Insurance for bike

GoldenMotor.com

Bob Mac 18704

Member
Jan 24, 2010
129
3
18
penna.
I live in Pa. where these bikes are not legal for the streets. Sooo I figured I would go thru the license thing to save the inevitable court costs and fines. I go to the inspection station and the guy tells me I have to have blinkers so I put them on and he inspects it. I then proceed to the notary and she tells me I need insurance. I call my insurance man and after a full day he tells me they don't insure these bikes or mopeds. Sooo, my question would be where do I get insurance for one of these. I haven't gotten to the dept. of trans yet. That's another nightmare I suppose. Thanks Bob Mac
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
264
63
living the dream in southern california
see if there's any Whizzer riders or dealers in your area. In California those need to be insured (from what i've been told, may be wrong) so maybe if there's some riders around you, they can help you out.
 

ktbreezo

New Member
Nov 21, 2009
15
0
0
bethlehem,pa.
hey allentown pa wants a $1000.from me for 1 traffick stop!just going to work minding my business.after paying to gat my bike back and then paying fines.1000$something.
pretty messed up since they returned my bike broken.
 

civlized

New Member
Apr 28, 2009
689
1
0
Alabama
I have mine insured with Allstate for $99 a year. They searched and searched to find out if I needed it or not. The end result was that since I had a tag, they insured as a moped.
 

Dave31

Active Member
Mar 1, 2008
11,199
47
38
Aztlán, Arizona
Allstate said they would insure my bike for $118, but only after I register it as a moped. The dmv said I cannot register as moped until I get insurance :confused: Even though the law says mopeds don't need insurance, seems like nobody at dmv has any ideal what they are doing.
 

civlized

New Member
Apr 28, 2009
689
1
0
Alabama
Damn, catch 22. I thought I would have a problem getting mine registered, but it went pretty smooth. I told the lady at the dmv that the police told me to get a tag. She said that we would just have to get me a tag, then. I asked how we could do that with no title. She said that if it was built before '74, it doesn't need a title. I now have registration for a '72 Micargi Bike with the engine serial number as a vin. I love that dmv lady.
That sounds like crap from Allstate. Do they even ask for registration information for insurance? They don't here in Alabama, but we haven't long gotten off of horses.
 

Bikesnfire

New Member
Jul 17, 2010
50
0
0
PA
I live in Pa. where these bikes are not legal for the streets. Sooo I figured I would go thru the license thing to save the inevitable court costs and fines. I go to the inspection station and the guy tells me I have to have blinkers so I put them on and he inspects it. I then proceed to the notary and she tells me I need insurance. I call my insurance man and after a full day he tells me they don't insure these bikes or mopeds. Sooo, my question would be where do I get insurance for one of these. I haven't gotten to the dept. of trans yet. That's another nightmare I suppose. Thanks Bob Mac
I live in PA and am so confused with the law concerning motor assisted bicycles. I went to the local motorcycle shop and asked them how to go about getting a plate. Showed them a pic of the bike and they said it's a bicycle, you don't need a plate under 50cc. Okay. A few days later a retired State Cop stopped by my shop because he saw my bikes setting out. He has been a customer of mine for over 20 years and likes my toys. I asked him about the legality of them. He told me under 50cc it's a pedal cycle and street legal. He said he would love to have one to drive the chief of police crazy in his town. See what I mean. What really is the law. It seems it depends on where you live and who you talk to. I live in a township 5 miles out of the closest borough. I personally talked to 3 dirrerent town cops and all 3 said they are legal and they won't stop me. The oldest cop said he
thought they were neat and wouldn't mind one himself. SoI plan to ride, keep my eyes open and my
finger close to the kill switch and will pedal when necessary. Wish me luck.
 

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
12,765
115
48
58
Moosylvania
Damn, catch 22. I thought I would have a problem getting mine registered, but it went pretty smooth. I told the lady at the dmv that the police told me to get a tag. She said that we would just have to get me a tag, then. I asked how we could do that with no title. She said that if it was built before '74, it doesn't need a title. I now have registration for a '72 Micargi Bike with the engine serial number as a vin. I love that dmv lady.
That sounds like crap from Allstate. Do they even ask for registration information for insurance? They don't here in Alabama, but we haven't long gotten off of horses.
That is awesome about the DMV Lady Civl. Just shows to go ya, be good to folks and they are good to you. Also that might be a loophole for many of us. I had to register a boat and trailer but had no vins. Woman said "Must be 30 yrs old" and put the paper work threw. I love CT. Keep your MB off the side walks and your good.

