Hi Everyone,
Recently got into an accident, car driver at fault and was wondering if any body had any problems trying to claim, a bike worth over $10,000 ish from the car insurance company?
Can you please share you’re stories / experience or advice you may have, so as to I or others may learn from it.
I did get an attorney, but was just wondering if anybody did mange to get the full amount of the bicycle cost.
Thanks in advance!
hate to say it but get an attorney. the ins. will totally screw you.
Get an attorney. My husband got hit and we are lucky that one of his friends/teammates is an attorney who specializes in personal injury. It was definitely worth it. And yes, he got full amount of the bike and everything else damaged: helmet, shoes, glasses, cycling kit, etc. You often don’t think of all the smaller (but expensive) things besides the bike that are damaged. Your bike shop should be able to give you the cost list to replace everything for your claim.
I had a pretty bad accident on Sunday, I’ll spare you the details. I have an attorney and he has advised me. You must make sure that you don’t have any lasting health impact from the accident before you settle, should the insurance offer a settlement. For the bike, you get back the market value not the replacement value (at least my attorney thinks so) so you not recover the full cost. He says I have to get a bike shop to provide an itemized estimate. My bike is not stock. I used this website to find an attorney, he is a ex-cyclist and has been helpful so far and will help withe the property claim for free. Don’t say anything to the insurance company yourself. http://bicyclelaw.com/p.cfm/legal-issues-for-cyclists/about-bicycle-accidents
I was “hit” last year… the biggest things I learned with getting reimbursed were this:
I had a good experience; just took months to get paid. But I didn’t pay a dime for medical treatment; it was all paid by the insurance company at the end
I am an insurance agent in Georgia, US. I would not get an attorney until it proves necessary. My experience says if you can document your loss you won’t have a problem. Prepare an itemized list of the bike and it’s accessories with pricing. If you have your receipts its a slam dunk in my opinion. Your claim will need to include not only the bike but your time lost from work, any medical expenses incurred, and any future medical expenses. I would try to split the claim into settling the physical damage on the bike right away and handle the medical expenses once you get a complete release from the physician.
Simply be firm. Tell them you expect to be made whole. If they will cooperate you will play nice. If they won’t you intend to
I am an insurance agent in Georgia, US. I would not get an attorney until it proves necessary. My experience says if you can document your loss you won’t have a problem. Prepare an itemized list of the bike and it’s accessories with pricing. If you have your receipts its a slam dunk in my opinion. Your claim will need to include not only the bike but your time lost from work, any medical expenses incurred, and any future medical expenses. I would try to split the claim into settling the physical damage on the bike right away and handle the medical expenses once you get a complete release from the physician.
Simply be firm. Tell them you expect to be made whole. If they will cooperate you will play nice. If they won’t you intend to
Ignore this guy.
You need an attorney.
I am an insurance agent in Georgia, US. I would not get an attorney until it proves necessary. My experience says if you can document your loss you won’t have a problem. Prepare an itemized list of the bike and it’s accessories with pricing. If you have your receipts its a slam dunk in my opinion. Your claim will need to include not only the bike but your time lost from work, any medical expenses incurred, and any future medical expenses. I would try to split the claim into settling the physical damage on the bike right away and handle the medical expenses once you get a complete release from the physician.
Simply be firm. Tell them you expect to be made whole. If they will cooperate you will play nice. If they won’t you intend to
This is the exact process I went through when I got hit in 2009 and it worked perfectly. I had no issues with the insurance company paying full price for the bike and also covering my medical expenses. I had the bike money in about 2 weeks and I waited on the medical part for 6 weeks to ensure that I didn’t have any complications.
You always have the right to use an attorney. I suggest you do that if you want to 1) reduce your recovery by the % or fees the attorney charges and 2) Make the process take longer than it should. I deal with this crap for a living. Most claims can be handled quickly and fairly. Those that can’t then you bring out the big guns use an attorney and beat them to a pulp with ground & pound. Happy ?
I am an insurance agent in Georgia, US. I would not get an attorney until it proves necessary. My experience says if you can document your loss you won’t have a problem. Prepare an itemized list of the bike and it’s accessories with pricing. If you have your receipts its a slam dunk in my opinion. Your claim will need to include not only the bike but your time lost from work, any medical expenses incurred, and any future medical expenses. I would try to split the claim into settling the physical damage on the bike right away and handle the medical expenses once you get a complete release from the physician.
