Hi guys,
Wondering if anyone could help me, I was recently knocked off my bike from the rear by a car. I fell and hit my head, had two grazes to my head and big swelling on my cheekbone, a black eye (all of which i have photos of), small grazes to my knees, plus a bruised wrist. I also had three nosebleeds two consecutive days after the accudent but no evidence to support these. I was put in an ambulance for half an hour but not taken to hospital. The police questioned me about what happened, and I didn’t really know as I was knocked off from behind. I had two witnesses who said it was the motorists fault, one middle aged female cyclist and one shop keeper

The motorist claimed I was ‘all over the road’ although I was cycling straight. She totally bent the front wheel of my bike (showing how close it was to a lot worse an accident) and had £1100 damages (in electrical equipment; ipad, etc that was in a bag I was carrying wth me) and to my bike.

The motorists insurance company, ‘admiral’ contacted me off their own bat and after two talks offered me compensation on what i believe they called On a ‘non liability’ basis a total of £2500 compensation for no further action on my part, to cover injuries and costs of damage to my bike and other goods that were broken in te accident (as i saidvearlier, this cost £1100′).

I am slightly suspicious of the whole affair, the guy from admiral who offered me the compensation said things like ‘because I wasn’t wearing a helmet this would be taken into account in a court of law and would mean I would get less compensation there due to ‘not adequate measures of protection taken’, which sounds like he is twisting the truth to me as it is not within the law that a cyclist shoud wear a helmet, just a recommendation? It is a ‘non liability’ compensation amount meaning it doesn’t ‘imply who is wrong’ but as I am getting the compensation it implies she is in the wrong, right? It smells very fishy to me and feels like he is trying to rip me off…I am 29 and I think he thinks I will just jump at the cash. I even though that the motorist might even be paying the compensation out of her pocket, it was only after two, not greatly detailed phone conversations that they offered me £2500, and I only mentioned how much it cost me in possession damages (£1100) in our second conversation.

Anyone had similar things happen to them? I was considering asking them for an extra £1000 (to take it up to £3500) as damage to my possessions already cost me £1100, meaning only £1400 for physical injuries and the mental stress of the accident.
Any help guys would be most appreciated?!

Doesn’t sound like a totally unreasonable offer IMO.

By all means go for it, if you seriously think your injuries merit a bigger compensation payout.

I’m sure you don’t want to be dragging it out to court, and testing the helmet/no helmet comment, and neither do they, so they might offer you more, you never know.

I was hit side on by a motorist while cycling to work. I was wearing a helmet that split on impact. I was taken to hospital & off work for 3 days. Turns out I broke 3 metatarsals in my foot. Damage to bike & equipment totalled rouhly £1200.

I got offered £5000, but that was nearly a year after the accident.

Settled for £6500 in the end a few months after that.

It’s not just the injuries & losses though – I still have a fear when approaching the junction & go a different way to work now.

All the best.

the old saying – never accept the first offer – glares out here

Beware – I have no experience of negotiating a settlement though! It’s also worth considering how much would be enough to put this unpleasant experience behind you. I expect dealing with ins co. can also be unpleasant and bear it’s own costs.

As a comment: Should you choose the old saying above – it has to be backed with confidence i.e. wait it out – in my unrelated experiences..

ps/late edit: The guy from Admiral sounds like the definition of sleazebag. If he has to sell an offer that way – you deserve and will get more with some professional help 😈 Ask him to confirm what he said in writing.. You can also glory in the fact you would/may not sink to such a level to earn a shilling..

Say 5 and settle at 3.5

Job Done. (no idea how this works in reality so best not to take my ill thought through advice – if you’re the gambling kind though, go for it)

Contact solicitors like Leigh Day; good advice is worth paying for.

(P.S. were you not liking the replies on CycleChat or just wanting twenty-second opinions?)

Don’t accept their 1st offer they will be offering you a silly low value. The fact they are offering compo means they are admitting fault. Get your own legal team.

What happens if you start getting neck pain which means you have to stop working, and you have signed for a max payout of £2k?

