How to claim for damage to bike after accident with car

Guiddy
Guiddy Posts: 29
edited August 2011 in The bottom bracket
Hi all! I write this resting on the sofa having been knocked off my Road Bike yesterday evening.
A car pulled out on me from a side street and I hit it's front wing sending me flying!
Fortunately just scrapes and bruises!

But it has damaged my pride & joy so wonder where do I go from here?
It destroyed my Specialized Toupe saddle, damaged an Ultegra 6700 carbon shifter and the cycling Jersey I was wearing at the time! Cost about £300 at RRP.
The bike is only months old! It has carbon bars & seatpost, are these Ok to still use after a shunt?
It's amazing how far you fly at 20 mph! It must have scraped along the seat for a while looking at the marks!
Where do I go from here as I want it back up to mint. The Police were called and all details exchanged whilst I headed down to A & E for X Rays!

Comments

  • WisePranker
    WisePranker Posts: 823
    I'd start by calling the drivers insurance company claims department and letting them know what happened.
  • Guiddy
    Guiddy Posts: 29
    WisePranker wrote:
    I'd start by calling the drivers insurance company claims department and letting them know what happened.

    Do I take you seriously bearing in mind your username! :lol:

    Thanks for the fast reply!
  • elmsallmissile
    elmsallmissile Posts: 75
    Guiddy wrote:
    WisePranker wrote:
    I'd start by calling the drivers insurance company claims department and letting them know what happened.

    Do I take you seriously bearing in mind your username! :lol:

    Thanks for the fast reply!

    Please yerself it's rhyming slang :wink:
  • Nuggs
    Nuggs Posts: 1,804
    elmsallmissile wrote:
    Guiddy wrote:
    WisePranker wrote:
    I'd start by calling the drivers insurance company claims department and letting them know what happened.

    Do I take you seriously bearing in mind your username! :lol:

    Thanks for the fast reply!

    Please yerself it's rhyming slang :wink:
    I thnk it's a spoonerism...
  • Guiddy
    Guiddy Posts: 29
    Chaps, we digress...! :oops:

    Back on topic!!!
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12722930

    This should be a linked sticky in all of the sub-forums judging by the amount of times the question is being asked these days.

    Bottom line is that due to his actions and inattentiveness, you are in a worse position than you were prior to your meeting with said driver and have a legal right to be put back to the position you were in before. It's his problem that he's ruined some expensive gear, not yours.
  • esspeebee
    esspeebee Posts: 174
    Also, take the bike to your LBS for a proper assessment of the damage, particularly to frame, fork and any other carbon fibre pieces. You don't want to discover some new piece of damage just after settling with the insurance company.
  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    Ring a solicitor because the insurance company will drag their feet and try to riggle out of everything, take photos and take a trip to your local overpriced lbs for rrp of everything damaged however small the mark.
    The insurance company will probably send an assessor out to check the damage and they tend to right off anything carbon, plus they could well knock 15% off for wear and tear, you should be able to drag the 15% back by using the rrp and then replacing the damaged items from online stores.
  • kentphil
    kentphil Posts: 479
    I've recently been through this process. A car hit me while i was waiting to turn at a junction. It was lucky I had a witness who saw the whole thing as the driver tried to say I pulled out in front of him.

    It took me about 3 months and many phone calls to reach the settlement stage without using a solicitor as I too was just claiming for my bike damage. My bike cost me £1000 in 2005 and I agreed to £700 settlement which will allow me to get my bike fixed.

    I'd be happy to help with any further advice
    1998 Kona Cindercone in singlespeed commute spec
    2013 Cannondale Caadx 1x10
    2004 Giant TCR
  • Guiddy
    Guiddy Posts: 29
    Thanks for your help guys.
    I read the post above and it was a great help. I'll keep you posted.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    If the police were called do you know if the driver admitted fault?

    If so, and he said so to the police, its easy to start the process, happened to me last week. I called the guys insurance firm, explained this, they asked for an estimation of the guys age (in case it wasnt him driving and all that).

    From there on in Ive been to bike shop, had damage assessed, got quotes for everything and a letter from the bike shop.

    Insurance firm have come back to me and Ive passed on all the letters/quotes to an assessor who called me along with a photo to prove I have the bike Im saying I have.

    The assessor has said its very unlikely he'll have to come and see the bike.

    So now tomorrow or after the bank holiday weekend Im expecting some response. Will see what the response is, fingers crossed, it should be ok though as my bike was dead new too.

    On another note if your carbon bars taken an impact then I would think carefully about safety, if its hairline cracked it could fail on you one day. Also if you have a carbon fork youve gotta think about that. Mine took quite a slam, bike shop should advise you on this.
  • dilemna
    dilemna Posts: 2,187
    edited August 2011
    Search is your friiend as there are so many threads on this, nearly as many as there are people killed on the roads every year ..................... There might even be a sticky strangely called "What to do in case of an accident ......."

    http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12722930
    Life is like a roll of toilet paper; long and useful, but always ends at the wrong moment. Anon.
    Think how stupid the average person is.......
    half of them are even more stupid than you first thought.
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Two options: you could settle for whatever the insurance company offer you, which in my case was quick & full payment for damaged gear*, but a monstrously slow and derisory offer for personal injury.
    Or get an ambulance-chasing lawyer, it will make things quicker and less grief for you, and get you a better deal.

    *Don't know where Bozman's 15% wear & tear comes from - they are obliged to put you back in a postiion no worse off than you were before.
  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    bompington -
    I had the 15% taken off last April after my winter bike was written off, i checked with various solicitors about it and it is the norm for 10-15% to be taken off, there is an offical word/term for it(rip off) but i can't remember it now.

