Hello all,
So last night I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle. I’m grateful to just have some road rash and bruises, but it appears my bike is toast (crack in the frame, busted shifters, etc). This is a huge blow because riding is a huge part of my life. Also I’ve poured a lot of money into upgrading this bike over the years so I’m potentially out big time financially.
At the time of the accident I was pretty shaken and made the mistake of not calling 911. I did get the driver’s insurance, name, tag, etc. And 10 minutes after parting ways with the driver I realized my error and called 911. I was able to submit a report after the fact but was told it would be less useful considering no officer was present at the time of the crash, so no officer as a witness. There was another driver who witnessed the crash and stopped and gave me their info in case I needed them later.
So at this point it has been about 15hrs since the crash and I have done the following:
– Submitted a claim with my personal auto insurance (I did this because initially it appeared the driver was uninsured. Later, when filing a police report, I was given the driver’s current insurance policy number by the officer)
– Submitted a claim with the driver’s current auto insurance.
– Submitted a police report.
What should my next steps be? Should I take the bike to the shop and cover replacement costs out of pocket (which will be expensive) and hope one of the insurance companies reimburse?
Is it unlikely I will get reimbursed at all and should therefore minimize out of pocket spending (i.e chalk this up as a total loss and look for an affordable replacement?)
Thank you!
Posted by xball89
3 Comments
Were I in your shoes, I would go to my health care provider and get checked out to ensure there are not any additional or serious injuries that are not immediately apparent.
Your auto insurance won’t cover anything for your bicycle.
The other person’s insurance might cover it under their property damage coverage. They’ll need to get statements from everybody involved and investigate liability and coverage.
Locate all receipts for the bike and upgrades. Get very good photos of all damage. If a bike shop can do an estimate/assessment of the damage, that can be helpful. Even something saying it wouldn’t be able to be safely repaired with the damage it has.
I agree with the other commenter about getting checked out. You might feel shittier as the weekend goes on. If you’re in the US, ERs and urgent cares are going to be very flooded with people celebrating Memorial Day a little bit too hard, so might wanna go sooner rather than later.
You’re not going to get replacement cost from either insurance. You’re only owed the actual cash value of the bike just before you were hit. If the other party’s insurance accepts full liability, I don’t know if they will or not since you’ve given no details of the accident, and they have no coverage issues, then that’s what you’ll get from them.