Electric bikes are here to stay. For years they slowly gained momentum in the background, but didn’t achieve popularity until suddenly technology, urban planning, and cultural acceptance came together. Sales of e-bikes exploded. Right now, many popular models are so hot they are hard to come by and there is no sign of the market slowing anytime soon. All of that growth has brought in a whole new group of drivers.
Along with the growth of new riders, the need for bike insurance has not died down. Understandably, there is also confusion about the insurance requirements for electric bicycles. The question of how electric bikes differ from their non-powered brethren and whether they need insurance is a big one.
Do you need insurance for an electric bike?
The reality is you don’t need insurance for your electric bike. Or, perhaps more precisely, you are not legally required to take out insurance. In Europe, as long as the maximum supported speed is 25 km / h, the motor is no greater than 250 watts and pedaling is required, you have a bicycle. Despite years of demand, bicycles do not need insurance.
It’s a little more revealing in the US. Electric bikes come under both state and state definitions in the United States. The federal government takes over the production and the first sale. From then on, the operation falls under the responsibility of the state. An easy way to think about it is that the primary definition of an electric bike is handled at the federal level while what you do with it is handled at the state level. This primary definition allows motors up to 750 watts and those motors can be the sole power of the bike up to 20 mph.
You will find that the federal definition does not define a top speed when propelled by a combination of human and motor power. The key point so far is that if your electric bike stays below 30 km / h with just the accelerator pedal, then it is a bike and no license or insurance is required.
According to the definition of the states, it is a patchwork of 50 different laws. However, a consensus is emerging. Twenty-six states currently use the three-tier definition known as e-bike classes.
To understand what defines electric bicycles as bicycles, and therefore the need for insurance, Class III bicycles have yet to be discussed. Class III bikes can travel faster than 20 mph as allowed by federal law, but no more than 45 mph. Speeds between 32 and 45 km / h require the driver to pedal. There is also a required speedometer.
You can see that even a very simple overview of how to define an electric bike in the US takes a long time. In most cases, you really don’t need to worry because reputable manufacturers have figured it out for you. Buy from a trusted name and get a legal to use electric bike. You may need to check local laws to find out where to drive it, but insurance is not required. The most important points are that it has a motor that is less than 750 watts, that it only switches off operation with the throttle valve at 32 km / h and that there is no assistance above 45 km / h.
Why should you take out insurance anyway?
Now you know that most of the time you don’t need insurance. Let’s talk about why you should do this anyway. When it comes to the reasons for taking out insurance, there are two ways to look at it. First of all, electric bikes are bikes, but they tend to be expensive bikes. You could start there and consider insurance through the lens of an expensive item that you would rather have protected.
The most obvious way of thinking about this is that bicycles are easy to steal. We have articles on that The best bike GPS trackers and the best bike locks, but the fact remains that your new electric bike could be stolen. Even if you leave it nowhere, it can get lost in your home. Garages are not that safe and bicycle theft from a garage is common. Even if you keep it indoors, home robberies will occur and it could be lost.
If that happened to a bike, you should rely on your home insurance. This is the part where it’s a good idea to double-check the wording of your policy. When considering the electric bike as a bicycle, you need to check what the insurance limits are for individual items, what your deductible is (in the UK) and whether bicycles are defined separately. The first problem you may encounter is the deductible. If you have a bike from ours The Best Electric Bikes Under $ 1,000 or The Best Electric Bikes Under $ 2,000 Guides may not have coverage. If your bike is $ 1,000 and your deductible is $ 1,000, you’re out of luck.
Even if the cost of your bike is worth paying an excess, you may still not be covered. Many insurance companies set a maximum coverage per item. $ 2,000 is not uncommon and would leave you underinsured for many e-bikes.
There is still one piece of the puzzle, however. Even if you have all of these basics covered, there are some insurance policies that set specific coverage limits for high-priced items. Sometimes there is no coverage per item unless it is a bike, jewelry, or any number of other categories.
Oh, and just in case you’ve checked everything on this list of pitfalls, it isn’t finished yet. Even if your bike is insured, is it valued at the purchase price or is it a depreciation? The last thing you want to do in case of theft is to haggle over how many miles your bike has left and how much it will cost to replace it. However, it could all be irrelevant. We met with Dave Williams, CEO & Co-Founder of. spoken Velosure company to get additional insight into why you want insurance.
All of the above discussion is about how to ensure that every bike you own is covered by home or renter insurance. Velosure is a bike specific insurance company in the US and they are experts on all of the reasons you need insurance for your electric bike. According to Williams: “The household insurance does not cover e-bikes, because in the wording of the household insurance, an electric bike falls under the definition of a motorized vehicle. Your home insurance just doesn’t cover your motorcycle or car because it is. ” motorized vehicles and require separate car insurance. ” Even if you’ve taken careful care that your bike is insured, your insurance company may not consider an electric bike a bike. That may be wrong, but arguing against insurance in retrospect is no fun.
What about my health insurance?
There is another reason to consider insurance for an electric bike in addition to the mere property damage: especially in the USA, it is the medical costs. There are 13 states that require so-called personal injury protection as part of a car directive. Each of the states has different laws, but in some cases it can mean that you are covered by your auto insurance while walking or cycling. If you don’t live or are at fault in one of these states and don’t have auto insurance, your health insurance will be primary.
Think for a moment what it means to have your health insurance as your primary coverage if you get injured on an e-bike. You could be traveling at 45 km / h if you hit a bump, lose control and fall. You have a head injury and a broken arm and an ambulance is taking you to the hospital. You will be fine, but you are facing serious financial blow. Ambulance and emergency room visits will likely exceed your maximum budget. It’s not at all uncommon for U.S. health insurers to have a maximum of $ 7,500 out of pocket coverage. That’s a lot of money, and your bike may need to be replaced as well. Additional bicycle insurance can step in and help you with these expenses.
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