I was rear ended on my road bike by a car on New Years Eve. The driver and his insurers have admitted responsibility and I’ve forwarded details of my bike. The frame and wheels are wrecked.

My issue is that the payout proposed is only for part value for depreciation or cost of parts to fix (£800). That seems to me to be a big pain for me either to have a reduced spec bike new, find a comparable second hand one or get it fixed. Given that I’m the victim is it too much to expect the insurance company to sort this out without my involvement. They are expecting me to organise the repair and purchase.

Thoughts?

Had an accident? Wasn’t your fault?

I’d maybe speak to a claims team and get them to do the leg work for you

Can you join CTC retrospectively?

Pretend you’ve got whiplash or some other injury, and you’ll be seeing a no win no fee solicitor. Should get em to pull their fingers out.

Don’t be fobbed off by what the driver’s insurance covers; that’s the driver’s problem, not yours. Driver has damaged your bike, admitted responsibility, and liable for the cost of fixing the bike. In the theoretical situation that the driver could buy a used bike or components exactly like yours or better, I think you might have to accept that, but I don’t think you’re obliged to accept anything that doesn’t leave you with a bike at least as good you had.

Ultimately, if they don’t offer adequate compensation, you’d need to take the driver to court – make sure the driver believes that you will do that, or they’ll keep trying to offer less.

I’m in British Cycling and will get in touch with them tomorrow. What is the usual process here? Has anyone else had the same problem? Should I just be talking to the driver?

How much would bike rental be per day whilst they delay resolving the issue…… that should focus their minds.

you had to get home as well so add in taxi fares etc,

use bc or a claims company its easy.

I’ve tried the bike rental ploy already!

My issue is that the payout proposed is only for part value for depreciation or cost of parts to fix (£800). That seems to me to be a big pain for me either to have a reduced spec bike new, find a comparable second hand one or get it fixed. Given that I’m the victim is it too much to expect the insurance company to sort this out without my involvement. They are expecting me to organise the repair and purchase.

Can’t you just take the cheque for £800 and give it to an LBS, having already agreed the fix and parts list?

I could b r but I want the insurance company to sort it

BC are currently dealing with my incident.

Seem pretty thorough, and no hidden traps that some of the no win no fee companies can have.

I’m struggling to see your problem in them giving you the money to fix your bike. The last thing I’d want is for someone else to be organising fixing my bike, they’d probably be sending it to some cheap ass place that’d be fixing it with hammers. How much trouble is it to go to a shop and say here’s the money fix my bike?

Get an appropriate amount of money and take the bike to somewhere you trust, or is this just that you want a new bike?

I got hit by a car early last year. The lady stopped and admitted it was her fault and gave me her details. She offered to pay for the damage to the bike but when she realised how much it was going to cost she put it through her insurance. Initially the insurance company asked me to find the model of the bike and they would replace it but when they found out it was a bike I built they appointed wheelies to collect it, assess it and put a value on the damage. They would then give me the bike back and either replace the damaged parts like for like or give me the cash alternative. I chose the cash alternative which was the same as the value of the parts based on the wheelies website.

I guess than unless the bike was brand new, they’ll assess it’s current value, not what it cost. Rather like a car. You only get the current book value, not what you paid for it some time ago.

Think yourselves lucky, my daughter lives in Bucharest and was knocked off her bike last June, breaking her leg and writing off her bike. Luckily she had private health cover because the Romanian health service is shite. She’s several thousand euro’s out of pocket and there’s no sign of a settlement yet.

BC are currently dealing with my incident.

same here, well i say BC – my first point of contact was BC- they took some details and referred Leigh Day

You get compensated for what you lost – lost a three year old bike, get paid the value of a three year old bike. The law does not allow you to benefit/profit from an accident.

They will settle on a cash basis, covering the cost of you sorting the repair.
What they don’t want is the situation where they take your bike away, they repair it and then you aren’t happy with the repair so you go back to them, blah blah etc etc.
They will avoid entering a contract for services, such as repairing your bike.
it’s always (mostly) cash settlement based on the costs you present.

Have you got a good lawyer?
I got hit by a car from behind in Feb, totally his fault.

CycleLawScotland done everything from having bike evaluated (it was written off), private doctors, reviews, dealing with everything. I got a payout end of Nov for £5k. That was from a £1k bike. Damages from physical, psychological and life impacts.

