Damage report.

[alantf]

Yes, I totally agree about Ikea. I always say "I've never seen so much crap in one place, at one time", & a $2 clock backs this up. Still, it was somewhere to go for a ride. There's not many places on this island. Because of the volcano, slap bang in the centre, the only change from going round the island clockwise is to go round anticlockwise. - gets a bit boring.

[5th_bike]

Hold on, IKEA does give you 12 months of warranty on their furniture.
However after that time period, they auto-desintegrate and are only good for the dump.

More than twenty years ago in The Netherlands, I once made a poem about the IKEA warranty and quality:

"Na een jaar [After a year..]
zakt het in elkaar [..it collapses]
Na 12 keer volle maan [After 12 full moons...]
is het er wel mee gedaan [it's over and done with]
Na 52 weken [After 52 weeks..]
is het er wel mee bekeken [it's at its end]
Na 365 dagen [After 365 days..]
kun je het naar de vuilnisbelt dragen [you will carry it to the county dump]
"

[alantf]

Called into the bike shop yesterday, to see how things were progressing. Could hardly believe it when the guy told me that he was still waiting for the go ahead. Apparently the girl's insurers are stalling. They're saying that the repairs are too expensive! I've seen the bill that the bike shop guy's prepared for them - all it contains is the price of the parts plus 3 hour's labour at 21 euros an hour (63 euros - around $80) I just think they're trying to drag things out, but he phoned my insurance company while I was in the shop, & told me to come back in on monday & see what had happened in the meantime. I'm totally pissed off by the way the insurance companies try every means they can to avoid paying out on legitimate claims.

[mrlmd1]

Can you sue the woman directly in a court over there? That usually gets them to put serious pressure on the insurance company to settle your claim for her stupidity.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Can you sue the woman directly in a court over there?

Dunno ..... I'll have to look into that if they keep giving me the run around. I don't think I ever heard of that in England, either. It was always left up to the insurance companies to fight it out.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by alantf

Called into the bike shop yesterday, I've seen the bill that the bike shop guy's prepared for them

Forgot to add - The total bill's 582 euros (around $750) Thats for :- brake lever, bar end, engine guard, muffler, luggage box, respray front fender, lock for brake disc, & labour.

[Water Warrior 2]

Maybe suggest renting a bike for transportation(you have none now) and the insurance company can pay the bill until your bike is fixed.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

Maybe suggest renting a bike for transportation(you have none now) and the insurance company can pay the bill until your bike is fixed.

Good idea but if neither of the policys include rental car coverage..............
I was going to ask if there is any government body entrusted to regulate/over-see the insurance carriers? If so, contact them.

Sounds like they WILL jerk you around as long as you let them get away with it.

[alanmcorcoran]

Here is the way the law works in most states in the US: strictly speaking, the amount of a settlement is not solely up to the insurance companies to decide - it could be up to you (and your lawyer) and a court. Technically, in civil court, you can sue the person that hit you for whatever you think you are entitled to. They would have to defend themselves or hire a lawyer. A judge or jury would decide the damages and you'd get a judgment. If the person had insurance, the insurance may or may not cover the judgment. If it was more than their coverage allowed, you could, if they had any seizable assets, collect money beyond the value of their policy. (They could also sue their insurance company if they thought they were entitled to better coverage.) (They could, at some cost to them, appeal the settlement and delay you from being able to collect, for a very long time.) You could also possibly collect money from YOUR insurance company as well as theirs if they were underinsured and you had coverage for that. You could also sue the manufacturer of their car, the bartender that sold them a drink, the state highway commission that designed the road or anyone else you think you could blame, even partially, for the accident. I have seen many cases where a drunk driver killed a person making a call in a phone booth and both the driver and the phone company were sued, sometimes successfully, and the phone company, even though they were least at fault, had to pay the entire settlement (cause the driver was indigent.)

In reality, most people let the insurance companies duke it out and settle the claims because they either can't afford or be bothered with lawyers or the person that hit them has no assets (and therefore, no lawyer would take the case.)

Be aware, if you kill someone doing something negligent with your bike, and you have a $15K policy and $100,000 in the bank, your $100K could easily be lost, despite your being insured.

Alan, unfortunately, I don't know anything about how it works in Tenerife. (I'd start bitching though if I were you.)

[alantf]

Update #2

Good news ...... Called into the bike shop today. Apparently my insurance company sent the photos/details to a "perito" (never heard the word before, so looked it up when I got home, & it translates to "technician") The bike shop guy phoned him while I was there (I know! - don't ask me why he didn't do it before) & he agreed that the repair costs were reasonable, so the girl's insurers have to abide by his ruling. They're ordering the parts today (or, more likely, mañana!)
so they should be here next week.

Perhaps jaime might have a more detailed translation of "perito", 'cos it sounds to me as if he's more than we understand by the word "technician"