Hit by car: Trapped by bureaucrats, HELP! (Page 3)

Ahhh...Mike Vick country

Sure you can put the onus on the insurance company.  But what's their incentive? (Hint - it's not to pay out more). And if you don't use a couple of LBS to get some hard numbers, their adjuster is going to think you are just pulling numbers out of your azz.  You could pull some catalogues together to show what the components cost, but there would stil be the frame to deal with.

As for figuring depreciation, it shouldn't be that hard.  Sure, you might not find a 2005 frame around.  But what's a 2008 frame run? How about a 2007 (shouldn't be too hard to find)?  Are there any 2006's out there?  You can track the trend, and come up with a reasonable number. 

Yes, if you replace your 2005 bike with a 2008 (or in a couple of months, a 2009), using the insurance payout, you will end up losing money. Accept that.  You will still end up with more bike than you started with, and if you don't want to spend your own money to get there, accept getting a bike that is newer but less advanced. Of course, if you convince them that the component system is worth more separately than as part of the bike "package", you may not lose as much money. 

Being a USAA person I can say that in all my experiences with them for claims they have always taken care of me.

I had bought a high end hybrid from Giant many years ago to ride with my wife (only $650, but still pricey for a hybrid) and it got stolen from my house.  USAA paid me something like $500 or so for it.

Hope it all works out!  And glad to hear you're okay.

That sucks and unfortunately I have nothing to help you out.  All I know is if I am ever in an accident like this I am getting in that stupid ambulance that way they can't say I refused treatment at least.  Seems like a pain in the a$$ but you never know what might show up later. 

I do hate the idea of having to hire a lawyer to "scare" the insurance company but unfortunatley sometimes it is needed.  I really doubt they will ever pay the full value of the bike since the value does depreciate like a car but I would think they would depreciate it over alot more years than a car.

Good Luck.

Congrats, I'm glad everything worked out OK, and here I was formulating a lengthy reply as I read through the thread.  I was an insurance adjuster handling accidents just like this one for about two years before I fled for my life and changed careers.

For what it's worth, 6 weeks is actually a fairly speedy resolution for a situation like this.  I'm glad the insurance company came to a reasonable estimate.  Most car vs bike accidents involve $100 wal-mart jobs, so it doesn't surprise me that coming up with a reasonable value took some time, as it was stated earlier, most people have no idea how much a bike can be worth.

I'm totally speculating here, but as an adjuster once my claims reached a certain age they started hitting reports and management started taking a closer look at them, for me it was usually 30 days for damaged property.  While it isn't out of the ordinary for injury claims to be drug out months or even years, property damage should be settled relatively quickly, so I'm wondering if the guy on the other end suddenly found himself on the hook to get your claim settled.  The thing lots of people don't understand about insurance companies is that the person handling the claim cares much less about how much how much he/she has to pay out and much more about how quickly he can get the matter resolved.  Most adjusters walk in every day to 10+ new accidents in their inbox, and over 100 pending at any given time.  All they really want to do is close the file.

I'm glad everything worked out for you.

Thanks for keeping us posted throughout the whole ordeal.  It has been informative about the process one has to go through just to get reimbursed for something that is not your fault.

Do you have any words of advice for those who will go through this in the future?  In retrospect, is there something you wish had/had not done?

Bear...Ive never thought this before, but in this case you couldn't be more wrong.

If somebody is minding their own business, following the rules of the road, and a numbskull crunches their bike and it is a total loss (which it sounds like the case) then the very least you should expect is a new bike.

I was wondering if you got that sorted out.  I'm glad to hear that it's settled now.

Did I miss the part where you said what bike you picked out?  I remember that you had several in mind.

There's no legal basis for this line of thought. If you were in a ten-year-old car, and "minding your own business, following the rules of the road, and a numbskull crunches your car and it is a total loss," you would not get, nor should you expect, a brand new car. Why should a bike be any different?

It may work out that way, and the insurance company may give you a few hundred dollars over the depreciated value of your bike just to make you (and ancillary issues) go away, but I'll stand by my original statement that it's not reasonable to expect it.

Glad it worked out in this case, looking forward to the pics of the new ride.

Oh, and as usual, the bear IS right.

Correction ... the Bear has continued his streak of stumbling uncontrollably into being correct yet again.

I went through the same bull shite some years ago.  It was a clear cut case of a motorist who simply ignored the fact that I was on the road on my bike and hit me.  Here is what I did:

• At the scene, I got the name and phone number of the car driver's insurance company
• I got a copy of the accident report
• I went to my local bike shop and got 2 estimates, one to repair and one for a new bike - a new bike cost less
• I contacted the insurance company and related all the information along with replacement costs for my cycling shoes, my jersey and my helmet
• They said they would pay but kept giving me the run-around
• I contacted the Upper Canada Law Society and asked for their help
• I was given a case number and the phone number of a lawyer that would handle the case "pro bono"
• I called the lawyer who said to call the insurance company and let them know that if the case was not settled today, that they could deal with him in future
• I got my check in full, for a new bike, new helmet, new shoes and new jersey less than one hour after the phone call
• I called the lawyer and told him that the case was concluded to my satisfaction

Of course, The UCLS is in Ontario, Canada and law societies may be different in the States.  However, I do believe that most law societies do require that their members provide "pro bono" work at least once a year.  At the very least, it is worth a shot.  Find out what your state's law society's position is on this matter.