Electric Scooter Insurance
At the time of writing (June 2022), electric scooters – or e-scooters – are yet to be completely legalised on UK public roads. The electric scooter market is predicted to be worth around £20bn by 2025, as private sales continue to rise.
Whichever way you look at it, the electric scooter market is growing at a rapid rate. But this growth carries with it an increased risk of thefts and accidents. That’s why, if you own an electric scooter or are planning to buy one, having electric scooter insurance is essential.
We outline the main reasons you need it below – but first, here’s a bit of essential background reading on electric scooters.
Are electric scooters legal in the UK?
Electric scooters are legal in the UK, but currently only for use on private land and with the landowner’s permission. At present, it’s illegal to ride an electric scooter on public land, including cycle paths, parks, pavements, footpaths and roads in the UK.
If the police catch you, you’ll be reprimanded for breaking the law and our insurance will not cover you for riding on public land. You also cannot buy our insurance in order to get your scooter back from the police if it’s been impounded.
Riders of electric scooters in the UK must be aged 16 or over and have a full or provisional driving licence.
Now we’ve outlined the laws around the use of electric scooters in the UK, let’s have a look at what’s included in our electric scooter insurance.
What does our electric scooter insurance cover?
Depending on your needs and how often you use (or are planning to use) your electric scooter, this is the cover we provide.
Theft and damage up to £30,000
Electric scooters don’t come cheap. As you may know, a basic electric scooter costs between £200 and £400, while more advanced models can cost well into the thousands.
Getting them fixed often isn’t cheap either, especially if they sustain extensive damage. With that in mind, what if your electric scooter were damaged and you had to pay for the repairs yourself?
Worse still, what if your electric scooter were stolen and you had to buy a new one yourself? Would you be happy to pay out thousands for this because you didn’t have the right insurance? We’d assume probably not.
Plus, as past examples have shown, having your electric scooter stolen is distressing enough without the double whammy of losing money because you’re not sufficiently protected.
That’s why, at Ripe, we provide up to £30,000 to protect against theft and accidental damage. We also cover your electric scooter when it’s being used on private land by an immediate family member who permanently lives with you.
With Ripe’s e-scooter insurance, you know that whatever difficult scenarios you encounter, at least you have a suitable safety net.
Personal Accident protection
Electric scooters can travel at speeds that could cause a serious injury if you fell off while riding one. You might break something or need emergency dental work, hospitalisation, or physiotherapy.
Our Personal Accident protection will help cover the costs if this happens. It includes the above examples and even includes compensation for permanent disability and death.
Whilst you might be safety-conscious, even with the best will in the world, accidents can happen, particularly when you’re travelling up to 15mph. That’s why it’s important to be insured.
Public Liability up to £5m
Of course, just as electric scooters travel at speeds that could injure you, they also travel at speeds that could injure another person.
Depending on the severity of that person’s injuries, they may decide to claim against you.
Our Public Liability will cover your legal costs if this happens. We offer up to £5 million Public Liability cover if you injure another person or damage someone else’s property when out riding. This way, you know you’re protected if an accident occurs.
Please note, due to the current laws around electric scooter usage, we can’t cover injuries to members of the public if the scooter is being used in a public space. We also can’t cover your family members for Public Liability.
Are electric scooters covered by home insurance policies?
A lot of people don’t know this, but your home insurance policy most likely doesn’t cover your electric scooter outside of the home.
So, if you ride your electric scooter outside and anything happens to it, or you either injure yourself or someone else while riding it, you probably won’t be covered if your electric scooter is part of your home insurance policy.
However, with specialist electric scooter insurance, you know that your scooter is protected if you're on private land and have the landowner's permission.
Here’s what one of our policyholders had to say…
Rob Appleton, one of our policyholders, knows first-hand the importance of having specialist electric scooter insurance. This is Rob’s story:
“I’d locked my electric scooter overnight in a fully secured underground park in the block of flats where I live, and it was stolen. The panic set in straight away, and I was trying to come to terms with what had happened.
“The first thing I did was contact the police and obtain a crime reference number, which I knew would be important, then I contacted the Ripe e-scooter claims team.
“The adviser asked me what happened and when, where I stored my scooter, and how I locked it. It was a good start to the process, the communication was consistent, and straight away I felt looked after and confident that Ripe was there to help.
“It took about a week from when I made my claim to when I received the pay-out for a replacement scooter. Once I’d submitted photos of my scooter and the relevant invoices, it was dealt with very quickly. I was very impressed with how Ripe handled my case, and its cover is extremely important.
“You’ve got to have that peace of mind, be wise and get covered. Electric scooters are valuable pieces of kit, and you need to know that they’re protected and that you’ll be looked after if the worst happens. The last thing you want is to have to replace yours out of your pocket.”
Why insure your electric scooter with Ripe?
Our electric scooter insurance is great value and can be tailored to your needs. Thanks to our very own Ripe Guarantee, we promise to provide great cover and exceptional service at the right price.
Provided you're using your electric scooter on private land with the landowner's permission, we can insure you. It takes just a few minutes to build your bespoke policy, which you can do on the website of our sister company Cycleplan.
Better yet, we can cover multiple scooters and bikes on one policy. Take advantage of all of this and get a quote today.
