A Guide to Motorcycle Insurance in South Dakota (SD)
The State of South Dakota has one of the smallest populations (814,180 in 2010) of ANY state in the United States, but a large land area that makes it a very desirable state to explore if you are a keen motorcyclist. One of the key things that you must be sure to get properly sorted out though is good quality South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance in order that you can feel safe when you are riding around the roads of Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen or further afield out into the wilderness.
In this article we will be looking at some of your options with regards to getting good value South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance that fits all the key requirements that you need from your policy, and also looking at the states minimum requirements and where they may fall short.
What are the minimums for South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance?
There are certain minimum requirements that the state of South Dakota imposes on motorcyclists in the state, that they have to have if they are going to ride legally.
They are as follows:
$25,000 – Bodily injury liability cover for one person
$50,000 – Bodily injury liability cover for one accident
$25,000 – Property Damage Liability cover
These requirements are commonly shortened to 25/50/25 cover.
Are the South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance minimum requirements sufficient?
Most of the states have some type of requirement for motorcyclists that they have to have in order to ride legally on the roads. And in this regard South Dakota is no exception, as their 25/50/25 levels are pretty average if you look across the country as a whole.
Some of the considerations that you have to bear in mind with these levels are that they are designed to be minimum levels of cover, and not as levels that the state particularly recommends as being optimum.
It has to be said that most states insurance departments do not do a good job of explaining what ideal levels of cover might look like, presumably because they are walking a tightrope between on the one hand protecting the interests of consumers in the state and also acting as the overall regulator for all of the different South Dakota insurance companies who are licensed in the state and as the final arbitrator in the event of dispute. So they are loathe to recommend anyone or particular amounts of cover.
This is understandable, but unfortunate, because there is a lack of clarity about what average consumers should do in the way of insuring themselves properly, and in this regard South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance is no exception. The minimum requirements exist to make sure that there is a small amount of protection, but this is very far from an ideal amount of cover.
In terms of optimising these rates you should look to considerably increase the basic levels of liability cover, as in any serious accident you would be very likely to hit the outer limits of the policy very quickly.
A policy based on the basic minimums would also not cover you for uninsured drivers who make up about 15% of the drivers on the roads in the United States as a whole. This is an important policy addition to consider, because if you are unfortunate enough to have an accident with an uninsured driver then you want to be in a position where someone other than you has to pick up the tab!
Otherwise you will be left in the unenviable position of having to sue the other driver in order to get your money back, which is not a good position to be in.
Some other things that you should look into are getting full coverage, comprehensive South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance which would all cover you in case your bike was stolen.
This is a bigger consideration then you might imagine, because over 80,000 motorcycles get stolen every year in the United States, and very few of them ever get recovered once they have gone. So if you want to be sure to have the money to replace your bike then you do need to look into more comprehensive cover.
(Rememebr that you can check out the regulatory framework surrounding South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance at the South Dakota Insurance Departments website.)
The truth is that to get a motorcycle insurance policy in South Dakota that you are properly happy with you are going to have to shop around and seek out a wide variety of South Dakota Motorcycle Insurance Quotes, so have a careful look around at what is on offer now and see if you can get a good deal on your cover.
It has to be said that most states insurance departments do not do a good job of explaining what ideal levels of cover might look like, presumably because they are walking a tightrope between on the one hand protecting the interests of consumers in the state and also acting as the overall regulator for all of the different South Dakota insurance companies who are licensed in the state and as the final arbitrator in the event of dispute. So they are loathe to recommend anyone or particular amounts of cover. 
