Should I make a claim?

blatchcorn

Today a driver pulled out in front of me when waiting in a queue of traffic while I was overtaking on the right hand side. I went into the side of the car.

There was no damage to my bike, but I took it to the bike shop anyway for them to check to make sure it is ok. They said they cannot see any damage what so ever to the bike. But they said that there is a 0.0000000001% chance that the aluminium frame could have an internal hairline fraction that is undetectable and the fact that they are now aware the bike has been in an accident means that the Cannondale life time warranty has now been voided.

The bike is not under house insurance. Should I make a claim against the driver who hit me and get a new bike or continue to use the bike without the warranty?

smurfylicious

Make a claim. You may well get nothing as there's no obvious damage. However, it will then be on record (make sure you keep all the letters they send to you for as long as you have the bike). That way, in future if the frame breaks you can submit a new claim. If you let it go and the frame breaks in a year or so you will have a much reduced chance of getting anything.

In addition (and I know this is really mean!) the driver may get punished on their next premium, because even if there is no payout it will be on file. Hopefully they'll learn to drive a bit more carefully. :twisted:

nferrar

Although to be fair to the driver they'd be completely blind to a cyclist overtaking on the right (I'm assuming the queued car had left a gap to let them out). Not saying they're not to blame but it's one of those situations you need to be especially careful of when cycling and it's not just the usual case of a distracted driver on autopilot hitting you.

That's also a bit shitty of the bike shop to invalidate the warranty, it really doesn't matter to them (Cannondale would pick up any future replacement costs) and if they've inspected it and found no damage then that should be enough.

andrewlwood

nferrar wrote:

Although to be fair to the driver they'd be completely blind to a cyclist overtaking on the right (I'm assuming the queued car had left a gap to let them out). Not saying they're not to blame but it's one of those situations you need to be especially careful of when cycling and it's not just the usual case of a distracted driver on autopilot hitting you.

That's also a bit shitty of the bike shop to invalidate the warranty, it really doesn't matter to them (Cannondale would pick up any future replacement costs) and if they've inspected it and found no damage then that should be enough.

Totally agree with both points. Also watch for peds wandering through lines of traffic with ipods on when you're filtering.

rolf_f

andrewlwood wrote:

nferrar wrote:

Although to be fair to the driver they'd be completely blind to a cyclist overtaking on the right (I'm assuming the queued car had left a gap to let them out). Not saying they're not to blame but it's one of those situations you need to be especially careful of when cycling and it's not just the usual case of a distracted driver on autopilot hitting you.

That's also a bit shitty of the bike shop to invalidate the warranty, it really doesn't matter to them (Cannondale would pick up any future replacement costs) and if they've inspected it and found no damage then that should be enough.

Totally agree with both points. Also watch for peds wandering through lines of traffic with ipods on when you're filtering.

+10. I do watch for that but last week I couldn't do anything about the ped who ran across the road into the queue of moving traffic I was part of. He never looked in my direction........

Also plus 1 re the behaviour of the shop. TBH, I'd be tempted (for the sake of a hassle free life) to let the whole thing drop. If every you need to claim on the frame (for reasons which are pretty much certainly not going to be related to this incident - a big pothole is going to shock a frame more than a side impact and how can you prove a crack isn't down to that rather than a defect?) and it does come up as an invalidated warranty, just deny all knowledge. Assuming you haven't signed anything, how can anyone prove anything a few years down the line? They could have got the frame number wrong......