W
wrightme43
By Beemer Dan. UTMC member.
Some things have changed since this was written. I know you are allowed to buy PIP coverage for a motorcycle in KY now. I have 20,000$ but it is the most expensive part of my motorcycle insurance or truck insurance.
Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: Archived Feature: The Truth About Motorcycle Accidents The following article was originally published by the UTMC in a previous volume, but has been transferred here to the new format as we're keeping everything in one place these days. Also, if you didn't get a chance to read it the first time around you never know what you missed! -ed
The Truth About Motorcycle Accidents
By: Beemer Dan
We've all seen those TV commercials where the slimy lawyer talks about how he can get you "every penny you deserve". They like to have case examples with people saying how much money they got for a hangnail. It's enough to convince anyone that if they get hurt in any way by anyone or anything they'll walk away a millionaire. In some cases that might be true, but when it comes to motorcycle accidents the story changes drastically. The sad truth is that you'll be lucky to limp away with your pride and enough money to get a new bike. The following article covers the blunt truths about what to expect, what to beware of and what you can do to be better prepared.
Let's begin by looking at some of the common myths.
Myth #1- My medical bills will be taken care of by the medical coverage on my motorcycle insurance.
Yes, it will, but if you think you have more than $6000 in personal medical coverage on your policy you had better take a closer look. Few insurance companies will insure you (on your bike policy) medically for more than $3000, and almost never for more than $6000. There are a few states where it is possible to get up to $10,000, but if you have that kind of coverage you know it, as you are paying a great deal extra for it. The higher numbers which you may think cover you, actually represent your liability insurance. For example, coverage of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident is for anyone that you hurt. Insurance companies lose nothing by providing high liability insurance to motorcyclists because the chances of someone in a car being injured by a collision with a motorcycle are slim.
On the good side, your passenger could be compensated somewhat if they are injured, but they will only be compensated for as much as your “per person” liability coverage. If that coverage is $50K, it wont even pay for all of your passenger's medical bills if they have been seriously injured, not to mention the compensation they will need for lost wages and regular monthly expenses. On the bad side, your $6000 will be gone by the time you get to the emergency room, and long before you go into the operating room. The disturbing part about the so-called medical coverage for you on your motorcycle policy is that, in essence, you don't have any.
Myth #2- I have a separate health insurance policy that will cover my hospital bills.
If you are lucky enough to have a good health insurance policy, your medical bills will be covered...... sort of. The insurance industry has a nasty little scam known as subrogation. What a subrogation clause does sounds somewhat reasonable at first, until it happens to you. You pay your premium every month so that if you have a medical emergency you won't have to pay so much to the hospital. The problem with subrogation arises when you have injuries that are the fault of another party. When this is the case, insurance companies think they should get paid back for the money they spent on your medical bills and. they want to take it from your settlement.
So, if you have $75,000 in medical bills, and you get a settlement for $100,000 (because that was the “per person” coverage on the other vehicle's policy), your own health insurance company can legally take $75,000 from your settlement. After 33% goes to your attorney, you are left with just over $16,000. Does that sound like reasonable compensation for getting run over?
Now it seems that somewhere in there the insurance company is double dipping: they get paid once with your monthly premium and once from your settlement. A handful of states have had court rulings that say that the insurance companies cannot be paid twice. Among them,: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, Arizona, and Georgia. Also, in March of this year a Maryland appeals court ruled that the state's HMO Act prohibited managed-care companies from pursuing subrogation at all. Currently, there are as many as a dozen class actions challenging subrogation in nine states, including Florida, Texas and Illinois.
If you don't live in one of those states, you had better take a close look at your health insurance policy. If it has a subrogation clause, you may get shafted. With subrogation, the insurance company considers what they pay towards your medical bills a "loan". A loan for which they will want to be paid back., In fact, the “reimbursement” sought by many health insurance companies is for the hospital's billed charges (the fee for full-paying patients), even though the health plans get a discount. However, 25 states, Colorado among them, have statutes and case law requiring that injured people get fully compensated before health insurance companies can try to collect a portion of the personal injury settlement. The wording, “fully compensated”, is vague and it is up to the injured party to prove that they have not been fully compensated by the settlement.
{Much of the above information on subrogation comes from an article by Michelle Andrews in the July, 2000 issue of Newsweek}
Myth#3 -My bike insurance will cover the damages to my bike.
