Motorcycle Insurance

Florida state residents are not required to have insurance for their motorcycles. Of course, if you are borrowing money to purchase a motorcycle, your lender may require you to carry some insurance, but if you outright own your bike, you are not under any legal obligation to carry insurance. If you have car insurance, your personal injury protection (PIP) coverage does not extend to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Coverage

Florida car owners are required under law to purchase PIP coverage. PIP coverage is no-fault auto insurance that pays 80% of your medical bills and 60% of your lost wages for any automobile accident, regardless of which party is responsible for the accident. However, this coverage does not extend if you are in a motorcycle accident. Motorcycle owners can purchase separate coverage that offers similar benefits. In addition to PIP coverage, riders should consider additional types of insurance.

Property Damage (PD) Coverage

Property Damage (PD) liability coverage protects you if you damage someone else’s property with negligent operation of your motorcycle. PD coverage does not cover any bodily injuries others suffer through your negligence.

Liability (Bodily Injury) Coverage

Bodily Injury (BI) insurance covers medical bills and lost wages unpaid under PIP coverage. If you are injured in an accident, you may be entitled to collect damages from the at-fault party, but only if they carry BI liability insurance. If the at-fault party carries only PIP and PD coverage, you will not be able to make a claim. Many drivers elect to not carry BI liability insurance. Therefore, it is prudent to consider purchasing Uninsured Motorist coverage to fully protect you and your family.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage

If you are injured in a motorcycle accident, your medical bills, lost wages, and suffering may be covered under the negligent person’s BI liability coverage. However, your claim may exceed the insurance policy’s coverage or, in a worst case scenario, there is no BI liability coverage available, leaving you with more financial and emotional burdens.

Uninsured Motorist (UM) insurance coverage protects you if are injured in a collision caused by a driver who has no BI liability insurance coverage or insufficient BI liability coverage. Since most motorcycle accidents result in serious injuries to the rider, many minimum BI policies (often only $10,000) are not enough to cover all the motorcyclist’s damages. Your UM coverage covers many expenses, including: medical expenses and lost wages not fully paid by your PIP coverage, future medical expenses and future wage losses, and non-economic damages such as disability, pain and suffering, and the loss of ability to enjoy life. When you consider UM coverage, you may wish to consider “stacked” UM coverage. Stacked coverage allows you to add or “stack” UM coverage for the different vehicles on your insurance policy.
Stacking also means that any UM coverage on your car would extend to your motorcycle.

At Florida Trial MD, we understand motorcyclists and the accidents they suffer. As more and more motorcycles hit the road in our state, we want to support safe and responsible riding. However, when an accident occurs, we want to be available to help those injured through the negligence of others receive the financial, legal, and medical support needed.