Underinsured insurance pays if the at fault driver does not have enough liability insurance coverage to fully compensate you for your property damage or personal injury claim. While Maine requires a minimum of $50,000.00/$100,000.00 in personal injury coverage and $25,000.00 in property damage coverage, some states require less. Here in Vacationland, the odds are good that you might get into a wreck with a driver from a state with less minimum insurance requirements. Motorcycles do not have seatbelts, airbags, and cages, so injuries in motorcycle wrecks are more severe and the cost of medical bills and the amount of lost wages while recovering are much higher. Unfortunately, Maine allows an offset from the liability insurance against your underinsured coverage. For example, if the car that hits you has the minimum of $50,000 and you only have $50,000 in underinsured, you won’t collect anything from your own insurance. However, if you had $100,000 in underinsured coverage on your motorcycle, you would get the $50,000 in liability and $50,000 from your motorcycle insurance. Protect yourself and your family by having higher than minimum liability limits so you can buy higher uninsured/underinsured insurance before a wreck occurs. We recommend that every rider have at least $100,000.00 in uninsured/underinsured insurance on their bikes and every vehicle in the household. And, if you can afford it, we strongly encourage a minimum of $250,000.00 of uninsured/underinsured insurance on each vehicle.
In some cases Uninsured/underinsured insurance from other vehicles in your household can be added together or “stacked” to maximize the amount you can recover for your injury claim. In order to maximize the amount that can be collected from other vehicles insure each vehicle on its own policy because Maine does not allow stacking of vehicles on the same policy. For example, if you have three motorcycles on the same policy you can’t add them together, but if they are on individual policies, you may be able to add the coverages (stack) together in addition to the insurance from the car that caused the wreck.
Lastly, uninsured/underinsured also applies to damage to your vehicle. In 2023, the average cost of a new car was $48,000.00 and the price of a new motorcycle can easily exceed $25,000.00. If you get in a wreck and the at fault driver only has the minimum of $25,000.00 in property damage liability coverage then your motorcycle might not get replaced or repaired if you don’t have more than the minimum uninsured/underinsured property damage insurance.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF LEGAL ADVICE THAT I CAN GIVE ANYONE THAT RIDES IS TO HAVE MORE THAN THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED INSURANCE ON THEIR BIKE AND EVERY VEHICLE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD.