If you have comprehensive coverage on your bike, you'll probably get fair market value if your bike is relatively new. Unless you have a special policy (and you'll pay extra in your premiums for it if you do), you will not get paid for any aftermarket bits that were on the bike. The insurance companies won't pay for your modifications, special paint job, carbon fiber pipe, chrome bits, nothing. You also have a deductible, subtract that amount from the bottom line. So, you could buy a $10,000 bike, put $3500 in accessories into it and add a $1000 paint job. Now say you've owned the bike for a few years, bluebook value is down to $8000 and your deductible is $500. You'll be lucky to get $7500 for a bike that cost you $14,500. Ouch.
Myth#4- Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance will pay my lost wages, just like it does on cars.
Motorcycles are considered by all insurance companies to be "recreational vehicles". This is the insurance company's way of telling you that you cannot have PIP insurance for a motorcycle, despite the fact that it is mandatory for all cars. This means that where your insurance company will cover a percentage of your lost wages if you are in a car accident, they won't if you're in a motorcycle accident. Several bikers have told me that their insurance companies allow you the option of purchasing PIP coverage. Not so. I have contacted State Farm, Farmers, Geico, and Dairyland and asked each if they offer PIP coverage for motorcycles. In each case I was told that PIP is not available on motorcycle policies, nor is it an option that may be purchased at a higher premium. Many motorcycle rights groups are trying to negotiate for PIP insurance. Hopefully it will be possible in the future, but for now it isn't there.
Myth #5- The bastard that ran me over will burn in court and never be able to drive again.
The horrible truth is that the system doesn't care about you; the cops, the judge, the prosecutor and the general public all will look down on you, prejudging you as a reckless "biker" without the slightest ounce of mercy. Many cops tend to be prejudice against motorcyclists (even the cops that ride can be that way), thinking that there is an assumed risk in riding a motorcycle and you should just expect to get hurt. If the person that hits you runs a red light, that's what the cop will give them a ticket for, and likely nothing more. If they make an illegal left-hand turn in front of you, they'll get a ticket for failure to yield to right of way. If they run a stop sign, the cop may give you a ticket and say that you must have been speeding. If they back into traffic and hit you while in reverse, the cop may give you a ticket for following too closely. I know this all sounds a bit paranoid, but these exact situations have happened to people I know, and those were were the results. Police officers generally won't cite the driver of the other vehicle with any more than minimal offenses unless they are drunk or driving illegally, and even then it seems to be rare.
Also know that the cops will likely not get your side of the story if you get hurt badly. You may be in shock and not remember what happened or you may be in route to a hospital while the cop is taking statements. The driver of the cage on the other hand will make up any story they can to prevent themselves from being at fault. One thing that can make things go your way is if there are witnesses. Most of the time the witnesses will tell it like they saw it. People generally will set their biases aside and try to do the right thing. Those bystanders that see the entire event unfold in front of them are your best bet for getting the driver of the vehicle that hit you to take the blame for their actions. As long as you aren't in an unfavorable location, like getting hit on your ratbike in front of a country club by a rich member.
The courtroom is the worst of all, as far as the courts are concerned, whatever the cop wrote the ticket for is what the offender will be charged with. This is where the city attorney will likely give the wanker that ran you down some sort of sweet deal to not take up any more of the court's precious time. They won't add on anything after the fact unless your lawyer contacts the city attorney prosecuting the case and tries to get their cooperation. Sometimes even contacting the city attorney won't do you any good, as they have large caseloads and generally aren't too concerned about victims in traffic injuries. If the cop is the bottom of the barrel for giving this jerk only a violation for running a red light, the city attorney is the stuff underneath the barrel as they will cut that penalty in half just to get the person that hit you through the system faster.
The judge will likely give them a piddly little fine of a hundred bucks, lower their offense to "defective vehicle" and send them out the door. No jail time, no community service, no suspended license, nothing. This all sounds very bad, but the worst part is that you have absolutely NO bearing or influence on what happens to the careless bastard that ran you down, none at all.
accident, you'll probably have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is what lots of soldiers come home from war with.. Any brutal or violent trauma can leave you with PTSD; it can give you constant nightmares, flashbacks, cause you fits of extreme anger, sadness, terror, depression and a million associated psychological disorders.
