this is a bit run-on...but i am pissed....and bikeless


Tuesday morning on my commute to work I got hit. I was going straight through a green light when a lady on the other side of the intersection made a left turn right into me. She was coming fast and there was nothing i could do right before impact I closed my eyes (not very manly i know) and felt my body hit her hood then get thrown to the ground. I layed there flat on the pavement for a few seconds waiting to feel lots of pain but i was fine. Completely fine. Then I saw my bike under her front tire...UGHH. This guys calls the whole nine yards...police fire and abulance even though i told him i was fine. This lady goes " seeing he is okay, can't i just leave" lol anyways the police come and talk to us and she admits it was her fault and she was running late for an appointment and didnt see me. I stand my bike up...back wheels not turning fenders destroyed and the side of the bike is worn down from being rubbed against the road. Cop drives me to work with my bike in his trunk . Anyways long story short there is 240$ worth of damage and labor to fix bike. At first when i called the lady she was asking if i was going to pay for the dent in her hood. I told her the accident was her fault and she can get a copy of the police report. I asked her for her insurance policy number and she said she wouldnt give it to me..WTF??? After calling her a few more times she said she would call the bike shop and get an invoice and pay it. She then started stirring crap up there saying the price was to much and shouldnt cost more the 80 dollars. My bike is now done but they wont give it to me until they are paid. I thought about paying them and having the lady pay me but she said she won't pay me. I have been commuting on my bike for 17 weeks straight. Never missed a day...even in rainstorms. I went down from 198 to 170 pounds..it brought a sense of joy to me life. This lady cut me down...broke my stride....ruined my week. If she doesnt pay by Monday what steps should i take?

Oh man, that sucks. I have no suggestions on how to get the money for repairing the bike, but she definitely should pay. You may have to take her to small claims court, and just pay to fix the bike yourself for now.

Oh, and congrats on the 17 weeks of riding, and the weight loss! That's inspirational.. And I'm very glad to hear that you're ok, it could have been much much worse.

Did the cops ticket her?

Bad funny how she is suddenly an expert at how much a bike will be to fix! There should be some sort of form of free legal advice in the USA, I'm sure others will fill you in as I don't live there. All the best don't let it get you down. I've been hit like that myself. Good thing the police have the report.

oh next time keep your eyes open!

Almost sounds like she is trying to hide this from her insurance company.

Tell her that you are going to speak with her insurance co. and get THEM to pay you. She won't want that. Her raised premiums would be higher than the cost of fixing your bike.

I think the cop ought to have her insurance info since she would have given it to him.

If you took her to court, you would have a pretty rock solid case. Threaten to do that unless she gives you the policy number.

Get a lawyer, and have him/her call the lady. It's time to escalate.

Hiring a lawyer would cost more than the repairs to the bike.

Wtf? What was the cops there for in the first place? They're supposed to get her insurance info on the spot. Then you could've just dealt with them and not even mess with the driver. Get your copy of the police report to validate and give a copy to the insurance company and the driver doesn't have anything to say about it. Small claims court is the way to go, no lawyer needed. Just you, the driver and judge. There should be a county courthouse nearby. It's where you go to renew vehicle registrations, transfer auto titles and get married. Go there and talk to a judge.
Ernest

I got a printout from the officer. It lists her address and such and her Insurance as state farm but no policy number. I called state farm and they told me they need a policy number.

Sorry, I edited my post. I'd go talk to a county judge to see what my steps would be. They're usually friendly and approachable.
Ernest

Not necessarily. But he will have to make a decision soon. If she doesn't want to pay now and is already withholding information, it's unlikely she'll suddenly change her mind without legal pressure. I'd recommend at the very least consulting with a legal official (lawyer, judge, etc).

For something small like this you can take her to small claims court. You do not need a lawyer to file paperwork, you can do it yourself. A guy on drugs smacked into my parked car years ago and I took him to small claims. It was pretty simple to do.

