Your own car insurance coverages would not extend to your motorcycle if that is what you are asking. You need your own policy and coverages on your motorcycle to cover it and any accident you are involved in when riding it.

Assuming instead that you have motorcycle insurance in the minimum California Liability limits and are asking if just this coverage will pay for the medical bills of you and your passenger, than no you would not be covered for your medical expenses but your passenger might be.

Bodily Injury Liability (BI) does not cover you as the at-fault driver of the motorcycle that crashed. It may cover your passenger depending upon the terms of your BI coverages with your insurance provider. Some cover passengers as long as they are not a household member or a person listed on your policy.

State laws and insurance policy terms regarding who would be covered under your own Bodily Injury Liability coverage differ so we tried to clarify with the California Department of Insurance about who is covered under BI in CA. They stated that in general, if you are at fault for an accident and there are injuries to your passengers, you would have coverage under your Liability policies for their injuries. The exception is if the passengers are relatives or residents of your household.

The CA DOI mentioned as we did above that motor vehicle insurance policies vary slightly on the wording of Bodily Injury coverages. You thus would need to examine the exact language in your policy. If after doing so, you are still unclear, the DOI suggests you put this question in writing to your insurer to get written clarification back from them about who exactly is or is not covered by your BI coverages.

Your own injuries as the at-fault driver (and motorcycle owner) would not be covered for certain by your Bodily Injury Liability coverage. For your own injuries to be covered you would need coverages such as Medical Payment (MP or MedPay).

MedPay covers medical expenses to you and your passengers injured in an accident. There may also be coverage if as a pedestrian a vehicle injures you. This coverage applies, regardless as to who is at fault. Medical Payments may also cover policyholders and their family members when they are injured while riding in someone else's car or when a car hits them while on foot or bicycling.

If you are at fault in an accident, Bodily Injury Liability coverage will typically cover the other party’s injuries, death, loss of wages, and pain and suffering costs. However, it does not typically cover the injuries, death, loss of wages, and pain and suffering costs for you or anyone else on your policy or household.

So read through your policy and speak to your agent about if your BI coverages will cover your passenger in this motorcycle accident. If you need clarification on your BI coverages as the CA DOI suggested you may want to ask for this in writing. The DOI also stated that if you do not receive an adequate response from the insurer and require the assistance of the Department of Insurance, you can file a “Request for Assistance” with them. This form is available on their website.