Research Summary
Three Findings That Change the Decision
The ISO Personal Auto Policy refuses liability coverage for the ownership, maintenance or use of any vehicle which has fewer than four wheels, and refuses medical payments for bodily injury sustained while occupying any motorized vehicle having fewer than four wheels.[1]
NHTSA reports the 2023 motorcyclist fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled at 31.39, almost 28 times the passenger car occupant rate of 1.13. That ratio is why the bike gets its own premium column.[4]
A Pennsylvania rider hurt on a motorcycle insured elsewhere without underinsured motorist coverage was held barred by the household exclusion from collecting UIM benefits under either household auto policy.[12]
Why the Bike Is Not Already Covered
Start with what your car policy actually says, because the answer is not where most people look for it. Many private passenger policies in the United States are built from the Insurance Services Office Personal Auto Policy form, though carrier forms vary and yours may read differently. That form defines “your covered auto” generously — any vehicle shown in the Declarations, plus a newly acquired auto and any trailer.[1] Nothing in that definition counts wheels. The definition is not what keeps the motorcycle out.
The exclusions are. Part A, the liability part, states at Exclusion B.1 that the insurer does not provide Liability Coverage for the ownership, maintenance or use of any vehicle which has fewer than four wheels or is designed mainly for use off public roads — with narrow carve-outs only for a vehicle being used by an insured in a medical emergency, for any trailer, and for a non-owned golf cart. Part B, medical payments, runs a parallel bar: no coverage for bodily injury sustained while occupying any motorized vehicle having fewer than four wheels.[1]
Trace what that means in sequence. You list the motorcycle on the Declarations, so it satisfies the definition of “your covered auto.” You then crash it. The adjuster does not reach for the definition — they reach for Exclusion B.1, which operates on a physical fact about the vehicle rather than on whether it was listed. Two wheels, no liability coverage. The listing did not do what listing a car would have done.
This is a deliberate underwriting boundary rather than a drafting accident. The whole rating structure behind a private passenger auto policy is built on passenger car loss experience. A carrier that let two-wheeled exposure in through the definitions alone would be insuring a different risk at a car’s price. So the form shuts the door, and reopens it only through a document the underwriter has to sign off on.
The Document That Opens the Door: PP 03 23
An endorsement — a written amendment attached to an existing policy that adds, deletes, excludes or changes coverage — is the mechanism. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners describes an endorsement, also called a rider, as an amendment to an existing insurance contract that changes the terms of the original policy, issued at purchase, mid-term, or at renewal, and notes that premiums may be adjusted as a result.[3]
The one that carries motorcycles is the ISO Miscellaneous Type Vehicle Endorsement. The specimen edition we reviewed is PP 03 23 01 05; some carriers and states use PP 03 20 or another variant, and your declarations page will name whichever form applies to you. Its opening sentence sets the boundary: with respect to the miscellaneous type vehicles and coverages described in the Schedule or in the Declarations, the provisions of the policy apply unless modified by this endorsement.[2] Everything the endorsement does, it does for scheduled vehicles only.
It then makes a series of surgical edits. It defines “miscellaneous type vehicle” to mean a motor home, motorcycle or other similar type vehicle, all-terrain vehicle, dune buggy or golf cart. It replaces the definition of “your covered auto” so that it means any miscellaneous type vehicle shown in the Schedule or in the Declarations. And it replaces Part A Exclusion B.1 with a version that adds one line: this exclusion does not apply to a vehicle insured for Liability Coverage under this endorsement.[2] That clause is the hinge. Everything else on the page is administration.
