.

Cheapest: Craigslist. Cost: Free.

I have sold cars on craigslist before and the only real hassle is the Nigerian scammer. Then again, if you are one that likes to have fun with said scammers it is a gold mine. Really, deleting an email isn't that difficult and if you make sure to make your address anonymous, there is no harm. Like with the next option, you will want to have decent pics to upload. Craigslist takes maintenance and you may have to re-post and use appropriate key words to get hits.

Next cheapest: Auto-trader
Cost: Between $20 and $60 for the standard service and between $160 and $360 for the VIP service.

I have also sold a car using this option in the past and it was painless. I ended up having to re-post once and I believe this was offered at a discount. The nice thing about auto-trader is that there is a built-in and defined market - people go there either to look for cars, figure out what their car is worth (browsing) or research new vehicles. If your car is worth $10K, then $20 only represents 2/10s of a percent of the price.

Consignment: definitely the most expensive, but perhaps the least hassle?

I spoke with one agency here locally who indicated that there aren't really any up-front costs unless the car needs to be made ready to sell. For instance, you might need to have it detailed or fix a cracked windshield or put on new tires or touch-up paint.

At the time of sale, they would take 10% of the selling price with a minimum of $500 and maximum of $2000 being the fee.

They host the car and do all of the leg work.

I'm a biker in Seattle and have been for a long time. I've never heard of anyone renting dirt bikes here. Seems like a bad business plan since the whole point of a dirtbike is to abuse it. And the old maxim of "nothing handles like a rented car" would hold especially true for rented dirt bikes. I'd thrash the shit out of it.

Having said that you may be able to rent a dual-sport from Ride West BMW in Seattle. They are not dirt bikes but BMW's F800GS and the 650Gs are dirt capable and I have seen those for rent in other cities.

Jeebus, thank you for asking & answering, I have been wondering the same thing about that sticker.

Where are you? If you are in Seattle most scrappers and wreckers will give you about $4.00 each, maybe a bit more. I borhgt mine to a place in Lake City just north of NE 130th or so.

Catalytic converters are worth a bit as well. $25-$50 depending on size. There's platinum and other pricey elements in there...

It really depends on the tires. Put a pair of winter tires on it, and you can drive through anything (even with the front wheel drive model). If you're going to spend even a moderate amount of time in snow, you should invest in a non studded pair of snow tires and cheap steel wheels. Just go get the tires swapped around Thanksgiving and then again in February or March. Your regular tires will last longer and you'll do well in snow. Plus modern snow tires are actually designed to increase grip in any conditions 45 degrees or cooler, which is where summer and all season tires start to get bad.

I have a friend who has one of the 2010 ones and uses it in northern Wisconsin with his two kids. He loves it.

So, not personal, but an anecdote from one of my trusted sources.

For a '73, I'd be more worried about the ethanol than the oil, but it should be fine. If you had a truck with a catalytic converter, I'd say to add a couple gallons every tank, but that'd just be playing it safe. Some old timers used to add a quart of oil or transmission fluid to a tank of gas as a top end lubricant (which probably didn't do anything, but at least didn't cause any problems with old pre-smog vehicles). People also used to dispose of used motor oil by pouring it into the gas tank a quart at a time back in the pre-smog days.

Costco - cheap and locally-grown. There's one in the industrial district just west and south of you.

Practice practice practice -

I like burning it, so what do I know?

Finding a balance point between three things is nearimpossible - cut the handbrake out.
Instead - Find the balance point between clutch pedal and gas pedal, stay in gear, and ignore any smells coming out there - you'll get it , with time and practice!

Eventually, you'll let the clutch out faster and rev less and hit the sweet spot. and of course, use the right gear for the job - never try and hill start outside of 1st.

sidestory -- When I was first learning, I wore big shoes - and managed to use the standard brake pedal while riding the gas, differing pressure by tilting my foot. Most cars nowadays have the pedals specifically further apart, but it was a good trick for learning then.

Man, I loved my manual transmission. It's great fun and you feel very INVOLVED in driving. That being said, Seattle has a TON of hills, and there were some frustrating/worrying times the first few months.

I think practice practice practice is gonna be key here, and the handbrake.

Personally, my biggest concern had been rolling into other drivers, right? So I made a "Stick Shift Rookie" sign on an 8.5" X 11" paper and put in my rear window. It got some laughs and some taunts (particularly from bicyclers around greenlake), but it gave me some confidence. Somehow I felt that it would then be the other person's fault (or at least, they'd be partly culpable) if they pulled right up on my ass on a steep hill at a traffic light. Now, 8 years later, I recognize that for many drivers, they probably didn't even know what this meant, or that that could even be an issue. Still, I like it.

Try to find a place with a STEEP hill where you can practice easily (I found a few area parks and a cemetery that had some great hills of varying steepness). Good luck, you'll get there!

Really steep hill starts can involve almost popping the clutch. You'll probably take off with a jerk, but you won't roll backwards, either.

