I would put the responsibility on the driver. All companies that I have driven for, either with their vehicle or my own, have always made driving issues the sole responsibility of the driver. Circle checking the vehicle would have prevented this indecent. The issue here goes beyond who pays for the damages. There very easily could have been a toddler on a tricycle where the bike was left.
Totally agree we both would have been in a bad place if that was the case luckily it was only a bike and not something more serious I just need for him to understand the effects of his actions and he doesn’t think it’s a big deal he is a good kid but young and dumb and I don’t want to have to fire him but if I need to send a message I am going to have to. Will definitely be pulling the group together and reinforce the importance of behind the wheel safety.
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Where I live the driver could have received a ticket for driving without due care and attention. Would he expect you to cover the ticket?
It is one thing for staff to damage something in your shop while being careless on the job, I would not expect the staff to pay for damages but this is a traffic safety issue that falls directly on the driver.
In California as long as there is no bodily damages it is a civil matter and the police do not get involved. We had an incident a few years back where we got into a car accident because a young girl ran a red light and we hit her. Police happened to be sitting in the parking lot of a 7-11 but claimed they didn’t see it only heard it. Because nobody was hurt they did not take a police report they only acted as a middle man and exchange info between the 2 of us because nobody was hurt enough to go to the hospital. She ended up saying that we ran the light so the insurance put fault on the both of us. We took her to small claims and the outcome was also the same because there were no witnesses that we could find to say she was the one who ran the light.
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I am thinking an appraisal is in order
Here the criteria is the value of the damage. $1000 or more a police report is required or the body shops won’t repair. The red light issue is why I have installed dash cameras in all my vehicles.
If the frame’s not bent, you still might be better off getting it repaired if you need to pinch the $'s. It’s in poor maintenance shape with the rusted chain, etc. It’s clearly not an exotic eBike like the ones I posted before. More like $600 in the shape it’s in, if the battery is good. Similar style $1700 new https://electricbicyclecenter.com/products/motiv-spark-electric-beach-cruiser
Unfortunately the frame is bent called a bike repair shop emailed them the pictures and they valued the bike and the repair for 1000. I would personally prefer to repair the bike because it sounds like this guy wants to replace it with a new one which would cost 2000 which I don’t think would be fair.
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The devil in me after seeing the pictures and listening to all the posts says, they attempted this on purpose.
It was left intentionally in front of a delivery vehicle in such a spot it could not be spotted from the drivers seat, and from what it sounds like the driver would have had to approach the vehicle from the rear to get back in. Not saying they did, but … yeah i am.
check the basement of the Alamo! I hear they have lots of bikes down there!
So after some back and forth and having the bike brought over to the shop so we can see the damage we agreed upon 1000 for the value of the bike and a 50/50 split. Today he contacted us and said the owner of the bike wants us to do a 3 way split he wants the girl who was riding the bike (which is his daughter) to only have to pay 300 and for us to pay 700 his reasoning was that the delivery driver and the pizza shop are equally responsible therefore it should be a 3 way split and if we don’t agree to this he will take us to small claims court. I’m starting to think he is taking advantage of the fact that he is our customer and we are a local business. I’m shocked because we gave him many options to remedy the situation from fixing the bike to replacing it or just giving him money but at a 50/50 split. Now he only wants 30% responsibility and with a take it or leave it attitude. What would you guys do?
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I don’t see a good outcome dealing directly with these people. If it were up to me I would turn it over to the drivers insurance company.
It honestly has been weird from the beginning with this guy hinting at subtle threats to get a police report and go to small claims but I thought the best thing would be to take responsibility for our part and compensate the guy for his bike. The fact that he was a good customer I wanted to make sure he was happy as well to at least save that part of the relationship but so far it’s been at our expense and even if we do resolve it in a fair way I doubt we will see him back as a customer next summer.
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I spoke to our insurance today and this is something that would be covered without any deductible so no out of pocket for anyone but my agent also told me that there is a good possibility they won’t get anything from the insurance and then we would be back at square 1 and heading to court anyways.
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Do you have a lawyer that could write you a nice letter for a small sum just to see what he say’s before it goes to court ?
Me personally tho, you have been more the reasonable and he is imo trying to take advantage of you. I would let it go to small claims court, and just take my chances there.
I think I’m going to just hand it over to the insurance tomorrow it’s a small thing that has seriously turned into something so ridiculous. I’m gonna let him deal with an insurance adjuster that is probably going to value his bike for less money than what we offered. I don’t think he will be happy unless he gets a new bike. Hey guys want to have a brand new bike in the morning leave it out on the street mine is already there [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
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Now if i could watch THAT conversation, it would make my week lol
It’s situations like this that make it difficult to continue to be a nice guy… I have always tried to make every upset person (not just customer) happy and I usually will go way out of the way to do so. time and time again people see this and try to take advantage of the situation and its so frustrating. It’s no wonder that most of the old timers in this biz are usually miserable SOB’s. Then, once in a while I’ll run into a shop where the management and staff treat their customers like crap and have a line out the door and i wonder if that’s the trick?
People know what they are doing…this guy is thinking “Awesome, hes willing to go the extra mile lets see if he’ll go a mile and a half?” call your insurance and tell him to pound sand. it will show him he went to far…I’m sure it will all blow over in due time.
We are the same way, but if I was in this situation i may resort to tell him to go pound sand in more vulgar terms.
This guy is just taking advantage of the situation
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it looks like the derailer and possible a wheel.
As neglected as that thing is. no way I’d consider paying new replacement, I’d pay half of book value in its neglected condition of only the parts needed.