Do You Have E-bike Insurance?

From my Substack: Paseando MTB

Over the years, with my students, we’ve discussed market-based approaches to environmental challenges. Along the way, the role of insurance companies has gained prominence. Today, State Farm and All State are no longer providing new homeowners insurance polices in California, due primarily to wildfires and Wildland Urban Interface considerations. Floridians are learning that insurance rates are likely to continue increasing due to weather-related concerns, e.g. hurricanes. In the classroom, we debate whether such developments will impact housing development and policy change, meaning that as homeowners’ bank accounts are impacted, will that spur them to push their elected officials towards a policy agenda that addresses climate change, for example.

Using this as a backdrop since it’s already happening, and though not perfect in comparative exactness, let’s move it into our little world of mountain biking and the impacts of e-bikes on it, as it relates to the role of insurance companies. Simply put, we’re trying to understand e-bikes and insurance. Specifically, I’m asking, do/will insurance companies influence the buying and selling of e-bikes, and if so, will they influence e-bike use and decision-making around how and where they are used? We’ll see that we likely don’t have concrete answers, yet, but we do need to ask the question.

To get this started, I’ll start by saying that using the search bar on IMBA’s website resulted in nothing. Not one article appeared when I searched “ebike insurance.” I tried “electric bike insurance.” Again, nothing turned up. However, as an IMBA member (I am currently and have been on-and-off over the past three decades), if you are one, you do have access to bike insurance through bikeinsure, including e-bikes. That insurance covers only physical damage to your bike and attachments to it. If stolen, you need their TheftProtect coverage. Note: I am highlighting IMBA because, to me, they are the largest, most present, mountain biking advocacy organization covering the entire USA, and some other parts of the world, for that matter.

What about your auto insurance and/or homeowner’s/renter’s insurance? Do those policies cover your e-bike and use of it, should you be in an accident or cause one? This is where things get very complicated.

Another question within this perspective is, how many mountain biking organizations that are promoting e-bikes actually educate riders/users on this issue and its gray area?

Earlier this month, Men’s Journal ran an article about how insurance companies are pushing back against e-bikes. You can access the article here:

https://www.mensjournal.com/pursuits/cycling/insurance-companies-push-back-against-e-bikes

If you own an e-bike, I recommend that you read it. Bottom line, if you haven’t already done so, you need to check your various insurance policies to see what, if any, coverage you have for your e-bike. In that same article, a bike shop owner discusses why he thinks his insurance company dropped him. Why? E-bike batteries and fires. If you are a bike shop owner, you should read that article. If you store your e-bike in your garage/house, you should verify with your insurance company what kind of coverage you have. If you own an electric vehicle and have worked that out with your insurance company, you’re likely fine with your e-bike, too, but I’m not an insurance agent/expert (!).

As it relates to e-bikes and use of them, what happens when you are riding your e-bike and perhaps run into someone? What if you hit a pedestrian? What if you run into a hiker on a trail? How about causing an accident while riding your e-bike if you plow into a horse/horseback riding group?

From what I can tell from researching, this is a huge gray area. E-bike use seems, for sure, to not be covered by homeowner’s insurance. Bicycle use is likely covered, meaning that if you are in a bike accident, most homeowner’s and renter’s insurance policies should kick in. As always, you need to read the fine print. What seems to be clear, though, is that the fine print isn’t going to cover your e-bike use.

Here’s a pretty good analysis of all of that from a piece that was published in Reuters in 2022: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/switching-gears-e-bike-insurance-coverage-wheels-policies-keep-turning-2022-06-23/

What are the insurance companies saying? Three perspectives are provided next. First up, is from an insurance company in Pennsylvania:

https://www.lwginsurance.com/is-my-electric-bicycle-e-bike-covered-by-insurance/

Next is a deeper dive into the weeds. It’s a Q&A viewpoint from an insurance company in Maine. This one sheds a lot of light on the gray area:

Electric Bikes and Insurance

And the last one is from September 2023. In it, it says that e-bikers in West Virginia and New Mexico are required to have e-bike insurance. What?

https://www.moneyunder30.com/e-bike-insurance/

What happens if an e-biker causes an accident on a trail in those states? Does jurisdiction matter (city trail, state park trail, federal land)? Would someone sue an e-biker if they don’t have that e-bike insurance? Will law firms realize there’s a niche business opportunity?

What if public lands permit the use of e-bikes on them? What responsibility do land managers have in managing safe e-bike use on public lands? What if public lands have signs saying no e-bike use and there is no enforcement of the ban? What if an e-bike rider accesses public land and does not see a sign, causes an accident and someone decides to hire an attorney and says, well the public land manager didn’t do their job in enforcing the rule/law?

Why are we promoting e-bikes and possibly putting e-bike users at risk of lawsuits and not educating them on this possibility? Why are mountain biking organizations taking these risks when they promote e-bikes?

No doubt, if you are an e-biker, be sure you have insurance for your e-bike and use of your e-bike. Some insurance companies have policies for you. It’s apparent that you need to know your current insurance polices and what they do/don’t cover with regard to your e-bike, and you need to know your state and local laws, etc. If you haven’t clicked the links up above, find some time to do so. It would be to your benefit.

In closing, I am going to ask again: are mountain biking organizations having this insurance gray-area discussion with their e-biker members? If so, who is and please share with us in the comments what your lessons learned have been, thus far?

If you are in a leadership position of a mountain biking organization and have not had this conversation with your members, and if your mountain biking organization promotes the use of e-bikes on trails, fire/forest roads, bike parks, pump tracks, etc., you owe it to your membership to have this discussion. It is not acceptable to turn your head to it.