Your friction point on your clutch is right when you start to move when you raise the clutch pedal. To practice popping the clutch and recovering, go to a parking lot, rev the engine a bit (like no more than 3000rpm), and then quickly let the clutch out. You'll probably stall out a few times at first, but then you'll know how much you need to goose this particular car and how fast to let out the clutch in order to get going. Once you're comfortable there, then start practicing on hills. And then, go out at 3am or some other low traffic time and practice on your triple-black-diamond steep hill.

Manual transmissions really are a lot of fun, while simultaneously being a learn by doing sort of thing. You'll really like it.

9 am. The time starts at 7 you have 2 hours to park there. That makes 9 am your move on time

Mahtli has a good point re: a bad clutch but I would also recommend maybe just practicing starting as fast as possible on flat ground and then working your way up progressively steeper inclines rather than starting on the steepest incline you can find.
Just throwing this out there, but I've also never heard of using the handbrake in these instances, apparently it's a thing some people do but it seems like an extra thing to worry about and a good way to burn out your parking/hand brake in a hurry, maybe you don't really need to do that?
As you get more used to your car and a stick in general you'll get the hang and feel of catching your car as it rolls back.
How do you get to Broadway (without rolling back into the car behind you)? Practice, practice, practice.

If you're at 4000 rpm's and rolling backwards, then you need to release the clutch more. Once you start moving forward, completely release the hand brake.

If you are doing all of these things already, and still rolling backwards, then there is a chance it's time to get a new clutch. A quick test is to try to accelerate from a stop in 2nd gear (on flat ground). Does your engine rev high instead of stalling? That means your clutch is slipping. Given the age of your car, it's probably about that time.

Larger metal recyclers may take it, and pay cash for it, however they will require you to prep the car for recycling: Remove all fluids, hole in the gas tank, remove battery, remove tires. It's a pain-in-the-ass if you aren't prepared and equipped to do it.

Have you seen the signs reading "I buy junk cars!" in your area? Out in south Snohomish County they are all over the place (trees, light poles, etc). Calling such a place may be your best bet. You will need to have clear title to the vehicle in order to sell it to a scrap dealer.

The usual arrangement with junkyards is that they give you the value of the tow if they have to haul it off. In other words, you get nothing but they don't charge you either. If you can get it there yourself, you might get the scrap metal value of the car, which is probably going to be in the very low three figures.

The optimum way to get value out of a dead car is to part it out. But obviously that depends on having free time and understanding neighbors/landlord. For this car, you might have some luck just listing the whole thing under the "auto parts" section of craigslist.

There's anewish lot that opened under I5 at Cherry St. It's about $12/day I think.

Have you tried the Convention Center garage? It's a couple of blocks away but it's huge and therefore has lower monthly rates than most downtown garages. I don't have a car myself but several of my coworkers park there. Also, because the convention center is connected to Two Union Square you really wouldn't have to walk that far. You can go from the convention center to Two Union then take the tunnel underneath Union Square and exit at the 5th Avenue Theatre. That's just across the street from Rainier Tower and half a block from the IBM Building (I'm just guessing that you work in one of those buildings).

Get off that doughnut ASAP! I've always used Les Schwab and found them outstanding in every possible way. There doesn't appear to be one very close to you, though; the closest is at 6111 4th Ave S. way the hell down at Michigan.

I've ever been to "Courtesy Tire" on 21st and Madison, though they get high ratings on the always-infallible internet.

I-5 blows, don't take it.

The diagonal arterials are your friend. Learn how to use them, and how to get across town, which must be done in stages; there are no direct cross-town routes. In fact, most arterial routes zig and zag all over the place.

For instance, to get from Northgate to Wallingford and points south and west, you can sneak across the freeway at 92nd, go down Wallingford, and at Green Lake turn onto Winona which will take you to Aurora or across to Linden and 65th.

Boren is often backed up but is an essential route parallel to I-5, and can be thought of as a secret last street of the downtown grid stuck into the more eastern neighborhoods of First and Capitol Hills. It's also the same street, really, as Rainier. Boren-Howell-Eastlake gets you all the way from the CD to the U District without the freeway. So does 23rd/24th-Boyer-Fuhrman.

Alternate ways into downtown from the north include the aforementioned Eastlake-Boren and 15th West-Elliott from Ballard. If Aurora -- the king of Seattle roads -- is backed up, take Dexter. Keep left on Aurora crossing the bridge, because the north Queen Anne exit feeds into a stop sign and more than five people backs that sucker up all the way onto the bridge.

To the south, learn how Airport Way, 1st Ave. S, and East Marginal work. Learn how to get to Rainier via Dearborn (the old I-5/I-90 route for decades before they finished the connection).

Avoid at all costs attempting to cross over Mercer from anywhere. If you're in Queen Anne and need to go downtown, kill yourself; you'll never make it. Give up and go all the way down to Elliott.

And always know where you can scoot through on the side streets and where you can't, especially when trying to get past the most horrible cross-town routes like 45th, 50th, etc.