It will depend upon your state's insurance laws with regards to motorcycles if you are required to carry insurance on your paid off motorcycle or not. In many states all motor vehicles, including motorcycles, are required to have at least the state's minimum liability coverages on it to be registered and driven on the state's roadways.

If your state has insurance laws for motorcycles then you will need to have at least the state's minimum coverages on your motorcycle to drive it whether you have a lease or loan on it or have paid for it fully and have no lien holder. When you do have a lien holder that holds the title to your motorcycle you are correct that they normally will require you to have full coverage, meaning liability plus physical damage coverages of collision and comprehensive, on the vehicle to protect their asset.

It the bike is new even if it is paid off you may want to place collision and comprehensive coverages on it, as well as liability, so that your motorcycle is covered if you damage it in an accident or if it is vandalized or stolen.

You can contact your state's Department of Motor Vehicles to find out if motorcycles are required to carry insurance on them and if so in what amounts. They can also advise you on helmet laws and other information you should know in order to operate a motorcycle on the roadways.

For example, Arizona requires that every motor vehicle, including motorcycles, operating on their roads be covered by one of the statutory forms of financial responsibility through a company that is authorized to do business in Arizona. Arizona requires minimum levels of $15,000/$30,000 for bodily injury liability and $10,000 for property damage liability.

In Delaware a motorcycle owner and driver is required to carry the same minimum amounts of bodily injury protection, property damage and personal injury protection as any other vehicle.There the required limits are 15/30/10.

The State of Florida does not require a driver to have motorcycle insurance to register a motorcycle in FL, however, if a motorcycle operator is charged in a crash with injuries, then the owner or owner/operator is financially responsible for bodily injuries and property damage to others.

If no liability coverage was in effect for the motorcycle at the time of the accident, in Florida than bodily injury/property damage liability insurance must be purchased and kept for 3 years to avoid license and tag/registration suspension or to reinstate license and tag/registration after suspension.

So liability insurance for motorcycle is voluntary and not mandatory in FL unless you have caused an accident but it is highly recommended to be purchased for your protection. If you plan to carry passengers it is also a good idea to see if you need extra insurance coverage for them.

Once you are aware of your state's insurance laws regarding insurance, get rate quotes for motorcycle insurance here with our partners.