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 Alasdair McLellan on -
You could bring a case against him in Small Claims Court for the cost of the repairs. However, it's effort.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Jones on -
You should be able to claim against his insurance
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Permalink Reply by Alasdair McLellan on
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Mind you, he doesn't have to give you the details of his insurance company.
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Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on -
all i have is the incident card from SAPOL with the incident number and the name and address of the driver
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Permalink Reply by Redliners on -
that is enough - he pays for medical and new bike. your current one with weak forks is a write off. consider you thoughts coming down norton summit knowing your forks are 'weak'. most bike shops will endorse the write off after a crash theory
there are many law firms that will consult (first meeting) for no charge with bike accidents. I went through this process a while back ... read below - all good people to deal with
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Permalink Reply by Darren on -
He doesn't pay medical - you need to arrange a claim through Alianz to cover your medical. You call them up with the incident/report number and driver registration details and they send you out a billion-and-one question form to fill out and return. They then send you a claim number. From memory you have 3 years to make your 3rd party claim but get advice from them to confirm.
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Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on
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no need for medical stuff. its been a week now and nothing serious *touchwood*
thanks for the comments
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Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on
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yeah i think i will replace the fork one way or another. got a quote from the bike shop, gonna chase up with the driver
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Permalink Reply by Gus K on -
I'm sorry to hear about your accident. You might have noticed the sponsor on the right hand column. They offer an Adelaide Cyclists member special offer. It is worth just talking to them.
Read more here http://www.tgb.com.au/content/special-offer-adelaidecyclistscom-mem... and call Bernie Gask.
Best of luck, I'm sure it'll all be fine.
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Permalink Reply by Darren on
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I'm just in the tail end of getting the insurance sorted out on my crash last year. I had a no-obligation discussion with TGB, and Richard Yates gave me some great advice. The basic procedure (if you're not insured) is get a quote for the damage and send the driver a "letter of demand" (example here with a copy of the quote, and any other supporting material such as photos of damage). The driver in my case sent it to his insurer (AAMI) and disputed responsibility - four weeks later and I got word today the insurer will pay out and we're now arguing about the payout figure... The only other option would have been small claims court which from all I've heard can drag on and you still may have problems collecting from the driver!
I'm still deciding if I'll bother claiming damages for personal injury - that's where TGB will really help.
Hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on
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it does help, thankyou.
hopefully i can avoid much bickering seeing as the driver in my case is certainly at fault.
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Permalink Reply by Rob (Chewbacca) on -
Car doorings are quite serious problem.....you try to ride outside the door line of parked cars but motors abuse you for being out in the traffic etc...but the result of car dooring can take your career and income if the injuries are serious enough and the hassle to deal with on going medical issues and insurance companies can be more than a headache.....hope you heal well and get the bike back on the road soon :)
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