Simply be firm. Tell them you expect to be made whole. If they will cooperate you will play nice. If they won’t you intend to
BigMikeGA is giving you good advice. If you can’t or won’t be able to heed it, get an attorney… but it will cost you something, either money or time…
I am an insurance agent in Georgia, US. I would not get an attorney until it proves necessary. My experience says if you can document your loss you won’t have a problem. Prepare an itemized list of the bike and it’s accessories with pricing. If you have your receipts its a slam dunk in my opinion. Your claim will need to include not only the bike but your time lost from work, any medical expenses incurred, and any future medical expenses. I would try to split the claim into settling the physical damage on the bike right away and handle the medical expenses once you get a complete release from the physician.
Simply be firm. Tell them you expect to be made whole. If they will cooperate you will play nice. If they won’t you intend to
BigMikeGA is giving you good advice. If you can’t or won’t be able to heed it, get an attorney… but it will cost you something, either money or time…
Agree. I got hit by a car in front of probably 50 witnesses; the driver was cited for failing to stop at the stop sign (if she had, she wouldn’t have hit me). I had no problem whatsoever with the driver’s insurance company, and I never even had to threaten to get an attorney. They paid:
Could I have gotten more by using an attorney? Maybe; maybe not. But I wasn’t out to get rich off of what in the end was an accident. I just wanted to be made whole, and the driver’s insurance company did well more than that.
To start with, please don’t read this as me telling you to sue for the moon…
You didn’t say anything about an injury in your original post, but I will tell you that when I got hit 12 years ago by speeding '79 Buick, I hired an attorney and then eventually settled for the full price of the bike plus the limits of his auto policy’s coverage. The family’s entire income was social security and food stamps, so there was really nothing else.
The driver’s insurance company was more than happy to pay for my $4,500 bike/helmet/gear combo…and then threatened to countersue for insurance fraud because there’s no way a bicycle could cost that much. Obviously that was dropped quickly.
After I settled more than a year after the accident is when problems started. After no real previous dental problems, I had a root canal on every molar because of jarring injuries (loose teeth) from the accident…and possibly magnified by the fact no one took care of my teeth when I was in a coma. Then at the two-year point my acchiles tendon started hurting when I started adding speedwork again…still does if I push it, but only on the side where I was hit and had in traction for a while. Couple more issues have come up over the years that may be related to the accident…I’m military so I was trying to tough it out and not get medically separated over medical issues. I’m sure most triathletes would rather not admit when things hurt, but a collision with a 2K+ lb car is a big deal. My only advice is to get thoroughly checked out by a doctor who had dealt with accidents like this if there’s ANY chance you were hit hard enough to have lasting effects. Even the insurance agent on here wrote that you should be made whole.
Hopefully you didn’t mention anything medical because you’re 100% okay…as much as I love my bike (her name is Jolene), it is replaceable.
Why hire an attorney if you don’t need one to make things right?
I was hit in August 2012 and was advised by several people to hire an attorney. I decided to wait to hire an attorney until I felt like I needed one. The car drivers insurance company never tried to take advantage of me. They took care of all equipment, new bike, helmet, jersey, shoes, even socks, anything and everything that I had on that got any damage. They paid all medical bills without question and I was even given a fair amount for pain and suffering. My medical injuries were minimal so that is why I decided to wait. Not everyone has a bad experience with dealing with an insurance company.
I agree with this guy. If you were injured and have ongoing issues then hire an attorney. If you are fine physically and it’s just the bike then you might not need an attorney if they are willing to work with you and offer you an amount you can agree to.
About 14 years ago I got in a nasty car accident with my brother as the passenger also. The guy who hit me did an illegal pass in a turn only lane and I was broadsided by a full-sized commercial van and also flew into another car stop on the adjacent street (stupid b*tch in the car that my car hit as a result of being broadsided first thing out of her mouth is I better have insurance while we are bleeding and my brother is having problems breathing…I hate people sometimes and if I could travel back in time to that incident I’d punch her in the back of the head for being a cancer to the world). Anyways, we ended up suing for damages and it took a couple years before the insurance company would settle on the injury claim (spent the better part of a year in rehab both me and my brother). In hindsight it still wasn’t enough as to this day I still have neck and back soreness every now and then. The insurance however had no problems paying out the market value of the car immediately though.
Honestly, the money wasn’t worth the pain and ongoing issues I’d had since. Only if it was enough for me to retire would I possibly reconsider (a small amount even) wishing I’d never gotten into that accident.
