Originally Posted by Seamless
Ordinarily bikes do not gain value, but on the other hand in the current world economic situation, you might be unable to buy a new bike for the same (lower) cost. The defendant would be responsible to pay enough to put you back into the same position as if the accident had not occurred (assuming, of course, that there's no contest as to allocation of liability).
I think this is the case. I cannot replace the damaged bike with equivalent for similar cost. And I hear the 2009 models will have a significant price increase over currently available 2008 models. So the cost factor only gets worse.
However, it appears that getting the insurance company to be responsibile to pay enough to put me back into the same position prior to the accident is going to be a battle.