Answers to Insurance questions

Instead of having fifty threads ask the same question, I decided to incorporate the last two years or so of insurance posts into one easy to read list.

FZ-1 Is sometimes listed as FZS1000, FZS1000N (North America), or FZS1000NC (for those of you in California.)

These guys "specialize" in bike insurance and seem to cover most of the US (DE excluded, possibly others.) In most areas, they have some of the best rates.
Dairyland Insurance: www.sentryonline.com 1-888-324-7952

These guys cover every where but NJ, NC, HI, and MA:
Markel American Insurance: www.bike-line.com

Everybody should get a quote from these guys, just in case they get a good rate:
Progressive (www.progressive.com/)
Geico (www.geico.com)

These guys seem to require an auto insurance policy with them as well:
State Farm (www.statefarm.com/)
Allstate (www.allstate.com/)
Nationwide (www.nationwide.com/)
GMAC (www.gmacinsurance.com/) 1-800-GMAC-123
Metropolitain Life (www.metlife.com/)

IF you are military or a dependant of military personel:
USAA (www.usaa.com/)

Area specific companies:

Midwest only:
Watkins & Keyerleber (www.cycle-insurance.com/) 1-800-321-4627
Mendota (www.mendotains.com/)
American Family (www.amfam.com/) Also covers some SW states.

CA:
Jennifer Monosco Ins. 1-818-889-5996

NJ:
Rider Insurance (www.njrider.com/) 973-258-9500

Canada:
Primmum (www.primmum.com/)

If you have anything you think I should add to this, post it below or e-mail me at atmaweapon0 (at) hotmail.com.

Very nice summary. Should be very helpful to lots of people.

I know I've already said it in a couple of posts, but Dairyland beat Progressive, Allstate, and Geico for me by over 25%. If they are in your area, be sure to give them a call. Bottom line is shop around. One company might be cheaper in one city, but be the worst deal in another. Again, CALL AROUND. You can save hundreds.

Triften,
Lots of good information here. Thanks for com****** this. I used your list as a starting point to look for insurance for my new FZ1.

For background, I am an over 40 male with ~20 years riding experience, no traffic violations in over ten years, married and a homeowner (yes, my FZ1 will live in a garage). Seems all these thing are important to insurers.

So here's what I found:

Most of the large insurers that do not write policies in Delaware refer their motorcycle quotes to Progressive. That would be the case with Colonial Penn (GE), Sentry(Dairyland), and Metropolitan.

Liberty Mutual would only write a bike policy in conjunction with an auto policy.

My current bike policy is with Markel American Insurance ( <a href="http://www.bike-line.com" target="top">www.bike-line.com</a> ) and they wanted more than twice what everyone else wanted.

I got tired of searching and I ended up going with Progressive. Now all I need is my bike (see link <a href="http://pub29.ezboard.com/ffz1ownersassociationfrm84.showMessage?topicID=2.t opic" target="top">pub29.ezboard.com/ffz1ownersassociationfrm84.showMessage?topicID=2.t opic</a> ). It's due any day now. <img src=http://www.lapetitecoccinelle.com/emoticon/emoticon/em321.gif ALT=":knockonwood">

Listen to RoadRashed and SHOP AROUND!

Thanks again.
Keith

Chips,

Are you sure about Dairyland in DE? Because my Progressive quote was $6000 and Dairyland (that I have now) was $1050.

Or do you mean that the large insurers go to smaller businesses?

Also, where are you located?

Triften,
I am in north Wilmington by the Concord mall. I called the toll free number from the Sentryonline.com page and the person who took my call said they did not insure in Delaware but they would recommend using Progressive. She gave me the option of being transferred there or getting a quote from the Progressive site. Maybe I should have had her transfer me but I went to the web site.

Not to rub it in but I pay $400/yr for my policy:
$15K Bodily Injury/$3K Property damage/$10K Guest passsenger
$15K Uninsured/$30K underinsured motorists bodily injury
$10K ($250 deductible) uninsured motorists property damage
Medical payments - No coverage
$15K per person/$30K per accident (no deductible) PIP
Comprehensive ($100 dedctible)
Collision ($1K deductible)
$1000 Custom parts & Equipment

It seems like less of the big companies are writing motorcycle policies and they are steering that business to Progressive. Makes you wonder.

Hey Admins,

How about adding this to posts worth keeping?

