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MOTORCYCLISTS DON'T HAVE TO CARRY INSURANCE IN WASHINGTON
BUT THEY SHOULD
Liability insurance covers claims that are made against you. Your insurance company has two main obligations: (1) to provide you with a defense if a claim is made against you and (2) to pay any settlement or judgment that doesn’t exceed your policy limits.  

So why do you want liability insurance if it isn’t required?  There are three big reasons:
 
1. To Protect Yourself. A single mistake could wipe you out financially.  Without insurance you would have to pay for a lawyer to defend you and put everything you have at risk.  If you buy liability insurance – especially if you buy enough liability insurance – these concerns are put to bed. 

2. To Protect People You Care About. What happens if you are riding with friends or family members and get into an accident? Medical bills can be enormous. You’re going to feel horrible.  But the situation is going to be a lot better for everyone if you have enough liability insurance to financially compensate them for what they’ve been through. 
 
3.  So You Can Buy UIM.  This is another form of protecting yourself. UIM refers to coverage for accidents with uninsured and underinsured motorists. It makes sense to buy as much UIM as possible.  But to buy UIM, you also have to buy liability insurance.  If you’re not persuaded by reasons 1 and 2, you should be persuaded by this one: buy liability insurance so you can protect yourself with UIM.

UIM COVERAGE
UIM provides what’s called a floating layer of coverage.  If you buy $500,000 of UIM and get hit by a driver who carries the state minimum ($25,000), you have $525,000 of total coverage to work with. 

UIM provides a benefit that helps in hit and run cases.  It’s called “phantom driver” coverage.  There’s a presumption that the “phantom” is uninsured and if you have UIM, you get to use it. 

UIM even covers you in no-contact accidents involving an (almost) hit and run driver.  But in these situations you have to: (1) provide competent independent corroboration of involvement of another driver and (2) make a police report within 72 hours. 
 

INTENTIONAL CONDUCT – ETHEL’S LAW
Insurance doesn’t cover intentional conduct (like road rage).  Enter UIM coverage.

Several years ago, the Washington legislature passed the Ethel Adams UIM law. It says that a UIM policy covers road rage collisions (even though there’s intentional conduct).

This is another reason why it’s a good idea to get liability insurance. Washington law might not require you to carry it, but without it, you can’t purchase UIM  coverage.  And then what happens if you’re hit by a guy who just got fired from his job or found out his wife was sleeping with his best friend? Better safe than sorry.

If you have motorcycle insurance but are unsure if you have UIM coverage, we’re happy to take a look at your policy.

GROUP RIDES & LIABILITY WAIVERS – WHOSE TEAM ARE YOU ON?
We handle a lot of accidents where more than one rider is involved. Many of these cases stem from accidents that happen on group rides.

There are two big issues that we see in these cases:

1. Suing Family & Friends: A lot of clients would rather not make a claim against a friend of family member. But it’s imporant to remember that the friend or family member has been paying insurance premiums for years to make sure that he or she has coverage in case this type of accident occurs. If you decide not to make a claim in this situation, the only one who wins is the insurance company.

2. Liability Wavers & Releases: A lot of well-meaning groups have members sign releases before rides. These releases are often cut and pasted from the Internet. Usully they purport to release not only the group but also all participants of the ride. Releasing participants from all liability is ridiculous. Here are a couple examples:

Example 1: Wife is riding with Husband. Husband stops paying attention for a moment and rear-ends the vehicle in front of him. Wife is seriously injured. Husband has liability insurance. Even though he purchased insurance and paid premiums for years, his wife won’t be able to collect because of the release she signed.

Example 2: Husband is keeping his eyes on the road but a club member riding behind him isn’t. Club member rear-ends Husband and Wife. Wife suffers brain injury. Club member decided not to buy liability insurance but Husband and Wife carried a large UIM policy. Can they take advantage of the policy they purchased? No. They can’t. This is because the release they signed precludes a claim against the club member and the UIM carrier stands in the shoes of the uninsured motorist.

No doubt these two examples are not what the group wanted when it had these riders sign the releases.

Solution: Either don’t use releases for group rides or if you feel compelled to use them, make sure that they only release claims in excess of available insurance coverage (so people who pay for it can use it).
Copyright © 2017 Myers & Fox, P.L.L.C., All rights reserved.

Contact us:
Ph: (206) 398-1188
Fax: (206) 400 1115
mmyers@myers-fox.com

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