The Sunshine State has more than its fair share of highways that are great for a committed motorcyclist to blast down! The weather is usually good, the sun is shining and all is right with the world. But the reality is that just occasionally providence does step in to throw a motorcyclist a curve ball, and it is then that they are glad that they took the time to get good Florida Motorcycle Insurance.
If you consider for example that, despite its nickname, Florida leads the United States in a number of ‘Extreme’ weather statistics it is a useful precaution to have got Comprehensive Florida Motorcycle Insurance that covers you for damage to your motorcycle, and also for any accidents that storms can often cause.
Florida has more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the United States, (which is a sobering thought when you are careering down the road on a chunk of metal at 50mph!), and also has the highest rainfall of anywhere in the US, so flood damage is a very real possibility. It also has the most tornadoes per square mile, so even if your beloved motorcycle is safely garaged, it is still quite possible that a storm could tear through it and cause damage.
In fact, many Florida Motorcycle Insurance Companies have a love/hate relationship with Florida for precisely this reason...
They love it because it is an enormous state with a massive amount of people and represents potentially massive amounts of new business revenue. But they hate it because when storms hit in Florida they hit BIG!
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew cost the insurance companies an estimated $25 billion in Florida alone, and more recently in 2004 when four struck in the same year, that figure rose to $42 billion.
The fact is that separate Florida motorcycle insurance is not legally required in Florida as of this writing (though be sure to double check Florida motorcycle insurance requirements with the Florida Department of Insurance BEFORE riding, as these legal requirements can and do change quickly - https://www.floir.com/index.aspx); but the fact is that you would be plain crazy to ride a motorcycle without it (you do need insurance, it is simply that some small level of cover is also provided as part of car insurance in Florida).
Many people consider only the cost of the motorcycle themselves when factoring in the cost of Florida Motorcycle Insurance, but the biggest costs would not be the cost of replacing the bike in any case. It would be the medical costs that would be involved in any accident and also the potential liability costs that you could incur if you were found to be in the wrong for a motorcycle accident.
Both of these costs could individually potentially run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and if the accident was particularly serious, or any of the parties involved in it were paralysed (heaven forbid), then the costs could be much greater.
If you haven’t got Florida Motorcycle Insurance then you are possibly opening yourself up to all kinds of dire consequences, from financial hardship right up to bankruptcy.
What is more it is just plain irresponsible to ride without dedicated full coverage motorcycle insurance.
Even if you choose to not have specific Florida Motorcycle Insurance you DO have to have some kind of vehicle insurance that covers the motorcycle. So the laws in Florida are really designed with the thought in mind that people will already have some kind of car insurance in place, and that this policy will also cover them for their motorcycle.
This is often not the case, and the levels of cover can vary, so you need to check with your insurance company in Florida as to what exactly is covered.
A better idea is to specifically take out some cover for your motorcycle, and in that way you can ride around Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa or Orlando safe in the knowledge that you have the best cover possible.
At least get some Florida Motorcycle Insurance Quotes so that you can see how much cover might cost you. It is often much less than you might think, and a dedicated policy is a much better option because it specifically deals with all the nuances that owning a motorcycle, rather than a car has.