Endorsement analysis
What the Miscellaneous Type Vehicle Endorsement Changes
| Policy Provision | What the Endorsement Does | What It Means for the Rider |
|---|---|---|
| Definition of "miscellaneous type vehicle" | Adds a definition that means a motor home, motorcycle or other similar type vehicle, all-terrain vehicle, dune buggy or golf cart.[2] | Creates the contractual category the rest of the endorsement operates on. A motorcycle is named explicitly. |
| Definition of "your covered auto" | Replaced. "Your covered auto" means any miscellaneous type vehicle shown in the Schedule or in the Declarations, a newly acquired auto, any trailer, and a substitute vehicle you do not own while the scheduled vehicle is out of normal use for breakdown, repair, servicing, loss or destruction.[2] | The bike has to appear on the Schedule or Declarations by description. Nothing here covers a motorcycle you simply own and never listed. |
| Part A liability, Exclusion B.1 | Replaced. The exclusion for a vehicle that has fewer than four wheels does not apply to a vehicle insured for Liability Coverage under this endorsement.[2] | This is the single sentence that makes a two-wheeled vehicle insurable on the auto policy. It reaches only vehicles actually insured for liability under the endorsement. |
| Part B medical payments, Exclusion 1 | Replaced. Medical Payments Coverage is still denied for bodily injury sustained while occupying any motorized vehicle having fewer than four wheels, unless that vehicle is insured for Medical Payments Coverage under this endorsement.[2] | Liability and medical payments are bought separately. Scheduling the bike for liability alone leaves the med-pay exclusion standing. |
| Part A passenger hazard exclusion | Added where the Schedule or Declarations indicate the passenger hazard is excluded: no Liability Coverage for any insured for bodily injury to any person while occupying the described miscellaneous type vehicle.[2] | An optional, scheduled election. When it is marked, the person on the back seat is outside your liability coverage entirely. |
| Definition of "newly acquired auto" | Paragraph 1 replaced. A newly acquired auto means a private passenger auto, a qualifying pickup or van, or any miscellaneous type vehicle of the same type shown in the Schedule or in the Declarations.[2] | Automatic coverage for a bike bought mid-term depends on a motorcycle already being scheduled. A motor home on the schedule does not make a new motorcycle the same type. |
| Part D limit of liability | Replaced. The insurer pays the lesser of the amount shown in the Schedule or Declarations, the actual cash value of the stolen or damaged property, or the amount necessary to repair or replace with property of like kind and quality; depreciation and physical condition are adjusted for on a total loss; no payment is made for betterment.[2] | The scheduled amount is a ceiling, not a promise. The endorsement page even carries a notice saying the scheduled figure is not necessarily what you will receive. |
| Part D added exclusions | Added. No payment for loss to clothing or luggage, business or office equipment, or articles that are sales samples or used in exhibitions.[2] | What is in the saddlebags is not insured by the physical damage coverage on the bike. |
| Part D deductible when two vehicles are hit at once | If loss to more than one "your covered auto" results from the same collision, only the highest applicable deductible will apply.[2] | One event that damages the car and the bike together triggers one deductible, not two. |
Note what the endorsement never says: that the bike gets the car’s limits. The Schedule prints a separate limit of liability and a separate premium column for each vehicle, and the form states plainly that coverage is provided where a premium and a limit of liability is shown for the coverage.[2] One policy number does not mean one set of limits. It means one bill with several independently priced grants of coverage inside it, which is the same structure described in our research on reading your declarations page.
Four Places the Endorsement Leaves a Hole
The passenger on the back seat.The endorsement Schedule contains a column headed “Passenger Hazard Excluded” with a yes and a no box for each scheduled vehicle. Where the Schedule or Declarations indicate that the passenger hazard is excluded, this is added to Part A: the insurer does not provide Liability Coverage for any insured for bodily injury to any person while occupying the described miscellaneous type vehicle.[2] Picture the mechanism at the moment it matters. You go down at an intersection, your passenger’s femur is destroyed, and their attorney serves a demand. If that box is marked yes, your insurer owes no defense and no indemnity for that claim, and the difference between the demand and your own assets is your problem. The box costs nothing to read and cannot be argued about after the fact.
Medical payments, which is a second purchase.The endorsement does not delete the Part B exclusion. It replaces it with a version that keeps barring medical payments for bodily injury sustained while occupying any motorized vehicle having fewer than four wheels — unless that vehicle is insured for Medical Payments Coverage under this endorsement.[2] Liability and medical payments are separate lines on the Schedule with separate premiums. Buying the first does nothing for the second.
