So say, hypothetically, your rack fails and dumps your bike on the freeway. The rack manufacturer's warranty explicitly denies liability. Is this something that auto insurance policies typically cover?
Unfortunately no, it would only cover equipment to the vehicle. If the rack was damaged in an accident a policy should cover it (at least in NY, other states may have exclusions) but a bike is not considered "equipment for use of a car", a rack is designed for a car so most insurance companies recognize that. Home owners or a renters policy should cover it though. Again each company and state can have exclusions, but that is a long way for me to say no, the auto policy will not cover the bike.
If you have full coverage it should. Had that happen to a friend. He has State Farm. If you dont have full coverage and have a house try to use you home owners insurance.
I'll call my parents, they own a farmers (25 years now).
BTW: I always use a 3" velcro strap to fix the tires on the cyclon pro to the actuall bars as well. If its not in my 4-runner its just not safe
If it is not permentlly attatched to you're car it is NOT covered by you're auto insurance. It is covered under you're home owners or renters policy- JM
If it is not permentlly attatched to you're car it is NOT covered by you're auto insurance. It is covered under you're home owners or renters policy- JM
What JohnM said. And even if it is permanently installed, you'd have to get an endoresment (i.e. added as an extra to the policy with extra premium) to be covered with most carriers.
HOWEVER, if your bike was to damage somebody else's car/cause an accident, the liability portion of the policy would pay towards others' damages.
Me: Ummm, hello I have a quick question for you.
Rep: Ok, go ahead.
Me: I'd like to perch a 55lb downhill bike approximately 4 feet above the roof of my car, held on by a questionable rack who's manufacturer explicitly denies any responsibility should the bike in question get ripped off the roof and cartwheel down the LIE at approximately 80 miles per hour. Would that be something that you would cover? ... Ummm, hello?
I need to look into the insurance issue. The other weekend I borrowed a hitch rack that actually carries 2 MX bikes. The whole way to and from Moab I cringed every time I hit a hump in the hwy. I was worried to death that 500 lbs of MX bikes would tumble down the hwy at 70 mph. It would be bad enough to lose my bikes, but much worse if another drive was injured. I pretty much decided never to use that thing again and just pull my small trailer.
I had the first generation Sportworks bob-ratchet fail on me due to manufacturer's defect (bad ratchet mechanism). They covered the damage to the bike (it wasn't too bad, nobody ran it over) and gave me an updated version.
I had the first generation Sportworks bob-ratchet fail on me due to manufacturer's defect (bad ratchet mechanism). They covered the damage to the bike (it wasn't too bad, nobody ran it over) and gave me an updated version.
I guess that policy is something they lost when they were bought by Thule. The rack was a Sportworks T2. This is what became of the clamp that holds (held) the tray to the arm of the rack. Clean snappage.
And thanks, all, for the responses. No home owners/renters insurance, but I'll be looking into my auto policy.
Did you torque those bolts all the way until the top piece was touching the bottom (thats what it looks like in the photo) - maybe thats why it snapped?
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