Are you a member of British Cycling or ctc? You may also have legal cover with your house insurance

The helmet could (not would) only have prevented the head grazes, so I don’t think that’s going to have a significant impact on anything.

You should have any damaged kit & clothing replaced, no question. The injury compensation is then a separate issue and should be counted separately.

Do you have legal cover from home insurance/British cycling/CTC?

I don’t like the ‘non liability’ thing but IANAL.

Get some legal advice. I was dealing with an insurer a while back over a complicated car crash and it was the best 500 quid I’ve ever spent.

Doesn’t smell right them offering cash so quickly with only limited information

They just want the matter settled. If they have to factor in a specialist opinion on your injuries, time off work and legal fees for a court case it will easily outrun the £2.5k they’re offering. I suspect you could wrestle some more cash from the insurance company, but is there really any need? The driver will just pay out ?£500 premium and a few years of worse NCD, this will be the same whatever cash settlement you get. I.e. you’re not hurting them or punishing them to a greater extent by demanding more money from the insurer.

Once they’ve settled for your actual material loss (which is easy to define) then it’s up to you. What physical injuries do you have that need cash to help them heal? What mental stress do you have? Don’t answer, those are rhetorical questions.

Speak to Leigh Day and/or BC/CTC and get some experienced cycling lawyers IMO. The fact the driver tried to blame you and then the Admiral guy then tried to suggest you were partially to blame would make me see red and want to stop them at their game…

I would get some legal advice based on what’s happened so far and take a view how much cash you think you should have and how much you want to stop the driver and insurer being dirty cheats 👿

(P.S. were you not liking the replies on CycleChat or just wanting twenty-second opinions?)

hmmm not just posted in both forums but word for word identical text in both and a first post to boot.. awaits the astroturfing 🙂

I got £2.5k for my first crash elbow split and hip grazed badly
And £3.5k for my second ,knee had bad soft tissue damage and a stiff neck and associated nervous mind leading to 6 months off road . plus my specific losses . so you are being offered £1.4 for your injury . this seems low to me . see a solicitor. I did my first myself and got annoyed dealing with the insurance Muppet s who lie all the time.
Second I did via a local solicitor on a conditional fee agreement he sort of stiffed me at the end charging a success fee of 20% that he had downplayed at the initial appointment but was set out in black and white. But I still walked away with £3250 for a lot less hastle than I expected and paid nothing out of my own pocket.

Superficial if you can take away my memory of being 6 foot up in the air and upside down heading for the bonnet of an accelerating car I ‘ll give you the £3.5.
For £2.5 you just have to wipe out the bit where a tooth brush dipped in iodine was inserted into an open wound on my elbow.

Didn’t you have one of thee threads closed today already?

What’s the most someone on here has had? And what were the injuries?

£9K, broken wrist that required 3 operations over the course of a year to fix (but still not right – 7 years later). £3.5K was out of pocket cost (damaged bike, kit, loss of wages and taxis to work as I couldn’t walk far for 3 moths due to spine compression)

Worst of it is I have never been able to find another pair of P-bones to replace the fubared ones that I had just sourced and had resprayed the week before 🙂

@ OP – join CTC and use their legal service

I’d say they were taking the P but IANAL. I just know I wouldn’t settle for less than double that for any serious injuries PLUS my material costs. Having said that the physical stuff heals and you’re better of forgetting it and there’s a case for not perpetuating the claim culture.

Didn’t you have one of thee threads closed today already?

It was a double post.

Given you didn’t break any bones I’d say the offer wasn’t that bad…

That said given its the first offer they have made you’d be silly to accept…as a recent example of a mate who got knocked off his bike and broke his arm

Insurance company first offer was 2k
Mate got our other mate (a lawyer) to write a letter
Insurance company upped offer to 8 k
Lawyer mate asked them for 12 – they agreed by reply to 11.

No way was his injury worth 11k, but it just goes to show what chancers they are.

“No way was his injury worth 11k, but it just goes to show what chancers they are.”
Judicial studies board guidelines put broken arm at up to £14000