As a motorcycle owner and rider, you need to understand how New Jersey’s insurance requirements affect you and whether or not they adequately protect you in case of an accident.
New Jersey requires liability insurance, pedestrian personal injury protection insurance, and uninsured motorist insurance for all motorcyclists. New Jersey is also a “no pay, no play” state, so not having insurance may block your recovery, even if someone else is at fault. Don’t accept the first payout from a negligent driver’s liability insurance, and let us review all offers. Filing a lawsuit may yield greater damages, and we can see if you have a viable case right away.
Get a free case review from New Jersey motorcycle accident lawyer Jerry Friedman by calling 1-800-529-4464 today.
What Are New Jersey’s Motorcycle Insurance Laws?
New Jersey has different insurance requirements for motorcycles than it does for cars. You need insurance to register your vehicle and operate it legally, so make sure you’re covered.
Liability Insurance
New Jersey motorcyclists are required to carry the following amounts in liability insurance, at a minimum:
- $15,000 for bodily injury per person
- $30,000 for bodily injury per accident
- $25,000 for property damage
Liability insurance covers damages that the insured causes, not those that the insured incurs. These amounts are expected to increase in 2026, so keep that in mind if you need to renew your policy soon. These are the minimum coverage requirements, and motorcyclists may carry more if they choose.
Pedestrian Personal Injury Protection Insurance
Motorcyclists must also carry personal injury protection insurance (PIP) for pedestrians, not for themselves, according to N.J.S.A. § 17:28-1.3. Pedestrian personal injury protection insurance covers up to $250,000 in medical damages and some lost wages if motorcyclists strike and injure pedestrians in New Jersey.
Like liability insurance, pedestrian personal injury protection doesn’t cover motorcyclists’ damages in any way after accidents.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Motorcyclists also need uninsured motorist coverage in New Jersey. Required amounts depend on when a policy was issued or renewed, so you may have to purchase more coverage next time you renew your uninsured motorist policy.
Uninsured motorist coverage helps motorcyclists when they are struck by negligent drivers who don’t have any liability insurance, don’t have enough insurance, or flee the scene of an accident.
Does My Personal Injury Protection Insurance Cover Injuries from a Motorcycle Accident in New Jersey?
Your motorcycle may not be your primary mode of transportation. If you also own and operate a car in New Jersey, you need personal injury protection insurance for that vehicle. Your PIP can cover you if you are injured as a driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, but not if you are injured on a motorcycle.
New Jersey is a no-fault state for most motor vehicle accidents, except motorcycle crashes. PIP won’t cover your injuries, and you may get compensation from the negligent driver’s liability insurance. If they don’t have liability insurance, your uninsured motorist coverage can help.
Because no-fault laws don’t apply to motorcycle accidents in New Jersey, victims don’t have to meet the serious injury threshold to sue negligent drivers, as victims of car crashes do. Instead, they can file lawsuits for any injury, provided it causes them damages.
What if I Don’t Have Motorcycle Insurance in New Jersey?
New Jersey is a “no pay, no play” state under § 39:6A-4.5. This stops victims from being able to file lawsuits if they don’t maintain the mandatory insurance, which makes observing the state’s motorcycle insurance laws crucial.
There are other consequences to riding a motorcycle without insurance, like fines and license suspension. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t call 911 after a motorcycle accident if you are uninsured, as police reporting is mandatory in many situations in New Jersey.
How to Deal with Insurance Companies After Motorcycle Accidents
We help motorcycle accident victims navigate dealing insurance companies so they don’t have to handle the claims process themselves. They can instead focus on their physical recoveries.
Fault matters in motorcycle accidents since New Jersey’s no-fault rules don’t apply, so avoid accepting blame when dealing with the negligent driver’s liability insurance company. Let us handle communications with the insurer and help you give concise, accurate statements.
Reporting accidents to insurance companies as soon as possible is important. We can assist you with this by gathering all the photos you took, obtaining initial medical documentation of your injuries, and even securing the crash report written by law enforcement.
Don’t engage with insurance companies without an experienced attorney by your side. Adjusters can be difficult to deal with, and we can ensure you are treated fairly.
Should I Accept an Insurance Payout After a New Jersey Motorcycle Accident?
Insurance companies may give lowball offers after motorcycle accidents in New Jersey. There is no reason you need to accept these offers, and you may file a lawsuit instead.
Don’t accept an insurance payout before consulting with our Jersey Shore motorcycle accident lawyer. Jerry can review the accident, your total damages, and the offer to see if it is fair. Insurance companies typically begin with low offers and may not significantly increase them unless victims file lawsuits.
While accepting an insurance payout after a motorcycle accident may lead to some compensation sooner, your recovery may be much larger if you let us file a lawsuit and negotiate an even bigger settlement or get more damages at a trial.
If you accept a payout prematurely and then realize your damages are greater, you may be unable to seek additional compensation. While you may need compensation fast, don’t rush the recovery process, as that might result in you leaving important damages on the table.
