Insurance Claim Advice Required Please!!!!!

Having been knocked off my road bike from behind and thinking it was a clear cut case of driver error I now find his insurance won’t accept liability and are only offering 50% of the repair costs (and I’m not claiming for injuries) . I’ve been told that the only route I have is via small claims court – is this correct? Any help/advise gratefully recieved!!

May sound stupid to say but do they know you were on a push bike and not in a car or on a motorbike? I got knocked off and every time the insurance company ring me they keep mentioning damage to my car and I have to keep reminding them them I was on a bike. It seems to takes them a while to look through the paperwork and find this after I point it out.

Pretty standard first salvo from the insurance company. Tell them you reject their offer and to get back to you with a better one.

Slightly inconsistent stance to not accept liability then offer 50%.
It does sound like a first offer tactic but frankly, they shouldn’t be doing that if you are unrepresented. They are not permitted to take advantage of your (assuming) lack of knowledge of this type of thing.
If you have legal representaion, they can argue the toss all day as both sides should be sufficiently aware of the issues.
As much as I wouldn’t normally advocate it, if they play silly buggers, appoint a lawyer and claim for any injuries too.

That’ll learn them!

yes they are aware i was on a bike. It seems the fact that i’m not claiming for personal injury means I’ll have to either pay for legal representation which I can ill afford or go through the small claims court. I have an impartial witness who is writing a statement – thankfully he saw the whole thing . Should I share this with the insurance company (who represents the driver not me)??

Are you really really sure you weren’t hurt even a little bit?

I’d not skimp on the claim.

Small Claims Court is not hard anymore.
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

That said, I would still be speaking to the insurance co about the statement.

Do you have any kind of legal assistance through your home insurance policy?

Consider joining British Cycling for their legal people, too late for this case though.

Get that statement, get it copied, scanned, backed up etc etc. Send it to the insurers and tell them you want 100% of the costs covered. And find out why they’re denying liability. Their driver might have given them a nonsense story about you being drunk/blind/riding the wrong way etc

Captain- no I’m not claiming injury , bad karma .

Balls- thanks, the driver has given a ridiculous statement about me effetively riding into him !! Witness statement and photos disprove this though.

jimdubleyou- thanks

Get lawyered up. Sounds like they are taking advantage of you representing yourself.

Were you not hurt at all? Surprising, as being knocked off usually results in some injury. Or is it that you have some strange sympathy for the driver’s insurance company?

Sounds like a first offer to me, I’d politely refuse, say you have an independent witness and point out how their story doesn’t fit with the damage, photos etc. They’re trying to scare you in to accepting.

Though I agree that if they’re offering 50% of your costs, then that kind of is admitting liability, even if they claim it isn’t. If they really thought there was no liability they’d offer nothing.

aracer- I was just going off at the lights so low speed , plus I’m not your average racing snake figure. I have no sympathy for the insurance company just not in my nature .

Steveh- thanks, hope you are right

Firstly, good on you for not milking it.

I’d let the insurance company know in no uncertain terms that you’re not impressed, and that if they persist in trying to take advantage then you’ll have no option but to involve legal representation and fight them all the way. Let them know that you have the evidence you have – but maybe don’t share the detail of it with them just yet – and suggest strongly that they reconsider their offer in light of that.

If “all” you’re after is repair costs for the bike (and their driver’s car?), they’re getting off very lightly and should jump at the chance to settle.

Your choice OP but you don’t get any brownie points for rolling over and getting ****. The insurance company has already shown that they will happily screw you over as hard as they can, if you want to end up with a fair settlement it would be sensible to start out with a valid but aggressive claim.

Were you not hurt at all? Surprising, as being knocked off usually results in some injury. Or is it that you have some strange sympathy for the driver’s insurance company?

He asks for advice and most of it seems to consist of coaching him into thinking he was injured 😕

That would be fraud people
EDIT: that above was written whilst i typed and , out of interest, do you get rewards for telling the truth or just playing hard ball with made up injuries?

