Let’s say a bicyclist and a car collide, enough that the bicyclist is thrown to the ground. No broken bones, but likely some big bruises.
If the collision is somewhere between partially and completely the bicyclist’s fault, whose insurance coverage gets tapped? Is it the bicyclist’s own personal medical coverage? Is it the bicyclist’s car insurance or the motorist’s car insurance?
Just hypothetically of course.
I should probably ask about how the dent in the car gets covered too.
I’m curious about this, as both my husband and I have had this incident. In both cases, the bicyclist was riding on the sidewalk. We never exchanged information, which was because no one knew who was at fault. I still have the dent in my car and the bicyclist was able to walk away.
@toledo, if the bicyclist was riding on the sidewalk, how did it collide with a car?
I was hit by a car while walking, and my car insurance covered it. I’m not sure if my insurance eventually went after theirs for recovery, but all my bills for years were paid by my insurance.
I also had minor accident with a bike on the sidewalk. Even though I don’t believe I was at fault, I paid her bike repair. She was fine. No insurance involved.
This happened to me when a teen riding a bike swerved in front of me to make a turn onto another road. He was not wearing a helmet, listening to music in earbuds and did not signal. We called the police, they cited him for inattentive driving and something else and his parents homeowners insurance had to pay for the repairs to my car. In our state bikes and supposed to follow the same rules of the road as other vehicles and can be cited the same.
Perhaps the bikerider’s parent’s car insurance covers the damage to your car if the bikerider is at fault.
In my case, I was pulling out of a grocery store parking lot at night, after stopping at a stop sign. The bike ran right into the middle of my car. Granted, I was taking a right turn, so was paying more attention to my left, but he was really riding fast.
We were on vacation one year when my S hit a parked car with his bicycle and made a small dent. Our auto insurance covered the damage. It had to be a Cadillac!
In practical terms, it depends on different factors. If you called the police and the police report cites the biker, then the biker is legally at fault. However, the biker may not be insured or might not have sufficient insurance to cover the car and driver.
What I’d do as the car driver is file a claim with my own insurance and provide the police report and biker’s information. My insurance company would cover me and go after the biker’s insurance company for payment (subrogation). Basically you have your own insurance cover you and let the two insurance companies fight it out for who ultimately pays the bills.
However in the absence of a police report citing fault and/or no witnesses, all bets are off and each individual would be on their own.
As in a car-car collision, the insurance companies can argue in court as to which vehicle is at fault.
Generally, if you pull into a road and cut off a car, it would be your fault. Neither cars nor bikes are required to brake to let you out of a driveway unless there’s a yield sign or something. You have to wait for a break in traffic.
Drivers often have the impression that they are entitled to the right of way in all cases because cyclists tend to yield because they would be the more vulnerable party in a collision. However, legally the bike has the same responsibilities and rights as any other vehicle on the road.
^^key words being “on the road”^^
In this case, assume I’m asking from the perspective of the bicyclist. The motorist didn’t offer up their information when asked and my “friend” was too shaken to remember to ask again before leaving.
If your friend felt they were “partially to completely” at fault, why would they expect the the motorist to pay? Calling the police to determine who is at fault may be the only way to decide.
Injured cyclist gets treatment, and fills out forms at clinic about cause of injury. If cyclist’s health insurance company wants to go after the car owner, they will ask for a statement.
I think the concern is whether the medical insurance company vs car insurance company needs to be billed in case the person needs to be seen by a doctor. I may be slightly irritated that the motorist didn’t exchange info- I thought that was part of the duty of the motorist in any accident regardless of fault.
I’ve suggested that if the motorist does call to ask for $ for the dent (because said bicyclist friend gave the motorist their info), it may be best to obtain the motorist’s car insurance info at that time. The bicyclist is fully covered in all sorts of ways, I’m just curious which coverage needs to be tapped, if needed.
The bicyclist was shaken up, but shouldn’t have given her info without getting back some info from the driver. As a driver, I would be terrified of liability to a bicyclist or pedestrian. Regardless of who is at fault, cars can do so much more damage.
And if the bicyclist mentions that she was in an accident while getting medical care, and doesn’t have the info about the other person, her health insurance could give her problems about paying since they’ll likely think they shouldn’t be the ones paying. And even if a bicyclist can walk away from a accident, they may have pain that comes in the next day or so.
Depending on your state, your own car insurance will pay for your own medical care, up to a certain point, regardless of fault. Many bicyclists may not have car insurance if they don’t have a car themselves. They may not have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance either. And if they don’t have health insurance, it’s really messy!
My dad was the cyclist in an accident with a car that took his life. Police and ambulances were called so there were reports. My brother handled his affairs afterwards, but since we knew the drivers info it went through a string of insurances on both sides. Ultimately I believe my dad’s auto insurance paid the bills. I believe his bike was treated as if it were a vehicle since it was on a road, not on a sidewalk.
It’s a little complicated since it depends of the laws of the state, if they are No Fault states and how that works, or their provisions. You really need to look it up for your state. In general, if suspected damage is over a dollar amount- or there’s physical injury, you’re supposed to report. How police respond varies.
So sorry, eyemamom.
@lookingforward thanks that helps. Our state appears to require reporting of any accident with an injury to either party or vehicle damage over $1500.
I will be very surprised if the driver follows up with a damage claim. I’m kinda still mad about the lack of info, but the bicyclist is moving around and hopefully the injuries are just soft tissue. I was shocked to see that injuries versus the description of the accident- relatively minor looking at least.
@eyemamom I’m so sorry. That’s my greatest fear as well, that one of the bicyclists in my life will lose their life in that way.