Originally Posted by
jeph
A guy at work got hit and his bike totaled. He said the insurance co. gave him the new price for the model of his bike. No depreciation. His bike wasn't that old maybe a few years old.
A bike of yours may be considered a classic. Not sure what they would do. I don't think they have a blue book or something like that for bikes.
I don't think bike values are on the radar of insurance adjusters. Also, $1.5K of property is nothing compared to what the costs would have been (for property damage) had you been in a car.
Insurance companies can be a *****. I think they would be much more concerned about any medical claims you might have, as the bike value is peanuts compared to that.
Good luck.
I had a crash just over 2 years ago. The front fork was bent, the front wheel was TACO'ed and I found stress fractures on the frame. The bike was a 26 year old Raleigh 10 speed. I bought a new bike the following day and they paid the $550 for the bike, and an other couple hundred for all the extras that I had before (rack, fenders), that also included my pants that were torn, my coat that was abraded from hitting the ground. My expenses were just around $1000. The adjuster asked me the e-mail him the pictures I had taken of the bike. I had a check in hand in less than 2 weeks. I asked the agent if he wanted the bike and was told to just put it out with the garbage.
What you are entitled to differs from state to state. I was lucky the insurance agent was pleasant to deal with and sent me a copy of a notice by the state on how the claims work. He just wanted to this case behind him and a $1000 is NOTHING in the grand scheme of things. I am certain that I did a lot more damage to her hood of the car of the day that hit me. I bet there was about $4K in damage to the car. I also figure that my ER bill was probably a grand for the doc to take an X-ray of my thumb (wrenched it, but not broken), and they had to release blood from under my finger nail (sounded scarry, but didn't hurt one bit).
In NY state if a driver hits a pedestrian or cyclists there is a no fault clause for minor accidents (i.e. no loss of life, no long term disability and no broken bones), and the driver's insurance must pay for all physical damages, medical costs, and 80% of lost labor. The victim can NOT receive any money for pain and suffering in this instance because there is no long term injury/death/broken bones/etc. That was fine by me. I got a new bike out of it and a few weeks of minor pain on my thumb. Since then I've put 4000 miles on my bike commuting to and from work.
Happy riding,
André