Does Georgia motorcycle insurance include uninsured motorist coverage?

Insurers writing motorcycle policies in Georgia must offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, known as UM/UIM, under O.C.G.A. Section 33-7-11. A rider can accept it or reject it, but the rejection has to be made in writing. The coverage is not automatically excluded, and it is not automatically included either. It has to be affirmatively offered and the rider's choice has to be documented.

Uninsured motorist coverage pays for the rider's injuries and, depending on the policy, certain property damage, when the at-fault driver in a crash either carries no insurance at all or does not carry enough insurance to cover the full loss. For a motorcycle rider, this matters more than it might for a car driver. A rider has far less physical protection in a crash, so injury costs from even a moderate collision tend to run higher, and liability limits carried by the at-fault driver can be exhausted quickly.

An estimated 19.0 percent of Georgia motorists were uninsured in 2023. That is roughly one in five drivers on the road with no liability coverage to pay for the other person's damages if they cause a crash. For a rider without UM/UIM coverage, an at-fault driver with no insurance means the rider's medical bills, lost income, and bike repairs have nowhere else to come from except their own resources.

For example, a rider stopped at a red light who is struck by a driver who fled the scene or turns out to carry no insurance has no liability policy to file a claim against. If the rider's own motorcycle policy includes UM coverage, that coverage responds in the at-fault driver's place. Without it, the rider is left covering medical bills and repairs out of pocket, or pursuing the other driver directly, which is often not collectible.

UM/UIM coverage works alongside the rest of a Georgia motorcycle policy, and how much protection makes sense depends on individual riding habits, health coverage, and financial exposure, which is the kind of question a coverage review is built to walk through. General coverage details are at Georgia motorcycle insurance and motorcycle insurance. Fault after a crash also affects what a rider can recover from the other driver directly, covered in what happens if I am partly at fault for a motorcycle crash in Georgia.