UPDATE: July 16 – The full N.C. Senate approved the bill on a 36-11 vote. It now goes back to the House, whose previously adopted version did not include an insurance requirement.
Below is the original story published July 15.
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If approved, a proposal to require liability insurance on mopeds in North Carolina could cost owners hundreds of dollars annually.
That’s according to remarks from senators and staffers during debate Tuesday in the Senate Finance Committee, which favored the insurance mandate outlined in the latest version of House Bill 1145.
A North Carolinian relying on a moped per a suspended driver’s license could face a $380 annual insurance payment if the bill became law, said Rose Vaughn Williams, legislative counsel for the N.C. Department of Insurance. She said her office found its figure after shopping around in the insurance market just as anyone would. (That quote specifically reflected a moped operator who’d lost his or her driver’s license after 15 years, she noted.)
Williams also found that a moped operator who is unlicensed but doesn’t have a troubled driving record would see a $100-a-year policy.
An operator who is licensed, with a clean history, would face about $92 a year.
That’s substantially more than the $65 quoted under the jurisdiction of the N.C. Rate Bureau–which represents private insurers in North Carolina–earlier this session as a prior edition of the bill was making its way through the House.
The proposal would also require owners to register their mopeds with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles.
Currently, anyone at least 16 years old can operate a moped on a state highway or public roadway without a license, registration or insurance, making the low-speed vehicles a reliable fallback for people who’ve lost their licenses due to DWIs or other infractions.
Mopeds are also the alternative for residents who simply can’t afford a car, said John Hill, a Greensboro-based dealer and member of the N.C. Motorcycle Dealers Association.
Hill delivered remarks to the Finance Committee Tuesday and said the bill, if made law, would hurt his business as well as low-income residents who need affordable transportation to their jobs, often to support families.
“I have a considerable amount of inventory now that, it really will not sell if you put [forth] this insurance requirement,” said Hill.
But Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson) argued it’s time moped operators put “a little skin in the game” if they’re going to share highways with other vehicles.
“It’s just a problem,” he said. “It’s not one of my major issues … but I just think it makes common sense for them to have some financial responsibility.”
The proposal began in the House in May but passed that chamber without an insurance mandate. Instead, it sought a study of whether stronger moped regulations are needed.
Related story: House version of moped bill doesn’t require insurance
“The study was necessary due to the fact that most insurers require individuals to possess a state-issued driver’s license in order to access driving history and therefore set the premium rate in which insurance would be provided,” explained Rep. Chris Millis (R-Pender), one of the House bill’s primary sponsors.
During Tuesday’s Senate committee debate, Sen. Josh Stein (D-Wake) said he supported a registration requirement but, like the House, believed the insurance issue needed another look.
If the full Senate approves its version of the bill, it would go back to the House for consideration. The chambers would have to resolve the differences before the bill could become law.
Click here to view the proposal.
Past stories:
Moped insurance proposal returns
Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter:@benbrownmedia
