Bike on bike rack hit by car. Advice sought.

I was stopped at a red light waiting to turn right when I saw a car trying to squeeze up my inside to turn left. As soon as I saw it I though it’s gonna clip my bike and sure enough after a pause, when I though they’d thought better of it, they tried to get past and failed. Their wing mirror gave my bike a bit of a dunt. The light was still red so I got out. I told the driver they’d hit my bike and I was going to have a look. They stayed put while I looked. On a quick inspection it looked ok so I took a pic of their car, just in case, and said that it looked ok. The driver had noticed I’d taken a pic of their car so said something along the lines of “well you have my registration” and left. However on closer inspection, now that I’m home and had a proper look, the back wheel is definitely not true. There’s now a noticeable wiggle. Looking down on the wheel it looks mostly ok then all of a sudden jumps out then back in again.

So what to do? I have the registration and a pic of the car. Is this a road traffic accident? Do I get a local bike shop to check out the bike before doing anything? Any advice appreciated.

A car clipping your wheel with its mirror at what sounds like walking pace I doubt very much would knacker your wheel and you’re going to have trouble proving otherwise.

On the contrary, DBW, that’s exactly what I’d expect to happen in such an incident – the force is higher than people think and wheels aren’t as good at taking such impacts as people think.

Yes it is a RTA. Damage to property, you’re entitled to details of their insurance. From the sounds of things they didn’t hang around to exchange details, in which case it’s also reportable.

What aracer said.

Have you tried re-truing the wheel?

Have you tried re-truing the wheel?

No. I’m not sure how. Quickly looks up YouTube…

Likely a half hour job for you or £15 at your LBS, how much is your time worth chasing insurance companies and filling out forms?

Doesn’t look too tricky. Will give it a try tomorrow. Still a bit miffed with the other driver though. 👿

why did you let the driver go without asking for his details…

why did you let the driver go without asking for his details…

Unless you did so, regardelss of whether or not you took a picture of his car, then you are pretty much on a loser here. Becaue he can simply deny evertyhing. Without an exchange of detils, there’s no actual redcord of an incident taking place.

for the sake of the wheel true its not worth letting your insurance company give you the displeasure of increased premiums next year as you have now been involved in an accident (if you go through insurance)

I’d be reporting the indecent to the police for a record.
If the other driver does not come forward they can get his details.
I’d be claiming from his insurance not yours.

I’d be claiming from his insurance not yours.

Your own premiums will still go up.

This is one to put down to experience and just get it sorted. For the sake of a wheel ture and at worst case a replacement of the rim, it’s just not worth it.

Your own premiums will still go up.

This ^

Even if you make full recovery of your costs, your insurance premium will go up next year as your now a higher risk.
Worth it for a £15 wheel repair? You decide.

If you were stationary at the lights and you watched this happen why didn’t you get out and stop them or at the least blast your horn?

Report it, I got grief for a fail to report without even having vehicles touch. Do it just to cover your arse.

How many other people were in your car at the time? None? So why don’t you transport the bike inside the car where it won’t get hit or stolen?

This. as a friend was told it’s not a “wasn’t your fault” discount, it’s a “no claim” discount. If you claim, even against someone else, it *can* affect your NCD – depends on the claim and how it’s interpreted

Why would this be reported to his insurance company – unless something specific has been done there is no cover under a motor policy for damage to bikes on a bike rack.

Only 2 real options: suck it up & sort it yourself or report it to the Police.

Love the hindsight advice above. Nice, really helpful. Jeez.

I’d get the bike checked out and put a claim in against them. What have you got to lose? They admitted it, by what you’ve said.

I claimed for a wheel off someone, who paid up promptly. Few weeks later cracks appeared in the (carbon) frame and I had no comeback (just home insurance!).

… there is no cover under a motor policy for damage to bikes on a bike rack.
Do you know this for a fact? If it is true, blimey, yeah, suck it up!

Surely your insurance excess would exceed the value of getting the wheel trued anyway?
Hell even replacing the whole rim and getting a new one build on the hub would likely be less than your excess.

Sorry but car wing mirrors would fold in on impact. An impact that I suspect would be much less than that needed to buckle a bike wheel. Unless it was super kind of super light roadie thing stuck to the back of your car.

