Win, lose or draw?

[Tim67]

It's not a hard luck story, just a seemingly adequate resolution to what we all fear will happen at some point.
Driver of big fancy car pulls out in front of a cyclist (me), resulting collision (witnessed by third party), necessitates repairs to beloved Cheviot ( >£800 repair bill). Driver briefly ponders the situation, and agrees to settle in full without involving insurers, and I'm back with a new bike. What could be better?
 Of course now I'm thinking,"I could have stiffed her for all sorts of stuff". Pain, fear, suffering, anguish, lack of enjoyment, etc.
 Truth is, I went down, dusted myself off and said "shit happens, it's only a bike, I've got another." She pays, knowing that she can't deny her culpability.
 Half of me is angry that halfwits like that get to drive a £30k Audi without the requisite awareness of other road users, and half of me thinks that I've got a "result".
 One little niggle though. If I'd had a £69 Asda bike, should I have been more inclined or less, to accept her full repair costs as final settlement.
 
 

[Wascally Weasel]

It's not a hard luck story, just a seemingly adequate resolution to what we all fear will happen at some point.
Driver of big fancy car pulls out in front of a cyclist (me), resulting collision (witnessed by third party), necessitates repairs to beloved Cheviot ( >£800 repair bill). Driver briefly ponders the situation, and agrees to settle in full without involving insurers, and I'm back with a new bike. What could be better?
 Of course now I'm thinking,"I could have stiffed her for all sorts of stuff". Pain, fear, suffering, anguish, lack of enjoyment, etc.
 Truth is, I went down, dusted myself off and said "shit happens, it's only a bike, I've got another." She pays, knowing that she can't deny her culpability.
 Half of me is angry that halfwits like that get to drive a £30k Audi without the requisite awareness of other road users, and half of me thinks that I've got a "result".
 One little niggle though. If I'd had a £69 Asda bike, should I have been more inclined or less, to accept her full repair costs as final settlement.
 
 

Interesting questions all - still waiting on resolution to my claim which involved about £500 of repair and replacement costs - I think on one level that it's great that someone acknowledged up front for a change, my other party's insurer initially tried to claim she wasn't even there.

[Tim67]

Yes WW, I fear that it's the insurers, not the "people" who are the problem. Given a rational solution to a obvious error, most people can get their head round their actions and the consequences.  Ironically, I think my upfront insistence of involving the CTC insurers, contributed to settlement without any insurance involvement whatsoever. Act like you mean business, and even Ms Company Car Driver will acknowledge the error of their ways.

[Wowbagger]

That seems like a much more satisfactory result than if you had had to get the insurers involved. You would probably have had a bill for counselling then as well.

[Tim67]

Counseling to driver for my deliberate and malicious riding of bicycle into the side of their emerging vehicle. Yes, I can see I got off lightly.
 I'll be sure to send her some flowers. What do you think, Lilies or Gladys?

[border-rider]

If you were uninjured I'd call that a result

if you were...well, I accepted a couple of thou compensation 20 years ago for being knocked off and I can tell you that the trouble my back causes me still suggests that it was nothing like enough (even if it felt like a lot to me in 1990)

[Jaded]

As MV says, if only the bike was injured, that's a result.

Don't discount counseling. If someone needs it, it is valuable. Very valuable.

[Tim67]

No Mal I really bounced off the car and walked home unscathed.
But, there's the rub for me. She comes clean on the repair, as long as I sign a "full and final" settlement deal.
 This gives me some concern that I've left myself wide open with regards any future issues, but who can prove what ailment stems from what incident. It could have been my penchant for turkish goat wrestling that gave me that dodgy knee. Or even some kinky stuff. Who knows?
I think I'll just take the money. She seemed nice enough about it all.

[Alouicious]

It's not a hard luck story, just a seemingly adequate resolution to what we all fear will happen at some point.
Driver of big fancy car pulls out in front of a cyclist (me), resulting collision (witnessed by third party), necessitates repairs to beloved Cheviot ( >£800 repair bill). Driver briefly ponders the situation, and agrees to settle in full without involving insurers, and I'm back with a new bike. What could be better?
 Of course now I'm thinking,"I could have stiffed her for all sorts of stuff". Pain, fear, suffering, anguish, lack of enjoyment, etc.
 Truth is, I went down, dusted myself off and said "shit happens, it's only a bike, I've got another." She pays, knowing that she can't deny her culpability.
 Half of me is angry that halfwits like that get to drive a £30k Audi without the requisite awareness of other road users, and half of me thinks that I've got a "result".
 One little niggle though. If I'd had a £69 Asda bike, should I have been more inclined or less, to accept her full repair costs as final settlement.
 
