What Insurance Covers Bicycle Accidents?
When you first buy a bike for yourself or your child, it’s second nature to also purchase a helmet and other safety gear. You’ll do this to help prevent a serious injury and increase visibility to others. What may not be second nature is thinking about what insurance covers bicycle accidents should you or a loved one find themselves involved in a bike crash with a car, truck, pedestrian, or other entity.
And let’s face it, bicyclists can suffer serious and even life-altering brain or spinal injuries from a bike accident that may require long-term medical care, resulting in lost time from work and much needed household income.
The good news is that our Kansas personal injury lawyers can provide answers, and affordable legal representation, if you should ever need to file a bicycle accident claim in Wichita, Topeka, Dodge City, Garden City, and any other city across the state. We also have the experience to handle bicycle accident and injury claims throughout the state of Missouri.
Now that you know who you can call if you should ever be injured in a bike accident in Kansas, let’s go over a few important points that every Kansas bicycle rider should know– regardless of whether or not you are ever hurt in a bicycle crash.
What Insurance Covers Bicycle Accidents in Kansas
First, you should know that the state of Kansas takes a “no-fault” approach to insurance claims. This basically means that in the event of a bike accident, your insurance pays for your injuries and additional damages, while the other party’s insurance would pay for any injuries and/or damages they may have experienced.
Now by insurance, we mean your personal health and auto insurance.
For instance: after a bike accident, you required medical treatment for your injuries. While at the medical facility, you provided your medical insurance information. You later receive notice that your personal medical insurance company will only partly cover your medical bill. To help offset the remaining expense, you might then be able to submit a claim through your auto insurance provider.
It’s true, your auto insurance policy may also cover injuries and property damage for non-motorist accidents, including bicycle wrecks. You’d just need to first check and see if your auto insurance policy includes medical payments (Med-pay) or personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. If it does, you’ll want to find out if there is a deductible-free medical payment option. From there, your health insurance should be able (and willing) to work directly with your car insurance provider to collect payment.
Side note: You don’t have to go through any of these steps on your own. We know how intimidating and even frustrating it can be to work with insurance companies after an accident. That is why we strongly encourage you not to do it on your own and to contact our Kansas bike accident lawyers for legal assistance to help ease you through the process. That way you can focus on healing, while we take on the majority of the time-consuming work for you.
How Else to Seek Compensation After a Bike Accident
So what do you do if you don’t have personal health insurance? Or your car insurance policy doesn’t include Med-pay or PIP coverage? Don’t despair. You can still seek a bike accident settlement by filing a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company.
Which brings us to another important point– yes, you can try to collect insurance money from the person who was responsible for your bike accident injuries, even though Kansas is a “no-fault” state.
We say try, as the at-fault person may or may not have any of these types of insurance coverage:
- Auto insurance
- Homeowner’s or renter’s insurance
- Additional umbrella insurance
If the at-fault person doesn’t have insurance, or has maxed out their insurance policy, you may want to look into the option of suing them personally after a bike accident. This option does not always pan out, as it can be difficult to collect a bike settlement from a person that does not have any assets or a steady work income that can be garnished.
Suffered a Bike Accident Injury and Wondering What to Do Next?
If you suffered a bike accident-related injury in Kansas due to the negligence or reckless actions of someone else, please contact Patterson Legal Group today. Our professional personal injury lawyers will work hard to get you the highest amount of compensation that you deserve. Get in touch with us online by using our LiveChat feature, or call us directly at 888-687-2400 for a FREE, no obligation consultation.
