If you are a frequent road cyclist, this little-known insurance type could provide you with hundreds of thousands of dollars in added protection on the road for a low monthly cost.
Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist (“UIM”) Insurance: Before we can get into why all bicyclists should have UIM insurance, we first have to explain what it is. UIM Insurance is added insurance you can purchase on any automobile policy which will apply to compensate you for your injuries resulting from an accident if the driver who hit you does not have sufficient insurance limits. To learn more about UIM Insurance, click here.
Bicycle Accidents
Learn more about how our firm successfully handles bicycle accident injury claims.
Okay, so how does it affect bicyclists? Well, since UIM insurance is meant to protect you from uninsured or underinsured motorists who negligently injure you on the road, California law extended this protection to cover injuries resulting from bicycle or pedestrian accidents as well. This means, if you are injured by a motorist while bicycling on the road, your UIM insurance would apply even if your car was at home.
For example, let’s say a bicyclist is hit by a vehicle on the road and the driver only has the CA minimum of $15,000 in bodily injury insurance. If that bicyclist does not have UIM insurance, his or her recovery is likely capped at $15,000. However, if that bicyclist was carrying $250,000 in UIM insurance, he or she would be eligible to recover the driver’s $15,000 plus an additional $235,000 from her own insurance, for a total of $250,000 in available coverage.
The conclusion – if you enjoy biking on the roads, talk to your insurance provider today about increasing your UIM coverage limits. Given the often severe nature of bicycle injuries, we recommend minimum coverage limits of $250,000 with ideal coverage limits of $500,000 or $1,000,000.