WWSTD? :T-Boned on the way home from work yesterday.

Mini roundabout, saw him approaching at speed from some way off and clear that he didn’t intend to stop so managed to break enough so front of the bike took most of the impact and not me. Got away with few minor cuts and some bruising.

He stopped, put his hands up straight away and said he didn’t see me. He called Police and told them the same story. Two witnesses approached me and gave contact details, one pedestrian, the other a lady in the car behind me. She said he never even glanced right approaching the junction. Both happy to confirm the course of events.

Bike looks battered but not had a chance to go over it yet (was recovered for me).  Old bike but a good one: full carbon s-works Epic, and kept in good nick.

Bearing in mind this should be a very straightforward claim, no question of determining fault, I’m inclined to speak directly to his insurers and offer them the chance to handle direct, wherever it goes – repair or replacement. Alternative is to go via my household ins (under which bike is covered) and get them to recover the costs.

Reluctant to do this as this will still count as a claim on my policy. Premium has already doubled on renewal last month, despite 22 years without a claim (didn’t improve on that quote even when I went to other insurers).

Anyone who has been through anything similar who may be able to offer some guidance, gratefully received.

Cheers.

Are you sure it’ll be a claim on your insurance if you’re not at fault?

But I would think you could go to his insurance via him..?

Positive, unfortunately. Confirmed by a broker neighbour and by various threads on these pages (albeit relating to motor claims).

When I got knocked off, their insurance contacted me and said they would deal with everything if I was happy to do that. Paid me out for the bike and damage to myself. Very smooth process

I would go to his insurer, name him as their client and make the claim against them as his insurer.

My broker neighbour said they would find that appealing because it would be cheaper for them than dealing with my insurers who would load their costs on (before double-dipping when my next renewal come up).

The lack of any personal injury element alongside the absence of any dispute on fault should make it pretty straightforward. I hope.

Floating it here in case anyone has experience that might suggest that might be misguided…

Cheers, Wors.

Was the bike a write off?

And were you OK?

Questions posed in no particular order of importance of course.

Bike wasn’t a write off, hardly a scratch on it, but my lbs did me a favour 😉

I broke a rib and had cuts to my knee and elbow, other than that I was okay thankfully.

paid for a long weekend in Barcelona!

The lack of any personal injury element alongside the absence of any dispute on fault should make it pretty straightforward

I’m not suggesting for a moment that you should load the claim with imaginary personal injuries but I’d give it a couple of days before you decide you’re completely unaffected physically, and see a doctor pronto if anything causes you the slightest concern. Some injuries don’t manifest immediately, and what you may be writing off as a bit of transient stiffness could turn out to be more serious.

Without wanting to encourage spurious claims, are you sure there’s no PI element? In my experience of being hit twice, it can take several days for full extent of injury to materialise, so I wouldn’t rush it.

I’ve engaged independent solicitors to handle everything both times, the last one of which was a very similar incident. Last firm was the one which Cycling UK are linked to, even though I wasn’t a member at the time.

I had a video call with a doctor to assess my injuries, and they made an offer based on his report.

Wait a day or two, if you have been slapped about hard, you won’t properly feel it for a while. Whiplash for example you’ll feel totally fine right after the bump,12 hours later totally different….

As above re: personal injury. You may well feel very uncomfortable indeed over the next few days.

Take photos of your cuts and bruises, however minor.

Report the incident to the driver’s insurance, note that you have cuts and bruises and are worried that your conditions may get worse over time. Tell them the damage to you bike and what the cost of a replacement would be. Note you have witnesses, and that the police were informed (share the reference no if you have one). If the police attended in person, point that out too.

Wait a day or two to see if you actually do get worse.

The insurer might offer a full and final settlement. Accept it if you like but only once you are sure that you aren’t badly injured.

If you aren’t hurt and they don’t offer a settlement, say that you would like to be paid for the replacement cost of the bike. If you don’t get an offer, tell them you aren’t happy and that you will speak to a lawyer to get the compensation you want, and give them one last chance.

As soon as you lawyer up, it will cost the insurance way more. You have some great red flags which will have insurers nervous (verifiable injuries even if they are only minor, witnesses, police involvement, car hitting vulnerable road user) so any competent claims handler will bite your hand off if you are willing to settle for just the cost of the bike.

This should not need to have anything to do with your household insurance. The conditions around reporting damage to your car on your motor insurance are completely different to conditions on reporting damage to your belongings on household insurance, so don’t get too distracted by that.

Thanks, all, much appreciated.

When I was rear ended in the van, it took 3 days for my neck to sieze up. At the time I felt fine, and went back to work after contacting the insurance etc. I ended up needing physio and it’s still not right now.

That was a relatively low speed impact, and I was protected by a big metal box. As others have said, give it a few days before telling them you’ve just got scrapes.

Fingers crossed you’re alright, though!

I’d start the dialog with the insurers but don’t rush to accept a settlement, they will probably try and settle fast in case you realise you’ve hurt your back etc in few days.  Use the time to negotiate the payment and consider if you need a general checkover with your GP.  Also don’t forget to add on new clothing/helmet.

If you are who i think you are, you’ll still be a member of BC?

When i got hit i contacted their tame solicitors who did all the leg work for me.

