[guyirish]

Last August, a lady coming from the oncoming direction made a left turn right in front of me. As a result, I slammed my brand new 2 month old '08 SV650 into the side of her car and went flying. The accident was completely her fault, noted in the police report, she was ticketed.

Her insurance paid the $4,500 repair cost after waiting over a week for them to take a look at it. Finally, the insurance sent me an offer to release them from all claims and responsibility. After medical expenses, their offer is $400.

After seeing my brand new bike being hauled away by the wrecker, going through an unwilling flight lesson (usually I have a parachute when traveling at high rates of speed through the air), minor scarring to my knee and elbow, back pain and chiropractor visits, being without my new bike for over a month while still in the 'honeymoon' phase, ruined a good pair of slacks, belt and dress shirt (ironically had plans to get gear the next day), using up sick time and being away from work, residual damage and depreciation to the value of the bike, reliving the 'what the $#^% is a beige car door doing there' moment over and over, having to deal with this insurance company, not saving a gallon of gas each work day when gas was near $4 a gallon, etc... To me, $400 seams a little low. When I got rear ended in my car, which was no big deal, they (different insurance company) threw $700 at me, and they even gave me a replacement vehicle!

What is your opinion on their compensation offer? Should I be happy with the $400? If not, what amount should I really be seeking? Have you been in a no-fault accident, with no permanent serious injuries, and what did you get for compensation?

 

[greencountry]

Ask a lawyer friend. I would say one way to calculate how much you should at minimum ask for is to try and quantify all the loss of use you had while the bike was being repaired and from the accident. As in, how much were the destroyed clothes, how much more did you have to pay in gas, how much income did you lose (if any), etc. etc. Anything you offer the insurance company, if you back it up with a calculation chart showing how you arrived at that number, they would be insane not to take. One day of lawyer fees for them would most likely be more than the total you could reasonably calculate to ask from them. The cheaper route for them would be to just pay you.

 

[Novadesigns]

Get a lawyer, immediately.

 

[aram]

I had an insurance company offer me $3000 when a drunk guy hit and totaled my parked car and then attempted to flea (luckily his pos taurus wouldn't start - fuel pump inertia switch). I paid $4,000 for the car a few weeks before, but it was worth probably about $5,000.

They kept on stalling and finally when I had a lawyer write a letter I ended up with $10,000 and kept the car (was able to recoup an additional $4,000 by selling parts). I included all the towing, incidentals, storage costs, rental car costs, etc.. added them up and sent them a ridiculously high amount and they countered.

 

[dcook_14]

Never... I repeat NEVER sign a release form. I'm taking law classes right now and you'd be surprised what happens to some people after they sign releases. A guy got T-boned and thought he was okay. Insurance offered to repair his car and give hime like 500 bucks. Well two weeks later it turns out he had ruptures a bunch of discs and was going to need surgery to repair them. Since he signed the release, he got to pay for the surgery himself, out of pocket. I'm sure that was a nice bill.

You have to realize that insurance companies save a lot of money when stuff like this happens and people release them. I would check to see what the statue of limitations is for your state and go from there... or talk to a lawyer, i think it would be worth it.