The bike you have not bought yet. A standard auto policy gives a grace period on a mid-term purchase: a newly acquired auto that is in addition to a vehicle already shown in the Declarations is covered from the date you become the owner, provided you ask the insurer to insure it within 14 days.[1] The endorsement narrows the door it comes through. It replaces paragraph 1 of the newly acquired auto definition so the category reaches a private passenger auto, a qualifying pickup or van, or any miscellaneous type vehicle of the same type shown in the Schedule or in the Declarations.[2] Read the phrase “of the same type” literally. A motor home on the schedule is not the same type as a motorcycle. The first bike you ever buy gets no automatic coverage on the ride home; the second one does.
What the physical damage coverage will actually pay. The endorsement replaces the Part D limit of liability with the lesser of three numbers: the amount shown in the Schedule or Declarations, the actual cash value of the stolen or damaged property, or the amount necessary to repair or replace the property with other property of like kind and quality. Depreciation and physical condition are adjusted for in determining actual cash value on a total loss, and if a repair or replacement results in better than like kind or quality, the insurer will not pay for the amount of the betterment.[2] The form prints a notice above the Schedule making this explicit: the amount shown is not necessarily the amount you will receive at the time of loss. A heavily customized bike is the place this bites hardest, because the aftermarket exhaust and the paint are not what the actual cash value calculation is measuring. How that number gets built is the subject of our research on how adjusters determine a vehicle’s value.
One Line to Read First
On the endorsement Schedule, find the row for the motorcycle and look left to right: the passenger hazard box, then whether a premium appears next to Medical Payments, then whether a premium appears next to Uninsured Motorists. Three marks on one line decide most of what happens after a crash.
One Policy, Two Legal Statuses: No-Fault Benefits
Here is the part that surprises people who consolidate specifically to simplify things. Scheduling the motorcycle on your auto policy makes it a covered vehicle under a contract. It does not make it a “motor vehicle” under your state’s insurance code, and in no-fault states the statutory definition is what turns first-party medical benefits on.
Personal injury protection pays medical bills and a share of lost wages promptly, without waiting for anyone to establish fault. Which insurer writes that check is a separate question, and each no-fault state answers it with its own rule: occupancy of the vehicle is one input, alongside who the named insured is, who lives in the household, and which vehicles were involved in the crash. Michigan resolves it with an explicit ladder — MCL 500.3114(5) sends a motorcycle rider injured in an accident involving a motor vehicle first to the insurer of that vehicle’s owner or registrant, then to its operator’s insurer, then to the rider’s own motor vehicle insurer, then to the motor vehicle insurer of the motorcycle’s owner.[11]
Florida, New York, and Michigan all decide the motorcyclist’s position one step before any of that, in the definitions section. Legislatures that wanted motorcycles outside the system did not write an exclusion into policies. They wrote the wheel count into the definition of a motor vehicle, so the rider never reaches the machinery that assigns a payer.
Statutory definitions
How Three No-Fault States Define a Motor Vehicle
| State | Citation | What the Statute Says | Consequence for a Rider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | Fla. Stat. § 627.732(3)[9] | A "motor vehicle" is any self-propelled vehicle with four or more wheels which is of a type both designed and required to be licensed for use on the highways of this state. | A two-wheeled motorcycle never satisfies the wheel count, so no PIP attaches to it. A Florida rider pays no PIP premium on the bike and receives no PIP benefit from it. |
| New York | N.Y. Ins. Law § 5102(f)[10] | The definition of "motor vehicle" shall not include any motor vehicle not required to carry financial security under the specified Vehicle and Traffic Law articles, "or a motorcycle, as defined in subsection (m) hereof." | Motorcycles are struck from the no-fault definition by name. New York riders are outside the first-party basic economic loss system that pays car occupants up to $50,000 per person. |
| Michigan | MCL 500.3101(1)(i) and MCL 500.3114(5)[11] | A "motor vehicle" is a vehicle operated or designed for operation on a public highway by power other than muscular power that "has more than 2 wheels," and the term does not include a motorcycle or a moped. | No PIP attaches to the bike. When a motor vehicle is involved in the crash, § 3114(5) sends the rider first to the insurer of that vehicle’s owner, then its operator, then the rider’s own motor vehicle insurer. A solo motorcycle crash reaches none of them. |
Michigan is worth a closer look, because it shows that exclusion from a definition is not the same as abandonment. A motorcycle is not a motor vehicle there, so no PIP attaches to the bike. But § 500.3103(2) requires every insurer writing motorcycle liability coverage in Michigan to offer the owner first-party medical benefits in increments of $5,000, payable if the owner is involved in a motorcycle accident.[11] And when a car is involved in the crash, § 500.3114(5) routes the injured rider through a priority list: first the insurer of the owner or registrant of the motor vehicle involved, then the insurer of its operator, then the motorcyclist’s own motor vehicle insurer, then the motor vehicle insurer of the motorcycle’s owner.[11] Go down alone on gravel with no car involved, and the entire ladder is unavailable, because the statute only starts climbing when a motor vehicle is in the accident.
