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Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist Coverage | Denver Car Accidents

Jeff Kelley | 920 Views | 01/27/2015

Uninsured or Underinsured Pedestrian or Bicycle Accident

This summer we have seen a rush of pedestrian and bicycle accidents, but who pays the medical bills if that car driver in not insured? Here with answers, Jeff Kelleys’ an attorney with Harding and Associates, in for Phil Harding this Friday. Welcome back Jeff it’s always good to see you. We talk about this a lot the different rights that people have, whether they’re a pedestrian who are on motorcycles.

Today we’re talking more about bicyclists because a lot of people they bike to and from work and you all can help a lot of people like that because what if you’re hit by someone who doesn’t have insurance Jeff? Well that’s really important. We do have to dig down and find the coverage that will cover the bicyclists, and even we’ve talked about pedestrians, motorcycle passengers, and to see if there’s coverage there available from the person, the wrong doer, and if not, where do we go from there? Yeah, you’re always answering good questions and our viewers often write in, they go on the website, and they click in and they put in any questions. This viewer specifically said, “I was on my bike, a car hit me. The guy who was driving did not have insurance, what in the world so I do?”

What’s the first thing you do?

Well it’s a great question. The first thing that you would want to do is probably contact either an attorney or your insurance agent and see what kind of coverage is there because you need to find out if the automobile that struck you has insurance. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, one in seven is uninsured in Colorado. One driver in seven. Do you get a lot of cases like this, like this gentleman is talking about? Yes we do and we have to dig down because sometimes people give up and they don’t think there’s coverage. What we do find out is the at fault driver if they have insurance we look to see if they have the minimum, the 25,000, that’s required by the Colorado law or if possible they have more.

If they have the minimum then they might be underinsured that’s when we look back to our own clients coverage that they may have one vehicle at home that they were not even in. That would be the UIM coverage that we would look that carrier and put them on notice that there could be a claim there.

So you’re saying, “Okay, I’m buying my own bicycle and a driver hits me, and they are not insured I can still be covered by my own insurance because I’ve got an umbrella policy on my house or I have the UIM.” That would be in another policy that hopefully we can have available to us and what it’s called is “stacking.” We would look at each policy available that you might have, either on your car or your homeowner’s insurance or might be an umbrella, that would include UM/UIM coverage and we would assemble that coverage to maximize the amount of insurance proceeds that are available for the injured person.

Okay, is there a difference? Let’s say I’m walking or is there a difference for when I’m walking or when I’m on a bicycle as opposed to when I’m on a motorcycle? Maybe. The thing is that your UM/UIM coverage follows you where you go. If you’re a pedestrian or you’re on a bicycle there’s not really a policy for that exact, like your bicycle. Sure, nobody has a policy on a bicycle, right. Correct. So as a pedestrian if you’re walking across the parking lot and you’re struck by a car that doesn’t stop perhaps or does stop and just doesn’t have the adequate insurance coverage that’s where you go back and look at your UM coverage that you have on another vehicle.

Even if you’re a resident’s relative of a residence and you don’t have a vehicle, but maybe another relative does in your own home that you’re residing you can look to that coverage possibly. Really? That’s what it takes, digging down and really finding these coverages that would be helpful to the injured person. I love that you all, you and Phil and your team, can help people make sure that they have the right kind of coverage you did that Ken Clark. I know you’re a big motorcyclist yourself, Ken Clark is a huge motorcyclist, you’re able to look at his specific coverage and let him know if he need to get more and if he needed to get an umbrella policy.

You were saying as a motorcycle rider you really are a big proponent of getting– of stacking like you say there’s umbrella policy, why is that?

Well because you can only protect yourself, you can control things that are within the realm of what you can do. What you can do is you can look at your insurance coverage, you can call your agent, you can call us, and you can find out what coverage that you are carrying that will help you in that event that’s the only thing you can control. You can’t control what the traffic is going to do, the other drivers’ going to do, so that’s why you look to the additional policies – the excesses – the term also would be “excess insurance coverage.” It will be above and beyond the other party’s liability coverage or perhaps if they have no coverage at all. Yeah. There are a lot of ladies who watch our show and when it comes to motorcycles a lot of times the ladies are passenger they’re riding on the back there.

Is there a different type of coverage that person needs to have as a passenger as opposed to the driver of the motorcycle?

You know that’s really interesting and we have talked about that on a prior show. That’s yet another layer, another insurance policy that need to be looked at – the policy that the driver of the motorcycle has on that motorcycle. The policy that the other vehicle has possible the passenger’s UM coverage that they might have on yet another vehicle, so it’s complicated but it’s not anything that is beyond getting through, looking through, and evaluating each policy that might be available. We actually have to resolve each one of those one by one. We settle those claims individually. It’s interesting, although the layering that you can do, like you say that the stacking, to really protect yourself, like you said, you can’t control someone hitting you but you can control how protected you are after the effects. Wonderful, wonderful advice this morning.

If you have any legal questions for Jeff or his colleagues, Phil Harding they will both love to hear from you. Just got to our website, coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo there, click on it, and they do take the time to answer each of your questions personally. To contact Harding and Associates directly here’s the number, 3037629500. You can also go online to hlaw.org. Thanks Jeff. Thank you.

