Quad Bike Insurance - Understanding the Terminology

So you've got a new quad bike eh? It's fast, powerful, looks great and can tackle just about any offroad trail in your area. Since you probably already own a car, you probably already know about insurance. However, have you considered or investigated insurance for your quad bike? If so, you've probably been bombarded with terms you may not be familiar with.

The purpose of this is to explain some of the jargon and to hopefully remove some of the confusion. The best thing is, once you understand what the terminologies are, you can decide for yourself if you really need a certain option in your policy or not, thus maybe not having to pay for something you really didn't need in the first place. Therefore, by reading this, you may likely end up saving some money!

Some of the more common terms in most policies

Collision - This term is found in pretty much all insurance policies, so it would probably wouldn't even be offered as an option. It simply helps to pay for any damage to your quad bike if you hit another vehicle, another vehicle hits you, or if you are offroad and your quad rolls over. Even if you it a tree or a rock, you are still covered. In a lot of cases, it can also go towards paying for safety gear. If your quad is leased or financed, this type of coverage is mandatory.

Theft - Another standard to policies is theft. It covers you for the event that your quad is stolen. Today, theft-tracking GPS devices can be installed on quads, and many quad bike insurance providers will give a substantial discount (up to 20% or more!) if you have this installed
Vandalism - this provides coverage to help pay for any damages caused through vandalism. If your quad is stolen but recovered, unless you have this sort of coverage in your policy, most companies won't pay for any damages if the stolen quad is recovered in a damaged state

Damage caused by uninsured or underinsured drivers - This type of coverage helps to pay for any damages to your quad bike that are caused by a driver who is either uninsured or underinsured. It also applies to circumstances where the driver is unidentified. It also can help to pay for medical expenses for you or any passenger. In a lot of cases, it can even pay for any lost wages as a result of the accident.

Liability coverage - If you are at fault in an accident, if you have liability coverage in your policy, it will cover bodily injury and any property damage to other people involved in the accident. Bodily injury will pay for other person's medical costs, their lost wages (due to the injuries from the accident), and most importantly, your legal costs (which could be thousands of dollars!). Property damage will also pay for legal costs, as well as for damages you cause to other people's property. In most states, liability coverage is usually mandatory, but be warned! Every state will have it's own minimum requirements for quad bike insurance requirements.

Comprehensive insurance - this type of coverage helps to pay for damage to your quad not caused by an accident, such as vandalism, falling objects, storms, and certain natural disasters like floods. If your quad bike is not very expensive, this is one option that you may not include in your policy if the premium is too high.

OEM endorsement - This is not really associated with any sort of coverage, but is something that is worth looking for when shopping around for a good quad bike insurance provider. OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer, and this type of endorsement means that cheap aftermarket and salvage replacement parts (that may have been involved in a separate accident even!) won't be used when repairing your quad bike. This simply means that only new parts made by the manufacturer will be used to make any repairs.

There will be other terms you will come across when shopping around for quad bike insurance , but these ones are the more common ones you'll find. If there are any other terms that you come across, make sure you read the fine print to make sure you know what it means and if it applies to you. If you still don't understand, call the insurance company directly to get them to explain it. By fully understanding the terms, you may end up saving money on options that you don't really need!