I can’t imagine this guys gall to try to negotiate actual cost compensation when the guy could have and probably should have paid for pain and suffering. Some people have zero shame or empathy
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Glad to hear there’s an update. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out. Hopefully it doesn’t take the turn for the worst.
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Fwiw Recommend having a Taiwanese friend read all your communications with said student and discuss before posting. “When in Rome…
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Yeah I feel I indicated that in the first message to him, but since he started trying to lowball me I thought better to let him sweat for a while, at least until I have my bike back from repair with a full invoice and can present an indisputable cost compensation figure. If he can agree to that I can end it there.
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All messaging is in Chinese and checked by a lawyer so got that part covered. There’s no emotion involved and they’re more legal style statements than normal messaging. I’m not going to be drawn into a dialogue and certainly not at his convenience.
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And yet he was able to afford a fancy NT$150,000 motorcycle.
He may know that OP’s bike could cost just as much. I’d cry too if I found out bicycles could be that expensive.
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Shouldn’t his insurance pay for the bike damages? Is this normal in Taiwan that third party damage is paid by the other party instead of insurance?
I mean usually asking a person to compensate you instead of going via insurance would be because the person knows insurances drag things out and a personal damage claim/compensation could be on him for causing the accident which would not be covered by the insurance (like actual bills from hospital/bike reparir)
Or does he not have insurance?
Yes. Mandatory insurance is only for personal damages (injury, wage loss, etc.) not property damages (e.g. damaged vehicle). Some have extra insurance to cover property damages.
Oh that’s quite funny and pretty opposite to Europe where property damage is always number one in insurance (property in this case is also hospital bills, but not “damages” for psychological damage/or pain). I remember when I insured my scooter I got an additional insurance for some things not even really knowing what it covers.
But then the additional payments K-Reem is not charging for would be covered by insurance (except the court case) so that could explain him trying to lowball…
(1/2) Yesterday the situation came to a conclusion, so I thought I’d share an update on the various interactions up to now that led its resolution. Hopefully if anyone is in the unfortunate position of experiencing something similar it can be a reference for the resolution process.
Following on from our last interaction over text, I went to the police station to pick up the preliminary analysis of collision. I picked it up almost a week after it came out because I couldn’t make it during the workday, however I later found out anytime is fine and the sign on the board at the front of the police station is a bit misleading (Xinyi Precinct, Section 5 Xinyi Road).
The report unambiguously ascribed all the fault for the accident to the person who crashed into me. This wasn’t surprising but certainly was reassuring. It included that bit, a diagram of the crash site, and all the photos the police officer responding to the incident had taken. Quality of photos wasn’t particularly good but I had the hospital take photos of my injuries on the day as back up.
I then messaged the person and informed him I had picked up the report and had my bicycle fixed. I listed the costs of repair and replacement, which were slightly less than my initial estimate, totalling a little over NTD20K. The bike shop which serviced my bike very kindly gave me a discounted rate for a helmet replacement, so lucky for him. I told him to contact his insurance company to inform them about my medical costs claim and then I would deduct it from the total.
His response a day later was disappointing but sadly not unexpected. He said I should discount the replacement costs because my equipment was ‘used’ and so worth less than new. Given I’d only recently bought new kit and had barely taken the tags off I thought this was a bold statement. He also asked to pay in instalments as he was having to reduce his living expenses to save money and had so far only saved NTD2,000 - this was more than 6 weeks after the crash.
I didn’t reply and the following week contacted his insurance company who said they hadn’t heard anything from him. Funnily they advised me to sue him and I said not to worry, I’m planning to do so.
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Odd reply from the insurance company.
Your next step is to go to the police station that handled the accident and press charges against him. This will set the wheels in motion for an arbitration session mediated by a judge. The results of this session will be legally binding.
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(2/2) I messaged again to tell him that his insurance company had informed me he hadn’t contacted them so I doubted his sincerity in trying to resolve the situation.
I heard nothing more from him so I went to the police station and submitted a criminal complaint. I was interviewed about the incident and it was processed fairly quickly. I then waited several weeks and eventually received some messages saying he wasn’t sure about the process with the insurance company, followed by more asking whether I had received the messages.
Clearly by this point he had been contacted by the police to inform him a complaint had been submitted against him, and suddenly he was keen to settle. I suggested if he was ready we should meet at my lawyer’s office and we agreed a date and time.
On the day, my lawyer did all the talking, and had the documents prepared for us. He agreed to the full amount, I presented my bank details on my phone and he transferred the money. My lawyer explained to him where to present the documents to halt the court date proceeding and we both signed. I shook his hand and it was finished.
I also received money in my account from his insurance company for my medical bills which totalled around NTD800. This was already accounted for in the amount he sent to me so I transferred it to him and messaged to say so.
Quite an onerous process to have had to go through, but I am fortunate to have had it go smoothly and relatively quickly in reaching a conclusion. I’m glad I took the advice and got records of everything. It would have been nice to not have had to start the process of suing to reach this outcome, but it was remarkable how quickly it was no longer an issue to compensate me the full amount.
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It’s not uncommon for certain people to drag things out like this. Years ago a landlord refused to return the deposit until we took him to small claims court. Several hour before we were scheduled to appear, he called us and handed over a check.
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It seems like they figure most people won’t sue and just take the L. Too bad your landlord didn’t have to add more money for wasting your time
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Yeah, we should have gone to court just to embarrass him.
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Glad to see that things worked out for you in the end @K-reem . Sucks to have to go through all of this and for it to drag out, but you got the W in the end.