Request for advice following collision

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

I was sadly rear-ended whilst stationary by a driver today. She badly over anticipated, thinking I had set off when I had not.
Fortunately no damage done to me.
She, unfortunately did damage my bike.

I am trying to weigh up how I approach this. I have the driver's contact details. So I could approach her directly with a bill to put my bike right, once I've obtained a quote or two.

Or, I could report her to the Police for her driving (she was at fault, I have the incident on video), which I would suspect would result in me having to persue costs via insurers. That means I could be out of pocket for the repairs for quite some time?

It looks like the rear wheel needs trueing. And the rear mudguard stay was snapped off the fork and away from the dropouts - plastic mounts at either end.

The mudguard fix is not as simple as it sounds. The bike (Trek District 4 Equipped) was equipped with mudguards at the factory, and although they are SKS branded, they look bespoke. The mudguard stay is more integral to the mudguard. The standard equipment rear luggage rack is bolted to the top of the mugduard instead of having stays which are in turn attached to the seat stays.

There is also a channel on the underside of the mudguard for the rear dynamo light's wire and holes pre-drilled into the mudguards at various points for various accessories.

The way this is going to fall is either:

• Trek will provide a mudguard as a direct replacement
• Trek will not be able to provide a mudguard as a direct replacement, which is going to result in my replacing the mudguard, rack and trunk bag and sacrificing the rear wheel lock on the bike as that would not be compatible with a conventional rack

This extra mudguard complication is making me thing that the driver is not going to like the eventual repair bill and I'm better off persuing this via insurers rather than directly.

Emotionally, I absolutely love this bike and I want it back the way it was. I don't really want to compromise it because of someone elses incompetent driving.

 

[boydj]

Take the bike to a bike shop, get a written quote for the repair and send it to the driver with a request to cover the cost or to provide her insurance details and report the incident to her insurance so you can submit a claim.

 

[Fastpedaller]

There could be other (as yet unseen) problems. Wheels can take a great deal of force radially before they bend - that's what they're designed for - a rear wheel that needs truing could mean the rear dropouts or chainstays are damaged?
I've been in this sort of situation (many years ago), where the driver then reported me to Police, stating a pack of lies and the Police called me in to explain what had happened - their first question was 'why didn't you report the accident?'.
Cutting a long story short the driver had also given them a false number for his vehicle. The whole thing changed when I revealed the correct number. I don't know if the Police took any action against the driver. Anyway I digress........... I'd report to the Police and get her insurance company involved.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

IMV: report to police for driving without due care. They need to understand the consequences of their actions.

Claim for a new bike; any bike shop will tell you frame can't be guaranteed after such a smash.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

Take the bike to a bike shop, get a written quote for the repair and send it to the driver with a request to cover the cost or to provide her insurance details and report the incident to her insurance so you can submit a claim.

I'm going to try my nearest Trek authorized dealer that is not Evans cycles. Or maybe the original supplying dealer. I'll probably note the time and mileage involved as they are all a fair distance away.

There could be other (as yet unseen) problems. Wheels can take a great deal of force radially before they bend - that's what they're designed for - a rear wheel that needs truing could mean the rear dropouts or chainstays are damaged?

I wasn't dislodged from the bike, there wasn't a great deal of force involved. I have had a good look at the bike and the wheel hub hasn't even moved in the dropouts - it's a special sliding assembly to handle the hub gear / belt drive. I suppose the one thing I do need to be mindful of, is that the drive side of the rear triangle isn't one piece, but actually has a join in it to allow replacement of the belt - so that might be a weak point. If there's been any damage to the rear of the bike, I'm guessing that join won't be aligned properly.

I've been in this sort of situation (many years ago), where the driver then reported me to Police, stating a pack of lies and the Police called me in to explain what had happened - their first question was 'why didn't you report the accident?'.

I've sent the driver a text message stating politely that she needs to make good the damage done to the bike, either settling the repair bill privately or proceeding through insurers. I've given her the full value of a replacement bike as worst case scenario. If she hasn't responded by tomorrow evening, I'll report the incident and submit the camera footage to the police. And I'll call the Cycling UK incident line.

 

[alicat]

Ask for her insurance details and make a claim on her insurance. That way she has to declare on the next few renewals that she was involved in a collision. Her premium will go up and it may prompt her to drive more carefully.

 

[classic33]

Have a read of Accident Advice on here.

 

[PaulSB]

Last June I was involved in a crash that wrote off my bike, all the kit I was wearing and my Wahoo.

I claimed from my household insurer and received the full replacement cost on a new for old basis. I had to pay a £200 excess. My insurer has subsequently reclaimed their costs from the third party and my £200 excess has been returned to me. The claim was in excess of £7000.

If this option is open to you I suggest it's the simplest way to reach a solution. Your insurer should payout quickly, mine took 10 days. If your insurer feels the third party is to blame they will reclaim from the other party's insurer. Your insurer will know exactly which buttons to press to ensure success. You may not have the relevant experience and few, if any, on here have the experience to know exactly how to progress this.

This is one reason why I have always argued using a house contents policy to insure bikes is the best method.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

@Fastpedaller I should have said in my original reply to you that I am sorry you had that bitter experience.
And same to you @PaulSB.

@classic33 I did read that before posting.

