Owning an electric scooter is thrilling—these vehicles are fast, convenient, versatile, and you can ride them through the city or take them off-road on the weekends.
However, like driving a car, riding an e-scooter comes with serious responsibility. Since you share the road with other motorists and pedestrians, there’s always a degree of risk you take on when you ride. For instance, if you get into an e-scooter accident, you may be liable for the resulting damages.
With this in mind, you may be wondering if you should purchase insurance for your electric scooter. E-scooter insurance is rarely required, but it comes in handy in certain circumstances. To help you decide if e-scooter insurance is right for you, we’ll break down everything you need to know about buying insurance for an electric scooter below.
Why Purchase Electric Scooter Insurance?
The purpose of insurance is to provide you with a buffer against financial risk in the case of unexpected events.
When it comes to insurance for electric scooter riding, the right bundle of policies can safeguard you from the financial consequences of:
- Accident liability – Accidents are called accidents for a reason. You never know when they are going to happen. While you can take steps to ride your e-scooter safely, there’s always a chance that you may fall; collide with a pedestrian, motorist, or fellow e-scooter rider; or crash into an object. In some cases, these events may result in costly medical bills for you and other people, expensive property damage, or harm to your electric scooter. If you cause an accident, you may be liable for the financial damages. Luckily, insurance can cover a lot of them, as long as you purchase the right policies.
- Vandalism and theft – Electric scooters are hot commodities. If you purchase a high-performance model, it may attract the envious attention of thieves and vandals. Having your e-scooter stolen is never ideal, but if you’re properly insured, it’s possible to recoup your money and purchase a replacement.
What Kind of Insurance Do You Need For an E-Scooter?
As a whole, electric scooter insurance is optional in most cities across North America. However, when it comes to electric scooter insurance, USA and Canada do have a few riding requirements:
- U.S. – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) doesn’t classify scooters without seats as federally regulated motor vehicles. As a result, it’s up to states and cities to establish their own insurance laws for electric scooters. As of now, only two states require electric scooter insurance in the USA. These states are Illinois and Texas. However, Texas only requires insurance for e-scooters that possess over 750 watts of power.
- Canada – At this point, no Canadian provinces require electric scooter insurance.
However, states and provinces may always alter their e-scooter insurance requirements in the future, so make sure to stay up to date on your local laws.
The Electric Scooter Insurance Landscape
If you want to purchase auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, or life insurance, most big-name insurance providers can set you up with a policy in a matter of minutes. However, with e-scooter insurance, this isn’t always the case.
Why? Electric scooters have only recently seen a surge in popularity. Regulators and insurers haven’t had much time to catch up. Additionally, since electric scooter insurance isn’t a widespread riding requirement, it isn’t in very high demand.
For these reasons, many insurers are only in the early stages of putting together policies for electric scooter riders, if they’ve started the process at all. In the meantime, e-scooter riders may have to patch together insurance policies to obtain the level of coverage they desire.
How to Get Insurance For Your Electric Scooter
If you want to safeguard yourself with electric scooter insurance, you can shop around with various insurance companies to see which one has the best offerings. Insurance experts can help you determine the right policy for your needs.
Here are a few types of insurance policies that can protect electric scooter riders:
- Health insurance – Whether you ride an electric scooter or not, having health insurance is always a smart move. As an added benefit, your health insurance may cover some or all of the medical bills you incur from an electric scooter injury.
- Homeowner’s or renter’s insurance – You may already have a homeowner’s or renter's insurance policy. These policies can cover your electric scooter in certain instances. For example, if your electric scooter gets stolen from your home, it may be covered by one of these plans. However, these policies won’t protect you or your electric scooter when you’re out riding.
- Personal injury protection (PIP) insurance – Another insurance policy that can help cover your medical bills is PIP. This no-fault policy provides you with coverage for medical bills and lost income, regardless of who caused the accident.
- Bodily injury liability insurance – If you cause an accident and injure someone else, bodily injury liability insurance can cover the cost of their medical bills and associated loss of income.
- Property damage liability insurance – If you cause an accident that damages another person’s property, property damage liability insurance can cover the costs.
- Collision insurance – Collision insurance pays for damage to your electric scooter that results from a collision, whether it’s with another vehicle or an object. It can also cover damage to other vehicles and property impacted by the collision.
- Comprehensive insurance – Comprehensive insurance pays for damage to your electric scooter that’s the result of extreme weather, vandalism, or theft (basically, anything besides a collision).
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance – Unfortunately, some drivers don’t have adequate auto insurance policies. If you get into an accident with one of these drivers, they may not be able to pay for the damage they cause. They may even decide to hit and run. By purchasing an uninsured/underinsured motorist policy, you can ensure you’re covered financially in these situations.
- Umbrella insurance – An umbrella policy covers injuries and damages that take place outside of the home. Most umbrella policies should cover electric scooter accidents, though you should double-check with your insurance provider. While an umbrella policy may cover someone else’s medical bills and property damage, it usually won’t cover your medical expenses.
- Roadside assistance – Some insurance policies include roadside assistance services. You can call these services anytime for help with flat tires, towing, or any other electric scooter malfunctions that leave you stranded on the side of the road.
What Insurance Policies Should You Purchase For Your E-Scooter?
As you can see, there are many types of insurance policies that can protect electric scooter riders. You can determine which policies are right for you with your insurance provider.