The practical consequence for the consolidation decision is narrow but real: putting the bike on the car policy does not import the car’s PIP. What it can do is put the endorsement’s Medical Payments line and its Uninsured Motorists line in front of you at the moment you are choosing coverage, where a separate policy quoted for price alone often does not. Florida’s system, including how the PIP requirement sits on cars, is covered in our research on Florida’s minimum coverage requirements.
The Exclusion That Decides Whether Consolidation Helps
This is the coverage that matters most to a rider and gets shopped away most often. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage pays you when the person who hit you has no policy or a policy too small to cover what happened to your body. Since the injuries in a motorcycle crash routinely exceed a state-minimum liability limit, UM/UIM is, for a rider, closer to primary coverage than to a supplement.
The ISO Personal Auto Policy contains a household exclusion inside Part C: no uninsured motorists coverage for bodily injury sustained by an insured while occupying, or when struck by, any motor vehicle owned by that insured which is not insured for this coverage under this policy.[1] Read the mechanism slowly. The exclusion does not care which policy you are claiming under. It asks one question about the vehicle you were on: was it owned by you, and was it insured for this coverage under this policy? Two yeses and the claim proceeds. A no on the second and the claim stops.
Pennsylvania has litigated this to a conclusion, and the two leading cases differ on exactly one fact. In Gallagher v. GEICO Indemnity Co., 201 A.3d 131 (Pa. 2019), the rider had bought stacked UIM coverage on both his motorcycle policy and his two-car auto policy and had never signed the statutorily prescribed waiver. The Supreme Court held the household vehicle exclusion inconsistent with 75 Pa.C.S. § 1738 because it acted as a de facto waiver of stacked coverage the insured had actually purchased — reasoning, as quoted by the Superior Court, that the exclusion “strips an insured of default UM/UIM coverage without requiring an insurer to demonstrate, at a bare minimum, that the insured was even aware that the exclusion was part of the insurance policy.”[12]
Then came Erie Insurance Exchange v. Mione. Albert Mione crashed his 2008 Suzuki GS500F on July 21, 2018. The motorcycle was insured by Progressive; the two household cars were insured by Erie with UIM coverage; neither Erie policy listed the motorcycle. The Superior Court affirmed judgment for the insurer, applying the principle that a clear and unambiguous household exclusion is enforceable where the insured was operating a vehicle covered by a separate policy that did not provide him UM/UIM coverage. The trial court’s observation, which the appellate court adopted, is the whole lesson in one sentence: had Albert purchased UIM coverage under his Progressive motorcycle policy, the case would have fallen squarely within Gallagher.[12] The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed on February 15, 2023.[13]
The Causal Chain, Compressed
Drop UM/UIM on the motorcycle to save premium → the bike is a vehicle you own that is not insured for that coverage under the policy you later claim on → the household exclusion applies by its own terms → the UM/UIM limits you are still paying for on the cars are unreachable for the crash that was always most likely to need them.
That chain is what makes the consolidation question worth taking seriously rather than answering on price. Scheduling the bike on the same policy as the cars, with UM/UIM shown for the bike on the endorsement Schedule, removes the factual predicate the exclusion needs. Keeping it on a cheaper separate policy is fine too — provided UM/UIM is on that policy. What fails is the middle path of owning the bike and insuring it bare. Stacking rules, waiver forms, and household exclusion enforceability all vary by state; Pennsylvania is illustrative, not universal.
