In most places, your first call is to the police or highway patrol, but if you're a savvy speedster your second call - even before you call home - should be to your insurance company.
Motorcycle Insurance Options
While motorcycle insurance used to be the purview of specialty insurers, as gas prices have climbed, so has the tendency to use motorcycles within cities. After all, they're easier to park, less expensive to maintain, and tend to have excellent fuel efficiency because they're so lightweight. Today, almost every major insurer has a motorcycle line.
Typical coverage options for motorcycle insurance include, but are not limited to:
- Liability coverage, in case of property damage or injuries to others that you cause in an accident
- Uninsured motorist coverage, which covers bodily injury to yourself, if you're in an accident with an uninsured driver
- Coverage to repair or replace upgraded components, or to fix custom paint jobs.
- Coverage in case your bike is damaged in an accident.
- Coverage for attached side cars.
- Coverage in case of fire, theft, vandalism, or other losses, even if your bike is in winter storage when something happens to it.
Vehicle Requirements
Most insurers include factory-built motorcycles and motor scooters among eligible vehicles for motorcycle insurance, and many also include other two- and three-wheeled vehicles, like minibikes, and trail bikes, but only those that are street-legal.
For non-street-legal vehicles, like ATVs, golf carts and dune buggies, you'll have to shop for Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) insurance, which is usually offered only by specialty insurers.
