Carbon Frame mangled under car- Insurance advice

Alex Mills; I absolutely love how your website says it'll never charge "over the odds" for a dedicated cycle policy yet offers a premium of £815 to cover an exposure of £9,500 across 2 bikes

What a joke.

Hi Chez,

Late reading this so I do apologise in advance, Hope everything is being sorted but if you are still having problems I can recommend you to our 'Professional Witness' company who assess all our losses with accidents from our customers.

Depending on the value of the bike: the car insurer could dispute the value and refuse to pay. We're currently dealing with a similar situation where a car T-Boned one of our customers, and Aviva is refusing to pay out the £7k value of the bike. We'll win the case, but we have to go to court first and this could happen with yourselves.

If they do threaten court just go along with it, the process could take a while but you may have to do it in order to recover the full amount. For future reference; if you do have dedicated cycling insurance for your bike usually your insurance company would pay out straight away so you can get riding, and then they'll recover the costs from the car insurer.

Speak to BC first and they then refer you to Leigh Day.

Incident helpline

If you have been involved in an incident whilst riding or wheeling your bike please call the Incident Helpline

T: 0161 274 2015
E: incident [at] britishcycling.org.uk

Leigh Day Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester M40 5BP.
Tel: 0161 393 3538 Fax: 020 7253 4433 DX 53326 Clerkenwell

Using them myself. First class...and they do not take any of your compensation like the Ambulance chasers you see advertised on the Telly......They are British cyclings recommendation.....Don't go anywhere else.

You will get to keep your bike as they will not want to dispose of it.

I sent the written assessment to the third party and had a cheque within 3 weeks.

What you are doing is normal routine.

Glad you were not dragged by the car.

Idiot driver.

A 6 month wait for settlement?! Dealing with insurers direct in the past has had my claims paid in full & closed within 3 weeks. In fact, Aviva settled a £5,500 damage claim within a week last year! The personal injury side was much longer but that's not surprising.

Hi, i had a very similar experience last July when a driver rode into the back of me while stopped at traffic lights. He wiped out my carbon wheel and cracked chainstay on my carbon bike. Luckily I was a BC member and they were quick to start the claim process with their appointed legal reps.
It wasn't a quick process to resolve with the drivers insurers but six months later i did get a cheque in the post which allowed me to replace my bike (with a nice Canyon!)
Suggest you get a written feedback from your LBS on the extent of damage and cost to replace for a similar specced biken and include that on the documentation you send back to the legal advisor. Don't expect that they'll cough up for a new replacement, more the current value of the bike that was damaged.
I included pictures of damaged wheel and frame in the documents i submitted. There was no request from the legal advisors or insurance company to view the damage directly.
Good luck!

Personally I wouldn't deal directly with their insurer and would go through whichever firm BC recommend to you.

Keep receipts for absolutely everything e.g. travel costs if you're off your bike.

You will need an estimate and I would think it quite likely a friendly LBS will agree the bike is a write off. I doubt you'll have to surrender it.

1. If you have the drivers insurance details then make sure you report the accident to them and advise that you will be pursuing them for the cost of damages, you've reported the incident to the police and that you have scene witnesses who are prepared to give statements.
2. Take photos of the damage and be prepared to submit them
3. Obtain a damage estimate from your LBS and ask them to outline EVERYTHING that's damaged and why it needs replacing along with the costings
4. Be prepared for a lengthy delay if the driver is denying liability and has yet to admit any

"I've reported it to the police who said that as I wasn't injured it's just a matter of an insurance claim and they won't take it further."

Again the police washing their hands of what should be a clear case of careless driving. Who cares if you was injured or not, that is totally irrelevant to what the driver did ....

Take photos. You might need a letter from reputable cycle shop confirming situation I doubt insurance would bother with keeping a bike. Hardly worth the hassle stripping