+1 on getting an attorney, while I can respect the insurance agent’s opinion, it is rather self serving from an industry perspective.
In the past 5 years I’ve had a couple of situations, 1 involving a driver and my bike only and 1 that damaged my bike and my body.
First, a vehicle rear ended me while having my sweet cervelo on a hitch mount rack. That time I did not use an attorney since the insurance company listened to the LBS and they wrote me a check for a new bike.
Second, a driver caused an accident that caused property damage and injury. I hired a personal injury attorney (god I hate those advertisements) who had cycling experience, in fact several of the partners ride a lot. For that incident, the PI attorney did take 1/3 of the settlement, but in my opinion it was more that the insurance company would have offered. With that accident, the property damage reimbursement was quick, they paid for everything from bike damage to garmin watch, helmet, sunglasses, kit. The medical expenses took a while since they needed to make sure everything was resolved and any permanent injury assessed. Looking back (3 years ago), I feel like it was handled optimally and have no regrets about the attorney, etc. The only thing that was overlooked was a couple of race entries that I ate due to not being able to race.
Good luck as you try to put things back together.
Will a purchase confirmation on my email from ebay, craigslist, amazon or any other web store qualify as a receipt? I dont usually make copies of these online receipts or confirmation…should I?
I think they would accept it if it references the bicycle in the email. Alternatively you could proceed like you would with a car and look up a list of comparables using craigslist or something similar. If you have a picture of the bike that would help. If you have the damaged bike that would be perfect.
Yes, I was hit by a car and I recovered the full amount/cost of my bike and other accessories (shoes, helmet, kit). Start by getting your receipts together for all purchases. You should also have your LBS write a replacement cost estimate. The key issue with the insurance carrier is the replacement cost of the damaged property (your bike, etc.) with items of like kind and quality versus depreciated value. You want the former, the carrier will (in all probability) say you are only entitled to the latter. I “won” this argument with the carrier of the driver who hit me by relying on some insurance laws that are unique to the state I live in and where the accident occurred. Of course, each state has different laws, and I do not know what state you are in. The language of the insurance policy will also come into play on this issue.
Note: I am an attorney and that obviously helped with the negotiations, which I handled myself. The replacement cost estimate I obtained from my LBS went a long way towards a successful recovery. So did the driver’s admission that she was at fault. Regardless of the replacement cost versus depreciation issue, if fault is contested, it will be more difficult to successfully prosecute your bike/property damage claim.
You did not ask about a personal injury claim, so I won’t comment on that except to say that I hope you were not injured. Good luck.
I am an insurance agent in Georgia, US. I would not get an attorney until it proves necessary. My experience says if you can document your loss you won’t have a problem.
That is funny.
Why is that funny?
I was hit in a terrible accident 11 years ago. The bike shop tallied up my bike loss and I had a check in hand for the full amount within two weeks. No attorney involved. I DID, however, read all the fine print and wasn’t bashful about being firm. When the settlement check came for the bike, it came with a letter saying that my endorsement of the check constituted full release of them for any and all claims. I wrote them back and said that, unless they wanted me to resort to an attorney, they would acknowledge in writing that the check was for a property settlement only and did NOT release them from any other claims. They provided that acknowledgement.
The property part of these matters is pretty straight-forward. Present documentation of your loss and get reimbursed for your loss.
Now, where you get into medical and lost wages and pain and suffering and punitives and all that … that’s where you probably want to involve an attorney if you don’t know much about what you’re doing. But here also, know that in most states and with most insurance companies, “treble damages” (3x the total of your medical bills) is plain and simply routine. If your injuries are especially severe or would be expected to have more long-term consequences, an attorney might get you 4x, but if they cost you a third of the settlement, you actually come out behind. But if you’re at the negotiating table and the insurer doesn’t offer you 3x at minimum, you don’t have to settle and you can walk away and get an attorney then. Just be sure you document the daylights out of everything … including keeping a daily log of any pain and suffering, etc.
Note also that the straight-forwardness of all the above is dependent on who was deemed to have been at fault. I was fortunate that the law enforcement officer who responded to my accident properly cited the teenage driver (who hit me head on after making an unsignaled left turn into my oncoming lane while she was talking on her cell phone) with distracted driving and made the determination that she was solely at fault. I’ve known of situations involving cyclists where the responding officers did not know the law and/or did not properly apply it and they had considerable difficulty.