Thought I would provide you all with a little update on the accident stuff.
I will say that Progressive Insurance is doing a pretty good job so far. The agent I am dealing with, Chad, and I talked on Monday and he took my report on what happened. He told me that he would need to evaluate the location and see if their person client was liable or not (yes she was). He told me it could take a week, and that he would then present me with a medical/time settlement if they found that their client was liable. I was fine with that. I wasn’t in a huge hurry on that, but I wanted to know about my bicycle. He told me that they don’t deal with bikes very often so I needed to get it to a repair shop and have it evaluated and get them the repair/replace cost. Once that was done he would get that quote and then do an evaluation based on that information.
I called around and was surprised that the first place I called wouldn’t do it (Global Bikes). I think I was just talking to the wrong person at that store, but oh well. The next place I called (Landis Cyclery) said they do this kind of thing and I just had to drop the bike off. So, I went down Monday and they said it would be a day or two. I also asked at the time if they could show me what would be the equivalent bicycle right now. (My bike is no longer made so I can’t replace it with a new one of the same make). So, the guy took me over to the road bikes and they one he thought was the equivalent was a $9100 bike. I was like, “Yeah that ain’t happening.” But then he showed me a few more and they ranged from $7000 and up. I figured those were pipe dreams and I left.
Then I got a call, still Monday, from the adjuster to talk about the case. He said their client was at fault (I told you all so), and they were ready to make me a settlement offer for my medical/time issues. They gave me a quote and I was a bit surprised by it. I asked if I had to make a decision right then and he told me no, but that the longer I waited the longer it would be before I got that money. I asked what would happen if in the next day or so I got worse for some reason (I was generally OK at this point), and he told me that once I accepted their offer that would be the end of the medical side of things, not the bike side. I asked if I could wait a day or two and he was fine with that. I told him I wanted to discuss it with my wife, which I did.
And I am glad I did. Tuesday I woke up and my left shoulder was hurting more than it was Sunday or Monday. So, my wife suggested that I see about getting an appointment with the doctor office, and I was able to get an appointment Friday morning. I am not concerned about the shoulder. I think I just bruised it pretty good even if there isn’t a visible bruise I can see, when I hit the car with that side of my body. I let Chad know and he he was fine with that, and to just keep him informed as to what happens.
As for the bicycle – I got a call and email from Landis Cyclery Tuesday afternoon and it was a worse case scenario. They found evidence of a crack in the carbon fiber frame. Therefore, in their opinion the bike is unsafe to ride. The section could break more, and as a result more injuries could occur. They advised a replacement of the bicycle. The person I talked to said I could have it repaired, but they don’t do that. They said the nearest place they knew of was in California and that would require tearing the bike down to the frame and shipping them the frame, and hope that they could repair it. Then there was the replacement on the quote. The person doing the repair estimate was not the same person I saw when I went in the day before (I think it was the store manager that did the quote for me) and the quote had a suggested replacement that cost… $6800 (after taxes). Still way more than I will want to spend on a bicycle if I had to pay for it.
I sent that over to Progressive and now I am waiting to see what happens there. I don’t have high hopes. The bike that was damaged wasn’t that much when it was originally sold, but the cost of bicycles has gone up A LOT since that bicycle first came out. So, I am not sure what will happen. I just hope that they make me a reasonable offer that will allow me to replace the bicycle in a short amount of time.
I’ll keep you all up to date.