Bike Forums - Did I do good?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jabba Degrassi (Post 8961254)

That doesn't mean they should foot the bill for a custom Vanilla randonneur bike because some ******* creamed you on your 20-year-old Schwinn. The insurance company is responsible for paying out the actual damages caused to the injured party, nothing more, nothing less.
Bogus repair estimates, phony medical bills, and imaginary pain and suffering is fraud, plain and simple. RunningWild is perfectly entitled to the cost of a replacement bike as well as any medical expenses incured because of this accident. And if he had to miss work, or was caused genuine pain and suffering, then fine, but all signs point to "he's fine." Although I still encourage him to see a doctor ASAP to make sure he's fine.

Anything more, you're being dishonest.

There's a difference between the two bolded statements. Actual damages means they owe the cost of the damaged bike. If it's a 20 year old Schwinn (assuming it's not a mint condition classic Paramount) you might get $100 for it if you can prove that's the going rate on CL/Ebay.
An equivalent replacement bike might be closer to $500, 5 times the (assumed) cost of the ruined one. It's not dishonest or fraudulent to claim the new price of an equivalent replacement. If the destroyed bike was a mint condition Paramount, then you're talking about replacement costs for a collectable; item value plus sentimental value for destruction of an irreplaceable item.
If someone hit me on my brevet bike, you better believe there would be an itemized list of prices for each and every part, including the labour value for all the handbuilt custom parts I've made.