As for the insurance company see if you can get legal somehow

Reject offer, say there is an independent witness who supports your view and if they want to test the matter in a court you will

FWIW I got hit on a roundabout by a car entering it and not giving way and my insurance co wanted to accept 50/50 🙄

From my past experience with a “clear cut” cas”, you have to keep badgering them. The whole point of insurance is that it compensates you for any losses, and puts you back to the position you were in at the time time of the accident. I’d ask them to explain, in writing, why they feel that 50% is sufficient compensation, then point out that not having a functioning bike means that you have to use alternative transport “public transport/car” and that this is an expense incurred due to the accident, so the longer they drag their heels, the bigger the bill will be. Put this in writing and keep all receipts.
Insurance companies are on a similar moral level to estate agents, and need to be treated with fortitude and correctness.
BTW – injuries can manifest themselves sometime later (mine did), so try to avoid any “last and final payments” – seriously not suggesting that you fake anything.

He asks for advice and most of it seems to consist of coaching him into thinking he was injured
That would be fraud people

To be fair, he’s not actually said that he wasn’t injured.

Just that he doesn’t want to claim for personal injury.

(Possibly just an accidental omission)

thanks chaps. for the record I wasnt injured . I’m claiming for a new frame and bits and bobs, plus a new lid. Some great advice though , keep it coming.

To be fair, he’s not actually said that he wasn’t injured.

Just that he doesn’t want to claim for personal injury.

yes that is what is happening and no one is trying to encourage him to claim 😕

Forgive me my error

Do you have any kind of insurance at all? I was involved in an accident and of all things my household contents insurance provider dealt with the the insurance side of things for me. Their first words were never speak to the drivers insurance company yourself. I was very grateful for the cover anyway.

I have home insurance but drive a company car so no vehicle cover

Your house insurance may include legal cover. I’d certainly check it out.

yes that is what is happening and no one is trying to encourage him to claim
Forgive me my error

They are, as they always do on these threads.

Just pointing out that he may actually have been injured, but not want to claim for some other reason.

He hasn’t said otherwise.

I was encouraging the OP to claim for any injury no matter how small or insignificant. I’d also encourage him to claim for every bit of damage (eg scuffed and torn clothing) and every cost and inconvenience caused by the crash, including the time, effort, and incidental costs of dealing with the claim process. He can always settle for less. I am not encouraging any fraudulent claim.

thecaptain +1 – I’m certainly not suggesting anything fraudulent, but surprised if there is no injury at all. The issue is that if he wants to engage a proper solicitor, the way the system is now the no-win-no-fee folks (some of whom are very good) won’t touch it unless there is an injury claim, as they can’t cover their costs on a damages only claim. So if the insurance company is playing awkward and a solicitor would be useful, the only option to use one if he has no legal cover is to actually claim for his injuries no matter how trivial they might be. Of course if he genuinely has no injuries at all (no bruises, grazes etc.) then that option isn’t open to him – at least not with my morals. More than happy to claim for trivial stuff, but not for made up stuff – I think a lot of folks feel unhappy about claiming for the trivial.

Any vehicle cover would be no use to you as it won’t cover riding bicycles. Household insurance is what might help you, as it always covers riding bicycles if you have any cover at all – the question is whether you have legal cover (I found I did last time I used a solicitor and had planned on going NWNF)

I’d get back to them, reject their “offer” and tell them that you were hoping for a quick settlement, given the obvious facts of the crash and the fact that you have a witness. Reiterate what you would accept as full and final settlement, if you already know (and you are sure that you’re not hurt – not taking the piss, just be sure that no late effects come up. How long ago was the crash and how far did you fall/slide – no clothing damage either ?)

Explain that, if this is going to drag on, you’ll need to appoint a lawyer to recover all the costs you’ll incur due to the delay – bike hire etc

My guess is that the mention of a lawyer and incurring costs will make them worry about the likelihood of you making substantial extra claims including possibly injury even without you mentioning it

Thanks chaps. I’ve emailed the insurance company with the pointers above , fingers crossed.

gents- thanks for all the help. Finally got the full amount in my bank after following some great advice from above. For the record I contacted both insurance company and the driver and advised them I would be pursuing them via the small claims court. Insurance then responded by saying I couldn’t instigate proceeding without a solicitor. At this point I told them they were bullying me and giving me false information, then the driver told me he didn’t need the hassle of a court appearance ( and my mention of a witness probably helped).
Finally after insisting on reciepts for original purchase , which I couldn’t provide but gave them the shop details they paid up.
Lessons learnt though hopefully never happen again – get insurance, take no nonsense , claim for every little thing. The disappointing thing is that now its easier to feign an injury to get ‘free’ legal representation than to be honest .

Good news, glad it got sorted