What to do when you suffer from a cyclist accident and you have no insurance?
Suffering an accident is the worst news for any cyclist, whether amateur, professional, practice mountain cycling, of road, Grave either Triathlon... The increase in the use of the bicycle carries an increase in the number of incidents. Sometimes it is an oversight on our part that leads us to the ground. But in others There are third people involved, such as suffering an outrage, impacting a vehicle parked or collided with a pedestrian. Little visibility, unexpected movements of other vehicles, invasion of the bike lane, pedestrians that commit an infraction ... Thinking of a bicycle accident brings to mind the fear of injuries produced by the coup, the damage that can have been done to other people or vehicles and the damage that the entire equipment can suffer, from the bicycle to the clothes. However, many times we forget that having insurance or cannot make a difference in this painful situation. What happens if I have no insurance and I suffer an accident with my bicycle? Next we will offer you answers for this key question.
Am I the cause of the accident or the victim?
The bicycle is considered by the regulation of traffic, for all purposes, as a means of transport. Therefore, although it is not mandatory to have insurance to use it, circular by bicycle along the street or the road does imply a series of responsibilities and obligations that must be known. The first to value when we have a bicycle accident, for the purposes of our insurance, is to be clear if we are the causes or victims of the incident.
If the cause of the accident is another vehicle or person, we will be covered by the insurance to third parties of the other party. But if it is we who have caused it for our negligence or an oversight, and we do not have insurance, we can find ourselves in legal difficulties.
Home insurance, even in their basic contracts, cover the damages that have been caused to third partiesThe other part You can claim financial compensation for the damages suffered. If we did not reach an agreement on this point, we could see ourselves dedicated to what can be a expensive lawsuit in which the costs of compensation should be paid. Being covered with civil liability insurance against third parties will take us out, therefore, many troubles in the case of suffering an accident.
Does home insurance cover bicycle accidents?
Home insurance, even in their basic contracts, cover the damage that has been caused to third parties when a bicycle accident occurs in non -professional use. That is, whenever the accident has not occurred during a competition or training.
Naturally, the scope of coverage depends on each insurance. The reason why Home insurance covers bicycle accidents It is called Family Civil Liability. In practice this coverage means that insurance will cover the damages that a family member (whether parents or children) cause in a third in their private life. Of course, if you are not the head of the insurance you will have to show that you live in the house that appears in it.
If you are federated as a cyclist, automatically accounts with the coverage of accident insuranceMost of Home insurance also have legal assistance, so surely they put at your disposal a lawyer of the insurance company in case other people involved in the accident claim financial compensation. Another type of coverage that your home insurance can offer is cyclist assistance during a displacement, as well as the transport of the injured bicycle to a place of repair and the cost of the same. To this we must add other coverage, such as the theft of the vehicle if it is at home or in its proximities. As for the subtraction, it must be recoded that, although we have household insurance and we have hired a damage clause to third parties, it will only take charge if we have insured both the content and the continent of the house.
Do I need a bicycle insurance if I am federated?
Being federated implies being covered by insurance, although still many cyclists have doubts about it. Forming as a cyclist does not only be a license to participate in competitions, but also access The coverage of mandatory accident insurance (Royal Decree 849/1993) that each Federation must offer. This includes coverage such as Medical assistance without spending limit, hospital regime assistance, compensation for injuries and functional losses or expenses derived from the transfer of the injured person to a medical center.
In addition, it includes a civil liability insurance range of up to 1.2 million euros. For cyclists who do not compete, but who circulate by bicycle through the city, Another excellent option is the cycling card, destined for people between 15 and 70 years. This digital figure, which was born in 2016 and is issued by the federations of each autonomous community, Includes civil liability insurance and sports accident insurance. The first of them, with a reach of up to 150,000 euros, with defense in case of a trial and right to claim the damages suffered in the case of accident. Although it allows to compete if a license is paid for one day (with an applicable discount), the cycling card does not replace the cycling license, with which it is possible to participate in some tests and that has greater coverage.
A type of insurance for each type of cyclist
In the event that you prefer to hire bicycle insurance at the particular level, you should know that there are as many as types of cyclists. The market is wide and there are many companies that bid for offering competitive prices for the largest possible number of coverage.
Evaluate what your profile is as a cyclist and The level of protection that you require based on the frequency of the use of the bicycle, the places through which you circulate and its difficulty, if you usually leave it parked in areas with high risk of robbery, etc. There are insurance that cover assistance and hospitalization up to several days in the case of needing it, as well as others at full risk. Most companies distinguish between insurance for fans and insurance for competitions in competitions professionals and/or extreme. The basic coverage offered by the insurance companies for cyclists are:
- Civil liability.
- Damage coverage.
- Legal defense and damage claim.
- Travel assistance and medical teleorientation.
- Bicycle accident damage.
- Heist.
- Disability or death of the cyclist.
- Compensation for hospitalization and surgery