Legal help?
hello adelaide cyclists,
last thursday i got door-ed on my way home for lunch. heading south on pultney st a parked van didn't look before opening his door.
my chin and cheek took the brunt of it, but nothing a bit of surgical glue and three stiches couldn't deal with. medically i'm fine. the bike seemed mostly ok. front wheel a bit untrue and a slightly bent rear derailleur but figured just needed a service.
i put the bike in the shop on friday but as its the fun time of year it couldn't get looked at untill today. got a call from the mechanic and he said that the fork (carbon) might be a bit weak and that i should consider replacing it.
the question is: does the driver need to pay for my bike repairs? when i though it was just a service i figured i wouldn't bother, but if its gonna be more then it might be worth the effort chasing up.
the day is a bit fuzzy but i remember talking to a police officer at the hospital and he said that the driver was at fault and was fined and that he was responsible for any medical bills but not the bike repair. but that sounds fishy, he caused an accident with damage to another vehicle, surely he'd have to pay for it.
anyone with any experience?
worst thing about all this: i missed the bupa challenge tour!
EDIT: thanks everyone for all the advice and comments. the adelaide cyclists community is truly one of the most supportive. i'll keep everyone updated with the outcome
EDIT 2: i wrote a letter to the driver informing him that i was holding him liable for the damage to my bike with attached quotes. a couple of days later he gave me a call and was disputing some of the damage, i told him to go to the bike shop and get things explained there. He did that but still wasn't convinced that my fork needed replacement - after all it could still be ok. i can kind of see where he's coming from but mostly didn't want to bother arguing too much so i took his offer of paying half of the bill.
took avantiplus unley a week to get the fork in, realised it was the wrong fork so another week after that to actually got it done and installed. color scheme doesn't match (white and red fork for a mostly blue bike) so it's looking pretty unique. the driver paid his half and i picked it up yesterday.
once again thanks to everyone for their input and support through this forum. i probably should have stood my ground more and made him pay for the whole thing but i really didn't want to drag this out any more then it already had.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Lownsborough on -
A while ago I clipped a traffic cone, tore out the rear derailleur cable stop, which caused damage to my frame. End result - LBS assessed my bike as a write-off, $100 insurance excess and new bike. So have a chat with your LBS and insurer. BTW my insurer was my household insurance co.
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Permalink Reply by Paul on -
Who are you insured with Simon? That sound too good to be true.
I thought insurance would just replace the frame.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Palfrey on -
I've known riders who's insurance companies agreed to write off the bike and give it back to the owner who then stripped the good parts off.
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Permalink Reply by Darren on -
The driver's insurance company I'm awaiting on for settlement asked if I wanted to salvage the bike in which case they'd take an amount out of the claim....
The frame/forks are stuffed, as are the 105 shifters, leaving the 105 derailleurs, FSA cranks, Mavic CXP22 wheels (though there's a noise inside the front like a nipple is loose), and Felt branded bars, stem, seat and post. Not sure what all this is worth, but my feeling is it would be more effort/cost for the insurer to dispose of than its worth. I wouldn't mind building up a winter road bike but I won't let the insurer off lightly.
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Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on -
hi everybody, an update on how things went.
i wrote a letter to the driver informing him that i was holding him liable for the damage to my bike with attached quotes. a couple of days later he gave me a call and was disputing some of the damage, i told him to go to the bike shop and get things explained there. He did that but still wasn't convinced that my fork needed replacement - after all it could still be ok. i can kind of see where he's coming from but mostly didn't want to bother arguing too much so i took his offer of paying half of the bill.
took avantiplus unley a week to get the fork in, realised it was the wrong fork so another week after that to actually got it done and installed. color scheme doesn't match (white and red fork for a mostly blue bike) so it's looking pretty unique. the driver paid his half and i picked it up yesterday.
once again thanks to everyone for their input and support through this forum. i probably should have stood my ground more and made him pay for the whole thing but i really didn't want to drag this out any more then it already had.
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