So you may or may not have heard that there are lots of changes coming out in July of 2020. Since clients have been reaching out and asking about if this will also effect their motorcycle insurance, I thought writing all of this out for you all to read at your leisure would be an excellent method to communicate what is about to transpire.
In regards to motorcycle insurance, the law has changed. With that change,the amount of No-Fault benefits available to a motorcyclist who has been in accident with a car and suffered injuries could be much less in July 2020 than the current law we are operating under.An injured motorcyclist’s medical coverage is limited by whatever coverage exists in the auto insurance policy that are seeking payment from. The biggest change is that this used to UNLIMITED. Now, the coverage could be $50,000, $250,000, $500,000 or unlimited. This is a significant change. In addition, if the motorcyclist is in a hit and run situation where there is not an auto policy known to fall back on - that motorcyclist could be limited to $250,000 in medical coverage.
This means that even if the motorcyclists has their own unlimited no-fault auto insurance policy (for their car or truck), the level of medical benefits to which they could be entitled to is actually limited by the coverage levels chosen by the owner (or driver) of the motor vehicle or motorcycle involved in the crash. So basically, a motorcyclist is limited to the medical coverage that some stranger chose on their own insurance policy.
Another option that looks like it will be available to motorcyclists under the new law coming in July 2020 is the ability to sue the at-fault driver for medical coverage.
Let's consider this from the motorcyclists prospective for a moment: Great, there may be more coverage available - but how long will you have to wait to receive these medical benefits? Are you already in medical debt up to your ears? Are bill collectors are ruining your credit? Will the outcome of the lawsuit be enough to cover your medical bills? Will you have to settle the case early in order to keep the bill collectors away? Will an early settlement be much less than the total medical costs?
Now, let's consider this from the auto driver prospective: Maybe you were not even at fault for this accident, but you are still being sued simply because you were involved in the accident. Maybe the only way to prove you aren't at fault is to go through a long legal process to prove that. Maybe it's beneficial to settle this out of court and give this motorcyclist some sort of compensation from auto insurance policy just to wash your hands of this whole process. Are your limits high enough for this instance? How much is enough?
OR - maybe you fully know you were at fault for this accident. Since you were at fault you want to make sure that this person receives excellent medical care. Are your limits on your auto policy enough to protect you from draining your own bank accounts?
I'm going to leave you with this - liability is the most important part of your policy in my opinion. This part of the policy is what most of my clients need help navigating through. EACH PERSON is different in what they need or feel comfortable with for liability limits. Have the conversation with your agent. Please. It's so important that you evaluate this on individual basis because there is not a cookie cutter answer that is correct.
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