Newbie Please Help

[vincent43]

hello all, my first post here so please bear with me. Today I got into my first accident that involved a motorcycle. I'm totally traumatized by the whole incident. I was making a left turn at a green light, observing both sides before proceeding, and suddenly a motor cycle hit my car on the passenger side deploying the airbag and leaving a big dent on my car's two passenger doors. I'd assume the driver and passenger of the motorcycle jumped off before the impact. After getting out of the car, I ran over to them and they seemed to have minor bruises but the passenger was crying. Ambulance took them away and the officer had told me the driver only had a couple bruises but was other wise fine. which leaves me wondering about the passenger. The bike is obviously totaled, but my insurance coverage will cover that. I could care less about my car, I'm mainly concerned about the two people.
I'm also in a no-fault state.
My main reason for posting is what will happen to me after they recover? My insurance is $100k/$300k. Could I be sued?

 

[xrac]

hello all, my first post here so please bear with me. Today I got into my first accident that involved a motorcycle. I'm totally traumatized by the whole incident. I was making a left turn at a green light, observing both sides before proceeding, and suddenly a motor cycle hit my car on the passenger side deploying the airbag and leaving a big dent on my car's two passenger doors. I'd assume the driver and passenger of the motorcycle jumped off before the impact. After getting out of the car, I ran over to them and they seemed to have minor bruises but the passenger was crying. Ambulance took them away and the officer had told me the driver only had a couple bruises but was other wise fine. which leaves me wondering about the passenger. The bike is obviously totaled, but my insurance coverage will cover that. I could care less about my car, I'm mainly concerned about the two people.
I'm also in a no-fault state.
My main reason for posting is what will happen to me after they recover? My insurance is $100k/$300k. Could I be sued?

Anything is possible but I don't it. I expect you insurance will pay the claim and that your rates will go up. The way it sounds you turned into the path of the cyclist.

 

[Guest]

hello all, my first post here so please bear with me. Today I got into my first accident that involved a motorcycle. I'm totally traumatized by the whole incident. I was making a left turn at a green light, observing both sides before proceeding, and suddenly a motor cycle hit my car on the passenger side deploying the airbag and leaving a big dent on my car's two passenger doors. I'd assume the driver and passenger of the motorcycle jumped off before the impact. After getting out of the car, I ran over to them and they seemed to have minor bruises but the passenger was crying. Ambulance took them away and the officer had told me the driver only had a couple bruises but was other wise fine. which leaves me wondering about the passenger. The bike is obviously totaled, but my insurance coverage will cover that. I could care less about my car, I'm mainly concerned about the two people.
I'm also in a no-fault state.
My main reason for posting is what will happen to me after they recover? My insurance is $100k/$300k. Could I be sued?

Bravo to you for carrying more that the state minimum liability. You'd be surprised how many do not.

I wouldn't sweat it too much. It doesn't sound like there is any serious injuries so I wouldn't fret about that. Even if they do get a lawyer and decide to go for broke and start claiming pain and suffering, the attorneys generally go after policy limits and that's it, at least in my experience. Unless you have significant assets. If they do sue for more (which is rare) and they win, then you are on the hook for anything over and above policy limits.

As far as how this will effect you... You may get dropped by your insurance company and your rates will most certainly go up for two or three years. Not the end of the world.

Do you have assets that you need to protect in the event that the policy limits are not enough? If so, you need to look into an umbrella policy. It's only a couple hundred bucks a year and will protect you for much more liability than your auto insurance.

 

[vincent43]

Well the car is on my fathers policy. I'm not listed as a driver and I only use the car to go to school. My father owns a house (mortgaged) and another car (owned). The insurance policy still covers for 100k/300k for uninsured drivers.

 

[Guest]

Well the car is on my fathers policy. I'm not listed as a driver and I only use the car to go to school. My father owns a house and another car. The insurance policy still covers for 100k/300k for uninsured drivers.

If you are a 'permissive user' then you can be included in coverage on your dad's policy. However, he may also face rate increases since the claim will be filed on his policy. This may be avoided if you leave his policy and insure yourself on a separate policy.

It sounds like you are still dependent on your father. Since it is his auto insurance there is reason to believe that he is on the hook for any damages over the policy limit (however, I still wouldn't worry about that, it is pretty rare).