 

Say no more.

[alexb]

She seemed nice enough about it all.

Not surprising really. This way the Police don't get involved, she won't get investigated for careless driving and any previous history of poor driving remains hidden...

[Jaded]

No claims discount stays intact too.

[spindrift]

Completely unrecorded, all off the record. I hate the Compensation Culture but I wonder how many drivers just dug out their wallet after an at fault collision and no more was ever said...

[Gandalf]

You were, in my opinion, both unwise and extremely lucky.  Not lucky to have been knocked off of course, but lucky that the driver seems inclined to cough up.  I would imagine most drivers offer to pay for bike repairs with the aforementioned £69 BSO in mind.

When they find out that a decent bike costs a lot more that that they start wheedling, leaving you wishing you had gone down the insurance route from the start.

Without wishing to sound all Citizen Smith, it sounds like she's buying her way out of her responsibilities.

The next victim of her inattention might not be so fortunate as to be limited to bike repairs.

[CrinklyLion]

knowing that she can't deny her culpability.

That's a key part of it for me, assuming they were going to pay all of the costs, and I wasn't hurt.    Unless the driving was sufficiently shite that it would be likely to warrant prosecution, which judging by some people's experience on here would have to be really very bad indeed. 

If the driver accepted responsibility which, thinking about it, isn't quite the same thing as not denying culpability that could have an impact on the decision I would make. 

[EdinburghFixed]

Of course, the obvious point here is that unless the driver discloses this collision to her insurer anyway, her policy will likely not be valid.

I'm not sure whether there's a facility to report collisions through some kind of central insurance body. Normally they might pick it up from your insurer even if the other party settles for cash, but that won't apply here...

Anyone know?

[Tim67]

You were, in my opinion, both unwise and extremely lucky. 

Certainly agree with you on the lucky, and am increasingly minded to go with unwise as well.
It's only now, with the benefit of knowing that she's paying up, that my thoughts are drawn to what I might have got out of it. And having seen their house, they're not short of a shilling.
But that's greed and envy creeping in, which on the whole, is not a good thing.

[hellymedic]

No claims discount stays intact too.

Even though she is obliged to inform her insurers of any crash, whether or not she makes a claim.
If her insurers were to discover your crash in the event of a future incident, she may not be covered...

[spindrift]

No claims discount stays intact too.

Even though she is obliged to inform her insurers of any crash, whether or not she makes a claim.
If her insurers were to discover your crash in the event of a future incident, she may not be covered...

Exactly, a policy holder's obliged to report ALL incidents, even when no claim was made, but that relies on the driver's honesty, and I can't see a way of the insurer finding out if she keeps shtum.

[David Martin]

Exactly, a policy holder's obliged to report ALL incidents, even when no claim was made, but that relies on the driver's honesty, and I can't see a way of the insurer finding out if she keeps shtum.

Take the registration mark and forward it with a description of the incident to the CTC, who I'm sure will be able to pass it onto the MIB.

..d

[mattc]

Completely unrecorded, all off the record. I hate the Compensation Culture but I wonder how many drivers just dug out their wallet after an at fault collision and no more was ever said...

I think it is down to the victim to decide this dilemma. If they want to fight it, fine; it's a gamble on getting a better result, and getting the driver punished. Or getting very little after a long stressful process.

It's nice to be given the option, in my view.

Reporting her to the authoritayz after taking his/her cash seems a bit spiteful to me. unless you made it clear that was part of the deal.

[spindrift]

Being a dozy pillock in a car, smashing into someone, and evading justice by digging out the chequebook seems spiteful to me. It means those without ready cash suffer more than the relatively wealthy.

It's not my call and I'm not sure what I'd do if the driver seemed genuinely apologetic, but paying to avoid a fine and/or points doesn't seem fair.