What the Livery Exclusion Actually Takes Away
One more boundary, because motorcycles and scooters are common delivery vehicles. The personal form excludes liability coverage for the ownership or operation of a vehicle while it is being used as a public or livery conveyance, with an exception only for a share-the-expense car pool.[1] The endorsement does not disturb that exclusion.
Start with what that exclusion does, because the common description of it is wrong. It is written on the use, not on the contract: it removes coverage for a loss arising out of the vehicle’s operation whileit is being used as a public or livery conveyance. The policy keeps running. Commuting on the same bike the next morning is still covered, and the carrier’s separate remedies for a misrepresented exposure — rescission, non-renewal, a reclassified rate — are different instruments with their own requirements. What the exclusion produces is an uncovered claim on the day you were working, which for a motorcycle bodily injury claim is the whole exposure anyway.[1]
Now the harder question: does paid food delivery trip it? The specimen form never says “delivery.” “Public or livery conveyance” is the language of carrying passengers for hire, and the 06 98 edition quoted here adds nothing about hauling goods. Whether a paid burrito run lands inside the excluded use is therefore decided by the commercial-use, business-use, and delivery-specific wording in the filed form your carrier actually issued, which is the sentence to read on your own declarations page before the first paid trip rather than the specimen sentence above.[1]
The regulator guidance on the passenger side of this is explicit. The NAIC states that it is not uncommon for personal auto policies to exclude coverage for livery or receiving compensation for driving, and that a transportation network company driver relying on a personal policy may find liability, personal injury protection in no-fault states, comprehensive, collision, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage all unavailable. That guidance is written about driving passengers for a ride-sharing company, not about motorcycle food delivery.[14] The remedy in either case is a rideshare or delivery endorsement or a commercial policy, not a miscellaneous type vehicle schedule. Our research on insurance requirements for delivery driving and on when you need business auto coverage works through where that line sits.
The Order of Operations
- Ask whether your carrier writes the endorsement at all. Many personal auto writers place motorcycles on a separate motorcycle policy rather than on a miscellaneous type vehicle schedule. If yours does, the consolidation question is settled for you, and everything below still applies to the standalone policy.
- Get the form number, then read the Schedule. The declarations page will name the endorsement form and edition. The Schedule is where the passenger hazard box, the per-coverage limits, and the per-coverage premiums live.[2]
- Confirm the passenger hazard box is marked the way you intend. Excluding it lowers premium and removes liability coverage for anyone riding behind you.[2]
- Buy UM/UIM on the vehicle you will actually be riding. The household exclusion operates on whether the vehicle you occupied carried that coverage under the policy you are claiming on, which is what decided Mione.[1] [12]
- Check your state’s first-party medical benefit rules separately. In no-fault states the statutory definition of a motor vehicle, not your policy, decides whether PIP reaches you. Michigan requires insurers to offer motorcycle owners first-party medical benefits in $5,000 increments; other states offer nothing comparable.[11]
- Schedule the first motorcycle before you ride it home. Automatic newly-acquired coverage under the endorsement reaches only a miscellaneous type vehicle of the same type already shown on the Schedule.[2]
- Price the ABS-equipped version when you are choosing a bike. The measured crash and claim differences are large, and the largest claim-frequency effect lands in the first 90 days of the policy.[7] [8]
- Settle paid delivery work before the first trip, not after.The public or livery conveyance exclusion survives the endorsement, and it defeats coverage for losses arising out of the excluded use rather than cancelling the policy. Whether paid delivery of goods sits inside that use is decided by your carrier’s commercial-use and delivery wording, so get the answer in writing or buy the delivery endorsement.[1] [14]
If what you are really weighing is whether one company should hold everything, the mechanics of adding any vehicle or driver to an existing policy are covered in our research on adding someone to your car insurance and on transferring insurance to a newly acquired vehicle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I just list the motorcycle on my declarations page like another car?
Listing it is not enough. The ISO Personal Auto Policy defines "your covered auto" as any vehicle shown in the Declarations, but Part A Exclusion B.1 separately denies liability coverage for the ownership, maintenance or use of any vehicle which has fewer than four wheels. The exclusion operates on the vehicle, not on whether it appears on the page, so the Miscellaneous Type Vehicle Endorsement has to be attached to disapply it.
