Quote:
Originally Posted by J.P
And Hence Utopia, why insurance is expensive.
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Sorry, guys.
I didn't mean to be one of those responsible for raising the cost of insurance....I just went with the flow, and it worked out ok in the end, in this case. Then again, my thigh looked like raw steak after the accident (though strangely, I felt nothing much... was quite a shock when someone pointed it out and I had a look), and for over a year I thought I'd never get proper movement back in my knee, so I don't think the payout was excessive. And it was their assessment that the Dommie was a write-off...it looked like at least bent forks, maybe frame too. And nearly all the bodywork was scrap...I just got creative with the repairs and put up with the cosmetic damage.
Also, I was the completely innocent victim of an unbelieveable act of incompetent driving.... I was so close to the junction when the car pulled out that I hit the front wing...headlight on, 25mph, looking the driver in the eye (or so I thought). It did teach me the value of regularly practicing heavy braking though....a point well worth emphasising here. I tend to ride using engine braking and a very light, often one-fingered hand on the front brake. I used to take a certain pride in almost never getting myself into a situation which demanded heavy braking in the first place....observation/anticipation/restraint, don't ya know. But I now see how that can lead to the necessary skills for an emergency getting very rusty, where they need to be instinctive, and I now purposely overbrake massively every once in a while when there's nothing about on a quiet road. Just to get some instinct back into that whole process of gently squidging the front tyre into the tarmac for an instant, before giving it the full handful. In truth, I could possibly have avoided the accident with an instantaneous stoppie, but I can't do them, or at least I've never tried.
Funnily enough, I came across the car a month or two later as I was hobbling to the bus-stop. Had a quick look to check the damage, only to discover that both sides of the car, and the bonnet, and the boot, bore the evidence of separate bodywork repair jobs. It seems that this particular lady may well have contributed quite a lot herself to the rising cost of insurance.
In general, I'm one of those who tends not to claim for stuff, eg on house insurance etc. When my new laptop was nicked from the shed in august, I didn't claim...just bought a new one, and wrote off the loss.
However, in this case I had no option but to claim, and having done so, I was glad to have some legal representation behind me.
In general though, I agree very much that the whole litigation culture is a bummer and only serves to make things worse for society as a whole.
ps no rant intended.....just got a bit chatty. ....Yes, I know....keep taking the meds.