To get some context about why you need Texas snowmobile insurance, here are some interesting facts and statistics:
Snowmobiling is gaining popularity. Currently, there are over 1.4 million snowmobiles are registered in the USA, and this number keeps rising each year. An average snowmobiler rides about 920 miles per year across 225,000 miles of marked and maintained snowmobile trails in North America. With so many machines on the trails today, this has significantly increased the risk of accidents more particularly in protected areas such as national parks.
Though not all states, twenty-three states require snowmobilers to carry insurance. It is expected that other states will soon follow suit. Even if your state does not require you to carry insurance, you are likely to face problems when traveling across states that have insurance requirements. Moreover, having insurance not only protects your investment but also your well-being in the event of an accident that can harm you, a passenger, a hiker along the trail, another snowmobiler or any other property.
What Does Texas Snowmobile Insurance Cover?
While there are many optional coverages available, the main parts of a Texas snowmobile insurance policy are:
Liability: Liability insurance is used to cover damage caused by a rider to another vehicle, Texas Snowmobile, individual, or property when the accident is proven to be the rider’s fault. The property damage coverage on the other hand helps you pay the costs of repairs in case you cause accidental damage to someone else’s property while riding your Texas Snowmobile. It also covers the cost of repairs to damage done to another Texas Snowmobile.
Comprehensive and Collision: This coverage is meant for repair and replacement costs of your snowmachine following an accident, without consideration as to who is at fault. The cost of comprehensive and collision coverage is largely influenced by the value of the Texas Snowmobile.
Instances of fire, vandalism, theft, and weather damage, falling objects, smoke wind and sinking through the ice on a frozen river or lake are covered by comprehensive coverage, while collision coverage is used to fund repairs or replacement when the Texas Snowmobile is involved in a collision. You could be riding at a safe speed, and still hit objects like a stump, a rock, a fallen branch, a deer or collide with another TX snowmobile. The damage could be minimal, or extensive. Whichever the case, repairs can be expensive; having a collision cover will save you the agony of repair expenses or even having to buy a new snowmobile.
Medical Coverage (PIP): In some states insurance companies are required by law to include medical coverage in all Texas snowmobile insurance policies, although the specifics involved in this coverage vary widely. Medical coverage is meant to cover medical bills resulting from an accident.
Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist: Underinsured and uninsured coverage is not typically mandated by law; however it’s a cheap and often very smart way to protect a rider against other riders who may not have sufficient coverage or any insurance coverage at all. Because it’s cheaper than the other parts of your insurance policy, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is recommended by most road safety authorities.
What Texas Snowmobile Insurance Doesn’t Cover
Texas Snowmobile insurance typically does not cover:
- Using your TX snowmobile as a delivery service or a taxi. So if you deliver packages, food, etc., or if you charge to take people places, you probably won’t have coverage.
- Racing or stunts: If you participate in any kind of organized racing, your Texas Snowmobile insurance won’t cover your bike.
- Intentional acts: If you intentionally run someone down on the trail and damage someone or something, your Texas Snowmobile insurance won’t apply.
- Committing criminal acts: Even if you’re not charged with or convicted of a crime, any injuries or damages resulting from criminal acts aren’t covered by your Texas Snowmobile insurance.
How Much Does Texas Snowmobile Insurance Cost?
How much does Texas snowmobile insurance cost? The average price of TX Snowmobile insurance varies widely based on certain factors. The premiums vary depending on the company and their underwriting rules, and it depends on the coverages and deductible selected. It can be as low as around $90 to $110 per year if you buy liability coverage only. Most packages average between $2900 to $405 dollars annually all in.
The mistake that a lot of people make is that they assume that their TX snowmobile is covered under other insurance policies such as renters, homeowners, or auto insurance policies. Be sure to check with your agent to see what coverage you need to hit the trails knowing you are covered.
TX Snowmobile Insurance Quotes
Request a Texas Snowmobile Insurance quote in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Chula Vista, Concord, Corona, Elk Grove, Escondido, Fontana, Fremont, Fresno, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Glendale, Hayward, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Lancaster, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Modesto, Moreno Valley, Oakland, Oceanside, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Palmdale, Pasadena, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Roseville, Sacramento, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Clarita, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Vallejo, Victorville, Visalia and all other cities in TX.
The Texas Department of Insurance
The TX Dept. of Insurance is the regulatory agency behind the insurance rules for the state of Texas. If you want to understand these rules, then this is definitely the agency that you need to focus on. Let’s start with limits within the state.
Texas Minimum Insurance Limits
- For auto insurance, Texas requires $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.
- For life insurance, there are certain regulations in place to determine how someone is able to get or offer life insurance, but there are no limits listed.
- For commercial insurance, insurance agents may offer broker or casualty insurance as well as covered property insurance, covered causes of loss, specified perils and open perils along with a number of coverage forms like builder’s risk, legal liability, building ordinance, glass, peak season, inflation guard and peak element.
TX Insurance Regulations
As for regular insurance regulations there are a lot of things that Texas provides that you can look up. For example, there are deadlines for the insurer to pay the claim or deny it, deadlines for submitting paperwork to prove a loss for insurance reimbursement, specific information your insurance company is required to give you and regulations on what information you have to provide to your insurance company.
One of the Texas regulations calls for you to be treated by your insurance company in good faith. This means that your insurer must be considered of your needs and must communicate completely and honestly with you about your policy and everything that you need to know about it in order to make a good decision. In turn, you are legally obligated to be honest and cooperative with your insurance company when it comes to your claim.
You should also be aware that your insurance company is required to offer prompt, honest and complete communications. The company and all of its representatives must respond to your communications within 15 calendar days with a complete response based upon the facts that are known.
Finally, be aware that your insurance company is required to have a fair claims process. Unless it is specified in your policy, you do not have to use the forms that are provided to you by your insurance provider in order to make a claim. You can create a list of losses on your own if you need to. In addition, insurers are not able to ask for unreasonable proof of loss. If you provide photographic evidence or video of items that you lost, insurers are not able to ask you to provide additional information.