Do you have a car? If so, call your insurance company. The police report will have her plate number and state. Ask your insurance company to find out who insures her vehicle. You should be able to make a direct claim to her insurance company without involving her. The police report and her own admission of fault will do it. That way she will at least be surcharged.

Other things to consider - was any of your clothing damaged? Shoes? Panniers damaged? You can get reimbursed from he rinsurance company for all of these costs. Don't undercharge your damages.

First I'd suggest to her that maybe she'd prefer to give the insurance information to your lawyer. If the idea of a lawsuit doesn't bother her, then tell her the local media will also be questioning her repeated refusal to pay up such a paltry sum for an accident that was reported as being her fault.
Local news affiliates love stories like this as their Action News @ 5 "Around Your Community" material.

I find it interesting that she admitted fault, but now is being a stickler about it. Personally, if it were me, I'd be extremely happy that I didn't kill or seriously injure the cyclist, I'd live with the dent in my hood as a permanent reminder to not drive like a jacka** and pay up for the bike repairs and consider it a blessing that it didn't get reported to my insurance company. Fact of the matter is that most people do not know/appreciate the value of bikes - I used to be one of them who for the life of me couldn't even see a bike costing $250 new - yet after riding for only a few months, I saw the value in buying a $250 USED bike.

I'm glad you're ok and not having to deal with medical issues, and I can sympathize with people being a pain in the rear. Whatever you do, however, do not let it go. If nothing else, the hassle she's going through will stick with her (hopefully) and she'll be more careful while driving. Unlikely, yes, but if it happened it'd be better than if she continued driving like a jerk.

Good luck with getting the bike paid for by her. I do recommend seeing if any of your friends/relatives have a friend in the legal business who could even just write up a letter with their letterhead on it - that usually does the trick to at least scare people into taking action. She may call your bluff but from the sounds of it, you've got a pretty rock solid case (especially with the admission of fault) and so her escalating it seems unlikely.

Always, Always, ALWAYS get the insurance information at the scene.
Even if you choose not to use it, you still have it.

Failure to provide insurance information in a crime in most places. Ask the police if you can file a complaint against her, and maybe they could show up at her workplace and have a talk with her and serve her with a ticket. The humiliation factor should be worth the trouble she's given you.

First - thank God you are ok.
Second - don't be too sure; some symptoms may take a while to develop
Third - I'm guessing your losses include time away from work from the accident and arranging repairs. Do you need alternate transportation? Does your estimate include a replacement helmet? Perhaps her insurance should be made aware of these additional costs.

So she is saying that the bike shop doesn't know about bikes and that it should have cost $80 instead of the reasonable figure of $240? I'm sure the bike shop could give her a call.

If it does come down to going to court/small claims court it will help you if you start taking good notes now. Write down all people (driver, cop, LBS, etc.) you had contact concerning this (phone numbers, date, time, etc.) and a brief description of what was said or happened. Contact her again about her insurance but be very very polite. It will benefit you if can show that you gave her several opportunities to try to compensate you and she refused each time. Again, be very polite and non threatening. You don't want to scare or hound her so she can later claim you were some sort of threatening stalker.

Also, pretty cool that the cop gave you a ride to work and that in your head you're not giving up on the biking. I hope your bike gets sprung soon.

Get the police report, and her insurance info (it's supposed to be on the police report.) You already gave her a chance to make this right.....and she's trying to weasel out. Turn it in yourself.

If she ran over your bike, I would try to get a new bike. Someone ran over the rear triangle of my bike, and only paid for the cost of the wheel, deraileur and frame alignment. several weeks later I noticed a huge crack on the chainstay and had to get it replaced (it was a lugged steel frame), then a few more weeks later the frame cracked across both seatstay caps. All in all I was out about $190 dollars in frame repair and paint work that I wouldn't have had to pay if I had just pressed for a new bike.

Report it to her insurance company. The information should be on the accident report.

Lawyer time. I wouldn't stop at just the repair cost if I were you.

Call her insurance company.

I agree with Yan.

You gave her a chance to be a stand up person.

Now see a lawyer about going for broke - maybe she will learn.