North Carolina motorcycle riders are blessed with great views, wide open roads, and plenty of chances for good weather road trips. Insuring your motorcycle before you hit the road is an essential part of being a safe and prepared motorcycle rider. Whether you have built your custom bike from scratch, bought it new, or inherited it used, the diversity of motorcycles on North Carolina’s roads shows how much time and effort people put into their bikes.

 

Insuring your motorcycle in North Carolina is mandatory, as is insuring a car, truck, or another vehicle. Motorcycle riders are required to have a certain level of liability insurance, with options for additional coverage like collision insurance and custom parts and equipment insurance. Depending on your bike’s worth, you may choose to have additional coverage besides the mandatory coverage designated by the state.

 

Collision Insurance for Motorcycles

 

The most commonly required type of motorcycle insurance is liability insurance. This helps protect other peoples’ property damage or injuries in an accident that was caused by you. North Carolina does require motorcycle riders to have liability insurance, but leaves having collision coverage up to the individual who owns the motorcycle that needs to be insured.

 

Collision coverage is a type of insurance that covers your bike after an auto accident. This can pay for repairs or a replacement for your motorcycle if it has been totaled. Collision insurance typically covers your motorcycle up to the current cash value of the motorcycle, after your deductible has been paid.

 

Your motorcycle insurance deductible is the amount of money you’ll pay out of pocket towards an insurance claim. A higher deductible will lower your monthly premium for your insurance policy, but could make it harder to meet your deductible in case of an accident. Make sure your deductible is in line with your budget in case you need to use that money for an insurance claim.

 

Keep up to date on the current cash value of your motorcycle, too, because this could be much less than what you actually paid for your motorcycle. This could influence how much insurance coverage you should have. Typically, motorcycles that are more expensive to repair than they are worth in current cash value won’t need collision insurance.

 

Required Insurance in North Carolina

 

The mandatory auto coverage requirements in North Carolina are:

 

• $25,000 for damage property per accident
• $30,000 for bodily injury/death to one person per accident
• $60,000 for bodily injury/death to more than one person per occurrence

 

Liability insurance is often going to be required, both for motorcycles and cars. As such, collision insurance isn’t required by the state of North Carolina as mandatory motorcycle insurance. However, it can be a good idea to have in case of an accident where your bike is damaged or totaled. If your bike costs less to repair than it is worth (in current cash value), collision insurance can help you cover repairs and damage to your motorcycle in case of an accident. This helps protect yoiur bike, and your general liability insurance can help cover the costs of damage to another vehicle or person who was involved in the accident.

 

Collision insurance can also be used in single-vehicle crashes, where another vehicle or person wasn’t involved or hurt.

 

By regularly checking the value of your motorcycle, you can see how much it is worth versus what you paid for it originally. This can help you determine if the cost of repairing your motorcycle is more or less than its current value. If the motorcycle is more valuable than it would cost to repair it, than collision insurance can be a good addition to your motorcycle insurance policy.

 

Other Insurance Options

 

A customized, or more valuable bike, is worth insuring with collision insurance since your policy will cover your expenses for repairs up to the cash value of the motorcycle.

 

If you’ve added custom parts to your motorcycle, this can change the value of the motorcycle. Custom parts and equipment insurance, or CPE, can cover these accessories because your collision or comprehensive insurance may not. Check your insurance policy to make sure that your motorcycle is covered to help protect yourself, your bike, and other people in case of an accident.

If you want to know more about motorcycle coverage, please contact our team at ProtectiveAgency.com or call (877) 739-9367. Our licensed insurance agents will be happy to answer any questions you have.