Do you need insurance for an e-scooter in Australia?

The legal position

No Australian jurisdiction currently requires e-scooter riders to carry insurance. Legal-class personal mobility devices, meaning those capped at 25 km/h, are treated broadly the same way as bicycles under state road rules: no registration, no licence, no compulsory insurance. This is a deliberate policy choice, not an oversight, the same treatment extends to bicycles for the same underlying reason, they're not classified as motor vehicles.

That's a real contrast with mopeds and motorbikes, which do require compulsory third party (CTP) insurance as part of their registration. Because e-scooters aren't registered vehicles, there's no equivalent scheme automatically attached to owning or riding one.

Why this matters even though it's legal

Not being required to carry insurance is not the same as being protected if something goes wrong. If you injure a pedestrian, collide with another rider, or damage property while riding, you can be held personally liable for the cost, the same basic legal principle that applies to anyone responsible for causing harm or damage. Without insurance, that liability sits with you directly, there's no compulsory third party scheme standing behind PMD riders the way there is for registered vehicles.

Barry Nilsson Law's analysis of this exact gap notes that the rapid growth in e-scooter numbers and speed capability has outpaced the insurance and registration framework built for a slower, lower-speed device, and that reform in this space has been an active policy discussion. The Insurance Council of Australia has made similar points in submissions on state e-mobility legislation, distinguishing between compliant, legal-class devices that stay outside the CTP scheme (like bicycles) and devices capable of exceeding 25 km/h, which several states are moving to treat more like registered motor vehicles precisely because of this liability question.

What cover actually exists

Some home and contents insurance policies extend limited cover to personal e-scooters, generally for theft or accidental damage to the scooter itself, but this varies considerably between insurers and policies, and it's a different question from public liability cover for injuries you cause someone else. Standalone personal liability insurance products exist and are worth investigating if you ride regularly, particularly in busy shared path areas, but check the product's fine print carefully: some liability policies exclude motorised devices entirely, precisely because e-scooters sit in an ambiguous space between "bicycle" and "motor vehicle" in how they're written.

The practical takeaway

If you're riding a legal-class e-scooter on shared paths in Australia, you're not breaking any law by doing so without insurance, but you're also not protected if you cause an accident. Given how straightforward and inexpensive standalone personal liability cover can be relative to the potential cost of an uninsured claim, it's worth treating as a genuine consideration rather than an afterthought, particularly if you're riding in busy urban areas covered in our guide to are electric scooters worth it in Australia. This applies whether you're riding a legal-class device on a public path or a faster scooter on private land, the liability principle doesn't change based on where you're riding.