The driver involved was quite young and driving a 15 year old car. An insurance claim would probably make a considerable difference to her insurance premium which I suspect would result in some financial challenges for her. She knew it was her fault and at the scene she did apologise and own the mistake. Hence giving her the opportunity to resolve this privately.

However, as yet know acknowledgement and as a consequence I've not slept very well.

@PaulSB I don't have the bike insured. I made a conscious decision not to on account insuring all my bikes was a hefty chunk of change which would have amounted to a new bike every few years anyway. We live in a relatively safe area in terms of burglaries. However, our home insurance policy does include legal assistance which I could use to make a claim if necessary.

This is not the first time I've been involved in a collision caused by a driver. Last time around, as well as damaging the bike, I was also damaged. The CTC's (as it was back then) legal assistance worked out well for me in that instance.

Prior to that, I was wrongfully convicted of inconsiderate cycling and again the CTC/Cyclists Defence Fund did a sterling job of getting that appealed.

I'm hopeful Cycling UK will help me resolve this situation should the driver ghost me at this stage. And of course, if they do, I'll be making a report to the Police and hoping they take it seriously. I have not heard anything on the last few close passes I have reported. It has been one month since I was assaulted by an RLJing driver whilst out jogging and despite providing a clear written statement and video evidence, I've not had any feedback on that yet.

Thanks all for the feedback.

 

[PaulSB]

@PedallingNowhereSlowly thank you. I am OK though my injured knee is still slowly healing. I have an ongoing PI claim against the driver who hit me. This is via British Cycling and it's good to read you're working with Cycling UK. The professional help is vital in my view.

I understand your comments on insurance and I won't harp on about it other than this. I always use a mainstream, well known insurer, currently M&S underwritten by Aviva. As standard the policy covers all bikes to a value of £10000, for an extra £50 I increased this to £15000 to cover all my bikes. Since the claim M&S offered me renewal which increased by £70, far less than I expected.

I have my house, household contents etc. and bikes to the value of £15000 insured for £387pa. I feel this is very affordable and given the no quibble service I received from M&S/Aviva I'm happy to pay an additional £70pa following the claim.

If I didn't have the cover, saving +/-£300pa, it would have taken me 23 years of savings to replace everything.

 

[Drago]

Get your quote for repairs and send it to her.

Its then up to her whether she settles quickly from her own purse or punts it to her insurers.

If she dithers then dump small claims papers on her.

As the driver of a motor vehicle causing a damage she should have reported it to the police within 24 hours - Get the URN from her ASAP if you haven't already.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

There is another option that you don't appear to have been considering and I know many will be aghast at it.

Simply do nothing/just repair your bike and carry on with life.

I am not being flippant, I got punted off on a roundabout a few months back and I decided not to bother about it.

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/r...ats-a-reasonable-response.299656/post-7283337

The time taken to pursue an insurance claim for the damage simply wasn't worth it to me. Basically it would only have been one Fulcrum rear wheel which I would not have be able to source so would have to find a similar replacement.

If your bike is similar to this

Which appears to have an Alpine hub and I can see getting a replacement rack will be a issue, but would a normal rack fit as there appears to be eyes on the seat stay? I do take your point that it wasn't you fault and you like your bike the way it was.

As I don't want to live in a U.S. like culture where people sue each other at the drop of the hat, people make mistakes, including when driving cars so I decided to just move on.

Bye

Ian

 

[ianrauk]

Prior to that, I was wrongfully convicted of inconsiderate cycling and again the CTC/Cyclists Defence Fund did a sterling job of getting that appealed.

Can you tell us more about this.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

There is another option that you don't appear to have been considering and I know many will be aghast at it.

Simply do nothing/just repair your bike and carry on with life.

Believe it or not, I had considered that option.
If the driver had shown willing to remediate the damage and I could obtain the replacement mudguard from Trek/an authorized dealer, I probably would have been happy to foot the bill and leave it at that - given the drivers young age.

As the driver has so far ignored me, she is not taking her responsibility as a driver seriously. Nor is she respectful of the fact she is causing inconvenience, in that she has broken my bike which is my main mode of transport and I have to expidite repairs to one of my other bikes due to the unfortunate timing of the incident.

As I don't want to live in a U.S. like culture where people sue each other at the drop of the hat, people make mistakes, including when driving cars so I decided to just move on.

People do make mistakes. But people need to own those mistakes, not dodge their responsibility. And this is particularly true when motor vehicles were involved. Drivers have one primary job and that's not to drive into things or people. She drove into me - and continued to do so until I shouted stop. Even after she had started to pull away, she still did not realise I was there. Had I not shouted, she could possibly have driven over me.

This is a far cry from the US situation. I don't want recompense for my sleepless night, the afternoon I've just booked off work to start sorting things out or that fact this has brought back memories of the prior collision I was involved in. I just want (a) my bike as it was and (b) for this driver to not make the same mistake again.

Which appears to have an Alpine hub and I can see getting a replacement rack will be a issue, but would a normal rack fit as there appears to be eyes on the seat stay? I do take your point that it wasn't you fault and you like your bike the way it was.

A normal rack would fit. So assuming the frame is undamaged, I'd need new mudguard, new rack, a new trunk bag if I can't find an MIK rack and to sacrifice the rear wheel lock that would interfere with the stays on a regular rack.