Electric scooters – or e-scooters - have soared in popularity in recent years, a trend that will only continue to increase.
At the time of writing (May 2020), they’re only legal on private land. It is currently against the law in the UK to ride e-scooters on public land including parks, pavements, footpaths, and roads.
However, it's only a matter of time before the UK follows the example of other countries and legalises electric scooters on public roads. In fact, the UK Government recently announced plans to fast-track electric scooter trials in parts of the UK.
But with a growing number of electric scooters on the roads comes a heightened risk of something going wrong. But what specifically could happen, and why would you need electric scooter insurance in such instances?
Electric scooters are expensive. A standard model will set you back around £400, while top of the range devices can cost upwards of £2,000. This clearly makes an electric scooter a highly desirable item for someone to steal.
If your electric scooter were stolen, and you didn’t have specialist insurance, you’d need to pay for a replacement out of your own pocket. You’d also have to cover the repairs if it were badly damaged. Are these costs you would want to pay? We would guess the answer is no.
That’s why Cycleplan offers up to £30,000 of theft and accidental damage insurance. This provides protection if your electric scooter is stolen while being used by you, or an immediate family member who permanently lives with you.
This protection is essential because, despite what you may think, your home insurance is unlikely to cover the theft of your electric scooter outside of the home. However, with specialist electric scooter insurance, you know your scooter is protected if you're on private land and have the landowner's permission.
A standard electric scooter has an average speed of 12mph. When travelling at such speeds, you risk seriously injuring yourself if you fall off your electric scooter. Obviously, you’ll do everything you can to stay safe, but all it takes is an uneven surface or a mistimed manoeuvre for you to lose control.
That's why we offer Personal Accident cover as part of our electric scooter insurance. This provides protection for death or permanent disability if you have an accident or fall off and seriously injure yourself. It also provides financial compensation if you break certain bones or require emergency dental work, hospitalisation or physiotherapy.
It’s not only yourself you could injure when travelling at the speeds mentioned above. You could also injure another person.
For this reason, Public Liability is essential for electric scooter owners. We provide up to £5 million Public Liability to cover you if you injure another person or damage someone else’s property when out riding. Given that a costly compensation claim could be made against you if this happens, it’s a no-brainer.
Our electric scooter insurance is not only great value and highly competitive, it can be easily tailored to your scooter. Provided you're using your electric scooter on private land with the landowner's permission, we can cover you. Simply build your own policy in just a few minutes.
Better yet, we can cover multiple scooters and bikes on one policy. Take advantage of all of this by getting an online quote today.
Please note: It is currently against the law in the UK to ride e-scooters on public land including parks, pavements, footpaths, and roads. You will only be covered by this policy when using your e-scooter on private land with the landowner’s permission.