BluesDawg

Today I finally got a settlement check from the insurance company representing the lady who ran over me on the road and destroyed my bike. I had some serious road rash and a broken fibula, but I healed. My poor bike, Ribby (1992 Bridgestone RB-1), was retired after 18-1/2 years of faithful service.
All said and done, I feel the final settlement was very fair, unlike the earlier insulting offers, but I wouldn't go through it again voluntarily.

Rest in Peace, Ribby.

Ribby rs by BluesDawg, on Flickr


l7 by BluesDawg, on Flickr


l4 by BluesDawg, on Flickr


2 by BluesDawg, on Flickr

mht7159

I hope the check buys you a nice new one or better.

h2oxtc

We recently filed a claim on our home insurance policy. The "emergency cash" cheque took 6 months to arrive. I'm sorry if there are an BF members who work in the insurance industry - I can't for the life of me understand why things take so long to process. The pony express in the 1800's could have delivered the money sooner.

Glad to hear that you finally received a fair settlement.

metalheart44

Glad your ordeal is FINALLY over ... I remember when it first happened and glad to see you are still riding hard. OTOH, I have been dealing with a legal case (I am the plaintiff but not the injured/deceased party) since 2003 and it looks as if it has a few more years to go .......

rydabent

Apparenty we all have to understand that Ins companies expect their payments IMMEDIATELY, but their payouts will take a long time.

BTW your payout time is excessive IMO.

Dan Burkhart 

Long time coming, but glad you are satisfied with the settlement. It's good to be able to move on from such things.

Rootman

Pretty typical for nearly ANY service. We kept getting snotty-grams from a doctors office about an overdue amount on our bill, we ignored the first two knowing insurance was sometimes slow on the third notice I called and tried to explain that the bill was already paid. They were, um, less than helpful. It was only like $60 so I went ahead and paid it just to shut them the h$ll up. Well the next notice came and showed the new AND old payment, which meant I had a refund coming. I got the refund - like 6 months later.

I also got a bill in the mail last month for a different doctor threatening that they would send it to collections. They service was rendered like 4 years ago. The balance due? ZERO. I was half tempted to send them a check for $0.00 just to be funny.

This crap is all automated and on their low end of priorities.

OP: Did you hire a personal injury lawyer or handle this yourself? In my one and only accident on my motorcycle I hired an attorney. It was taken care of in about 2 months and I had a check in my hand and my bike fixed. They took like 30% but according to most I've talked too you generally get a lot more with an attorney behind you then handling it yourself, so it balances out or is even more favorable.

kingsqueak

Insurance companies are essentially banks...built on human predation and suffering. The longer they can squeeze you for a payout, the more interest they make on that money. When they are publicly held companies, their earnings reflect how much they can squeeze out of their customers, by either delaying or denying coverage.

Definitely one of the more evil industries.

BluesDawg

I did hire a lawyer to represent me. Her insurance company would have happily and quickly paid just my medical costs maybe a pittance for the bike and my trouble if I had dealt with them directly. Once I hired a lawyer, they went into delaying mode, taking as long as possible to drag out the process. Fortunately I was able to absorb the financial burden without too much problem and wait them out. Had I been in a more fragile financial situation I would probably have been very tempted to accept one of their early settlement offers which would barely have covered what I had to pay out, let alone compensate me for my pain, my time and my lost property.

jppe

Good deal Benny. Hate you had to go through all that.

Dudelsack 

I was just watching The Incredibles​ with my daughter yesterday. More truth than poetry in the first part of that movie.

BluesDawg

Yes. I'm sure my crash could have been avoided if superheroes were allowed to freely exercise their superpowers.

RobertL

If you'd care to share, what insurance company were you dealing with that was so slow to pay?

John E

Probably Infinity.

My younger son's Honda Civic was totaled in a rear-end collision. The other party's insurance company, Infinity, which specializes in underwriting policies for high-risk motorists, took several months to pay up, but they were at least pretty fair about the amount. They even let him keep the car, which he sold to an automobile recycler for $500 (Honda engines, transmissions, seats, headlights, etc. are in high demand, and these were in great shape). Fortunately, we avoided using an attorney -- under California law, minimum legal insurance coverage, which is all this bozo carried, is an absurdly paltry $5K for property damage, $15K for bodily injury.

NOS88

BD, some chapters in life are harder to close than others, something you already know. Glad this one is over. Hoist a beer in memory of Ribby with some of the funds.

Dudelsack 

I was thinking about when the superhero retired and went to work for the insurance company. It's pretty biting social commentary.

BluesDawg

Ah. The movie was not quite as fresh in my mind and I missed the point.

BlazingPedals

'Specially when he got in trouble for his pattern of helping customers.

Biker395 

Over three years! :-o

The minute you have a claim against an insurance company, even the one you've been making payments to for years, is the minute your interests diverge.

One good thing about our laws here in California ... they include specter of treble damages and attorneys fees for bad faith denial of insurance claims. If not for that, most of them would likely tell claimants to pound sand.

zonatandem

Took one year to settle (without an attorney) when I was hit at 45 mph by a drunk driver.
Told the insurance after ne year of hassle that I was going to turn it over to an attorney.
They said" know what that'll cost you?"
Answered: "Told attorney to go for the max in the policy and he could keep ALL the money."
Check arrived one week later.

OldTryGuy

Good deal that part is over. There are easier ways to n+1.

8 days less than 3 years against the "on your side" company.

Question....What is 200 feet further down the road from the original stopping point?

Answer......Our car with wife and me in it plus the SUV that was in our trunk because it was traveling at 60mph and brakes were not applied coming to the red light that we were stopped for.

JanMM

Is Ribby still around - as wall art or otherwise?