Special Insurance requirements for BC electric bikes

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Some of the them look like scooters. And some of them look like something your Grandma would ride. But one thing electric bikes have in common in common in BC, is they have special insurance requirements. Michaela Pitt of Coast Country Insurance explains:

Michaela Pitt: First of all, it’s not covered under you homeowner’s insurance. And it’s also not insurable by ICBC because ICBC classifies it as a motor vehicle. Normally if you are out on your peddle bike and you cause 3rd party liability damage, you are covered, but because this bike contains an engine so-to-speak, it’s excluded from you homeowner’s policy. It’s the liability portion that’s the problem. So we’ve made a condition so that you will now be able to buy that extension to cover the liability whilst you’re on that bike. I believe ours is $25 to increase it to $2 Million liability. A lot of people don’t know they need to let us know because they look at these as just bikes. We have spoken to the dealers in town and let them know that they need to make their client’s aware that there is this gap and they need to talk to their insurance brokers about it.