Pennsylvania Motorcycle Insurance Coverage

Choosing the right motorcycle insurance coverage can be tricky. That’s where we can help. Using over 25 years of experience representing bikers hurt in motorcycle accidents, we’ve compiled these Pennsylvania motorcycle insurance recommendations to best protect you if you’re ever in a motorcycle accident.

Limited Tort vs. Full Tort

Unlike auto insurance in Pennsylvania, motorcycle insurance does not include limited or full tort options. That means insured bikers injured in an accident can collect money for pain and suffering.

Medical Expense Benefit

This benefit pays for your medical bills to cover a biker injury caused in an accident. Medical expense coverage is paid by you, protects you, and pays benefits to you. The expenses covered will be listed in your policy, so be sure to review this information carefully.

Bodily Injury Liability

This coverage is required by Pennsylvania. The state minimum for bodily injury liability is $15,000. However, this insurance coverage does not pay benefits to you. It covers any claims against you if you are found legally responsible for causing an accident.

We recommend you carry $100,000 in bodily injury liability coverage. That figure sounds steep, but it prevents you from paying thousands of dollar out-of-pocket if another driver successfully seeks compensation from you following a car crash.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

The minimum required amount of insurance is $15,000. Since many people only have the minimum amount of insurance, or none at all, $15,000 could be incurred in medical expenses immediately. Unfortunately, the value of your claim could easily exceed such low levels of insurance. If that’s all the coverage the at-fault driver has, then you may not receive all of your entitled benefits.

Edgar Snyder & Associates strongly suggests that you purchase underinsured motorist coverage and uninsured motorist coverage. They are essential for you to protect yourself properly.

• Underinsured motorist coverage pays benefits to you in the event you’re injured by a person who has inadequate insurance to pay your claim.
• Uninsured motorist coverage pays benefits to you in the event you’re injured by a person who has no insurance to pay your claim. Though Pennsylvania motorcycle insurance is required for all bikers and other drivers in the state, there are a surprising number of uninsured drivers on our roads.

Our law firm recommends that you carry a minimum of the following levels of both underinsured motorist coverage and uninsured motorist coverage:

• $100,000 per person
• $300,000 per occurrence

Insurance agents often suggest that clients reject or reduce underinsured and uninsured coverage. Remember, underinsured and uninsured coverage are very important as they pay benefits to you in the event you’re injured by a person who has inadequate insurance to pay your claim.

Motorcycles and Stacking

If available, we strongly recommend that your motorcycle be insured on the same policy as the automobiles in your household. While certain areas of motorcycle law are in a state of flux, many insurance companies have sought to avoid paying underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage to victims of motorcycle accidents if the motorcycle is not included on the policy along with the other vehicles in the house.

If you insure more than one motorcycle on a policy or a motorcycle on the same policy with your automobiles, be sure to request stacking. In Pennsylvania, purchasers of auto insurance have the option to stack uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. When you choose stacking, this means that you can add the coverage together for each vehicle you have insured under the same policy.

For example, if you have two vehicles on the same policy each with an uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage of $100,000 / $300,000, you can stack the coverages and have $200,000 / $600,000 available in coverage.

Biker Injury? Don’t Wait to Take Action

Though having the right motorcycle insurance coverage is an important step towards protecting yourself in the event of a crash, motorcycle accidents can and will happen.

If you’re ever the innocent victim of a motorcycle accident, our law firm is here to help. Our experienced Pennsylvania biker injury attorneys have been serving the residents of western Pennsylvania for over 25 years. Contact us by taking advantage of our free legal evaluation.