That sucks man.
Similar to homeowners insurance not covering a “racing bike” when its stolen, I suppose you would need a supplemental rider or policy.
There are companies out there catering specifically to athletes:
http://www.athleticinsurance.com/coverage/athletic-insurance/
http://www.anthonyinsuranceservices.com/sports-insurance/
http://www.westpointinsurance.com/triathlon_marathon_insurance.php
Very sorry to hear this,
It sucks and I don’t think I can say anything that will make it better, my only thoughts would be to hire a lawyer and stop posting on this. I would suggest deleting your OP, or at least talking to someone smarter than most of us on this.
My only experience as a non U.S. citizen is that even as an age grouper you need to check your policy and bump it up. As a Canadian (aus, euro etc) traveling to the U.S. to race, when I went pro I had to upgrade insurance to about 3-400$ from the traditional “buck a day” for a normal healthy non racing type person.
Even now the distinction appears a bit blurred between AG and Pro….get extra insurance if you plan on racing in the U.S.
Very sorry, I hope you can recover and get back to a better place.
Maurice
Sorry, thread is staying up; it’s an important message. I’m really not posting in a “woe is me” fashion, as a means of solving the problem, or to point fingers at anyone (least of all USAT - not their fault my insurance sucks); I simply want others to be less naive than I was when selecting an insurance plan.
I will agree a pretty important message,
from my perspective as a non U.S. citizen is that you need a bomber policy when traveling (racing) there, as we will be exposed to the same potential liability that you have been exposed to.
Sorry for suggesting what you should do in this instance. There are several U.S. lawyers who post on here and will give you way better advice than me, some work specifically with cases like yours.
Maurice
I take it you have filed an uninsured motorist claim on your automobile policy?
Thanks for posting…
Will revisit my policy. I do not recall ever seeing any fine print that excluded coverage due to an athletic competition accident, but sometimes that stuff is buried deep and easy to pass over.
I hope things work out for you, in one way or another.
Heal up.
If you haven’t, you should check with a lawyer. Their reason for denial may not be legal.
i would like to know more about this. in a former life i did this kind of stuff for a living, which means i’m a pseudo expert of how this stuff worked 30 years ago and a novice at how it works now. why don’t you PM or private email me and i’ll ask you a bunch of questions, if you don’t mind.
i would like to know more about this. in a former life i did this kind of stuff for a living, which means i’m a pseudo expert of how this stuff worked 30 years ago and a novice at how it works now. why don’t you PM or private email me and i’ll ask you a bunch of questions, if you don’t mind.
Yep, these seems like a great topic to do some research to see if we all need to revisit our insurance policies.
So does this imply if I get hit by a car on the road training I am covered but if I get hit by a car during a race I am not?
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i don’t know until i dig into this, but it might be that he entered as a professional. in this case they might deem it a work related clamp - a work comp exposure rather than a health insurance exposure. but then there might be an exclusion in the policy for athletic competitions. i don’t know. so far i’ve never heard of a health insurance claim getting denied an athlete because he’s an athlete.
i also thought USAT’s medical payments was $75k, not $25k. i want to look into that as well.
finally, there’s the $256k price tag. i’ve always been extremely, militantly, subversively antithetical to the idea that those with the most exposure get hit with a bill that’s 4x the price paid by medicare, BX, et al.
i just would like to see if there’s a way out of this that keeps everybody whole and makes everybody behave in good faith.
Thank you for posting this and I’m terribly sorry to hear about your accident. I’ll be calling my insurance agent shortly to discuss this.
Or you could try racing in the first world in future, like in the UK where, you know, free healthcare…
Sorry to hear about you car vs bicycle accident. Legal representation is advised when any insurance company denies a claim that you would have expected to be paid. If pressed for coverage insurance companies will often re-evaluate to find a way to pay claims.
Next, uninsured motorist coverage (UIM) is the most important coverage on your personal auto policy. In 37 states UIM covers you while inside your car and while outside your car, and that includes cycling. I was in an accident 3 years ago where the girl who hit me had a $10,000 liability limit on her auto policy (a $50,000 car with $10k liability, go figure) anyway I have $250,000 of UIM and when we burned through her $10k in a day we dipped into my UIM for the remaining medical costs for my torn achilles. UIM is cheap and the most important coverage a cyclist can have on their car.
If you want to know if your state is one of the 37 where UIM covers you while riding call me 888-663-9948 or email dave@velosurance.com
El Gordo: I don’t think my auto policy covers me when I’m on a bike?? I’ll try looking into it though, thank you!
Sorry to hear this and hope Slowman and/or a lawyer can help you.
Another thing triathletes/cyclists should check is that their AUTO insurance includes Personal Injury Protection (PIP) to cover medical bills if you are hit by a car while training.
Yes, it may seem odd that your own auto insurance would cover you if you are on a bike, but if you are hit by a CAR then whether you are on your bike, or even just walking, then YOUR OWN auto insurance can cover you for excessive medical bills, IF you have the added coverage.
A friend of mine was hit by a car a few months ago. The other driver’s insurance maxed out around $100k and after that he’s been left to rely on his own insurance. He is now wheelchair-bound and his medical bills have run into the many, many hundreds of thousands.
I have just bought $250k in PIP on my auto insurance for an extra $120 pa, covering all in my family.
Thanks all, I’m definitely going to look into my auto plan, I had no idea! And for the record, my insurance doesn’t differentiate between pro/amateur - it’s just the act of being IN a competition. If I had been hit while training, I’d be covered but being in a competition is exclusion number 28 on page 19 … nestled right between sky diving and intentional self-inflicted injury.
I just checked my personal liability umbrella with state farm.
Under exclusions it has
loss involving a watercraft or motorized
land vehicle, and arising out of any
insured’s
participation in, preparation or
practice for any:
a. race contest or competition;
b. speed contest or competition;
c. demolition contest or competition;
d. hill climbing contest or competition; or
e. jumping contest or competition;
whether or not any of these are formally organized or pre arranged.
So, reading this would seem to imply my liability umbrella does not work for a race injury?
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Your auto insurance probably has $15k in PIP as a basic cover, even if you did not take out extra cover. Not enough to cover all your bills clearly, but if you can get an extra $15k that will help I’m sure.
What you quoted specifically says motorized vehicle, so this is probably referring to trackdays, driver events, stuff like that in a car or motorcycle not a competition where it would be human powered like triathlon would be.
Also loss would most likely be implying property not medical expenses.