Do I Need Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania?

Thinking About Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania Cost?
Is full coverage motorcycle insurance required in Pa? Cost?

I have full coverage insurance on my cars, which makes sense to carry full coverage insurance. But Do I need Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania?

Now I am just thinking out loud, the decision of whether you get full coverage insurance on your motorcycle will be based on many factors. I wonder if full coverage insurance is required in Pa for motorcycles by law or another reason. You may want to expand your motorcycle insurance to include full coverage, even if your state doesn’t require it.

I am not an insurance agent or any professional role to provide advice. I am just thinking aloud about what insurance I need for my new motorcycle: TaoTao TBR7 Motorcycle.

Now that is out of the way… Do I Need Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania?

Is Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania Required?

It seems the same insurance laws that apply to automobiles also apply to motorcycles in Pa.  

Source: https://www.insurance.pa.gov/Documents/auto_guide.pdf

According to Pa’s Auto Insurance Guide, you must have insurance that provides:

Pa’s minimum motorcycle liability insurance shall include coverage for personal injury protection (PIP) to cover medical benefits that pay medical bills for you and others covered by your policy, regardless of fault. The state’s minimum limit is $5,000 of coverage.

Here are the real big dollar numbers to follow:

If the accident is your fault, you must have liability insurance covering the bodily injury. The minimum coverage is $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident, and these minimums are to help cover the medical expenses of those injured by you.

Also…

Again if you are at fault for property damage, you need Property Damage Liability coverage with a minimum coverage of $5,000. 

So, in summary…

Pennsylvania requires all motor vehicles which operate on public roads to carry minimum liability insurance that includes Medical coverage insurance [PIP(Personal Insurance Protection)] of $5000, Bodily Injury Insurance minimum of $15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident, with Property Damage Liability coverage of $5,000 per accident.

OK, what is be missing? Any mentioning of Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania is required? This means by LAW full coverage insurance is not a requirement in Pennsylvania.

What Is Considered Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania?

To be sure there is no confusion in my mind, with PIP(Personal Injury Insurance) requirement to cover yourself and others regardless of fault, I want to be sure nothing like that exists in the phrasing I found about Pa motor vehicle insurance.

I don’t find anything when I do a quick text search for “motorcycle full coverage” in the Pa Automobile Insurance Guide. Is it hidden?

Does full coverage insurance mean something different?  

Well, it does; according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_insurance_in_the_United_States), full coverage insurance is a misnomer. Full coverage insurance is a term commonly used to refer to the combination of comprehensive and collision coverage insurances. 

When I search in the Pa Automobile Insurance Guide, I find compressive and collision insurance. Both of these insurances are in place to fully restore the vehicle’s value, regardless of who’s a fault it was in an accident, or even if no accident took place to damage or lose the vehicle. Example: flood, fire, or theft.

So again, Do I Need Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania? From what I read, I do not.

However, I was looking at documents referencing Pennsylvania Laws to operate my motorcycle on public roads.

Are there other requirements that make full coverage insurance a requirement? Let’s touch on that.

Need Full Coverage On A Financed Bike In Pa?

clipboard about Money is at the top of all requirements for motorcycle ownership, including insurance.
Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania Needed and Cost?

I focused on Pa since I live in Pennsylvania. However, we are heading in a direction that seems to operate outside the requirements of state laws and sometimes common sense.

We are dealing with Lenders and banks, so they call the shots and in this case, Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania might be required for borrowing purposes.

There is an old saying, the Gold Rule is: He who has the gold makes the rules. When borrowing money, you cannot make your own rules but have to follow the lender’s.

I have paid outright for my new motorcycle but have borrowed money to buy cars in the past. I took car loans in more than one state, and all of the car loan agreements had a requirement in them.

I had to carry “full coverage,” and the lender defined what full coverage was; it was a collision and comprehensive insurance coverages.  

Although Pa law might not require full coverage insurance ( Minimum Coverage Needed In PA For Motorcycle Insurance ), your lender will most likely need it on your motorcycle to borrow money for it. Read your motorcycle loan agreement since it might detail how much of a deductible you are allowed to take.

Should I Get Full Coverage Insurance On My Bike?

If the Pa law doesn’t require it and you don’t have a lender agreement, you have to make the personal choice to purchase Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania.

I have a cheap Chinese dual-sport motorcycle (Buy A Cheap Chinese Dual-Sport Motorcycles?), a TaoTao TBR7 motorcycle. Knowing I intentionally chose the TBR7 motorcycle since it would be dropped many times, I wanted a cheap bike I could work on myself or not cry so much if I totaled it. That is the question, do you have a motorcycle that if you completely lost it(accident, theft, fire, etc.), you wouldn’t suffer too much of a financial loss?

My TBR7 motorcycle cost about $1,400 delivered ( Chinese Motorcycle In A Box! ), and with standard insurance deductible, even a total loss of the motorcycle, the insurance might not even cut me a check. Face it, after I buy it, it’s now a “USED Cheap Chinese Dual-Sport Motorcycle,” how much do you think an insurance company will value it? 

So…. my thinking is drawn out, a product of being an over-thinker.  

Suppose you cannot financially bounce back from a damaged or lost motorcycle, and the full coverage is affordable. In that case, you might consider getting full coverage, regardless of it being required by any state law.

How Much Does Full Coverage Motorcycle Insurance Cost In Pa?

That’s the final question. If you got this far, you are probably considering getting full coverage on your motorcycle.  

Have to be honest, after a bit of online(quick research), I can’t answer this. Because:

  1. Full coverage insurance policies are priced differently from one insurance company to another.
  2. Full coverage insurance costs are affected by the replacement cost of the motorcycle. 
  3. Full coverage insurance policies are not apples to apples on the surface. Some seem to specifically mention motorcycle accessories, while others don’t seem to talk about it. If I researched each insurance policy’s details, I’m sure I could find a system to make an apples-to-apples comprehension. Not right now, it seems.

Remember, I am just a new motorcyclist trying to think aloud about the complexities of getting motorcycle insurance and making the right choice the first time. I learned from my habits the insurance company and the policy I pick now will most likely be the same insurance company and policy I hold from now on.

My car insurance company has been the same one for over two decades. With changes only occurring to the policy, I added and removed cars or paid off car loans.

If you have advice on getting Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania and how to decide in the future on whether to get full coverage, please feel free to comment below. I am just thinking about getting the Cheapest Motorcycle Insurance In Pennsylvania.

Thank you,

Ride Safe, Ride Fun!!!

Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania Information Source: https://www.insurance.pa.gov/Documents/auto_guide.pdf

Picture of me, as a New Motorcyclist.
Just Me…Newly Licensed.

Hi I’m Tom, A New Motorcycle Rider and Blog Author.

I am a new motorcycle rider(Pa Motorcycle Learner’s Permit at the end of 2020, and I received a full M-Class Pa Motorcycle License in 2021, only after passing the Pa Motorcycle Safety Course).

I bought my first motorcycle, a TaoTao TBR7 (A Chinese Dual-sport motorcycle), at the beginning of 2021 and have been doing upgrades on that motorcycle since.

I added to my motorcycle collection by buying a Boom Vader Gen 2 motorcycle in 2022, and that little Grom-Clone bike has been upgraded by me as well.

I continue to ride my Boom Vader Gen 2 motorcycle as well as my TaoTao TBR7 dual-sport bike.

Read more on my About Me page.

Fun Fact: I’ve only been on one group ride.

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