Do I Need Motorcycle Full Coverage Insurance In Pennsylvania?

I have full coverage insurance on my cars, which makes sense to carry full coverage insurance. The “makes sense” part of that sentence will probably be the best reasoning for determining if 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…

Is Full Coverage Motorcycle Insurance Required In PA?

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 noticed to be missing? Any mentioning of full coverage insurance for a motor vehicle in Pa. 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 “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.

Do You Need Full Coverage On A Financed Bike In Pa?

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.

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 Motorcycle?

If the law doesn’t require it and you don’t have a lender agreement, you have to make the personal choice to purchase full coverage insurance.

I have a cheap Chinese dual-sport motorcycle (Why Buy A Cheap Chinese Dual-Sport Motorcycles?), a TaoTao TBR7. Knowing I intentionally chose the TBR7 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 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 insurance 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!!!

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