Do you need snowmobile insurance in New York?
In Central New York, we have some of the most amazing snowmobiling available and of course the snow to go with it. Whether you are in the Adirondack region, Tug Hill, or even right in your home town in CNY, there are incredible trails to ride and amazing restaurants to stop along the way.
One question that is often asked is if insurance is mandatory. In New York State, yes, insurance is required to ride your sled.
Types of Insurance
Now you may be asking, what type of insurance do I need?
This will differ from one person to another and one sled to another. The most common coverages are
- Liability insurance,
- Physical Damage – comprehensive, & collision insurance
- Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist
- Medical Payments
Liability Insurance
What is Liability Insurance?
This is insurance that protects you against damage caused for physical damage to other’s sleds or property and medical injuries to others when you are “at fault” in an accident.
It will also cover you if you get sued for injuring someone in a snowmobile accident.
How much coverage do I need? Well, in New York State, the minimum limits of liability are $10,000 per person/$20,000 per accident/$5,000 property damage to others.
As we all know, these limits are extremely low and $5,000 of property damage to others wouldn’t cover a whole lot especially considering how much snowmobiles cost.
Also, everyone in NYS must have liability insurance to legally operate a snowmobile.
Comprehensive & Collision Coverage
Just like your auto insurance policy, the physical damage portion of your insurance policy consists of comprehensive and collision coverage.
Comprehensive covers your snowmobile if something damaged it other than being in an accident (i.e. if a tree fell on it and totaled the sled) or if it was stolen.
Collision covers the repairs and/or replacement of your snowmobile as a result from an accident.
Just like auto insurance, comp & collision carry deductibles that need to be paid for your insurance company to pay any claims.
With many new sleds being financed, lenders will require these coverages to be included during the life time of the loan. The cost of carry physical damage coverage on your snowmobile in New York is extremely minor and we recommend always carrying it unless the sled is older and the value is extremely low.
Uninsured Motorist
On occasion we hear about a major snowmobile accident with multiple people or bad injuries. What happens then?
If you carry low coverage as we stated before, it will not be enough to protect you. Well what about if the person that caused the accident and injures you doesn’t have the property coverage or has no coverage at all?
When a rider runs out of liability coverage or doesn’t have any coverage to pay for your injuries and pain in suffering you may be able to collect on your own insurance policy under the Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage.
Medical Payments
One coverage that seems to be left off your snowmobile policy a lot is medical payments coverage.
Medical Payments coverage is not mandatory which is why we see riders not including it on their policy.
This is the coverage that will pay for your injuries or passengers injuries due to an accident with the sled.
Is my trailer covered?
Is my trailer covered? What about my gear and sled accessories?
The answer might be it depends. It can be covered a few different ways but it is important to know what types of insurance policies you have in force and what coverage limits you have.
Some insurance companies like MetLife for example will add it in as part of the value of the snowmobile. Another insurance company like Progressive might have a separate accessories limit or trailer coverage if you choose to include those things.
This is a great reason you need an independent insurance agency like us at Crowley Insurance to help guide you through the policy to make sure you have the appropriate coverage to protect what matters most to you.
Find out how I can help eliminate the frustration of insurance and make your insurance buying experience easy. Reach out to me below to get started.
