Final Update:
Things are never as straight forward as you hope. Turns out the claim reference I was initially given was for the windscreen which was excess free. This meant the insurance company couldn't consider my claim - there needed to be a second claim with a paid excess. There then followed a couple of weeks of "interesting" phone calls with the insurance company around what they had supposedly said to the owner vs what they were telling me. Long story short, the owner submitted a second claim and the insurance company paid me in full just after Christmas
When the assessor spoke to me he seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened and wanted to do the right thing, which was nice.
Things that I've learnt:
1. It's damn hard dealing with insurance companies as an individual when you're the injured party, mostly through a lack of knowledge about how they work
2. I had always assumed that in this situation the owner would be legally required to use their insurance - apparently not the case (in TAS anyway) so I'm grateful she did that as the driver had no $$
3. Most importantly, the assessor commented that the pictures spoke for themselves - a big thank you to Drew who stopped to take them, I know I'll certainly do the same if I'm ever in that position, without them it could easily have been my word against theirs.
So, a new year and a new bike - should pick it up today - Trek Domane 4.5 (need to change the signature), pics will be in the gallery soon
cheers, Andy