Some things have changed since this was written. I know you are allowed to buy PIP coverage for a motorcycle in KY now. I have 20,000$ but it is the most expensive part of my motorcycle insurance or truck insurance.
Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: Archived Feature: The Truth About Motorcycle Accidents The following article was originally published by the UTMC in a previous volume, but has been transferred here to the new format as we're keeping everything in one place these days. Also, if you didn't get a chance to read it the first time around you never know what you missed! -ed
The Truth About Motorcycle Accidents
By: Beemer Dan
We've all seen those TV commercials where the slimy lawyer talks about how he can get you "every penny you deserve". They like to have case examples with people saying how much money they got for a hangnail. It's enough to convince anyone that if they get hurt in any way by anyone or anything they'll walk away a millionaire. In some cases that might be true, but when it comes to motorcycle accidents the story changes drastically. The sad truth is that you'll be lucky to limp away with your pride and enough money to get a new bike. The following article covers the blunt truths about what to expect, what to beware of and what you can do to be better prepared.
Let's begin by looking at some of the common myths.
Myth #1- My medical bills will be taken care of by the medical coverage on my motorcycle insurance.
Yes, it will, but if you think you have more than $6000 in personal medical coverage on your policy you had better take a closer look. Few insurance companies will insure you (on your bike policy) medically for more than $3000, and almost never for more than $6000. There are a few states where it is possible to get up to $10,000, but if you have that kind of coverage you know it, as you are paying a great deal extra for it. The higher numbers which you may think cover you, actually represent your liability insurance. For example, coverage of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident is for anyone that you hurt. Insurance companies lose nothing by providing high liability insurance to motorcyclists because the chances of someone in a car being injured by a collision with a motorcycle are slim.
On the good side, your passenger could be compensated somewhat if they are injured, but they will only be compensated for as much as your “per person” liability coverage. If that coverage is $50K, it wont even pay for all of your passenger's medical bills if they have been seriously injured, not to mention the compensation they will need for lost wages and regular monthly expenses. On the bad side, your $6000 will be gone by the time you get to the emergency room, and long before you go into the operating room. The disturbing part about the so-called medical coverage for you on your motorcycle policy is that, in essence, you don't have any.
Myth #2- I have a separate health insurance policy that will cover my hospital bills.
If you are lucky enough to have a good health insurance policy, your medical bills will be covered...... sort of. The insurance industry has a nasty little scam known as subrogation. What a subrogation clause does sounds somewhat reasonable at first, until it happens to you. You pay your premium every month so that if you have a medical emergency you won't have to pay so much to the hospital. The problem with subrogation arises when you have injuries that are the fault of another party. When this is the case, insurance companies think they should get paid back for the money they spent on your medical bills and. they want to take it from your settlement.
So, if you have $75,000 in medical bills, and you get a settlement for $100,000 (because that was the “per person” coverage on the other vehicle's policy), your own health insurance company can legally take $75,000 from your settlement. After 33% goes to your attorney, you are left with just over $16,000. Does that sound like reasonable compensation for getting run over?
Now it seems that somewhere in there the insurance company is double dipping: they get paid once with your monthly premium and once from your settlement. A handful of states have had court rulings that say that the insurance companies cannot be paid twice. Among them,: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, Arizona, and Georgia. Also, in March of this year a Maryland appeals court ruled that the state's HMO Act prohibited managed-care companies from pursuing subrogation at all. Currently, there are as many as a dozen class actions challenging subrogation in nine states, including Florida, Texas and Illinois.
If you don't live in one of those states, you had better take a close look at your health insurance policy. If it has a subrogation clause, you may get shafted. With subrogation, the insurance company considers what they pay towards your medical bills a "loan". A loan for which they will want to be paid back., In fact, the “reimbursement” sought by many health insurance companies is for the hospital's billed charges (the fee for full-paying patients), even though the health plans get a discount. However, 25 states, Colorado among them, have statutes and case law requiring that injured people get fully compensated before health insurance companies can try to collect a portion of the personal injury settlement. The wording, “fully compensated”, is vague and it is up to the injured party to prove that they have not been fully compensated by the settlement.
{Much of the above information on subrogation comes from an article by Michelle Andrews in the July, 2000 issue of Newsweek}
Myth#3 -My bike insurance will cover the damages to my bike.
