The reason I advise working with an attorney, is that while its easy to get the insurance company to 'accept liablity' and issue a check for a new bike and med bills, the lost wages and pain and suffering parts are more complicated. When I said I sued the insurance compnay of the women that hit me, that is probably not correct. What I hid was hire a lawyer, and he started by issuing a 'demand letter' on my behalf to her insurance company asking them for what we thought was fair reimbursement. They came back with a low-ball counter offer and this continued for some time. Finally we went through a process called mediation where my lawyer and I sat around a table with the insurance company lawyers (the women that hit me declined to attend) and a third impartial lawyer who acted as the mediator. If this didn't work, then the next step would be going to court, but it did. It took time too, because you don't want to settle until you know the extent of your injuries, which can take time. In retrospect even I settled too soon since 5 years after the fact I found out my injuries had been more extensive than initially diagnosed. While I did have to give 30% of my settlement to my lawyer it was money well spent cuz I am sure with out him I would have ended up with even less, given all the low ball counter offers from the insurance company. The reason I think you should talk to a lawyer soon, is that my lawyer didn't want me to talk at all with the insurance company, they can turn around things you say later to hurt you, or get you in haste to accept a low ball offer. Any letters that came in whether from mine or her insurance companies were promptly sent to my lawyer to handle.