Insurance Advice For Cyclists
Insurance for cyclists takes on many different shapes and forms. Most insurance a cyclist will take will protect the rider, but other types of insurance will protect you if you injure someone (like a pedestrian) in a cycling crash.
No fault Claims-
No-Fault is not exactly what it sounds like. No-Fault refers to Art. 51 of the New York Insurance Law. It is a system set up to compensate an injured person whose accident arises out of the "use and operation of a motor vehicle". This can be a driver, passenger, pedestrian or cyclists. If a crash involves a car, truck or bus, then that vehicles no-fault coverage will be responsible to pay for all "reasonable and necessary medical expenses" related to the accident as well as your lost wages. If you are involved in crash, you need to file a no-fault application within 30 days of the accident with that vehicles insurance company or your claim can be denied. Sometimes that time can be extended for good cause, such as long term hospitalization or disability.
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Protection (SUM)
This one is more tricky. In New York State, the minimum automobile liability coverage that a car can have is $25,000 per occurrence of $50,000 per incident, what we call a 25/50 policy. That means that if a driver has a 25/50 policy, no one person can collect more than $25,000.00 despite the most horrific of injuries. Taxi cabs and livery vehicles carry $100,000/$300,000 in coverage. Some people and companies have even more, it all depends upon that individuals policy and the amount of liability coverage they purchased. However, being involved in a bad cycle crash, what ever coverage that car may have, $25,000, $100,000, or even $500,000.00 it still might not be enough to make you whole when you consider your lost time from work, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
So what is SUM coverage (underinsurance) ? -
If you own a car, or someone in your household does, and you are involved in a crash where your injuries exceed the coverage of the vehicle that hit you,
you can make a claim back against
your own auto policy. In fact, this coverage protects anyone who resides in your household, such as a spouse or child. To trigger the coverage in New York, the other vehicles insurance must be less than your SUM coverage. So if you are hit by a car with a $25,000 policy and you have $100,000.00 in SUM coverage on your auto policy, you have available to you $75,000.00 in SUM protection. The limits all depend on what you purchase but must at least equal your liability coverage. In New York, once you purchase your liability coverage, which is costly, your SUM endorsement is relatively cheap, especially in consideration of its benefit. If you cycle in New York, and you can afford it, max out your SUM coverage. I have represented some seriously injured cyclists, who could only collect from the defendants limited policies. If you think you have a SUM claim, contact a lawyer who is familiar with this area of law. They are very tricky claims that not all "personal injury lawyers" know how to handle.
What is Uninsured coverage-
Again, if you own a car and you are hit by someone who has NO insurance, you or a member of your household can make a claim against your auto policies Uninsured Motorist Protection to the full extent of its coverage. The coverage all depends upon what you purchase and must be equal to your liability coverage of your policy. Everyone in New York State has a mandatory 25/50 in uninsured motorist coverage.
The New York State Department of Insurance offers this on 5 Things to know about SUM Coverage in New York.
MVIAC Claims-
The Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) was created to pay benefits to automobile accident victims who were injured by uninsured vehicles. Filing a claim through MVAIC is a method to make a recovery if you are involved in an accident and neither you nor anyone in your household owned a vehicle at the time. MVAIC also applies if coverage is denied or disclaimed, the accident was a hit and run, stolen, or otherwise the owner did not give driver permission to use the car (denial of permissive use). It is imperative that you
Report the Accident with 24 hours, or as soon as reasonably possible or you may not be able to make an MVIAC claim, especially if it is a "hit and run" accident. If you need to make a MVIAC claim I would highly suggest contacting a lawyer as the rules involved in the claims process are highly technical and you actual need Court approval to start a lawsuit against MVIAC.
Liability Coverage-
The most common form of liability insurance for cyclists will come form a Home Owners or Renters policy of Insurance. Most of these policies provide protection for you and members of your household if you are involved in a cycle crash and injure another person. If you are found to responsible for the the crash, your Home Owners of Rental Insurance Coverage will defend ( hire a lawyer for you) and indemnify (pay the claim) for you. Just recently here in New York, a lawsuit was allowed to proceed in a case where a 4 year old struck a elderly woman while riding on her bike. The court allowed the claim to proceed against the child and her parents.(http://www.dnainfo.com/20101029/midtown/4yearolds-sued-after-midtown-bicycle-accident) It appears that thankfully for those parents, their home owners or renters insurance paid for their lawyer and will pay any settlement or verdict arising out of the accident. This insurance benefits someone you may have injured but also protects you if you get sued. For more on Umbrella's Policies, read this great Article on
Umbrella Coverage we recently found in the New York Times.
This page is a brief outline of some of the insurance needs and issues cyclists and bikers in New York may face when invloved in a crash. For more information contact us at 1-866-Flanzig or emails us at info@NewYorkBikeLawyers.com
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