Im fine .. and it payed for a new enduro bike.

Its all about the lawyer. They took 300 quid from my claim and had the other guys insurance pay the rest. I would use again and recommend them to anyone.

I would suspect that the approval and recommendation above applies only if you have an injury element to pursue.

Not quite – the law says that you should be put back in the same position you were before the event. Given it’s not generally feasible to buy an identical replacement 3yo bike then they have to pay what’s required to buy a replacement bike new if that’s all that’s available. Of course paying for repairs is also reasonable – though I’d expect them to pay the quote from a bike shop including labour costs. However in the case of the OP with a totalled frame and wheels (and presumably various other parts with some damage) that seems more than sufficient to move into the replace rather than repair category – so the insurance company has to provide a means for the other party to replace without expecting them to spend ages trying to source something s/h.

Of course as always, the insurance company will be trying it on with their first offer.

aracer – Member
MoreCashThanDash » You get compensated for what you lost – lost a three year old bike, get paid the value of a three year old bike. The law does not allow you to benefit/profit from an accident.
Not quite – the law says that you should be put back in the same position you were before the event. Given it’s not generally feasible to buy an identical replacement 3yo bike then they have to pay what’s required to buy a replacement bike new if that’s all that’s available

Exactly. And since the market for second hand bikes isn’t the same as for second hand cars they need to be paying for a new one.

If you make a claim for a damaged TV or laptop does the payout only cover the cost of an equivalent used one?

Don’t we have this discussion every year, with it descending into an argument about used bike values and specifications? 🙂

I got hit a few weeks ago. The guy admitted fault and offered to pay for the damage. Got the bike fixed and told him how much it cost, and he dropped the cash through my letterbox.

Glad I didn’t have to go through his insurance, but If I did, I’d get BC on it straight away.

Not quite – the law says that you should be put back in the same position you were before the event. Given it’s not generally feasible to buy an identical replacement 3yo bike then they have to pay what’s required to buy a replacement bike new if that’s all that’s available

Wow, the law of tort has moved on since I was a claims manager!

Every day is a school day.

You’re suggesting the law doesn’t say you should be put back in the same position you were before the event?

I’m saying the law was never applied in that way in the late 90s – you got compensation for the value of your loss. Third party claims never had a “new for old” option.

But it appears to have changed.

Clearly the value of the loss is the amount it would cost to replace what you’ve lost, rather than some nominal depreciated value. Did you assess many 3rd party claims for bicycles, or just for other things (like cars where as mentioned above there is a standard secondhand market)?

I last claimed against a motorist early this century and got new replacement cost for the damaged clothing as well as new replacement cost for all parts which had a scratch on them. Maybe I dealt with a different assessor?

Same here. I got a brand new helmet paid for with no quibbles. What would a year old, second hand £100 RRP helmet cost? £10? £5?. I’d feel like I’d lost out if someone stamped on my Kask Mojito and then gave me anything less than the £100 for a new one.

Same here. Claimed for damage to helmet, clothing, road shifters, saddle, etc and injury. All of the damaged kit was quoted against a comparable new equivalent by LBS, and that’s what I received back with no haggling. That was 1999.

, or just for other things (like cars where as mentioned above there is a standard secondhand market)?

On that note, and applying MCTD’s logic, surely if your car is damaged by a third party then any parts used to repair it should be of an equivalent age? Your bumper gets pranged, let’s find a second hand one. New windscreen? Here’s £20, get down the breakers yard.. It’s only the owner’s word that everything was working perfectly after all, just like my perfectly working, scruffy bike. 😀

I had a good discussion with the insurance company today and they are just not geared up to handle bike repair claims like they do for cars. I was expecting them to take control, assess, fix at an approved centre and pay for it direct just like they did when I had a car accident. They were actually apologetic and we’ve worked out a generous cash sum to pay for the parts, new helmet and shorts but I have to order the parts and organise the rebuild.

BC are however following up the injury claim 😉

Can you definitely make a personal injury claim after they have fixed the bike etc?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but if they offer to fix it, it may be a full & final offer?

I got knocked off my bike a few years ago & got a substantial payout through a No Win, No Fee outfit. The insurance company never once questioned the bill they supplied them with which was brand new parts replacing some 2 year old stuff.

The bulk of the payout was personal injury as I did fracture a few bones in my foot.