Does the motorcycle get the same liability limit as my car?
No. The endorsement Schedule prints a separate limit of liability and a separate premium for each scheduled vehicle and each coverage, and states that coverage is provided where a premium and a limit of liability is shown for the coverage. A limit shown against the car does not extend to the bike.
What exactly is the passenger hazard exclusion?
A scheduled election. Where the Schedule or Declarations indicate that the passenger hazard is excluded, the endorsement adds to Part A that the insurer does not provide Liability Coverage for any insured for bodily injury to any person while occupying the described miscellaneous type vehicle. Marked yes, your policy neither defends nor indemnifies you for a passenger’s injuries.
Will my comprehensive and collision follow the bike automatically?
Only if a premium and a limit appear for those coverages on the motorcycle’s line. Where they do, the endorsement replaces the Part D limit of liability with the lesser of the scheduled amount, the actual cash value, or the cost to repair or replace with property of like kind and quality, adjusts actual cash value for depreciation and physical condition on a total loss, and pays nothing for betterment.
Are my helmet, jacket, and the contents of the saddlebags covered?
No. The endorsement adds a Part D exclusion stating the insurer will not pay for loss to clothing or luggage, business or office equipment, or articles which are sales samples or used in exhibitions.
I bought a second bike mid-term. Am I covered on the ride home?
If a motorcycle is already scheduled, yes, through the newly acquired auto provision, which the endorsement extends to any miscellaneous type vehicle of the same type shown in the Schedule or Declarations. If the new motorcycle is your first, it is not the same type as a motor home, ATV, or golf cart on the schedule, and there is no automatic grace period.
Does adding the bike to my auto policy give it PIP in a no-fault state?
Not in the three no-fault states analyzed here. Florida defines a motor vehicle for no-fault purposes as a self-propelled vehicle with four or more wheels; New York excludes motorcycles from the § 5102 definition by name; Michigan defines the term as a vehicle with more than two wheels and states it does not include a motorcycle or moped. Those are statutory definitions and a policy endorsement cannot change them. Michigan hands the rider a different benefit instead: MCL 500.3103(2) requires an insurer writing motorcycle coverage to offer the owner first-party medical benefits in $5,000 increments. The remaining no-fault and add-on states each set their own definition of a motor vehicle, and this report covers the three above rather than all of them.
Is a hail storm that damages the car and the bike two deductibles?
Under the endorsement, if loss to more than one "your covered auto" results from the same collision, only the highest applicable deductible will apply. Read your own form for how it treats other-than-collision perils, which are handled separately from collision in the deductible language.
Is it cheaper to keep the motorcycle on its own policy?
Sometimes, and price is not the only variable. The ISO household exclusion in Part C denies uninsured motorists coverage for injury sustained while occupying a motor vehicle owned by the insured that is not insured for that coverage under the policy being claimed on. A separately insured motorcycle with no UM/UIM is exactly the fact pattern that defeated the claim in Erie Insurance Exchange v. Mione.
Can the insurer refuse to add the motorcycle even though the endorsement exists?
Yes. The endorsement is an available form, not an entitlement. Whether a carrier writes motorcycle exposure at all, on what classes of bike, and at what price is an underwriting decision made against its own filed rules and its own loss experience.
Scope & Limitations
This report covers personal auto insurance in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Policy language is quoted from the ISO Personal Auto Policy PP 00 01 06 98 and the ISO Miscellaneous Type Vehicle Endorsement PP 03 23 01 05 specimen forms. These are industry templates that many carrier forms are built from; they are not your contract, and filed forms, editions, and state variants differ. Whether any given carrier offers the endorsement, and at what price, is an underwriting and rate-filing matter this report does not survey. Statutory analysis is limited to the three no-fault definitions and the Pennsylvania household exclusion cases named above, not a 50-state compilation. Crash and claim figures are national aggregates from NHTSA, IIHS, and HLDI for the years stated, and NHTSA’s motorcycle fact sheet counts mopeds, scooters, and three-wheeled machines within “motorcycles.” No premium figures are quoted because none of the sources reviewed publish endorsement rates.
