Off-roading season: ATV and UTV insurance reminders

Off-road season in the four states runs on two calendars. In the low desert around Phoenix, Lake Havasu, Las Vegas and St. George, riding is best from autumn through spring, when the washes and dunes are cool enough to spend a day in. In the mountains of northern Utah and Idaho, the trails open as the snow melts and stay busy until the first autumn storms. Many households ride both, which means the machine goes in and out of storage twice a year.

Each start of a season is a good moment to check coverage, because what changed over the off months usually changed the insurance too. This article is the reminder list: what to check before the first ride, what the policy expects on the trail, what happens after a crash or theft, and the handful of decisions that decide whether a bad day is paid.

What the season does to machines, trucks and trailers

A riding weekend puts three kinds of property at risk at once. The ATV or side-by-side faces rollovers, collisions with other riders and rocks, and theft from trailheads, campgrounds and motel parking lots. The tow vehicle faces the highway, loaded, often on long drives to Moab, the Little Sahara dunes or the St. Anthony Sand Dunes. The trailer between them is its own piece of property, with its own exposure to theft, a blown tyre or a jack-knife.

The riskiest exposure is liability. A passenger hurt in a rollover, a hiker struck on a shared trail, a fence and a cow on grazing land, or a wildfire started by a hot exhaust in dry grass can each produce a claim larger than the machine is worth.

Before the first ride

Work through this list when the machine comes out of storage.

• Restore full coverage if the policy was reduced for storage. Some carriers let an owner drop liability and collision while a machine is laid up and keep only comprehensive for theft and fire. That reduction has to be reversed before the machine is ridden.
• Update the accessory schedule. A winter of upgrades, such as a new cage, lights, a winch, tyres or a sound system, is not insured above the policy's small built-in allowance until the carrier is told.
• Update the riders. A teenager who was too young last season may now ride; a new partner or a friend may be joining every weekend. Carriers rate and sometimes restrict operators by age and experience.
• Check the passenger coverage. If the machine seats two or more, confirm the policy covers injuries to passengers.
• Check the trailer. The tow vehicle's auto policy generally extends liability to a trailer being towed, but damage to the trailer itself, and theft of a trailer left at camp, needs physical damage coverage on the trailer or on a separate schedule.
• Carry proof. Keep an insurance card for the machine with the registration or trail permit; some land managers and trail systems ask for it.

Which policy responds on the trail

The off-road policy on the machine is primary for the machine's liability, damage and theft wherever it is ridden legally. A homeowners policy is not a substitute. It generally covers a recreational vehicle's liability only on the insured property and limits damage to a small sublimit, so it stops responding at the end of the driveway.

Three situations cause most of the confusion. The first is a borrowed machine: liability usually follows the vehicle, so the owner's policy pays first when a friend rides it with permission, and the rider's own coverage, if any, is excess. The second is a rental in a riding town: the rental agreement usually shifts damage to the renter, and a personal auto policy does not cover an off-road machine at all, so the protection comes from the rental company's own waiver or from a policy the renter already carries on an owned machine, where the carrier extends it. Read the agreement before signing. The third is a guided tour: the outfitter's commercial policy is primary for its operations, but a rider who causes an injury can still be named personally.

Suppose two riders are on a borrowed side-by-side in Sand Hollow and the driver rolls it, injuring the passenger, whose medical bills reach $60,000, and damaging the machine by $8,000. The owner's off-road policy, if it has passenger liability with a limit of, for example, $100,000 and collision coverage, handles both claims subject to the deductible. Without passenger coverage, the injury claim is contested and the driver and owner may each face it personally. These figures are hypothetical.

Fire, heat and trail rules

Dry grass in late spring and summer turns a riding day into a wildfire exposure. Land agencies impose fire restrictions that may require spark arrestors, limit riding areas or close trails, and the rules change with conditions. A rider whose machine starts a fire can be held responsible for suppression costs and for damage to neighbouring property. The liability section of an off-road policy responds to property damage the rider causes, up to its limit, but a claim that includes the cost of fighting a large fire can run past that limit quickly.

Two habits limit the exposure: keep the spark arrestor and exhaust in good repair, and check current fire restrictions for the area before loading the trailer. In desert riding, heat is a safety issue rather than an insurance one, but a machine abandoned in a remote wash after an overheating failure is a theft risk, and a delayed recovery can complicate a comprehensive claim.

After a crash or a theft

The order is the same wherever the ride ends.

• Get injured people help first. Remote trails have poor signal, so note the location from a GPS app before calling.
• Photograph the scene, the machines, the terrain and any property damaged, before anything is moved.
• Take names, phone numbers and insurance details from other riders involved, and contact details for witnesses.
• Report theft to the local sheriff or police immediately and keep the report number; carriers need it for a comprehensive claim.
• Report the claim to the carrier promptly, even if the other rider seems at fault and says they will pay.
• Do not repair the machine until the adjuster has seen it or agreed to the repair in writing.

The decision points

There are five questions to settle each season. Is the machine back on full coverage after storage? Are the accessories scheduled at what they would cost to replace? Does the policy cover passengers? Does the liability limit fit a household with a home and savings, and, if there is an umbrella policy, is the machine listed on it with the underlying limit the umbrella requires? Is the trailer insured for physical damage?

If the answers are all yes, the recommendation is to ride and keep the photographs of the accessories current. If any is no, the fix is usually a phone call and a modest premium change. We review off-road, auto, trailer and umbrella coverage together across the carriers we represent in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho, at no cost, and we say so when nothing needs to change.