A Guide to Motorcycle Insurance in Minnesota (MN)

Minnesota is known as ‘The Land of the 10,000 Lakes' with good reason because it is a haven for boating enthusiasts, but surrounding many of those lakes is some of the most picturesque scenery in the whole of the country and so Minnesota is also a great place to live for motorcyclists. Regardless though of whether you prefer a life spent on the still waters of Minnesota’s lakes, or a day with the wind in your face on the open roads on your motorcycle, it is important that you sort out some insurance to get you covered.

In this article I am going to discuss Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance and some of the different statutory requirements that you MUST have if you want to ride your bike on the streets of Minneapolis or Saint Paul, and also some of the other types of insurance cover that you should consider adding to your policy.

Let’s start by looking at some of the legal requirements.

What are the minimum requirements for Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance?

The first thing to realise with regards to Insurance generally in Minnesota is that Minnesota is a No-Fault State. What this means in practice is that regardless of who is at fault, it is your own insurance company who will pay for your own medical expenses. But it is also important to realise that this is NOT true for Motorcycle Insurance in Minnesota which does not come under the same no-fault rules as auto insurance, and hence Minnesota motorcycle insurance is generally purchased on a liability basis so that whoever is at fault in an accident it is their insurance company that foots the bill.

This can all get a little confusing, so be sure that you read the terms and conditions of your policy through carefully before you fully commit to buying it.

Here are the states minimum requirements for Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance cover:

$30,000 – Bodily Injury Cover for one person
$60,000 – Bodily Injury Cover for a single accident
$10,000 – Personal Property Liability Cover
$40,000 – Basic Economic Loss ($20,000 of which is for medical expenses and $20,000 for loss of income and other expenses that someone might have because of an accident).

In most respects these levels of cover are similar to most of the other states, though the specific amounts can either be considerably higher or lower depending on which state you are considering (have a look at our other state guides for motorcycle insurance if you are interested in seeing how much other states consider ‘normal’).

But the one interesting area where the Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance requirements do differ from other states is in the addition of the basic economic loss cover. The addition of this has meant that drivers in Minnesota are not allowed to sue the other driver unless the damage that they have suffered exceeds those amounts ($20,000 medical and $20,000 for loss of income and other miscellaneous expenses); so this is clearly an attempt by the state government to minimise lawsuits involving road traffic accidents wherever possible.

Are the minimum requirements for Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance adequate?

Although in many ways it is clear that more thought has gone into the minimum requirements for motorcycle insurance cover in Minnesota than in many other states, it is still noticeable that they are fairly bare-boned minimum requirements, and clearly designed to be focused mainly on allowing more people to ride motorcycles, rather than on what might be best for their long term safety.

This is understandable because these are not ‘maximums’ they are ‘minimums’ and so by their very definition are not as comprehensive as they might be. What you have to remember is that you can (and probably should) take out extra layers of protection and add in elements into your cover that aren’t covered by the basics.

(Remember, that you can check out more of the legal ramifications and jargon surrounding Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance at the Minnesota Department of Insurance Gateway website.)

Additionally, you may also decide that it would be a good idea to increase the basic amounts of liability cover. The minimum dollar figures are designed for relatively minor to mid-size accidents, and not for big accidents with multiple injuries. So you may consider it a good idea to get various Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance Quotes before you finally take the plunge, so that you can get a better feel for how increasing those amounts of cover affects the premium.

You will probably be pleasantly surprised at how little increasing those amounts of cover adds to the overall premium, but clearly you need to consider your options clearly.

You should also consider the advantages of a comprehensive, full coverage Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance policy which would also cover you if your bike was stolen or vandalised.

This could be particularly worth considering if you live in a big city like Minneapolis, but even if you live in a smaller city like Rochester, Duluth or Bloomington it is still worth getting quotes for and comparing, because the harsh truth is that motorcycles get stolen far more often than cars, and yet get recovered far less frequently (about one-fifth of the time they get recovered, so about four-fifths of the time they are gone for good) and with it your investment in the bike (unless you have got comprehensive Minnesota Motorcycle Insurance cover.

So sort out some quotes and decide which is best.

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