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Underinsured and Uninsured Motorcycle Insurance Coverage Effects | Denver Auto Accidents

Jeff Kelley | 693 Views | 01/29/2015

Now with the warm stretch of weather – warm, it’s been downright hot – there has been plenty of motorcyclist out on the road, and we hope you’d been paying close attention. Look twice, you might save a life, to all those riders out there on two wheels. Jeff Kelley, he’s an attorney with Harding & Associates. He’s here on this first Friday of each month. He’s an avid motorcyclist. He’s been riding for upwards of 30 years and he’s been practicing law for 25 of those years. Coming off the Fourth of July weekend, weather practically perfect here in the city, motorcycle riders all over the place. That’s true and happy Fourth to everyone. I hope that all the motorcyclists out there had a safe weekend. That’s what we’re hoping for but a lot didn’t. You were telling me the judge’s starting to see some cases.

Yes, and a very troubling thing that we’re seeing is the increased activity of drivers, motorcyclists, that are being ran off the road, a hit and run type thing or a phantom driver where the at-fault driver doesn’t stop. For whatever reason, they didn’t see the person. Maybe they didn’t even know that they ran the guy off the road. Yes.

So what’s the next process for the rider involved in a situation like that?

Well, what we try to do is give information to our clients. I’d like to get listeners to understand also that you can protect yourself by using UM/UIM insurance that you can obtain for your own coverage on your policy for your own motorcycle.

Is that something that we can opt out off as motorcycle riders when we’re going for that policy?

You know, you’re looking to save as much money as you can, and you see those letters, you might not thing it’s a big deal. So you just decide, “Nah, you know what? We’re not going to do that.” That’s very important. You have to decline that coverage or your carrier has to provide it for you. Interesting. Yes.

So now, another level of safety – you can see here, you just can’t mistake it – is the riding jacket.

Right. That’s one level of protection. I always try to bring in something that gives the viewer an opportunity to see what they can wear. This is a high-visibility jacket. You can tell it’s got the high-visibility grain on it. Kevlar in the elbows and the back just in case something happens. Right. And the Cordura 500 material. This is a mesh jacket. It’s so hot out right now that no one wants to wear a leather jacket or any jacket. This is a good alternative. It’s a textile, but it does allow airflow, so that, literally, you can’t hardly feel that it’s on. So why, during the summer months, is airflow important? As riders, we both know why, but many out there, they don’t. Well, you and I were just talking about you’re sitting on stoplight. You’re waiting. It’s hot. You have a helmet on. You need some airflow to keep your thoughts about you and not reduce your being hydrated. I have a personal experience. I was out on the road, dressed like I would be on a winter day, stuck in traffic. And you we’re saying, keeping your wits about, you start to boil in that thing like a baked potato, and you’re hot. You’re like, “Man, I need to get moving,” and you can actually make some very poor decisions. We talked about keeping your thoughts about you as you’re riding, knowing what’s next to you, what’s behind you, ahead of you, and so on. Staying cool, having the right gear is a good approach to that. Now, let’s jump back to the insurance coverage side of things.

When you were talking the uninsured motorist, how is that a bigger deal now than it was years ago?

One in seven drivers are not insured. Which doesn’t sound like a lot. Well, where the reality really comes home is if you have a accident or you’re injured, you need to look to your own insurance. And if you do not have UM/UIM coverage, then, you’re not going to have any source of recovery from an injury caused by an uninsured or underinsured. An uninsured driver could be either another driver with no insurance or could be the driver that runs you off the road, doesn’t stop. That’s the phantom driver. An underinsured driver would be someone who has the minimum policy limits required by Colorado, which is 25,000. That’s not a lot of coverage. So let’s say that you have a 100,000 UIM on your own motorcycle, that would be on top of what the other driver would have. It’s called stacking. So that’s what we’d like the listeners to really understand. I’m happy to take calls if anyone has questions about that after the show. You may also benefit from having UM coverage on another vehicle, such as your passenger car. That UM coverage follows you and will be another level of insurance that you’ll stack on top of what the coverage is that you have on your motorcycle. There’s a lot of motorcycle riders, especially here, we can’t ride 12 months out of the year, though we wish we could. Right.