By: Jeff Kelly

 

Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist Coverage | Denver Car Accidents

Uninsured or Underinsured Pedestrian or Bicycle Accident

This summer we have seen a rush of pedestrian and bicycle accidents, but who pays the medical bills if that car driver in not insured? Here with answers, Jeff Kelleys’ an attorney with Harding and Associates, in for Phil Harding this Friday. Welcome back Jeff it’s always good to see you. We talk about this a lot the different rights that people have, whether they’re a pedestrian who are on motorcycles.

Today we’re talking more about bicyclists because a lot of people they bike to and from work and you all can help a lot of people like that because what if you’re hit by someone who doesn’t have insurance Jeff? Well that’s really important. We do have to dig down and find the coverage that will cover the bicyclists, and even we’ve talked about pedestrians, motorcycle passengers, and to see if there’s coverage there available from the person, the wrong doer, and if not, where do we go from there? Yeah, you’re always answering good questions and our viewers often write in, they go on the website, and they click in and they put in any questions. This viewer specifically said, “I was on my bike, a car hit me. The guy who was driving did not have insurance, what in the world so I do?”

What’s the first thing you do?

Well it’s a great question. The first thing that you would want to do is probably contact either an attorney or your insurance agent and see what kind of coverage is there because you need to find out if the automobile that struck you has insurance. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, one in seven is uninsured in Colorado. One driver in seven. Do you get a lot of cases like this, like this gentleman is talking about? Yes we do and we have to dig down because sometimes people give up and they don’t think there’s coverage. What we do find out is the at fault driver if they have insurance we look to see if they have the minimum, the 25,000, that’s required by the Colorado law or if possible they have more.

If they have the minimum then they might be underinsured that’s when we look back to our own clients coverage that they may have one vehicle at home that they were not even in. That would be the UIM coverage that we would look that carrier and put them on notice that there could be a claim there.

So you’re saying, “Okay, I’m buying my own bicycle and a driver hits me, and they are not insured I can still be covered by my own insurance because I’ve got an umbrella policy on my house or I have the UIM.” That would be in another policy that hopefully we can have available to us and what it’s called is “stacking.” We would look at each policy available that you might have, either on your car or your homeowner’s insurance or might be an umbrella, that would include UM/UIM coverage and we would assemble that coverage to maximize the amount of insurance proceeds that are available for the injured person.

Okay, is there a difference? Let’s say I’m walking or is there a difference for when I’m walking or when I’m on a bicycle as opposed to when I’m on a motorcycle? Maybe. The thing is that your UM/UIM coverage follows you where you go. If you’re a pedestrian or you’re on a bicycle there’s not really a policy for that exact, like your bicycle. Sure, nobody has a policy on a bicycle, right. Correct. So as a pedestrian if you’re walking across the parking lot and you’re struck by a car that doesn’t stop perhaps or does stop and just doesn’t have the adequate insurance coverage that’s where you go back and look at your UM coverage that you have on another vehicle.

Even if you’re a resident’s relative of a residence and you don’t have a vehicle, but maybe another relative does in your own home that you’re residing you can look to that coverage possibly. Really? That’s what it takes, digging down and really finding these coverages that would be helpful to the injured person. I love that you all, you and Phil and your team, can help people make sure that they have the right kind of coverage you did that Ken Clark. I know you’re a big motorcyclist yourself, Ken Clark is a huge motorcyclist, you’re able to look at his specific coverage and let him know if he need to get more and if he needed to get an umbrella policy.

You were saying as a motorcycle rider you really are a big proponent of getting– of stacking like you say there’s umbrella policy, why is that?

Well because you can only protect yourself, you can control things that are within the realm of what you can do. What you can do is you can look at your insurance coverage, you can call your agent, you can call us, and you can find out what coverage that you are carrying that will help you in that event that’s the only thing you can control. You can’t control what the traffic is going to do, the other drivers’ going to do, so that’s why you look to the additional policies – the excesses – the term also would be “excess insurance coverage.” It will be above and beyond the other party’s liability coverage or perhaps if they have no coverage at all. Yeah. There are a lot of ladies who watch our show and when it comes to motorcycles a lot of times the ladies are passenger they’re riding on the back there.

Is there a different type of coverage that person needs to have as a passenger as opposed to the driver of the motorcycle?

You know that’s really interesting and we have talked about that on a prior show. That’s yet another layer, another insurance policy that need to be looked at – the policy that the driver of the motorcycle has on that motorcycle. The policy that the other vehicle has possible the passenger’s UM coverage that they might have on yet another vehicle, so it’s complicated but it’s not anything that is beyond getting through, looking through, and evaluating each policy that might be available. We actually have to resolve each one of those one by one. We settle those claims individually. It’s interesting, although the layering that you can do, like you say that the stacking, to really protect yourself, like you said, you can’t control someone hitting you but you can control how protected you are after the effects. Wonderful, wonderful advice this morning.

If you have any legal questions for Jeff or his colleagues, Phil Harding they will both love to hear from you. Just got to our website, coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo there, click on it, and they do take the time to answer each of your questions personally. To contact Harding and Associates directly here’s the number, 3037629500. You can also go online to hlaw.org. Thanks Jeff. Thank you.

By: Jeff Kelly