Bike smushed while on a friend’s car rack

[BobCochran]

I’m real sorry to learn about this. I get nervous about using my trunk carrier for this exact reason. No to mention the effect of exposing the bicycle to bad weather and flying debris.

You can check your homeowner’s insurance policy to find out if it covers damage to your bicycle, but this sounds like a car accident — damage to both cars must have happened — so you can also probably make a claim under your automobile insurance. There is most likely a deductible either way.

Good luck to you!

Bob

[hozn]

Hopefully it is just the crank arm (non-drive?) and frame didn’t bend, etc. If it is just the crank arm and fork you might be less than your deductible. Personally I wouldn’t file a homeowner’s claim for something that cost less than thousands of dollars due to likelihood of premiums increasing or insurer refusing to renew coverage. But I may be paranoid. I might file an auto claim, if costs were significantly above my deductible.

Good luck!

[Judd]

Oh no! I had a bike get smooshed when I was rear-ended. In my case, it bent the crank arm on the drive side, so the crank had to be replaced. If I remember correctly, it cost me about 80 bucks to replace (caveat: cheap hybrid bike and repair done in Illinois where everything is cheaper). In my case, the other driver was at fault and she was more than happy to write a check rather than deal with insurance.

It sounds like insurance is tricker in your case since it’s a case of two cars backing into each other. Unless there’s some frame damage, the cost of repair is likely to be under a reasonable deductible amount. Definitely get a mechanic to take a look and assess what was damaged.

[trailrunner]

@hozn 147393 wrote:

Hopefully it is just the crank arm (non-drive?) and frame didn’t bend, etc. If it is just the crank arm and fork you might be less than your deductible. Personally I wouldn’t file a homeowner’s claim for something that cost less than thousands of dollars due to likelihood of premiums increasing or insurer refusing to renew coverage. But I may be paranoid. I might file an auto claim, if costs were significantly above my deductible.

When my bike was stolen in 2000, I made a claim on my homeowners insurance. A year or two before that, I had also called about possible hail damage to the roof , but since there wasn’t any damage, I didn’t collect any money. But the bike and the roof counted as two claims, and my homeowners insurance was cancelled. After that, it was a bit of a hassle finding a new policy.

[hozn]

Yeah, I was told not to even call our broker with hypothetical questions! So basically I will only use the homeowners insurance for things on the scale of house burning down, crushed by a tree or flooding (well, flood insurance for that).

[streetsmarts]

@hozn 147393 wrote:

Hopefully it is just the crank arm (non-drive?) and frame didn’t bend, etc. If it is just the crank arm and fork you might be less than your deductible. Personally I wouldn’t file a homeowner’s claim for something that cost less than thousands of dollars due to likelihood of premiums increasing or insurer refusing to renew coverage. But I may be paranoid. I might file an auto claim, if costs were significantly above my deductible.

Good luck!

Thanks. Im not sure yetabt other damage. Not planning to file homeowners but they did end up calling police (other guy was driving for work) and so i think i’ll get my est and contact his ins.co.

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[streetsmarts]

@Judd 147394 wrote:

Oh no! I had a bike get smooshed when I was rear-ended. In my case, it bent the crank arm on the drive side, so the crank had to be replaced. If I remember correctly, it cost me about 80 bucks to replace (caveat: cheap hybrid bike and repair done in Illinois where everything is cheaper). In my case, the other driver was at fault and she was more than happy to write a check rather than deal with insurance.

It sounds like insurance is tricker in your case since it’s a case of two cars backing into each other. Unless there’s some frame damage, the cost of repair is likely to be under a reasonable deductible amount. Definitely get a mechanic to take a look and assess what was damaged.

Thanks Judd.

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[BobCochran]

Since the accident happened in New Jersey — and I presume you are not a New Jersey resident — it might be good to study their auto insurance requirements.

http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_consumers/insurance/auto.htm

As seems to be a problem with many government agencies, their web pages present so much detail, with so little consumer-friendly information, that you have to sift through the content and decide what makes sense and applies to you. In the above site, the links under the “Consumer Guides” section seem worth looking at. I guess if I were involved in a car accident there I’d consult an attorney for help in dealing with any liability issues. Just because I don’t know the laws there and I’d want to be ready to deal with any issues.

Bob

[streetsmarts]

@BobCochran 147406 wrote:

Since the accident happened in New Jersey — and I presume you are not a New Jersey resident — it might be good to study their auto insurance requirements.

http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_consumers/insurance/auto.htm

As seems to be a problem with many government agencies, their web pages present so much detail, with so little consumer-friendly information, that you have to sift through the content and decide what makes sense and applies to you. In the above site, the links under the “Consumer Guides” section seem worth looking at. I guess if I were involved in a car accident there I’d consult an attorney for help in dealing with any liability issues. Just because I don’t know the laws there and I’d want to be ready to deal with any issues.

Bob

Thanks

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[LeprosyStudyGroup]

Sad! I hope it isn’t much of a pain to get things worked out:(

[streetsmarts]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 147409 wrote:

Sad! I hope it isn’t much of a pain to get things worked out:(

Thanks. Me too.

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