Originally Posted by Dchiefransom
The insurance company might be only liable for what your bike was worth at the time, not what it would cost to replace it with a new one.
Her insurance is responsible to "make you whole" -- to provide you with a bicycle which is comparable to the one you were riding the day before the incident. Not a new one, no, but a used bike of equal quality in equal condition. Made-up numbers like what it cost when new and following a straight-line depreciation over some small number of years, don't cut it. $5G *is* an awfully expensive bike, so I can understand their skepticism. If you do have to go to court, it will work against you if it is shown that the estimate was unreasonably, perhaps fraudulently, inflated. So make sure it's an honest quote.
They may also have to cover your legal costs, should you decide to hire a lawyer.