Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge t-boned. not at fault. experienced?

the lady ran a stop sign and nailed me. i had no stop sign. i saw her holding up her iphone with a white case. trauma released me last night and i go to the burn unit today. trauma said they could only treat me if i had skin. i slid 30-40 ft under yhe bike. hate to scratch it up.

to my point, what sort of process will this be with the insurance co and do you have any suggestions? i've never dealt w/this. thanks all!

Wow, sorry to hear it, man. Was she cited?

Oh my, I am so very sorry, I hope you're not in too much pain and you heal quickly. Don't know about the insurance stuff.

I'm happy to see you're okay enough to even post this so soon!

Talking on the phone while driving? (or texting? Which I think is a FAR serious crime..)

You will be in my prayers, brother..Get well.

That sucks hard. Hope you heal fast, man.

Thanks everyone. She was cited and the officer said it didn't matter if she was onthe phone or not. I only have liability so it's all on her insurance. Fun.

Well, I am glad to hear that you are ok and will heal up soon.
You should carry more than liability insurance on you and your bike. Full coverage is pretty cheap on a bike, mine is like $300 a year. Pretty much any wreck you have on a bike is going to total it.
You should get a lawyer, here in Texas if you are on the phone you are at a higher liabilty, and will be sited for it.

ooooooh thats gotta hurt. Sorry to hear you went down like that. I don't know how it works over there but sounds like you leave it to the Insurance company to deal with. You need to concentrate on getting better.

People that cause accidents through the use of mobile phones should do time in my opinion, or at least dragged around on the end of a chain from the back of your bike.

If it is a large area of road rash or burns that will require skin graphs it is a limits case. That means her limits. Sign absolutely nothing involving your injury with her insurance company. They will pay OK for the bike, just take the money. The real money is in the bodily injury claim against her.

Anything involving skin graph or the potential for it has a multiplier of about 8x. That is because of the conscious ongoing pain and disfigurement. Meaning you take the medical bills and lost salary issues x8 for a settlement value. Your health provider will lien your settlement so they can get paid back.

The above is bodily injury in a nutshell. Don't hire a lawyer yet, you can always get one of them. Wait to see her limits.

Driving drunk is a choice. It diminishes your ability to drive. Talking on a phone or texting is also a choice and has the same effect on your driving. If you are talking or texting, and are at fault in a collision, the penalty should be the same as for drunk driving.

I have to disagree with Larry here. The full coverage stuff only applies if you are at fault or your bike was stolen, or you or your bike was hit by an unknown or uninsured party.

Because that isn't the case here, you should be able to get your bike made whole without too much hassle. Because you were hurt, you should get a lawyer. While you might have to pay upfront, their costs can be made part of the claim, and because you have a lawyer, you can let them dicker about the repairs as well. Extra transportation, missed work, etc are all things that should be compensated for.

Good luck, and I hope you are riding again soon!

+1 on you being well enough to tell the tale. Continued success on your healing. Now find the finest attorney in town and sue her ass off! Hopefully, your burg also has a law against driving while using a cell phone.

Do not find a lawyer! Until you know her limits of her policy. I do this for a living, please do not get a lawyer.

I will explain it. A lawyer takes 30% off the top. If she has NV minimum limits you may get $15,000 maximum. He will take $4500 of it right off the top then some additional expenses. Your health carrier will lien the meds getting more thousands. That leaves you with peanuts.

If she has small limits the carrier will settle fast with you. Meaning! you keep that 4500 bucks.

Don't hire a lawyer yet, you can always get one of them. Wait to see her limits.

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sounds like good advice - how can i find her limits?

Oh man, hope you get well soon. I am just going through this and am still mending. My insurance co wanted to total my bike. In the state of Florida, if the cost of fixing it is more than 80% of its retail they will try to total it. Because I was/ still am laid up I knew I had time on my side, as the longer you can negotiate with them the more likely they will give in. In my case I knew the frame was still straight and most of the cost was in the pretty chrome pieces. So I worked with my dealership to get a quote just below the 80% mark. I had just spent the money on a big bore kit so I really did not want to lose what I had just put into it. If not for that I probably would have let them total it. Again best of luck to you.

Brian

1st you have to figure out how hurt you are. If you are going to have serious medical needs or not. If not the limits don't matter. If so they do. If you will have serious medical bills as in 1000s you need to ask the bodily injury adjuster about her limits.

They will refuse to tell you but may answer "We are not concerned about the limits, there is plenty of insurance." That would mean they have higher than the minimum state limits.

In any event you do not need a lawyer now. You just had the accident. Wait to see what kind of treatment and bills you will have or have for your health carrier. Wait to see what her adjuster is like to deal with.

You can always hire a lawyer.

If you intend to go out and drive up medical bills to make your settlement bigger you will find the one making most the money will be your lawyer.

I say take your time, play it by ear. See how is washes our. Example: Lets say you have 4k in medical. Lets pretend they give you 12k. With the medical that leaves you with 8k.

Do the same think with a lawyer. Lets say they give you 21k, he takes 7k leaving 14k leaving you with 10k. He would have to get you nearly double what you may be offered to get you a bigger net payment. They usually do that with more treatment. That being the case the treatment would come off the top too making you less money.

I am just sayin.

Go slow

For us, we are finding out that motorcycle insurance is often only covering the bike. Personal Injury Protection is spendy and while it is required by law for cars, it is NOT required for motorcycles. Good to be aware of in case of a uninsured or under insured motorist gets you. My personal medical coverage through my job is taking care of my injuries.
I have full coverage for my bike which I was stunned to learn would not help me or my injuries, just the coverage of the bike, because the dolt got away after causing my wreck. Good thing you got her insurance info and it Does cover you.
Often insurance only covers 80% of low NADA on your bike. The few scrapes on my bike teetered it near a total at under 3000, even though anothe 2006 with more miles on it was for sale for 4500 at the same shop. Another thing to check on is if you have coverage for accessories or custom...they only cover a basic stock bike unless you opt for the additional coverage. The helmet is often covered with the bike as well, although they want photographic evidence that the chin straps are removed, and only cover 80% of what you paid, and depreciate it if it is older.
I am also still learning about how they will handle my injuries, and the ambulance.

I agree 100% Bill. The very sad fact it they don't go for the assets. How can people with today's cost drive around with 15 or 25k in insurance per person. The state limits are ridiculous. Break a few limbs and take a helicopter ride you have medicals of 15k or more. They pay the limit and the hospital gets all the money. The claimant gets zip.

100k single limit insurance should be the law of the land. Along with, if you do not have insurance, if its not your fault, you are bared from recovery from the other guy.