    I wasn't going to moan about it because i bought the bike 6 mths previous with a small discount and they didn't push for the receipt, they paid out on all upgrades and they let me keep the bike to strip down and sell the parts.
    Just as an example 15% taken off a 3 year old pair of Elites was more than a fair valuation, a Ritchey wcs carbon seatpost replaced with no visable sign of damage just because it was carbon, i had an old pair of Look cx7 pedals replaced at rrp(-15%) these haven't been available for at least 5 years, the list could go on but i'm sure that you get the rough idea of how it worked out.

    Get a solicitor....All i was interested in was getting my bike back on the road, i wasn't bothered about an injury claim but the insurance company did everything in their power to slow it down, they even passed my details on to an ambulance chacing solicitor, that was the final straw and i got my own solicitor.
  • timmyturbo
    timmyturbo Posts: 617
    i was knocked off my bike doing only 15mph when a parked car opened its door, i was knocked and bent shifters bars and shunted the frame and i put the frame on a jig at the bike shop , the fork rake was only out by 1 degree (but it was fine before ) , the insurance companies , quite often use a welsh supplier called WHEELIES , they took my bike away , but as the frame and crank had custom paint (it was chromo steel vitus 979) they said they could not replace it , but could give me something similar .

    i refused , which you should do even if its a slightly upgraded model . they gave me £1250 for argos to build a frame , and £1650 for all the components even though they were not all damaged .so basically £2900 for a 14 yeard old bike that cost £450 to build up , happy days . i did not get any injuries atall , and the most relevant part is THE GUY IMMEDIATELY ADMITTED LIABILITY and HAD CAR INSURANCE , 20 years a ago before ANPR and computers etc , i was hit off at 30mph T-BONED and even had a magistrate as a witness , but i was given a false address , if you are slightly injured call the POLICE , the slight injury whilst under the influence of testosterone and adrenalin may well become more serious in pain and noticed injury 20 mins after the crash .

    i only say this as we hear figures thrown around that 1 in 7 or 1 in 6 drivers are not insured .

    hope that helped cheers TIMBO :D do swimming as a good physio

    PPS , keep all receipts for TAXI's and costs incurred due to you not be able to use your bike , even if the insurance company has agreed to pay , you can claim bike hire and taxi's etc until you receive the check , this is not made up on the spot stuff , this is from knowledge of working in insurance and personal experience . cheers
    Britannia waives the rules
  • Monty Zoncolan
    Monty Zoncolan Posts: 341
    bompington wrote:
    Two options: you could settle for whatever the insurance company offer you, which in my case was quick & full payment for damaged gear*, but a monstrously slow and derisory offer for personal injury.
    Or get an ambulance-chasing lawyer, it will make things quicker and less grief for you, and get you a better deal.

    *Don't know where Bozman's 15% wear & tear comes from - they are obliged to put you back in a postiion no worse off than you were before.

    I think it's a reduction of 10 to 15% off RRP to reflect that the bike wasn't in brand new condition before it was damaged.
  • carrock
    carrock Posts: 1,103
    Monty Zoncolan wrote:
    bompington wrote:
    Two options: you could settle for whatever the insurance company offer you, which in my case was quick & full payment for damaged gear*, but a monstrously slow and derisory offer for personal injury.
    Or get an ambulance-chasing lawyer, it will make things quicker and less grief for you, and get you a better deal.

    *Don't know where Bozman's 15% wear & tear comes from - they are obliged to put you back in a postiion no worse off than you were before.

    I think it's a reduction of 10 to 15% off RRP to reflect that the bike wasn't in brand new condition before it was damaged.

    Yes. The term is "betterment"
  • dilemna
    dilemna Posts: 2,187
    carrock wrote:
    Monty Zoncolan wrote:
    bompington wrote:
    Two options: you could settle for whatever the insurance company offer you, which in my case was quick & full payment for damaged gear*, but a monstrously slow and derisory offer for personal injury.
    Or get an ambulance-chasing lawyer, it will make things quicker and less grief for you, and get you a better deal.

    *Don't know where Bozman's 15% wear & tear comes from - they are obliged to put you back in a postiion no worse off than you were before.

    I think it's a reduction of 10 to 15% off RRP to reflect that the bike wasn't in brand new condition before it was damaged.

    Yes. The term is "betterment"

    Or in legalease - ripping a claimant off.

    If you bought a bike from new, had it several years, treated it better than your other half, then some muppet knocks you down totalling it and damaging you and some dick turpin insurer for the driver that nearly killed you says acutally your bike was only worth £12.50 as it wasn't new this is all we are going to pay you, then some thing is seriously seriously wrong. Ok then find me another exact same bike, zero owners, so I will be the first, immaculate condition, plus all upgrades .................
    Life is like a roll of toilet paper; long and useful, but always ends at the wrong moment. Anon.
    Think how stupid the average person is.......
    half of them are even more stupid than you first thought.
  • timmyturbo
    timmyturbo Posts: 617
    one could say that you could make up the difference of 15% by keeping all your train tickets and petrol receipts as you cannot make those journeys with your bicycle anymore . also i was given my bike back for free by the insurance company , though some will not do that , but you can sometimes buy it back for a very small fee , and canabalise the components .

    and as somebody posted , with regard to 15% reduction , if you can find 3 or more adverts for a bike of similar condition ( lets say mint 3 years old only 500 miles use etc) then the insurance company have to prove that the same bike can be had for less or payout .(same with cars to0

    cheers Tim
    Britannia waives the rules

Categories