Crash damage assessment

sullivlo

Collision with a car yesterday. I'm okay, bumps and bruises mainly. But my bike didn't fare so well. I don't have it currently (I'll collect it from the gardai today) but from memory the handlebars are pointing the wrong direction and the front brake looked a bit wonky.

Where should I bring the bike to get it checked out? I'm northside dublin. Is it just bringing it to a LBS or does it require something more detailed? My lbs is humphries in finglas.

Silly question I know. Thankfully I've never had to get damage assessed before!

Oh and wear a helmet. Saved my life.

Bambaata

Yeah bike shop will be you best bet. Hope you're ok? This time last year I lost 6 week old carbon frame and broke thumb and hence a whole racing season cos of a car

I love Sean nos

sullivlo wrote: »

My lbs is humphries in finglas.

Derek should be able to sort you out.

Wishbone Ash

sullivlo wrote: »

Collision with a car yesterday....

If the motorist was at fault, their insurance company should give you advice and cover any expenses. In my last accident, they nominated the bike shop where I should go.

Otherwise, as has been said, Derek will sort you out in Humphries.

cython

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

If the motorist was at fault, their insurance company should give you advice and cover any expenses. In my last accident, they nominated the bike shop where I should go.

Otherwise, as has been said, Derek will sort you out in Humphries.

To be fair, I don't think there is any obligation for you to go there though. At least any motor claim I have heard of, the "injured" party is entitled to get a quote for repair/replacement from a garage of their choosing, so there's no reason that shouldn't apply here as well. The insurance company are of course entitled to have their own assessor review everything, and perhaps this was why they would nominate a shop, to double up, so to speak, but I don't see why Sullivlo shouldn't be able to use her LBS as a first port of call with the above in mind.

Somedude9

Bambaata wrote: »

Yeah bike shop will be you best bet. Hope you're ok? This time last year I lost 6 week old carbon frame and broke thumb and hence a whole racing season cos of a car

Jaysus, tough break

Wishbone Ash

cython wrote: »

To be fair, I don't think there is any obligation for you to go there though. At least any motor claim I have heard of, the "injured" party is entitled to get a quote for repair/replacement from a garage of their choosing, so there's no reason that shouldn't apply here as well. The insurance company are of course entitled to have their own assessor review everything, and perhaps this was why they would nominate a shop, to double up, so to speak, but I don't see why Sullivlo shouldn't be able to use her LBS as a first port of call with the above in mind.

Apologies, I should have clarified it better. The insurance company asked me to take the bike to a shop in Dublin city center where there assessor would come to assess it.

(Co-incidentally, it happened to be the shop where I bought the bike. It was near the insurance company office so I presume that's why they nominated it).

RacoonQueen

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Apologies, I should have clarified it better. The insurance company asked me to take the bike to a shop in Dublin city center where there assessor would come to assess it.

(Co-incidentally, it happened to be the shop where I bought the bike. It was near the insurance company office so I presume that's why they nominated it).

Insurance companies have assessors for bikes now? When it happened to me they just paid the cost of the bike. All I had to do was sent them a copy of the receipt from Cycle Superstore.
That was my first road bike though and only cost ~1000 so they probably didn't care much.

Wishbone Ash

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Insurance companies have assessors for bikes now? ...

Not as such - it was just a normal motor vehicle assessor who threw his eye over it. As it was carbon and the shop said a proper examination for internal damage would cost €600, he wrote it off.

Eamonnator

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Not as such - it was just a normal motor vehicle assessor who threw his eye over it. As it was carbon and the shop said a proper examination for internal damage would cost €600, he wrote it off.

Same as that.
I got the feeling that the assessor knew nothing about the value of carbon bikes, but didn't want to admit his ignorance(innocence)

fat bloke

Bit of of old thread, so perhaps I should start a new one.... apologies if so. Just looking for some advice based on past experiences. I've just had an insurance assessor call to the house to inspect the damage done to my bike in an accident (the frame is cracked). Despite his protestations to the contrary, my understanding is that his job is essentially to pay out as little as possible. And that's fine. Claims should be scrutinised more than they are, or have been in the past, and payouts should be fair and reasonable, and not excessive.

I've shrugged off the bumps and bruises and I essentially just want my bike back. I went to a couple of bike shops for damage estimates and they all recommend replacement of the full bike basically as the frame is clearly a write off and various other parts of the bike are scratched and/or damaged.

Thing is the assessor said they would valuing the bike on its second hand value or trade-in value. -Problem with that for me is it doesn't replace what I lost in the accident. A quoted trade-in value of a bike from a bike shop will be hugely less than the new cost. It's not like cars where you can price up 20 or 30 VW Golf's of similar mileage and come to a realistic replacement cost. I can't point to 10 second hand models of my bike in my size and then go buy one of those.

So what's my counter-argument?

listermint

fat bloke wrote: »

Bit of of old thread, so perhaps I should start a new one.... apologies if so. Just looking for some advice based on past experiences. I've just had an insurance assessor call to the house to inspect the damage done to my bike in an accident (the frame is cracked). Despite his protestations to the contrary, my understanding is that his job is essentially to pay out as little as possible. And that's fine. Claims should be scrutinised more than they are, or have been in the past, and payouts should be fair and reasonable, and not excessive.

