I've Been Hit! . . . After the Accident - An Insurance Primer
Nov 17 '02 (Updated Nov 19 '02)
The Bottom Line Understand your insurance policy and have a plan of action ready in case you are involved in an accident.
Nobody WANTS to get hit on a bike (or any where else, for that matter), but it happens. A cage cuts in front of you, or follows too close and WHAM! Suddenly a ton of steel is trying to share the same time-space continuum as you and your bike.
Recently I was rear-ended while waiting in line at the gas station. In trying to recover damages, I learned a lot about my insurance policy, what it covered, what it did NOT cover, and steps I could have taken to make damage recovery easier.
In this article, I'll include "Before" and "After" checklists you can print out and carry on your bike. Review the checklists periodically and make sure they are current. No, we don't want to have a mindset of "I'm going to be in an accident," but I can say from experience that immediately after the impact, I was dazed and confused. Had I already known what to do and run it through my mind a few times, I likely would have had fewer problems in recivering damages.
BEFORE
1) Keep current dated photographs of your bike. This establishes the condition of the bike and will be your evidence in case someone tries to claim that the bike was already trashed.
2) Understand your insurance policy. I bought basic no-fault, the minimum legal in Hawaii. It does NOT buy the same level of protection as the auto policy by the same name. My bad. I should have taken responsibility for knowing that.
3) Keep at least two sets of photocopies of all your bike's papers, one set on the bike. The originals should be on either the bike or on you, depending on preference and state. Just hand that spare set over to the cops when they take the report and you'll know that the numbers all are correct. It is really hard to correct a police report later.
4) Keep a pen or pencil and small notebook handy in your pocket or on your bike. You need it to log you milage, fuel consumption, maint. schedule, and all that anyway, right?
AFTER - assuming there are witnesses
1) a)Instruct a SPECIFIC individual/witness to phone 911 (or appropriate authorities) and report a motorcycle hit by car.
b)Instruct another witness to write down the other party's license number, name, address, and insurance carrier and number.
2) Assess yourself for damage. Move to a safe location if you are in danger.
3) If you are ok, move your bike out of danger if necessary. If possible, it is best to leave things as they were and wait for the police to see the scene, but that is often not possible.
4) Get names, phone numbers, and addresses of witnesses. Write down the color, make, model, of the other vehicle and make notes about the other driver (appeared intoxicated? helpful? agressive? write down what he/she said to you.) Write down time, date, location of the accident. Make a list of all damage to your bike, your self, and any other pertinant information.
5) Remain at the scene until the police arrive. Instruct the other person to do the same. Even though the person who hit me left the scene first, I was still considered in error for later leaving the scene as well.
6) Keep a copy of all the information for your own records (collect the information witnesses have gathered and include it) and give another copy to the police.
7) Phone your insurance company.
8) After you get home, write down a full report of exactly what happened, include all of the information you and witnesses gathered. Keep a copy for your own records and give a copy to your insurance company.
9) Keep a log of ALL commnications regarding the accident. Every time you talk with an insurance agent, mechanic, cop, doctor, attorney, etc. regarding the accident, log the date, time, length, and reason for the call AND the names and contact numbers of the people you spoke with.
10) Request a copy of the official police report for your records.
11) Follow up by phoning the insurance companies. They deal with a lot of cases. Any given case can be lost in the shuffle.
Having all of this information documented will help you to collect if there is a disagreement, and the knowledge that you have documented everything can often prevent future disagreements.
If you have other suggestions, please comment,. I want to update this article to makeit as useful as possible so others do not have to learn the hard way, as I did.
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hularider
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Member: Leilehua Yuen
Location: Hilo, Hawaii, USA
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HulaRider is an author, artist, and educator who specializes in Hawaiian culture and arts.
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