Legal Disclaimer
This content is provided for informational and educational research purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, insurance advice, or a coverage determination, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes, case law, policy forms, and carrier underwriting rules change; verify current requirements with your state insurance department and read your own policy, endorsement, and declarations page before making a coverage decision.
Primary Source Directory
- Personal Auto Policy PP 00 01 06 98 (Specimen policy form): Insurance Services Office, Inc., hosted by the Nevada Division of Insurance. Defines “your covered auto” as any vehicle shown in the Declarations, a newly acquired auto, and any trailer; sets the 14-day notice period for a newly acquired auto in addition to a vehicle already shown; excludes at Part A B.1 Liability Coverage for the ownership, maintenance or use of any vehicle which has fewer than four wheels or is designed mainly for use off public roads; excludes at Part B Exclusion 1 Medical Payments Coverage for bodily injury sustained while occupying any motorized vehicle having fewer than four wheels; excludes at Part A A.5 liability for a vehicle used as a public or livery conveyance other than a share-the-expense car pool; and excludes at Part C Exclusion A.1 Uninsured Motorists Coverage for bodily injury sustained by an insured while occupying, or when struck by, any motor vehicle owned by that insured which is not insured for that coverage under the policy.
- Miscellaneous Type Vehicle Endorsement PP 03 23 01 05 (Specimen endorsement form): Insurance Services Office, ISO Properties, Inc., 2003, hosted by Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company. Defines “miscellaneous type vehicle” as a motor home, motorcycle or other similar type vehicle, all-terrain vehicle, dune buggy or golf cart; replaces the definition of “your covered auto” with any miscellaneous type vehicle shown in the Schedule or Declarations, a newly acquired auto, any trailer, and a non-owned temporary substitute; replaces Part A Exclusion B.1 so the fewer-than-four-wheels exclusion does not apply to a vehicle insured for Liability Coverage under the endorsement; replaces Part B Exclusion 1 with the same carve-out for Medical Payments Coverage; adds the passenger hazard exclusion where the Schedule or Declarations so indicate; limits the newly acquired auto category to a miscellaneous type vehicle of the same type shown in the Schedule or Declarations; replaces the Part D Limit Of Liability with the lesser of the scheduled amount, actual cash value, or the amount necessary to repair or replace with property of like kind and quality, with no payment for betterment and only the highest applicable deductible where one collision damages more than one covered auto; and adds Part D exclusions for clothing or luggage, business or office equipment, and articles which are sales samples or used in exhibitions.
- Consumer Insight: What is an Insurance Endorsement or Rider? (Official regulator association guidance): National Association of Insurance Commissioners. States that an endorsement, also called a rider, adds, deletes, excludes or changes insurance coverage; that it is an amendment to an existing insurance contract that changes the terms of the original policy and may be issued at purchase, mid-term, or at renewal; and that premiums may be affected and adjusted as a result.
- Traffic Safety Facts, Motorcycles: 2023 Data, DOT HS 813 732, July 2025 (Federal statistical publication): National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Reports 6,335 motorcyclists killed in 2023, 15 percent of all traffic fatalities; an estimated 82,564 motorcyclists injured; a 2023 fatality rate of 31.39 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled against 1.13 for passenger car occupants; 66.57 fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles against 11.61 for passenger car occupants; an injury rate of 409 per 100 million VMT against 88 for passenger car occupants; motorcycles as 3.1 percent of registered vehicles and 0.6 percent of VMT; 36 percent of motorcycle riders in fatal crashes speeding against 22 percent of passenger car drivers; and 26 percent of motorcycle riders in fatal crashes alcohol-impaired, rising to 41 percent among riders who died in single-vehicle crashes.
- Fatality Facts 2024: Motorcycles and ATVs (Research institute statistical analysis of federal crash data): Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Reports 6,228 motorcyclist deaths in 2024, 16 percent of all motor vehicle crash deaths; a per-mile motorcyclist death rate about 27 times that for automobile occupants in 2024; and that 17 states and the District of Columbia require helmet use by all riders.
- Motorcycles (Research institute topic overview): Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Reports that the driver death rate per 10,000 registered motorcycles for supersports was about four times that for cruisers or standards, and that among 2025 model year motorcycles 71 percent of models come with antilock braking as standard equipment with a further 11 percent offering it as an option.