I've shrugged off the bumps and bruises and I essentially just want my bike back. I went to a couple of bike shops for damage estimates and they all recommend replacement of the full bike basically as the frame is clearly a write off and various other parts of the bike are scratched and/or damaged.

Thing is the assessor said they would valuing the bike on its second hand value or trade-in value. -Problem with that for me is it doesn't replace what I lost in the accident. A quoted trade-in value of a bike from a bike shop will be hugely less than the new cost. It's not like cars where you can price up 20 or 30 VW Golf's of similar mileage and come to a realistic replacement cost. I can't point to 10 second hand models of my bike in my size and then go buy one of those.

So what's my counter-argument?

Wait to see what he comes back with. It may actually be the full value of the bike.

Plastik

I had a similar, but slightly different scenario, in that almost everything on the bike was a complete write off so it was far easier for me to claim for the full replacement cost. In my case I gave the assessor that called a breakdown of costs for the replacement parts, and then gave him a list of 3/4 shops around Dublin that would be able to value to that equipment - Storck, Powertap, Chorus11. I then dropped it to one of those places for them to value it on my behalf - which they did - you're friendly with the shop owner. The assessor also rang and spoke to them and they backed up my pricing. In the end the assessor offered me full value for what it would cost to replace. This was on a discontinued model bike with about 10,000km wear and tear on the groupset etc, it wasn't discounted for second-hand or trade-in value.

I would be dropping around to a few shops and asking them for full replacement value cost, plus a "trade-in" value, just to have them in your back pocket.

ford2600

fat bloke wrote: »

So what's my counter-argument?

I'm going to take a wild guess that you are pretty fussy about your bike being in tipp top shape, well minded etc etc.

That being the case, your bike for new has an intrinsic value in you knowing that it has never been crashed. You know that 100%; you can never know that to the same degree with a 2nd hand bike no matter how sound the owner seems.

That certainty is your loss. Ask loss adjuster to include a full suite of NDT to ensure an identical second hand bike is 100% or ask him to give you that guarantee... or just give you full value of bike


Include for a bike fit also.

It's his job to get a bargain. You just looking for your bike replaced is that bargain. Point that out to him real slowly to make sure it sinks in.

Wishbone Ash

fat bloke wrote: »

... Despite his protestations to the contrary, my understanding is that his job is essentially to pay out as little as possible. And that's fine. Claims should be scrutinised more than they are, or have been in the past, and payouts should be fair and reasonable, and not excessive....

In the grand scheme of things in the insurance world, the payout for a bike would be chicken feed. I don't think they'll put up much of a fight over a few hundred Euro. It wouldn't be worth the hassle for them. (They'd be far more concerned with personal injuries claims).

seaviewphotos

If it was me, I'd tell him you're thinking of getting legal advice. I think you're being very reasonable with them so if they're not willing to replace your bike I would contact my solicitor.

Bambaata

I'd an assessor try the second hand value route before til I told him I was more than happy for him to get me an identical second hand one. Knew he couldn't and within 20s he offered full price plus a bit as he knew I didn't want to go injuries route. I'm sure many would so he very quickly was happy to settle for new bike, taxi home from incident, replacement helmet, glasses plus rounded up a few quid. I'd my lbs take care of a viewing of bike for him and got new bike through them afterwards.

fat bloke

Thanks all. It all helps to be forearmed for the argument to come.

H.E. Pennypacker

You can either get your own solicitor or alternatively engage your own loss adjuster. The problem here is that insurance companies seem only to respond to the threat/risk of a higher claim and will bulldoze you otherwise. Technically, you should be restored to the position that you were in before the accident and you should mitigate your loss but in reality its a struggle to get anywhere near where you were before. Employ someone to fight with the insurance company at the insurance company's expense and shake your head sadly at the futility of it all.

Been there, done that....

Alanstrainor

H.E. Pennypacker wrote: »

You can either get your own solicitor or alternatively engage your own loss adjuster. The problem here is that insurance companies seem only to respond to the threat/risk of a higher claim and will bulldoze you otherwise. Technically, you should be restored to the position that you were in before the accident and you should mitigate your loss but in reality its a struggle to get anywhere near where you were before. Employ someone to fight with the insurance company at the insurance company's expense and shake your head sadly at the futility of it all.

Been there, done that....

Good advice here. It's important to realise that you are the injured party here, don't let them push you around. It seems laughable that they would even send an assessor given that I presume the amount we're talking here is probably less than 1k.

TychoCaine

ford2600 wrote: »

....That being the case, your bike for new has an intrinsic value in you knowing that it has never been crashed. You know that 100%; you can never know that to the same degree with a 2nd hand bike no matter how sound the owner seems.

That certainty is your loss. Ask loss adjuster to include a full suite of NDT to ensure an identical second hand bike is 100% or ask him to give you that guarantee... or just give you full value of bike.....

That's an interesting point that I'd be pushing very strongly if I was in the OP's situation. You know your own bike was perfect at the time of the crash because you owned it from new. The only way the insurance company can deliver a like for like replacement with a second hand bike is to shell out the €600 for an ultrasound/MRI test. There's even a case to be made for demanding the insurance company pay out for a test for your bike after a crash even if it looks perfect.