Great to see ya back around. I imagine you've been pretty busy. How is the Baby and Mom?
 

42blue15

New Member
Sep 18, 2008
136
0
0
St Louis metro, USA
I live in Pa. where these bikes are not legal for the streets. Sooo I figured I would go thru the license thing to save the inevitable court costs and fines. ...
First thing to do (before building one of these things at all) is contact your state's motor vehicle department by email and ask if a bicycle that you put a motor on can be street-legal at all. Skip asking at the local office, because the people there very likely won't know.

The different US states have different laws as to if they're legal unlicensed, legal to license, ect. Some states ban them completely, other states allow them with nothing, others are somewhere in-between and some are a gray area. Some states allow you to register them as mopeds, while other states do not--but just because you aren't required to register it doesn't mean it's legal to ride, either.

You cannot assume that just because one state does it one way, that other states will do pretty much the same.
~
 

Bob Mac 18704

Member
Jan 24, 2010
129
3
18
penna.
I spoke to the dmv here and they told me it needs a license. It's not the license that's the problem yet, It's the insurance. The reason I want to plate it in the first place is so I can take this anywhere I go and ride it. I built this to put on the back of my VW camper, so I would have something to ride without breaking the camper down. Every state has different laws. The plate will supersede those laws. I have driven my bike past the law a hundred times. They have been behind me, along side, and never said a word. But one day one of them is going to want to flex his mussels some day after a night out with the boys and I don't want to be the target. At my expence
 

Scotchmo

New Member
Jun 23, 2009
217
0
0
Los Osos, California
Like someone said earlier, “Call Geico or go to Progressive online…”

I used to have Progressive and my motorbike was on the same policy as my Goldwing. It cost almost nothing to add the motorbike to the policy. Progressive recently sent me a notice that they were changing their billing policy to $75 minimum per bike. I had a Goldwing, a Riva scooter, and two mopeds insured for about $80 total. They were raising it to $300 for the four bikes. So I switched to Geico, I raised my liability coverage and kept three bikes insured for $103. I would recommend Geico.

I’m in San Luis Obispo, California and there is nothing in the vehicle code that excludes us from needing insurance. 406(b) mopeds and 407.5(a) scooters are specifically excluded from the insurance requirement. So I assumed that 406(a) mopeds (motorbikes) needed insurance. So I have insurance on my HT powered Schwinn. But the local police say no insurance needed and it is even in writing. See the link:

http://www.ci.san-luis-obispo.ca.us/police/pdfs/mcrefmatrix.pdf
 

meowy84

Member
Jul 18, 2009
239
0
16
Canada
Funny you guys mention Geico. Although I have typically nothing pleasant to say about banks or insurance companies there is always an exception to the rule and that happens to be Geico. I live in Canada but went to grad school in Indiana about 8 years ago. When I arrived in Indiana I bought a used Geo Metro to have a runabout car. Went to State Farm, Progressive an a few others for quotes. They all basically wanted me to bend over and grab my ankles. The range was $1200-$3000/yr for the same level of coverage which I considered excessive. So I finally called Geico. Unlike the others they accepted my Canadian driving record/experience and wrote the policy for $214/yr. I also had a fender-bender in my second year with them and they took care of everything and my policy didn't go up. If Geico was active in Canada I'd still be with them. A great company in my opinion.
 
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civlized

New Member
Apr 28, 2009
689
1
0
Alabama
That is awesome about the DMV Lady Civl. Just shows to go ya, be good to folks and they are good to you. Also that might be a loophole for many of us. I had to register a boat and trailer but had no vins. Woman said "Must be 30 yrs old" and put the paper work threw. I love CT. Keep your MB off the side walks and your good.

Great to see ya back around. I imagine you've been pretty busy. How is the Baby and Mom?
Hey Dan,
Sorry it took so long to reply. All is well. The baby is doing great. Momma went back to work 2 weeks ago and my father is babysitting. Can't ask for much better than that. It's so cool to watch them change everyday.
Thank you for the gift!