Buying motorcycle insurance in Hampton leaves you with a wide range of options for maintaining the right coverage on your vehicle. The law requires you to carry some form of motorcycle coverage if you plan on driving your bike across the nation’s roads.
But when most consumers shop for insurance, they place cost above all other things. Unfortunately, this can prove detrimental for motorcycle owners who need to file a claim and then realize the cut-rate coverage they purchased isn’t enough to cover their losses. For other riders, they discover too late that their insurance company makes it difficult to file a claim or the process takes forever.
Cost is important but so is having the right coverage. Motorcycle owners must consider the different kinds of coverage that is available to them so they can rest assured that, in the event of an accident regardless of who is at fault, their policy is sufficient enough to take care of all the related costs.
You can’t buy the right coverage if you’re unaware of the options you have at your disposal. Let’s go over the most common forms of coverage and you can decide what’s best for your situation.
Liability Coverage
Any operator of a motorcycle on the road must have liability coverage. It’s mandated by law across the country, making it the most commonly purchased policy. So what is liability coverage? It’s a form of insurance that covers any costs incurred for damage or bodily harm that is sustained by a second or third party during an accident in which you are deemed at fault.
So let’s say you crash motorcycle into another car or you hit someone as they’re crossing the street and the other party has property damage or personal bodily injury, your liability insurance would pay the expenses related to the accident. The costs covered would be limited by the limits of your policy. Anything after that, you would need to pay out of pocket.
Liability insurance does not cover these same costs incurred by you in the accident.
Collision and Comprehensive Coverage
This is the coverage you need to cover the costs incurred by you should you be involved in an accident for which you are the responsible party. Collision and comprehensive coverage is purchased to pay out any expenses that are necessary to repair or replace your motorcycle if you get into a crash.
However, in the event you do get into an accident and you end up damaging your bike, you might consider whether or not to file a claim or pay the repair bill yourself. For most insurers, filing any kind of claim in which they have to pay to cover costs will often result in your premiums going up.
This is particularly true in the event you file a claim for an accident that you caused while you were operating your motorcycle. It can be even more expensive to maintain a policy if you were found at fault due to being impaired as a result of alcohol or drug use. You will be considered a greater risk to insure and expected to pay more for coverage.
So if collision seems pretty self-explanatory, what does comprehensive coverage cover? This part of the policy is supposed to cover the costs related to damage that was sustained due to any number of covered perils as listed in the policy. These might encompass fire, inclement weather or so-called acts of God that should be explained in the fine print of your policy.
Uninsured or Underinsured Driver Coverage
This type of motorcycle coverage is becoming a lot more popular as of late because there are more and more drivers and motorcycle riders who fail to maintain even the most basic coverage. That means the onus falls on law-abiding motorcycle riders who feel like they need to pick up the slack for their fellow drivers and riders on the road.
So how does this coverage work? It’s simple, in the event you get into an accident with another driver and they are at fault, but don’t have insurance to cover the costs you’ve incurred as a result, your insurance company will cover all of the costs that the other party’s insurer would have paid out if they were covered under a sufficient policy.
Towing and Labor Coverage
It happens to all of us. You park your bike at night, in the morning it doesn’t start for some reason. Perhaps your bike breaks down unexpectedly on the road in a strange town. This coverage can help you tow your motorcycle to the nearest mechanic or your preferred service center. Policies with this coverage will outline which labor costs are covered such as a dead battery, flat tire, and so on.
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