Powersports Insurance

Does my homeowners policy cover my ATV, dirt bike or jet ski?

Almost never once it leaves your property, and often not on it either. The standard homeowners form excludes liability for motor vehicles, with an exception only for vehicles not subject to registration that are used to service the residence, such as a riding mower. Contents coverage excludes motor vehicles on the same basis. Watercraft are excluded above set thresholds: an outboard over 25 horsepower, an inboard or inboard-outdrive over 50 horsepower, or a sailing vessel over 26 feet. A personal watercraft is well past those numbers. So the machine that is easiest to buy on a weekend is also the one your home policy is least likely to answer for.

Is insurance required to ride in California?

It depends on where the wheels touch. Off-highway vehicles used only off-road are not required by the state to carry liability insurance. What they need is DMV off-highway registration: a Green Sticker for emissions-compliant machines, or the Red Sticker for model years 2003 to 2021, which the state now treats as valid year-round. Registration runs $54 per two-year cycle. A street-legal motorcycle or dual-sport is a registered motor vehicle and must meet California’s financial responsibility law. Since 1 January 2025 that means liability limits of at least $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 property damage, rising again in 2035. On the water, every operator of a motorized vessel has needed the California Boater Card since 1 January 2025, and nobody under 16 may operate a personal watercraft. The state does not mandate boat insurance, but marinas, launch ramps and lenders usually do.

State vehicular recreation areas such as Hungry Valley near Gorman and Ocotillo Wells add their own rules. They require current OHV registration or a street plate, a USFS-approved spark arrester, a 96-decibel sound limit, DOT helmets for ATV riders, and safety certificates or adult supervision for riders under 18. None of them require insurance. All of them assume you have thought about what happens if you or a passenger is hurt.

What does a powersports policy actually cover?

The same parts as a motorcycle policy, adjusted for how these machines are used. Liability for injury to others and damage to their property, which is the part the homeowners policy walked away from. Collision and comprehensive on the machine itself, on either an actual-cash-value or an agreed-value basis; agreed value matters on a built-up machine, because the trail-ready value and the depreciated value are different numbers. Medical payments for you and your passenger. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on anything that goes on the road. Accessories and custom parts, which are limited on most base forms and need to be scheduled. The trailer, which is usually a separate item.

What happens if a friend rides my ATV and gets hurt?

Two claims can come out of one afternoon: your friend’s injury, and damage your friend causes to someone else. Liability under your powersports policy generally follows the machine, so a permissive rider is covered for what they do to others, and guest-passenger or medical coverage answers for the friend on the back. What is not covered is the friend’s own machine, or a rider you did not permit. The policy’s definition of who is an insured is the paragraph to read, and it is the one that differs most between carriers.

Which machines are we talking about?

ATVs, side-by-sides and UTVs, dirt bikes and dual-sports, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, and golf carts and low-speed vehicles that go on public roads. Each is rated differently, some carriers will not write certain classes at all, and a machine that is street-legal is treated as a motor vehicle rather than a toy. A low-speed vehicle on a public road is a registered motor vehicle and needs liability coverage like any other. A golf cart on a locally designated cart route usually does not, but the homeowners exclusion still applies to it.

Are aftermarket parts and accessories covered?

Only up to a small built-in allowance unless you add them. Most powersports policies include somewhere between $500 and $3,000 of optional equipment coverage automatically, and a winch, light bar, lift kit, roof, windshield, cage or wheel set adds up past that quickly. Carriers sell more in increments, commonly up to $20,000 or $30,000, and the coverage rides on comprehensive and collision, so a liability-only policy carries none of it. Tell us what you have bolted on and keep the receipts. A claim adjuster values the machine as built, and the add-ons only count if they are on the policy.

Am I covered while trailering my UTV to the riding area?

Partly, and the split matters. The liability on your auto policy extends to a trailer you own while your car or truck is pulling it. The auto policy pays to repair the trailer itself only if the trailer is listed on it with comprehensive and collision. It never pays for the machine strapped to the trailer, because an ATV is not a covered auto under a personal auto policy. The machine’s own comprehensive and collision follow it wherever it is inside the policy territory, which is usually the United States and Canada. That means on the trailer, at a motel parking lot on the way to Glamis, in the garage, and at the staging area. So a UTV stolen off a trailer overnight is a comprehensive claim on the powersports policy. A trailer that jackknifes on the Grapevine is a claim on the auto policy only if the trailer is scheduled there.

Can I make my side-by-side street legal in California?

No. The DMV will not register a four-wheel ATV or a side-by-side for on-highway use, and a machine built for off-highway use cannot be converted unless the manufacturer built it as a dual-purpose vehicle. Road use is limited to signed combined-use routes of up to three miles and direct crossings of two-lane roads, which several desert and mountain communities have set up. A street-legal kit does not change the vehicle’s registration, so the machine stays an off-highway vehicle and is insured as one.

Does uninsured motorist coverage on an ATV policy protect me from an uninsured rider?

Not always, and this is a California quirk worth asking about. Insurance Code section 11580.2 requires every insurer to offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on any motor vehicle liability policy, including an ATV policy, and you have to reject it in writing. But the statute’s definition of an uninsured motor vehicle leaves out a vehicle designed primarily for use off public roads, except while it is actually on a public road. The coverage the statute guarantees may therefore not respond to a collision with an uninsured rider on the trail. Some carriers write their forms wider than the statute, so ask before you assume.

How do you get a powersports quote from us?

Use the motorcycle and powersports quote and tell us the year, make and model, whether it is street-legal, where you ride, and what you have added to it. Most powersports risks we can quote directly. A few go to a specialty market and take longer. Either way you know before you decide. If you are shopping for the machine first, off-roading in Southern California covers where people ride and what to bring.

Registration, licensing and boater-card rules current as of September 2026; check the DMV and California State Parks OHV pages before a trip.

Schneiderman Insurance Agency makes the process of finding ATV and powersports insurance convenient for you. Tell us about your situation, we review your risks and options with you, we help you put the right coverage in place, and we stay with you at renewal.

Powersports coverage follows the same on-road and off-road split as motorcycle insurance, and a golf cart on public streets is on the road side of it. The wider program is on our personal insurance page.