#BikeOnlyInsurance: Get insured before you get injured in a hit & run.

Did you know that bike-only insurance is available to all people who ride bikes in Washington State, even if you do not have a motor vehicle? Yes! It’s true. If someone hit you while you were riding your bike, you could still get coverage for medical bills and/or property damage with standalone bike insurance. This kicks in as an additional layer of coverage for those who are involved in a bike crash even if drivers stay at the scene and provide their insurance info.

This series of blog posts are inspired by a bright Seattle bike shop owner. In December 2022, he had reached out to me and asked me: “Why don’t we have standalone bike insurance?”

Well, as you know by now, “We DO have it.” Yet, his great question made me realize that a lot of intelligent bicyclists in the Seattle/Bellevue metro area and other more dense regions of Washington state are not aware of the option of purchasing bike insurance, including liability and personal injury protection for themselves in case they were ever involved in a bike crash.

I polled folks for a few hours on Twitter and found that the majority of respondents did not have bike insurance and didn’t seem to think they needed it.

So I had a conversation with a super informative insurance rep from Markel, the main insurer for bikes/bicyclists in this country and throughout the world.

The takeaways: there are a variety of bike-only insurance policies available including

• Bike damage
• Liability coverage up to $300,000 in the event you are found at fault and sued.
• Vehicle contact protection up to $25,000 for bodily injury, if you are hit while on a bicycle.

Markel Insurance underwrites these and other polices, often offered through Velosurance, State Farm, and other insurers. 

Listen to the entire (short) conversation below to get more details: