What should I save after a car hits me on a bicycle?

The short answer

A car hit you while you were on a bicycle, and now it feels like you are outside the system. No policy, no plate, nothing to hand anyone.

The crash may still produce a police record, insurance questions and physical or digital evidence worth preserving. The reporting rules and available coverage depend on where it happened and what the policies say.

This page explains what to do about the report, the bicycle, and the policies. It cannot tell you whether you have a claim, what anything is worth, or how long you have. That comes from a licensed attorney reading your facts.

Start with the traffic record

When a motor vehicle hits a person on a bicycle, the local agency’s reporting practices determine whether police create a report and what it contains. Its records unit can tell you whether a report exists and how to request it.²

If police never came, or came and wrote nothing, many states have their own form for reporting a crash afterward.¹ And if days have already passed, that agency’s records unit can say whether it is still possible.²

The rules about where and how a bicycle belongs on the road are written by each state, and they are not the same everywhere.¹ That does not change the basics: there was a motor vehicle, there was a person, and there is a question about who was careless.

If the driver left, this looks like any other hit and run. What helps in those first hours is boring and it works: the exact spot, the time, any piece of the plate, the color and model, which way they went, and who else saw it.

Photograph the bicycle before repairs

Repairing or discarding damaged parts can remove details that photographs alone may not capture.

The bicycle, broken pieces and helmet can help document the impact and damage. They are one part of the record, together with scene photographs, video, witness information and reports.

Before anybody touches it, photograph both sides, the top, the back, and each damaged part close up. Keep the pieces that broke, even the ones that look like trash. If you have a bike computer, a GPS, or an app that recorded the ride, do not delete that file and do not edit it.

If you use a helmet or handlebar camera, save a separate copy promptly. Some devices overwrite older footage as storage fills.

Your own policy may have something to do with it

Your own car policy may still matter even if the car was parked at home.

Your policy’s declarations page lists each coverage and its limit.³ Depending on your state and policy, items worth checking include:

• Uninsured motorist, often shortened to UM.
• Underinsured motorist, or UIM.
• Medical payments, or MedPay.
• Personal injury protection, or PIP, which exists in some states and not in others.

Some policies extend certain coverages beyond the insured vehicle. Whether any listed coverage applies while you were on a bicycle depends on your state and the policy language.⁴ Seeing a coverage on the declarations page does not decide the question; it tells you what to ask the insurer or a licensed attorney to review.

Write down what you notice

Pain and other symptoms may not be clear at the scene. Write down what you notice and when you notice it rather than guessing about how you will feel later.

A medical professional can evaluate symptoms, including ones that appear or change after the crash. Keep the visit information and describe what changed in plain words.

Write down whether you were wearing a helmet too, exactly as it was. What effect that has, if any, is set by each state’s law and is not answered from a national page.

If the driver’s insurer calls, ask for the claim number, the adjuster’s name, what information is being requested and whether the request has a stated deadline. You can ask a licensed attorney to review the request before you answer.

What to write down today

Memory fades faster than people expect, and the details that matter later are the boring ones.

1. The date, the closest time you can give, and the street names.
2. Which way you were going and which way the car was going.
3. Exactly where you were: lane, bike lane, sidewalk, crossing.
4. What the light was like and what the weather was like.
5. The driver’s name, phone, license, and plate, and what the car looked like.
6. What the driver said, in their words.
7. Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw it, not just a nickname.
8. If police came, which agency it was and what report number you were given.
9. Photos of the bicycle, the car, the place, and your injuries, the same day.
10. Where the cameras are on that block, even if you never get the video yourself.
11. The first part of your body that hurt and when you noticed.
12. Every place you were treated, in order.

Put it in the notes app on your phone, the way you would tell a friend. Nobody expects a report and nobody is grading spelling.

What a case check asks

Expect plain questions. Where it happened, where you were riding, whether police came, what the driver said, whether you kept the bicycle, and where you went to get looked at.

If you do not know something, the honest answer is that you do not know. That answer is fine. It beats guessing, because a guess that turns out wrong is harder to fix later.

A licensed attorney reads what you send. You get one of three answers back: a request for more detail, an offer to talk about representation, or a plain no with the reason.