So you’re saying the cars that we’re driving in the winter months could have enough coverage to get us to where we need to be on the motorcycle. That’s a good point. That coverage is always there for you, either as a motorcycle rider or driving your own automobile or being in someone else’s motor vehicle. Your UM coverage helps protect you with that extra layer of protection. The other one that we can talk about briefly is MedPay coverage.

 

Medical Payment Coverage

Medical payment coverage is another optional coverage that you can select when you’re purchasing your insurance, and a minimum amount would be 5,000. It’s another one of those you have to decline if you are not going to take it. But you recommend taking it?

Yes. So it’s nice that you have to say no to it because then it’s almost you have to opt out which is the difference of opting in. That is why it’s set up that way. The legislature does not want people not realizing that they have that coverage available. A recent example of this is a lady who just hired our firm who had a hit-and-run situation on her Harley, and she had four different policy coverages that I can tell you briefly. She had UM coverage on her motorcycle. That’s all she has. She has a 100 to compensate her for her injuries. She has a pickup truck with another 100 UM, 100,000 UM, and then she has a medical pay policy of 5,000 on her motorcycle and 5,000 on her truck. So we are stacking. We’re putting those coverages together for her, and then we can deal with her health insurance that’s paying for her bills. So it’s– It’s complicated. –too complicated. And it is something that motorcycle riders, you put in the back of your mind, but you’re like, “Look man, I just want to get out and feel the wind and see the sights that Colorado has to offer.”

So keep this in mind, when you have questions, legal questions, call Jeff or his colleague, Phil Harding. They would love hear from you. Just log on to coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo. Click there, and they will take the time to answer each of your questions personally. It’s good to talk to you on this Friday morning. All right, to contact Harding and his associates, 303-762-9500 online. You’ll find them on hlaw.org.

By: Jeff Kelley

Underinsured and Uninsured Motorcycle Insurance Coverage Effects | Denver Auto Accidents

Now with the warm stretch of weather – warm, it’s been downright hot – there has been plenty of motorcyclist out on the road, and we hope you’d been paying close attention. Look twice, you might save a life, to all those riders out there on two wheels. Jeff Kelley, he’s an attorney with Harding & Associates. He’s here on this first Friday of each month. He’s an avid motorcyclist. He’s been riding for upwards of 30 years and he’s been practicing law for 25 of those years. Coming off the Fourth of July weekend, weather practically perfect here in the city, motorcycle riders all over the place. That’s true and happy Fourth to everyone. I hope that all the motorcyclists out there had a safe weekend. That’s what we’re hoping for but a lot didn’t. You were telling me the judge’s starting to see some cases.

Yes, and a very troubling thing that we’re seeing is the increased activity of drivers, motorcyclists, that are being ran off the road, a hit and run type thing or a phantom driver where the at-fault driver doesn’t stop. For whatever reason, they didn’t see the person. Maybe they didn’t even know that they ran the guy off the road. Yes.

So what’s the next process for the rider involved in a situation like that?

Well, what we try to do is give information to our clients. I’d like to get listeners to understand also that you can protect yourself by using UM/UIM insurance that you can obtain for your own coverage on your policy for your own motorcycle.

Is that something that we can opt out off as motorcycle riders when we’re going for that policy?

You know, you’re looking to save as much money as you can, and you see those letters, you might not thing it’s a big deal. So you just decide, “Nah, you know what? We’re not going to do that.” That’s very important. You have to decline that coverage or your carrier has to provide it for you. Interesting. Yes.

So now, another level of safety – you can see here, you just can’t mistake it – is the riding jacket.