Sorry but car wing mirrors would fold in on impact

No they wouldn’t not always. It depends on the type of car, angle the impact happened, speed etc etc none of which you know so your just totally speculating.

Feel free to carry on flaming though.

Surely your insurance excess would exceed the value of getting the wheel trued anyway?

The idea is to claim on someone else’s insurance. Like the person who caused the damage.

no cover under a motor policy for damage to bikes on a bike rack.

You can recover uninsured losses from the other driver!

All this chat of reporting the other driver for not giving details etc is nonsense – the OP told the 3rd party everything looked ok so he drove off, saying you’ve got my reg (photo) if any problems. He couldn’t really have done much more tbh!

You can recover uninsured losses from the other driver!

But you can’t claim for uninsured losses under your car insurance – by definition they’re ‘uninsured’. If you have some kind of legal protection/uninsured loss recovery product then you can talk to them but the motor insurer will only look at aspects insured under their policy.

You could argue that the bike is a ‘personal effect’ but you’ll generally find they have to be in the vehicle and the policy limits these days are either tiny or non-existent.

Wing mirrors don’t always fold that easily.

One of the ones on my van needs a proper shoulder barge and usually a couple of goes to fold it in.

Lots of newer cars have silly mirrors that fold up and/or are so fat that they don’t actually move in that far when folded, if it wouldn’t fold in enough when it touched the wheel it could still do some damage.

dvla
get the wheel fixed ( presumably you wan to ride the bike ) then give the guy a call when you have his details.
he’s not guilty of anything, apart from woeful driving, as you accepted that the picture of his car with reg was sufficient detail.
alternatively you could call the dibble and ask for their advice. they may give over his details after they hear your tale, but i’d be very surprised if they went after him for failure to report/leaving the scene.
or you could learn to true a wheel. useful if you bend one while you’re out.

After abit of riding my Hope pro2 went suddenly out of true ladt week.

I doubt very much your wheel is THAT weak at walking pace. You would have a cracked mirror/housing first.

Sheesh. What next?!

Why not just tru it?

a simple wheel retruing may not be sufficient if the rim has been fundamentally damaged in the collision,
are the spoke tensions loose where the wheel goes out of true?
if spoke tensions are even all the way around then the rim is damaged.

best of luck with it all

Get his address and go smash up his flower bed, then call it even.

sounds like alot of hassle for a potential buckled wheel, get some one who knows about the bike side of things to look the bike over if its mearly a truing of he wheel call it a day, if its bent the frame etc etc follow up.

Time and effort of dealing with the insurance and police and then your premium going up from a not at fault claim isn’t worth a new wheel in my opinion.

Pair of bombers and urination in the drivers shoes. Job done.

What hopefiendboy said ^^^

For the sake £20 get the wheels trued at the bike shop, and take it as an experience.

Hope you get your bike fixed.
Sorry for being thick, but was your bike on a rear carrier and protruding beyond the width of the car?
I guess it was, otherwise I can’t really see how a door mirror could hit it?

I can’t believe people are actually suggesting getting insurance companies involved!?

If the wheel is slightly out of true and you don’t want to/can’t fix it your self then I’m sure a riding buddy will sort it for you before your next ride – It’s literally 30 seconds with a spoke key if you know what you’re doing*.

I’d take that or a quick trip to your LBS over hours of fannying around chasing insurance companies and possible premium hikes. mental.

*this being said, if the wheel is cracked/beyond (which it doesn’t sound like it is) then that changes things.

What have you got to lose

The money from your increase in premiums next time you renew your insurance. Just take it to a bike shop and get it trued, it’s really not worth the hassle and additional expense you’ll incur in the future.

Assuming that your bike rack was not obscuring your lights or number plate, it is no fault on your part. However as others have said if it is a quick true to your wheel for £20 quid or so, I would just get the wheel done and forget about it.

So STW rules are now if somebody hits your car and damages it just let them go if it’s not much?

I said it before but report to get an incident number and the drivers details if you can’t get it from the DVLA.
Get the wheels and bike checked over properly.
If there is damage then send the quote/bill to the other driver with a pay up or provide insurance details.
If a wheel is out and spokes damaged it could be more than £20.

Might teach the idiot to consider how wide his car is next time.