At the very least, if you are not a named insured on your dad's policy then the insurance company is going to require that you be rated and a named driver on his policy if you choose not to get your own policy.

One other thing to check... Even if you aren't listed as a driver you need to make sure you aren't specifically excluded from his policy. Sometimes parents will exclude a child to prevent having to pay higher rates for young drivers. If you are excluded, then you have no insurance coverage for this accident. If you are not excluded, but just not named, then coverage should apply.

 

[vincent43]

I'm not excluded. We're planning to just sell/part out the car since its more financially sensible. So that might take us off the hook for a while when things settle. I'm just surprised by the fact that the driver and I didn't have much communication at all. It scares me. I'd also want to know their medical condition, but no one on the net seems to have an answer. Am I supposed to sit here, ponder and wait till they file their claim?

 

[Guest]

I'm not excluded. We're planning to just sell/part out the car since its more financially sensible. So that might take us off the hook for a while when things settle. I'm just surprised by the fact that the driver and I didn't have much communication at all. It scares me. I'd also want to know their medical condition, but no one on the net seems to have an answer. Am I supposed to sit here, ponder and wait till they file their claim?

Well.... That's a touchy subject. It doesn't sound like there is any doubt that you were at fault and it doesn't sound like you are disputing that fact. Insurance companies typically don't want their insureds to do anything that could be perceived as admitting fault until the claims process is over, especially if there are substantial injuries.

Just be careful on how you go about it. You could call him and just check on him (his number is probably in the police report) and just not admit fault. Just say 'sorry this happened, I wanted to make sure you're ok.' Or something along those lines.

If someone hit me with their car and called to check on me, I'd respect that.

 

[Newby]

hello all, my first post here so please bear with me. Today I got into my first accident that involved a motorcycle. I'm totally traumatized by the whole incident. I was making a left turn at a green light, observing both sides before proceeding, and suddenly a motor cycle hit my car on the passenger side deploying the airbag and leaving a big dent on my car's two passenger doors. I'd assume the driver and passenger of the motorcycle jumped off before the impact. After getting out of the car, I ran over to them and they seemed to have minor bruises but the passenger was crying. Ambulance took them away and the officer had told me the driver only had a couple bruises but was other wise fine. which leaves me wondering about the passenger. The bike is obviously totaled, but my insurance coverage will cover that. I could care less about my car, I'm mainly concerned about the two people.
I'm also in a no-fault state.
My main reason for posting is what will happen to me after they recover? My insurance is $100k/$300k. Could I be sued?

"looked both ways?"

You realize there are more than two ways now I assume?

As a long time motorcycle rider (not "driver" there is no such thing as a motorcycle driver. There are riders and passengers. Never drivers) I hate hearing stories like this. But it happens all the time. People in cages turn left right in front of motorcycles coming straight through the intersection. They always claim they didn't see the bike. No one has ever said "I saw the bike but went anyway."

Sounds like he saw it coming and laid the bike down to let mainly the bike take the impact. When the cager's eyes are darting left to right, left to right and they never look straight ahead...we know they're going to turn. You develop a sixth sense for that. Little old ladies are the worst.

It's why I've always believed in the theory "LOUD bikes save lives!"

Congrats on not killing anybody. You should be fine on your insurance.

 

[xrac]

"looked both ways?"

You realize there are more than two ways now I assume?

As a long time motorcycle rider (not "driver" there is no such thing as a motorcycle driver. There are riders and passengers. Never drivers) I hate hearing stories like this. But it happens all the time. People in cages turn left right in front of motorcycles coming straight through the intersection. They always claim they didn't see the bike. No one has ever said "I saw the bike but went anyway."

Sounds like he saw it coming and laid the bike down to let mainly the bike take the impact. When the cager's eyes are darting left to right, left to right and they never look straight ahead...we know they're going to turn. You develop a sixth sense for that. Little old ladies are the worst.

It's why I've always believed in the theory "LOUD bikes save lives!"

Congrats on not killing anybody. You should be fine on your insurance.

Loud bikes, loud colors, strobe lights all help. Visibility seems to somewhat depend upon the background colors and colors of the bike. I almost took out a low rider that was so low it was hid by the vehicle next to me and I would have sworn nothing was coming.

 

[b61mack]

Depending on the state, and insurance company, 100/300, turns into the state minimium, if a un-named driver drives the auto!