We at Kirby, Kirby and Kirby feel it is critical that all motorcyclists have adequate insurance to protect both you and your family if you are injured in a motorcycle accident.

The minimum coverage is called Liability Insurance. This is the minimum level of insurance the state says you must carry on your vehicle to legally drive on the road. In most states, that means you law requires that you must carry a $15,000/$30,000 injury liability policy with $5,000 property damage coverage. Once you have that, the state considers you an "insured rider". The fact is that you are only minimally covered.

What is considered "full coverage"?

If what you have is Liability Insurance, then you don't have full coverage.

If you have Liability Insurance and Collision Insurance you don't have full coverage.

If you have Med pay, Liability Insurance and Collision - you STILL don't have full coverage.

Liability insurance protects the other person- the one that you hit in an accident that is your fault. It does not protect you at all.

Collision coverage will fix your bike or pay out a total loss on your bike if it is damaged regardless of fault. It will not replace your bike or pay you to get a brand new bike.

If you are hit by someone who is uninsured, or are involved in an at-fault accident, you will need to use your collision coverage to repair/payoff your bike.

It will cover all repairs on the bike as long as the repairs do not exceed the value of the bike. If they do, your insurance will not repair your bike but it will pay you the actual cash value of your bike, less certain items.

They will subtract your deductible- your carrier will not waive your deductible- (you paid for coverage that had a deductible so you have to live with it).

It may seem like a good idea to have a high deductible at first since it will lower you insurance cost but remember, you carrier will subtract that from the total loss payment that they give you.

You will not have a choice as far as repairing the bike or getting a total loss payout. Your carrier will make the choice and generally take the less expensive (cheapest) way out.

It is important to note that if you are forced to use your own insurance to repair your bike, many of your after-market extras, chrome, and other items put on your bike may NOT be covered.

Many insurance policies will exclude these items...unless they offer some type of extras coverage you can buy. Often it will cover $1,000 or $3,500 for your extras. Remember, you only get that coverage IF you pay for it. ASK your insurance company if you are not sure.

Remember, all repair costs and extras would be paid by the other party if they are insured and if they have enough coverage to repair your bike. Again, don't rely on the other party having enough or any insurance to pay for your repairs; PROTECT YOURSELF.

Uninsured Motorist: This is the most misunderstood yet the most important type of coverage that a motorcycle rider should have. We recommend a minimum of $100,000 of Uninsured Motorist coverage when you ride. This will help pay for your injuries if you are hurt in an accident that is not your fault and the other party is either not insured at all or under-insured (he does not have enough liability insurance to pay for your injuries).

Uninsured motorist coverage is the most important coverage you can have when you ride a motorcycle. Don't bet or hope the other party is insured or insured enough...you need to protect yourself and your family if you are injured in an accident.

Med Pay: Med pay is a type of coverage, usually in the amount of $5,000, that will cover your medical bills if you are injured. It will only pay bills up to the amount that you purchase in your coverage.

Do you need med pay? If you have health insurance, the answer is probably no. If you are injured, your heath insurance will cover all of your bills. You may have to pay them back when your case settles but since you already pay for health care, why double pay?

If you do not have health insurance, it is probably a good idea to have med pay on your policy. Often, even when you are not at fault, it may take months for the other side to pay for medical bills and not all doctors are willing to wait for payment. Med pay will help ensure that you get medical care as soon as you need it.

Full Coverage would be as follows:

Liability insurance

Collision coverage

Uninsured Motorist

Med Pay

Extras Coverage

It does cost more to ride fully protected but in the end you will feel better about riding knowing that you and your family are protected if you suffer a serious injury.