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hit by car, some questions

Just been hit by a beemer being driven by a company pick up driver.

No witness names, being as it was the A46 I suspect no one was actually paying attention to the cycle path beside it!!!!

Basically I go across side road, car comes flying round blind corner, hear engine, look, driver is looking the other way. Bang.

So got his details,

Get to work, ring police they aren't interested, because no major damage, no road closure, etc.

Is this right???

What should be my next steps???

I am a CTC member and I know they do some accident help line,

More interested in Police response to be honest, how can they know how many accidents if they don't record them?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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8 comments

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phy2sll | 9 years ago
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Get the bike shop to look at it and write you a short 'report'. Makes things easier for both sides.

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Scoob_84 | 9 years ago
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Good news is that you were hit by a company car. This should mean your likely to get full payment (so long as its below he insurance excess threshold) quicker than if it were from typical private driver.

What you need to remember is that the person at the company you are now dealing with probably just wants this to go away so as long as you don;t take the Pi$$ and appear transparent with your claim, it should get resolved fairly quickly without solicitors/police getting too involved. I speak from experience after getting clipped by a company car a few months back and received a payout within a week or so. Your luck you didn't suffer injury as it would end up taking months/years to resolve.

Take your bike to a bike shop and ask them to compile an itemised crash assessment and cost of fixing then hand this over to the drivers employer. Try and eek out as much as you can, but take the pi$$ and it will go to the insurers who will scrutinise your claim.

For what its worth, my crash resulted me getting around £750 payout for the damages incurred to my front wheel, fork, headset, damaged iphone screen, mudguards, tyre and estimated labour cost. In the end i put the money towards a new bike.

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bfslxo | 9 years ago
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the repairs to my bike added up to just over £300 but the insurance company didn't enter into repairs & stuff they gave me an offer into 4 figures & i took it repaired the bike & bought my now summer bike as well - De Rosa

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AndreasHolden | 9 years ago
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If you are in a union talk to them. The legal cover for members is usually very good at this sort of thing. If you trashed the fork chances are the frame has suffered too.

I was brought off by a Merc few years ago driven by a Doctor at the local hospital of all people. Snapped the seatpost, bent a wheel quite a bang. About six months later the rear (carbon) stay randomly snapped. Turns out with was damaged (I assume) in the same accident but not visible.

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bashthebox | 9 years ago
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Since Carbon damage can be invisible, I'd lump the whole frame in, just in case. If they're taking responsibility for your damages this readily, they clearly don't want to go to court. Get as much as you can out of them.

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mrmo replied to bashthebox | 9 years ago
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bashthebox wrote:

Since Carbon damage can be invisible, I'd lump the whole frame in, just in case. If they're taking responsibility for your damages this readily, they clearly don't want to go to court. Get as much as you can out of them.

Only fork is carbon, frame is a Lemond Steel, looks ok. Have noticed a few scuffs to the Sidi shoes. Have sent them a first estimate and told them I am getting a second opinion from the LBS just to be sure I haven't missed anything.

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mrmo | 9 years ago
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I am fine, few bruises, just pissed off really.

Situation is now, I have spoken to the drivers employer, they are a main dealer and I guess he was collecting a customers car...wonder if I have dented the front of the car? That might be an interesting conversation to overhear!  19

Anyway, they are saying they will cover my costs. Not sure if they realise how much bikes cost though!

Front wheel is definite; helmet, would you risk it? carbon fork... well if I got hit from the side and the wheel is trashed! Can you see fork damage? back wheel is a bit out of true but still appears to work, so might be ok, it might not though!

Campagnolo hubs, DT spokes, Excellight rims, c£400 the set i guess...
Met helmet £100
Bontrager carbon fork c£200

Have contacted CTC and they are sending some forms if it comes to that.

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bfslxo | 9 years ago
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Most importantly i hope your ok Mrmo, bikes fix people a bit trickier!
& beemer man stopped (i'm assuming) fair play to him.

your right to report to police even if they do nothing that may come back to be useful to u in the long run.
Call a solictor asafp (like working hours today) & get the ball rolling & as u say get onto CTC too.

I got side swiped by a car on a roundabout 2 year back girl stopped in fairness to her. initally i was not going to do anything as apart from bumps & bruises & a small amount of bike damage jumping in with a claim felt a little immoral to me for the little damage done but tbh i just caught her out of the corner of my eye & knew she was just going to come straight through, it was night but i had a total of 7 lights & a his vis jacket all on the go.
I locked up the rear wheel & put it sideways which meant rather that getting t-boned by her which i know for certain would have happened i hit her side on, i think 20 years of mtbin & pure survival instinct kicked in not some super bike handling skill on my part.
A day or so after i contacted my solictor who dealt with the insurance & her insurance company actually phoned me directly a day later & asked me if i was ok & apologized, that one still surprises me! & it was resolved in less than 10 days total. of course cyclists don't choose to get knocked down simply to claim but if we don't make the driver think in some fashion or another whether it be financial in the end it is worth pursuing

good luck & good health

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