Birds and Lime scooters are the new popular mobility option. However, e-scooters cause head injuries, traffic accidents and even deaths. You need to be careful! Also, consider what you owe if you get into an accident.
The Problem with Insuring E-Scooters
If a scooter rider hits and injures a pedestrian, damages someone’s property or causes a car accident the rider may be held responsible. Typically, auto insurance policies will not cover those expenses.
Bird and Lime are the two largest scooter companies in the U.S. They generally place the responsibility for accidents on riders. Additionally, the riders relieve the companies of liability because of these agreements. Customers must agree to those terms to ride.
Riders are fully insured for anything that might happen as a result of a faulty scooter. Lime says its insurance policy offers at least $1 million in liability coverage for each covered claim. However, each claim is unique and you won’t know until there is an investigation.
There is an interesting gap in coverage with e-scooters. First, auto insurance generally doesn’t cover vehicles with less than four wheels. Second, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance may cover an accident that occurs on a traditional bicycle. However, it does not cover motorized bike or scooter trips.
The Potential Solution
What can scooter riders do to protect themselves? Purchasing an umbrella policy could help. These policies provide a minimum of $1 million in liability protection. Also, this protection applies to both your home and auto policies.
Whether the umbrella will cover e-scooter related accidents is up to the company that provides the coverage. However, some companies are focusing solely on this type of coverage.
Voom is an Israeli company which offers on-demand insurance for drone operators in the U.S. They plan to roll out per-ride insurance that covers electric scooters.
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