Booming, electric scooters must be insured with at least civil liability to avoid a financial catastrophe. But you can also choose a more covering contract.
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They flooded our roads. Electric scooters have experienced considerable growth in just a few years. According to the Federation of Micro-Mobility Professionals, the number of owners of electric scooters in France increased from 640,000 in 2019 to 2.5 million in 2023. And that’s without counting self-service ones. A development which did not happen without compensation. These motorized personal travel devices (EDPM) are the cause of 44 deaths – an increase of 7% over one year – and 640 serious injuries in 2023, according to the latest Road Safety report. And for 2 years, 45% of deaths in EDPM of people aged 18 to 34. A young audience, not necessarily aware of an obligation registered since 2019 by the mobility law: that of insuring their electric scooter. The reform of the green card in April 2024 even strengthened this duty, the user must display the sticker on the vehicle and have an insurance certificate.
However, according to the national survey by the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe), 27% of electric scooter users are not insured, and 5% do not know that they must be. “We realize that our policyholders have a lack of understanding of the insurance needs for this type of vehicle. There is a lot of educational work to be done”notes Chloé Vergnaud, director of damage and health offers at Abeille Assurances, an organization which markets contracts of this type. The owner of the scooter must at least be covered by civil liability, namely bodily injury and material damage caused to others during a disaster. Users of self-service scooters are subject to the same obligation.
Also read: Electric scooters: that’s it, you must respect the same rules as cyclists!
A hundred euros per year
On the other hand, this minimum guarantee does not protect its beneficiaries against the damage they themselves suffer, whether physical or material. “To do this, it is necessary to subscribe to guarantees for the driver, explains Chloé Vergnaud. This is all the more important as the most frequent accident involves a car and a scooter.” These guarantees make it possible to cover possible hospitalization costs for scooter users, but only 21% of them have such protection. However, this duo of guarantees only costs around a hundred euros per year. The call prices, including only civil liability, are 2 to 4 times cheaper: from 25 euros at Macif, 40 euros at Luko and 58 euros at Allianz.
Also read: Electric scooters: can we take them to the office?
You still need to know where to find this type of contract. It is rare to already be covered by your car or home insurance, with insurers introducing warranty exclusions for EDPMs. Electric scooter insurance very often constitutes a specific contract. In the event of lack of insurance, the user risks a fine of 3,750 euros, but must above all compensate with their own funds for any bodily damage they cause. “If the victim is young and the after-effects are serious, millions of euros will have to be paid”warns Chloé Vergnaud.
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