If you have comprehensive coverage on your bike, you'll probably get fair market value if your bike is relatively new. Unless you have a special policy (and you'll pay extra in your premiums for it if you do), you will not get paid for any aftermarket bits that were on the bike. The insurance companies won't pay for your modifications, special paint job, carbon fiber pipe, chrome bits, nothing. You also have a deductible, subtract that amount from the bottom line. So, you could buy a $10,000 bike, put $3500 in accessories into it and add a $1000 paint job. Now say you've owned the bike for a few years, bluebook value is down to $8000 and your deductible is $500. You'll be lucky to get $7500 for a bike that cost you $14,500. Ouch.
Myth#4- Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance will pay my lost wages, just like it does on cars.
Motorcycles are considered by all insurance companies to be "recreational vehicles". This is the insurance company's way of telling you that you cannot have PIP insurance for a motorcycle, despite the fact that it is mandatory for all cars. This means that where your insurance company will cover a percentage of your lost wages if you are in a car accident, they won't if you're in a motorcycle accident. Several bikers have told me that their insurance companies allow you the option of purchasing PIP coverage. Not so. I have contacted State Farm, Farmers, Geico, and Dairyland and asked each if they offer PIP coverage for motorcycles. In each case I was told that PIP is not available on motorcycle policies, nor is it an option that may be purchased at a higher premium. Many motorcycle rights groups are trying to negotiate for PIP insurance. Hopefully it will be possible in the future, but for now it isn't there.
Myth #5- The bastard that ran me over will burn in court and never be able to drive again.
The horrible truth is that the system doesn't care about you; the cops, the judge, the prosecutor and the general public all will look down on you, prejudging you as a reckless "biker" without the slightest ounce of mercy. Many cops tend to be prejudice against motorcyclists (even the cops that ride can be that way), thinking that there is an assumed risk in riding a motorcycle and you should just expect to get hurt. If the person that hits you runs a red light, that's what the cop will give them a ticket for, and likely nothing more. If they make an illegal left-hand turn in front of you, they'll get a ticket for failure to yield to right of way. If they run a stop sign, the cop may give you a ticket and say that you must have been speeding. If they back into traffic and hit you while in reverse, the cop may give you a ticket for following too closely. I know this all sounds a bit paranoid, but these exact situations have happened to people I know, and those were were the results. Police officers generally won't cite the driver of the other vehicle with any more than minimal offenses unless they are drunk or driving illegally, and even then it seems to be rare.
Also know that the cops will likely not get your side of the story if you get hurt badly. You may be in shock and not remember what happened or you may be in route to a hospital while the cop is taking statements. The driver of the cage on the other hand will make up any story they can to prevent themselves from being at fault. One thing that can make things go your way is if there are witnesses. Most of the time the witnesses will tell it like they saw it. People generally will set their biases aside and try to do the right thing. Those bystanders that see the entire event unfold in front of them are your best bet for getting the driver of the vehicle that hit you to take the blame for their actions. As long as you aren't in an unfavorable location, like getting hit on your ratbike in front of a country club by a rich member.
The courtroom is the worst of all, as far as the courts are concerned, whatever the cop wrote the ticket for is what the offender will be charged with. This is where the city attorney will likely give the wanker that ran you down some sort of sweet deal to not take up any more of the court's precious time. They won't add on anything after the fact unless your lawyer contacts the city attorney prosecuting the case and tries to get their cooperation. Sometimes even contacting the city attorney won't do you any good, as they have large caseloads and generally aren't too concerned about victims in traffic injuries. If the cop is the bottom of the barrel for giving this jerk only a violation for running a red light, the city attorney is the stuff underneath the barrel as they will cut that penalty in half just to get the person that hit you through the system faster.
The judge will likely give them a piddly little fine of a hundred bucks, lower their offense to "defective vehicle" and send them out the door. No jail time, no community service, no suspended license, nothing. This all sounds very bad, but the worst part is that you have absolutely NO bearing or influence on what happens to the careless bastard that ran you down, none at all.
accident, you'll probably have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is what lots of soldiers come home from war with.. Any brutal or violent trauma can leave you with PTSD; it can give you constant nightmares, flashbacks, cause you fits of extreme anger, sadness, terror, depression and a million associated psychological disorders.