You may have to call a few insurance companies to find one that can offer you an adequate plan at an affordable price.
Does Auto Insurance Cover Electric Scooters?
If you already own a car, you may assume that your auto insurance policy can provide you with some coverage in the case of an e-scooter accident. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. That’s because auto insurance only covers vehicles with four wheels.
Where Can You Buy Insurance for Your Electric Scooter?
If you want to buy electric scooter insurance, you should call your insurance provider and ask what type of plan they can put together for you. If you don’t like their offerings, you can shop around with other providers.
You may also want to explore the policy options from smaller insurance companies like Voom. Voom is one of the few insurance companies that’s proactively trying to meet the need for insurance in the micro-mobility space. Their e-scooter coverage includes:
- Third-party liability
- Property damage liability
- Personal accidents
- Extra health coverage (in addition to your existing health insurance plan)
What Does E-Scooter Insurance Cost?
E scooter insurance cost models can vary, depending on several factors:
- Insurance provider
- Chosen policies
- Amount of coverage
- Location
On average, e-scooter plans usually cost between $20 and $30 USD a month.
Keep in mind that your electric scooter insurance comes with a specific deductible, which is the amount of monetary damage you must incur before your plan kicks in. If you have a high deductible, your monthly premium may be lower, but you’ll owe more out of pocket in the case of an accident.
Should You Invest in Electric Scooter Insurance?
Even though electric scooter insurance isn’t required by law, you may still want to purchase it for your own protection. It can shield you financially in a wide variety of circumstances. You never know when you might:
- Get hit by another vehicle
- Run into an object
- Cause costly property damage during an accident
- Incur an injury that requires medical attention
- Cause an accident that badly injures another person
- Have your electric scooter stolen, vandalized, or damaged by harsh weather
These types of accidents are rare, but they can still happen. Even if you ride defensively and take every safety precaution, e-scooter insurance can protect you from events that are out of your control.
Many electric scooter riders greatly appreciate the peace of mind that comes from having an adequate insurance policy. Other riders may not mind forgoing this protection. Ultimately, it’s up to you to determine if the cost of electric scooter insurance is worth the benefit.
What About Shared E-Scooter Rentals?
If you only ever rent electric scooters from rideshare companies, you may assume that you’re automatically insured under the company’s policy. While the e-scooter company’s insurance protects them from any accidents involving their vehicles, that protection rarely extends to their riders.
As a result, you could be held personally responsible for property damage or medical bills resulting from an accident you caused while riding one of these rentals. The only exception would be if the accident was due to negligent maintenance or vehicle design issues on behalf of the rental company.
Thus, riders who use shared electric scooters should take the same insurance precautions as riders who own their e-scooters.
How to Ride Your Electric Scooter Safely to Prevent an Accident
Whether you invest in electric scooter insurance or not, you should always ride as safely as you can. After all, the best e-scooter insurance policy is one that you never have to use.
Here are a few basic safe riding tips:
- Wear a helmet
- Obey traffic signals
- Follow the rules of the road
- Ride slowly in crowded areas
- Signal your turns and stops
- Pay close attention to the road at all times
- Avoid riding with another person on the same scooter
- Never ride under the influence
- Wear bright, reflective clothing when it’s dark out
Accidents usually occur when e-scooter riders ignore these safe riding tips. By riding carefully and cautiously, you can do your part to reduce the chances of ever getting into a costly e-scooter accident.
What to Do if You Get into an Electric Scooter Accident
Even if you ride your electric scooter like a pro, you may still find yourself in an electric scooter accident at some point.
After an accident, it’s important to:
- Make sure you and everyone else is okay
- Move to a safe location
- Call 911 so the police can document the incident
- Get medical help if anyone requires it
- Take photos and videos of any resulting damage
- Exchange contact information with everyone involved in the accident
- Ask witnesses for their contact information
- Notify your insurer (if you have one) and file a claim
By documenting the event, you’ll have everything you need to complete the insurance claims process and ensure that liability is assigned accurately.
Purchase a Safe Electric Scooter From Apollo Today
Many electric scooter riders simply want to hop on their vehicles and enjoy the riding experience. However, it’s also important to safeguard yourself and your scooter from risk and assess your insurance options. Only you can decide if e-scooter insurance is worth the investment.
If you want to purchase a safe, high-performance electric scooter, check out our Apollo Scooters. We have several electric scooter models, each of which has undergone extensive safety testing. We also carry many safety-enhancing e-scooter accessories, like attachable bags, handy mountable phone holders, and much more.
Explore our selection of high-quality electric scooters today.
Sources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Importation and Certification FAQs.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/importation-and-certification-faqs-0
E-Scooter Nerds. Electric Scooter Insurance [Do Electric Scooters Need Insurance + Best Insurance Companies].
https://escooternerds.com/electric-scooter-insurance/
Info Insurance. E-scooters and E-bikes.
https://infoassurance.ca/en/blog/Saviez-vous-que-auto/e-scooters-and-e-bikes.aspx
Nolo. Electric Scooter Accidents and Injuries.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/electric-scooter-accidents-and-injuries.html
VentureBeat. Voom targets escooter boom with on-demand insurance for per-trip coverage.
https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/22/voom-targets-escooter-boom-with-on-demand-insurance-for-per-trip-coverage/