Right. That’s one level of protection. I always try to bring in something that gives the viewer an opportunity to see what they can wear. This is a high-visibility jacket. You can tell it’s got the high-visibility grain on it. Kevlar in the elbows and the back just in case something happens. Right. And the Cordura 500 material. This is a mesh jacket. It’s so hot out right now that no one wants to wear a leather jacket or any jacket. This is a good alternative. It’s a textile, but it does allow airflow, so that, literally, you can’t hardly feel that it’s on. So why, during the summer months, is airflow important? As riders, we both know why, but many out there, they don’t. Well, you and I were just talking about you’re sitting on stoplight. You’re waiting. It’s hot. You have a helmet on. You need some airflow to keep your thoughts about you and not reduce your being hydrated. I have a personal experience. I was out on the road, dressed like I would be on a winter day, stuck in traffic. And you we’re saying, keeping your wits about, you start to boil in that thing like a baked potato, and you’re hot. You’re like, “Man, I need to get moving,” and you can actually make some very poor decisions. We talked about keeping your thoughts about you as you’re riding, knowing what’s next to you, what’s behind you, ahead of you, and so on. Staying cool, having the right gear is a good approach to that. Now, let’s jump back to the insurance coverage side of things.

When you were talking the uninsured motorist, how is that a bigger deal now than it was years ago?

One in seven drivers are not insured. Which doesn’t sound like a lot. Well, where the reality really comes home is if you have a accident or you’re injured, you need to look to your own insurance. And if you do not have UM/UIM coverage, then, you’re not going to have any source of recovery from an injury caused by an uninsured or underinsured. An uninsured driver could be either another driver with no insurance or could be the driver that runs you off the road, doesn’t stop. That’s the phantom driver. An underinsured driver would be someone who has the minimum policy limits required by Colorado, which is 25,000. That’s not a lot of coverage. So let’s say that you have a 100,000 UIM on your own motorcycle, that would be on top of what the other driver would have. It’s called stacking. So that’s what we’d like the listeners to really understand. I’m happy to take calls if anyone has questions about that after the show. You may also benefit from having UM coverage on another vehicle, such as your passenger car. That UM coverage follows you and will be another level of insurance that you’ll stack on top of what the coverage is that you have on your motorcycle. There’s a lot of motorcycle riders, especially here, we can’t ride 12 months out of the year, though we wish we could. Right.

So you’re saying the cars that we’re driving in the winter months could have enough coverage to get us to where we need to be on the motorcycle. That’s a good point. That coverage is always there for you, either as a motorcycle rider or driving your own automobile or being in someone else’s motor vehicle. Your UM coverage helps protect you with that extra layer of protection. The other one that we can talk about briefly is MedPay coverage.

 

Medical Payment Coverage

Medical payment coverage is another optional coverage that you can select when you’re purchasing your insurance, and a minimum amount would be 5,000. It’s another one of those you have to decline if you are not going to take it. But you recommend taking it?

Yes. So it’s nice that you have to say no to it because then it’s almost you have to opt out which is the difference of opting in. That is why it’s set up that way. The legislature does not want people not realizing that they have that coverage available. A recent example of this is a lady who just hired our firm who had a hit-and-run situation on her Harley, and she had four different policy coverages that I can tell you briefly. She had UM coverage on her motorcycle. That’s all she has. She has a 100 to compensate her for her injuries. She has a pickup truck with another 100 UM, 100,000 UM, and then she has a medical pay policy of 5,000 on her motorcycle and 5,000 on her truck. So we are stacking. We’re putting those coverages together for her, and then we can deal with her health insurance that’s paying for her bills. So it’s– It’s complicated. –too complicated. And it is something that motorcycle riders, you put in the back of your mind, but you’re like, “Look man, I just want to get out and feel the wind and see the sights that Colorado has to offer.”

So keep this in mind, when you have questions, legal questions, call Jeff or his colleague, Phil Harding. They would love hear from you. Just log on to coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo. Click there, and they will take the time to answer each of your questions personally. It’s good to talk to you on this Friday morning. All right, to contact Harding and his associates, 303-762-9500 online. You’ll find them on hlaw.org.

By: Jeff Kelley