say that about a month and a half ago i was involved in an accident with a van. lets say i was cruising down a county road at a pretty good (but responsible) clip, good visibility, straight road with no shoulder or bike lane and i'm goin fine and i look down at my gearing for a sec and look back up and am suddenly a few feet from a news paper delivery van pulling out of a driveway.

lets say i hypothetically smack into the van at more or less full speed, hitting the front left fender and causing it (and my shoulder and ribs of my right side) a great deal of damage.

lets say that in my shock and intense pain, i tell the guy dont sweat it, and we exchange phone numbers and i ride off the rest of the way to work.... which is fortunately at a hospital, where i check into the ER and spend the afternoon peeing in jars and taking pain pills and getting x-rays. and then spend a subsequent 4 weeks going to orthopedists, taking pain killers, working modified duty cuz i cant move my right arm at all...

lets say that luckily my right side is healing nicely, my bike is unscathed entirely, and my medical bills were almost entirely covered by my insurance. so i'm not interested in going any further or being litigous, but that today i get in to work and have a message from the vans insurance company, with a claim number and a call back number.

supposed the accident did considerably damaber to the vans fender, so as a ersult i'm suddenly concerned that the insurance has decided to come after me for the damages...

does that make sesne?

is there any other reason that they'd be calling me?

what should i do at this point? i called the ins company back and left them my cell number so that they dont bother me at work anymore, but i dont kow what if anything i should say when they call back.

sounds like they want you to pay his property damage. Tell them to F off. Sounds like it was mostly his fault for failing to yield the right of way. Tell them if they pursue the property damage claim, you'll file your personal injury claim, that you have otherwise been willing to forgo. If they insist on pressing a property damage claim, contact your insurance carrier. Odds are that between your auto policy, and/or your homeowner's policy you'll have liability coverage for any claim they make against you.

Lets say the van failed to yeild ROW when it entered the street... lets say that the van owner called the insurance company to cover his butt and find out about getting the fender repaired. Lets say they want the story from you.

Lets say that you are covered and they need to do the same.

The carrier may also be checking that you are not going after them, perhaps to offer a payment in return for a release. They do not want to get blindsided by a huge claim right before the time limit expires.

Admit nothing, sign nothing without due deliberate thought.

The van pulled out in front of you, failing to yield right-of-way to another legal vehicle on the road (hypothetically).

turned out this was what happened.

my insurance took care of most of my medical bills. my liability was like $50s or so.

i said i'd just as soon forget about it assuming they arent going after me for the van damage.

she said they had no intentions of pursuing me for the van damage.

so i said cool, call me if you have any more questions, otherwise, adios.

thanks for the advice, incidentally

So what hypothetically happened here was that a van operator or his company, backed by his/their insurance company actually acknowledged that there had been an at fault event and called to make certain that you were taken care of?

If so, please don't say so. We try to avoid fair, good news stories in A&S.

Your insurance, if it has not already, will send you a subrogation questionnaire. It will ask if the treatment was for injuries sustained in an accident. When you answer yes, they will look to recoup costs from the van owner and if applicable, any other insurance that comes into play. (previously mentioned homeowners or car insurance, accident insurance that may come with your job benefits, etc.) At that point, while you may not be litigious, you can be certain that your insurance company is. They will seek compensation from any relevant insurance and will file suit if the judge it to be in their interest.

Do a search for subrogation and accidents. I found a bunch of interesting stuff.