By Jim Salvie, CRW Counsel
Spring is in the air! Birds are singing, the sun is shining, it’s getting warmer! So naturally, it’s time to think about... insurance?
Do I Really Need Insurance to Ride My Bike?
Unlike auto insurance, there’s no legal requirement to purchase cycling liability insurance. But common sense tells us that it’s a good idea. Let’s face it: cycling has its risks. Among those risks is that you could get hurt, or conceivably that you could hurt others (a pedestrian, another cyclist), or you could damage something (another cyclist’s bike). All those annoying insurance company ads aren’t completely wrong: insurance really can mean peace of mind.
What Kind of Insurance Protects Me if I Get Hurt, or Damage my Bike?
Your health insurance is your primary protection in case you are injured on a ride. Virtually all health insurance plans include some form of hospitalization plan that will cover you in an emergency. Some people include the name of their insurance carrier and their plan ID number on their Road ID or other emergency identification, in addition to emergency contact information.
If you do not have health insurance through employment, you should contact the Massachusetts Health Connector at www.mahealthconnector.org. The Health Connector is the Massachusetts marketplace for insurance provided under the federal Affordable Care Act. If you have income limitations, the Health Connector may be able to help, as might the Massachusetts Medicaid plan, or MassHealth. You can contact MassHealth at www.mass.gov/orgs/masshealth.
If you’re over 65 and enrolled in Medicare, some of your hospitalization costs will be covered by Medicare Part A. To cover more costs, you must have a private “Medicare supplemental” policy or be enrolled in a Medicare Part C “Advantage” plan.
If you are injured on a ride due to the fault of someone else, such as a motorist or another cyclist, you may be entitled to reimbursement from that person’s auto insurance (if a motorist) or their cycling insurance (see below).
Your homeowners or renters insurance policy will offer some protection for the value of your bicycle if it is lost, stolen or damaged, under the “personal property” part of the policy. Be sure to keep the receipt from the purchase of your bike so you can prove when you bought it and its value: if you ever make a claim, you’ll have to provide information about the bike. These policies will usually have high deductibles, however, along the lines of $2,500 or $5,000.
To make this coverage worthwhile, particularly if you have a fancy, expensive bike, you might want to talk to your insurance agent about a special “rider” to cover your bike. (An insurance rider; not a bike rider!) Your insurance agent may call this “scheduled coverage.” Usually for a small fee, a “rider” can eliminate or greatly reduce those deductibles, and also make filing a claim a lot easier since you will specifically cover the bike for a certain value.
Fortunately, most homeowners and renters policies will pay replacement cost, for your bike, not fair market value, but be sure to review that with your agent.
What Kind of Insurance Protects Me if I Hurt Someone Else?
As cyclists, we view ourselves as vulnerable road users and are usually most concerned about all the things out there that can hurt us. But let’s face it, a bicycle traveling at 20 mph can do a fair bit of damage to another bicycle, a pedestrian, or even a stationary car (it happens).
Again, your homeowners or renters insurance policy will usually provide some coverage, though it’s a good idea to check with your insurance agent about how much and what kind of coverage. Typically, though not always, a homeowners or renters policy will provide some limited coverage for another person’s medical bills, personal injury, or damage to their property, as well as for your legal defense, but coverage limits may top out between $100,000 and $300,000 unless you pay more. That’s not much in a personal injury lawsuit. Check the personal liability section of your policy and the policy’s exclusions, and talk to your insurance agent.
Very often, damage caused by riding a motorized vehicle, including an e-bike, will be excluded from a homeowners or renters insurance policy. If you are a frequent cyclist, you should talk to your insurance agent about obtaining an umbrella insurance policy to increase those liability coverage limits. An “umbrella” policy is an add-on policy that provides additional coverage in $1 million increments, and it only kicks in when other insurance coverage is exhausted.
But Doesn’t the Club Have Insurance that Protects Me on Club Rides?
Yes and no. The club does have insurance, but it offers protection only for the club itself, or riders or other volunteers who are acting as agents for the club (such as ride leaders).
If Rider A is involved in an accident with a pedestrian while on a club ride, the club’s policy protects the club and the ride leader from liability, and provides for their legal defense, but Rider A must have their own liability insurance to get the same protection. From the insurance standpoint, it’s the same as though Rider A was on his or her own solo ride. Let’s hope Rider A talked to their insurance agent about that umbrella policy!
The exception, however, is that the club does have a supplemental medical insurance policy that may cover certain “gaps” in Rider A’s health insurance, such as deductibles or co-pays.
But most importantly, have fun out there, and let’s hope for a safe, fun and liability-free Spring!
