WHAT IF . . . my child rides a bicycle into a parked car?

The other day I received a call from one of our clients in Bellbrook, Ohio with a somewhat unusual question. He said his son was out riding his bicycle near their home and the boy ran into a neighbor’s parked car. Fortunately, his son was not hurt, but the neighbor’s car was damaged. Would this be covered under his insurance policy?

At first, it sounded like it might be an auto insurance claim. After all, it was an automobile that was damaged. Would this be covered under my client’s auto policy – or under the neighbor’s auto policy?

Actually, we discovered that the answer was “neither”. Even though it was an automobile that was damaged, this was not eligible for a claim under my client’s auto policy since his car was not involved in the “accident”. (It’s possible that the neighbor could have filed a claim under his auto policy but my client wanted to take responsibility since it was his son who caused the damage.)

This incident ended up being covered under my client’s Farmers Homeowner’s Policy. You see, his home policy provided coverage for damage to the property of others – even away from the premises where he lives. Since his son was responsible for the damage to the neighbor’s car, we paid for the cost to repair it under our client’s Homeowner’s Policy.

Did my client have to pay a deductible for this? No – because it was considered a liability claim and there is no deductible for this type of claim.

So…the next time your child runs into someone or something on their bicycle, you may have more insurance protection than you realized!