A Summary of Required and Recommended Insurance for Florida Bikers
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Required Motorcycle Insurance
Motorcycle insurance is optional for anyone 21 and older and wearing a helmet. Anyone 21 or older may ride a motorcycle without a helmet if they are covered by an insurance policy providing for at least $10,000.00 in medical benefits for injuries incurred in a crash.
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Health Insurance is Not Enough!
Most health insurance plans do not cover things like home health care and private duty nursing. Further, no health insurance covers the intangible damages for pain, suffering, scaring, disfigurement and loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life that juries are entitled to award in Florida. Even if an at fault automobile carries some insurance, it is probably not enough. The majority of automobile insurance policies which contain liability coverage that are sold in Florida (primarily due to costs) are in the amounts of $10,000.00 per person / $20,000.00 per accident. This means that if such a person causes an accident and has such insurance, the most that the insurance company will pay to you and your passenger would only be a maximum of $10,000.00 per person for a total of $20,000.00 from the accident. Assuming you had no insurance of your own, out of this $10,000.00 you would have to pay your lawyer, and your past and future medical bills.
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How to Protect yourself
Buy as much Underinsured (UM) insurance that you can afford. Florida makes you buy UM coverage to protect you against underinsured drivers. This means if the car that hits you had zero or $10,000 of liability insurance, any UM insurance that you purchased would be added on top of that zero or $10,000 up to the maximum limits you purchased because that driver would be “underinsured” compared to the total amount of your damages. Your UM policy would act like the at fault driver’s insurance coverage. This is not automatic. In order to obtain the benefit of this type of coverage, you must prove that the other person was primarily at fault. Moreover, the types of damages that are allowed to be claimed (if proven) are not limited to medical bills like a health insurance policy and may include past and future medical bills, past and future lost wages and past and future pain and suffering, No Motorcyclist should carry UM insurance less than $100,000 per person / $300.000 per accident.
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