Never had to involve my insurers, was all between the solicitors and their insurers. Took a bit longer than it should as the driver had to go to court, driving without due care, 5 points, 800 quid fine.

These guys are very helpful, we used to signpost collision victims to them all the time when I worked in a bike shop: https://c-ams.co.uk/

By all means get in contact with the Insurer. I went via British Cycling – no damage to the bike (90’s rigid MTB) but despite thinking I was a little bruised at first, the crash mashed my shoulder, and led to two years of seeing shoulder specialists before it needed a decompression surgery, and extended recovery.  I got paid out for minor damage to clothing, helmet and bike within about 6 weeks, but the injury took about 3 years.

I won’t mention the one where my spine got broken, that was nearly 5 years.

Get in touch, and set the process off – you’ll at least get the bike repairs sorted quickly, but keep an eye on injuries.

PS I never touched my household insurance in my two big off’s.  PS the broken spine, the bike was fine as was my helmet and clothing – slow speed but sudden abrupt stop.

If you get any issues, then it’s time to involve your own legal team (be it via household legal cover, or British Cycling or Cycling UK’s lawyers (they will take you on as it’s done on a no win no fee basis these days. (Leigh Day)

Are you a CTC/BC member?

In what should be an open/shut case like that I’d just get on the phone to Leigh Day https://www.leighday.co.uk/our-services/personal-injury/cycling/ they were the firm that covered me when I was hit through my BC membership. Got the full value of the bike + the cost of physio and the money back from a few events that I had booked in the calendar that I missed*.

Or could have missed if i wasn’t such an idiot and rode em anyway.

When I got knocked off I didn’t see much damage to me or the bike at the time so we exchanged details and I cycled off. A couple of kindly folk gave me their details as witnesses if needed.

Before wobbling off in an adrenaline infused haze to meet my mate, I said I’d get the bike checked later and get back to them as they didn’t want to go through their insurance if they could avoid it. Shortly after leaving the scene I then found the rear seat stay had been snapped through (the paint/gel coat had initially hidden the damage) and the wheels were badly buckled so I got the train home.

I got separate quotes from my lbs, who wrote the wheels off and a carbon repair company who said the frame was repairable but the cost they shared was more than the frame was worth. There was also damage to the seat, hoods, front derailleur and bar tape. I shared the quotes with the driver and as it was a lot more than either of us expected at the time, they went to their insurance who contacted me within days. I declined any personal injury claims as other than bruises and a bit of stiffness I was fine. As the claim was below £2000 the insurer agreed to pay out on the phone and the cheque arrived a couple of days later.

I think I was lucky as I wasn’t badly hurt and the couple in the car were decent people and seemed genuinely concerned. The whole process was actually very positive given the circumstances.

I run a bike shop, and we hear of incidents like this fairly regularly. It’s pretty common for drivers to admit responsibility at the scene, witnesses to agree and the cyclist then to try and pursue the driver’s insurers for a claim.

It’s then common for the driver’s insurers to ignore the cyclist and hope they go away, or to dispute literally everything about the claim and hope they go away, or to ask for such an exhaustive paper trail of receipts for every item claimed for, that they hope the cyclist goes away, or to convince the driver to change their story so the cyclist goes away. Insurance companies employ people called “loss adjusters” whose job is literally this – find a way to avoid paying out, if possible.

In our experience it’s best to get someone legal on your side from the outset. Someone above already mentioned CAMS – quite a few of our customers have successfully used them, https://c-ams.co.uk/ – they’ll get a local bike shop to assess your bike and evaluate the damage, rather than asking for a pile of receipts. I think British Cycling recommend Leigh Day, and there will certainly be other companies that will happily take on your case. It seems all too common that cyclists get fobbed off by insurance companies when they try and pursue the claims themselves, whereas companies like CAMS and Leigh Day know the right way to pursue the claim so it won’t be ignored.

I don’t get any kick-back from CAMS for saying this, by the way (unless you mention my bike shop as your referrer), just hoping that it will help and you’ll be able to avoid the massively frustrating months of stupid letters back and forth before you give up and the driver’s insurance company gets their way…!

If you get any issues, then it’s time to involve your own legal team (be it via household legal cover, or British Cycling or Cycling UK’s lawyers (they will take you on as it’s done on a no win no fee basis these days. (Leigh Day)

The issue is that their payment is a fixed proportion of the award, to avoid artificially inflated fees against the paying insurer, so if there no expensive medical claim, the cost of a bike and new helmet doesn’t cover the effort.

I had to approach the driver’s insurance directly when I was punted off without injury and with a bit of prodding and a letter that stated my full and final claim, (about £800 IIRC) they paid out quickly.

It’s always tempting to say you’re ok and try to get on with your day but even minor prangs can lead to long-term problems. My sister in law bailed into a ditch to avoid an oncoming tractor with a trailer barrelling towards her down a narrow lane. She thought she was ok apart from a sprained thumb. Months later she still couldn’t use it. She ended up having to have surgery to repair the tendon using one from her thigh. ?

When i had a very similar accident the driver’s insurance co (Axa) wouldn’t deal with me direct as there was both a claim on the bike and personal injury. They advised me to get a solicitor. So i did and without any exaggeration of my injuries i feel i did surprisingly well out of it. Lawyer up.