- Largest study of its kind strengthens argument for motorcycle ABS, August 31, 2021 (Research institute study announcement): Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Reports that across 65 motorcycle models offered with and without antilock braking, ABS-equipped motorcycles had 22 percent fewer fatal crashes per 10,000 registered vehicle years, with reductions of 32 percent for standard and cruiser motorcycles, about 25 percent for touring and sport touring, 19 percent for sport bikes, and 12 percent for supersports.
- HLDI Bulletin Vol. 29, No. 4, April 2012 — Motorcycle ABS and time to claim (Insurance loss data analysis): Highway Loss Data Institute. Analyzed 4,361 collision claims across 140,080 insured vehicle years for 2006–10 model year motorcycles with optional antilock braking identified by VIN, and found ABS associated with a 30 percent reduction in collision claim frequency during the first 90 days of a policy and 19 percent thereafter, with the frequency difference in the first 90 days running 3.9 times that of the second 90 days.
- Florida Statutes § 627.732(3) (State statute): The Florida Senate, 2024 Florida Statutes. Defines “motor vehicle” for the Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law as any self-propelled vehicle with four or more wheels which is of a type both designed and required to be licensed for use on the highways of this state, and excludes mobile homes and certain mass transit vehicles.
- New York Insurance Law § 5102 (State statute): New York State Senate, Consolidated Laws of New York. Subsection (f) provides that “motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle as defined in section three hundred eleven of the vehicle and traffic law and also includes fire and police vehicles, and shall not include any motor vehicle not required to carry financial security under the specified articles of the vehicle and traffic law or a motorcycle as defined in subsection (m). Subsection (a) sets basic economic loss at up to $50,000 per person.
- Michigan Compiled Laws §§ 500.3101, 500.3103 and 500.3114 (State statute): Michigan Legislature. Section 3101 defines “motor vehicle” as a vehicle operated or designed for operation on a public highway by power other than muscular power that has more than 2 wheels, and provides that the term does not include a motorcycle or a moped. Section 3103(2) requires each insurer affording motorcycle coverage to offer the owner or registrant security for first-party medical benefits in increments of $5,000. Section 3114(5) sets the order of priority for a motorcycle operator or passenger injured in an accident showing evidence of the involvement of a motor vehicle: the insurer of the owner or registrant of the motor vehicle involved, then its operator’s insurer, then the motorcycle operator’s motor vehicle insurer, then the motor vehicle insurer of the motorcycle’s owner or registrant.
- Erie Insurance Exchange v. Mione, 2021 PA Super 91, No. 1450 EDA 2020 (State appellate opinion): Superior Court of Pennsylvania, filed May 10, 2021, published by the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Recites that Albert Mione was injured operating a 2008 Suzuki GS500F on July 21, 2018; that the motorcycle was insured by Progressive and was not listed on either Erie auto policy; affirms judgment for the insurer on the principle that a clear and unambiguous household exclusion is enforceable where the insured was operating a vehicle covered by a separate policy not providing him UM/UIM coverage; quotes the statutory waiver text of 75 Pa.C.S. § 1738(a)–(e) and the reasoning of Gallagher v. GEICO Indemnity Co., 201 A.3d 131 (Pa. 2019); and records the trial court’s observation that had Albert purchased UIM coverage under his Progressive motorcycle policy the case would have fallen squarely within Gallagher.
- Erie Insurance Exch. v. Mione, No. 89 MAP 2021, 289 A.3d 524 (Pa. Feb. 15, 2023) (State supreme court decision record): Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, decision record as published by the Justia case law repository. Records the February 15, 2023 decision affirming that household vehicle exclusions barring UM/UIM coverage for injuries sustained while operating a household vehicle not listed on the policy under which benefits are sought were valid on these facts.
- Insurance Topics: Commercial Ride-Sharing (Official regulator association guidance): National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Addresses transportation network company (ride-sharing) driving rather than goods or food delivery. States that it is not uncommon for personal auto policies to exclude coverage for livery or receiving compensation for driving, and that a transportation network company driver relying on a personal auto policy may find liability insurance, personal injury protection coverage in no-fault states, comprehensive and collision coverage, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage unavailable.