Do Insurance Companies Apply Comparative Fault Laws to Motorcycle Accidents?
New Jersey is a modified comparative fault state for injury claims, according to § 2A:15-5.1. Insurance companies may try to use this to excuse lowball payouts, and we can prepare for such tactics.
A victim who shares fault for their injuries may still recover damages as long as their negligence does not outweigh the other party’s negligence. Though they can still recover damages, their damages will be reduced proportionally to their liability.
When insurance companies get victims to accept fault for motorcycle accidents, they can deny claims due to the fact that the victim was supposedly more to blame. Don’t accept this at face value, and let us review your case in greater detail.
Even when comparative fault is a factor in motorcycle accident cases, car drivers are typically more to blame, which our Elizabeth, NJ motorcycle accident lawyer can help prove when you contact us about your case.
What Are New Jersey’s Motorcycle Laws?
New Jersey has additional laws pertaining to motorcyclists, including the type of protective headgear they are required to wear, the license they must possess, and the rules they must follow while riding.
Helmets
- 39:3-76.7 makes wearing helmets mandatory for all motorcycle riders in New Jersey. They can’t be just any helmets but must be approved by the Department of Transportation.
Helmets are not the only safety gear motorcyclists are legally required to wear. If you do not have a face shield on your helmet or a windscreen on your vehicle, you must wear goggles to protect your eyes from dirt and debris.
License
You either need a motorcycle license or a motorcycle endorsement on your driver’s license to operate a motorcycle in New Jersey legally. You must be at least 17 years old to get a motorcycle endorsement and meet other criteria as well.
Lane Splitting
While improper passing is prohibited under § 39:4-85, lane splitting, which involves motorcycles traveling between lanes of traffic, is not explicitly banned in New Jersey. Many consider lane splitting a safe practice for motorcyclists, as it enables them to navigate congested areas and avoid potentially reckless motorists.
Traffic Laws
Motorcyclists have to follow the same traffic laws and general rules of the road as car or truck drivers in New Jersey, such as observing speed limits, driving responsibly, using turn signals, and more.
Can I Get Extra Insurance for My Motorcycle in New Jersey?
There’s other motorcycle insurance you can get other than what’s required in New Jersey. Getting extra insurance can protect you in even more situations, so it’s something to consider as a motorcyclist.
Comprehensive Coverage
Comprehensive coverage protects against damage resulting from non-collision incidents, including vandalism, theft, falling objects, and natural disasters. You can add comprehensive coverage to most motorcycle liability insurance policies for extra protection.
Collision Coverage
Though New Jersey’s no-fault rules don’t apply to motorcycle accidents, you can get collision coverage that protects against vehicle damage, no matter who is at fault. Collision coverage is not required but is common among many New Jersey motorcyclists.
What Do I Need for a Claim After a Motorcycle Accident?
You need evidence that backs up an insurance claim after a motorcycle accident in New Jersey. Suppose the insurance company doesn’t offer enough in a payout. In that case, we can use this evidence, along with other supporting evidence, to obtain sufficient compensation through a lawsuit.
Accident Photos
You need accident photos, so always take pictures after a motorcycle accident. Don’t delete any pictures before sending them to our lawyer. Photos of impact points, property damage, debris, and even your immediate injuries on the scene are useful.
In addition to accident photos, we may get videos showing the crash. Footage from nearby surveillance cameras may show a negligent car driver striking the motorcyclist, which we can pass on to the insurance carrier.
Witness Statements
Witness statements are impactful in insurance claims and lawsuits. Eyewitnesses can explain what happened, which party was negligent, and dispel assertions that you contributed to the crash.
We record witness statements for victims, so please let us know if you spoke to anyone after the collision that we should interview. If victims file car accident lawsuits that go to trial, eyewitness testimony becomes some of the strongest evidence of liability.
You are a witness, too, and the insurance company might request statements from you. We can ensure you answer questions from the claims adjuster honestly yet concisely and do not accept fault in any way.
Police Reports
Insurance companies rely on police reports to piece together an accident’s events. That is one of the primary reasons why calling the police and reporting an accident is crucial. We can obtain the report from the police department that completed it and quickly analyze it for important information.
On top of containing the involved parties’ names and insurance information, the police report also states the accident’s likely cause and any contributing factors. Since police reports are so important to insurance companies after motorcycle accidents in New Jersey, we will read yours with you and check for any incorrect information. If there are inaccuracies, we can alert law enforcement and get the report amended before we need it for the insurance company.
Medical Records
Without medical records, insurance companies won’t believe victims’ injuries from motorcycle accidents. You may not know the full extent of an injury when you initially file the claim. We can send updated information about your condition as it progresses and its effects become clearer.
Serious motorcycle accidents can leave victims in the hospital for days or weeks, and we can handle organizing medical records for insurance companies during that time while also beginning to track damages.
Call Jerry About Your Motorcycle Accident in New Jersey
Call Cherry Hill, NJ motorcycle accident lawyer Jerry Friedman at 1-800-529-4464 for a free and confidential case assessment today.