[klroth025]

I am 31, single, male, 3yrs exp., NE Ohio

4-25-03 Found a good deal on a left over '02 FZ1 in blue.
5-5-03 Agreed on a price with the dealer.
5-6-03 Get reasonable quote from Progressive(15/30/10/Comp & Coll w/$250 deduct./9 on 3 off policy/$848)
5-8-03 Call dealer have him prep bike.
5-10-03 AM Pick up bike!!!
5-10-03 PM Call Progressive to get policy started.

Agent tells me this policy will cost $3200
State mins. and $1000 deduct. will cost $1007
They can't find the quote for $848
They say the had a "rate revision" the day after I called.
Have them put policy in place to cover my @ss.

Call Gieco and get quote similar to first Progressive quote, but 12 months on for $994, and that's before I switch my 2 cars to them and get another 5% off the motorcycle policy.

Needless to say... Progressive.

[silver03]

Triften,

What a great resource. After my astronomical rate increase with Progressive, I was looking for the "one stop shopping" list of insurance companies. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. It is greatly appreciated.

[xt225]

liability for my new 02 fz1 was 69 dollars a year-actually lower than my xt225 same insurer.

[ZR2andFZ1]

I am having the same issues with Allstate right now. I was originally paying $600/yr for full coverage on a 2003 FZ1. I just got my new policy and it went up to $2732/yr, but they were gracious enough to give me an $800 discount. That way I only pay $1932/yr, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, they piss me off. I have always fought with insurance on the issue of "cc's" in regard to engine size classification. You have to continually argue with them (insurance dirt-bags) that they are screwing me by miss classifying the engine size. If Yamaha says 998cc, then that is the size you friggin' morons. I was looking to see if anyone else was getting the shaft on their insurance and this post helped a lot. Before I get too pissed off thinking about this anymore. I got the same quote on a Harley Davidson Dyna Glide Sport (~ $15000 bike) and the yearly quote was around $600. Pissed me off. I asked if this is because they are trying to aid American bikes. Hell, that overpriced bike is more likely to get stolen, then say a 2003 FZ1 worth about $6500 if you tried to sell. Anyway, thanks to everyone for their information...

[James Bialas]

Of course, don't forget the argument for not carrying comprehensive and collision.

Here's how I justify it. Say I ball my bike up pretty bad next spring. Assuming I had carried full coverage with a $500 deductible, this is what I would have ended up with:

(This is using a $753 quote from Dairyland- best I could find, and a current value of the bike based on kelly blue book retail)


Suppose I crash it bad enough that the insurance company totals it, which given the cost of bike parts is highly likely for even some relatively minor crashes:

I'd get $6235 minus my $500 deductible. Of course, I'd have spent about $1400 on insurance at that point- so, effectively, I'd end up getting about $4335 out of the deal.

That wouldn't even come close to buying a similar FZ1- especially where I live.

The deal only gets worse as you spend more money on insurance and the value of the bike drops as time marches on.

It's such a bad deal that I'm willing to bet any crash damage I might get could easily be covered by the money I saved on premiums.

Furthermore, this isn't like my car where if I were to have an accident, I'd need transportation of some sort the next day to get to work. With the bike, I have time to scour used parts dealers and reassemble the thing myself- maybe make a few upgrades along the way.

On top of that, knowing I have to deal with consequences of my actions tends to encourge less risk taking and staying aware of what other drivers are doing.

The racket just doesn't add up to me. And insurance companies themselves just piss me off. Can't I just look at a table to figure out my rate given all the factors that count? No, I've got to fill out forms and harass agents about possible discounts for certifications and memberships so much, I eventually get pissed and just settle for one.

Then there's the whole claims headache as well. I've talked to plenty of mechanics who have nothing nice to say at all about some of the chiseler agents they've had to deal with.


Arrggghhh.... see what happens when I can't get out and ride? Endless rants. Time to go eat dinner and play in the snow in the Jeep.

[klroth025]

Well, I'm adding to this entry because Geico is no better than all the rest of the greedy, blood sucking insurance companies.
Two small details left out by the representative I talked to on the phone:
#1 They ask you if you have riding experience. If you do, they give you a substantial discount, but if your motorcycle endorsement on your licence is not in effect the day they check, they take away the discount.
#2 You have to prove you have a garage to keep your bike in. Yet another increase of over $600/yr. because of carry away theft.

So I ended up at Dairyland.

Originally posted by klroth025
I am 31, single, male, 3yrs exp., NE Ohio

4-25-03 Found a good deal on a left over '02 FZ1 in blue.
5-5-03 Agreed on a price with the dealer.
5-6-03 Get reasonable quote from Progressive(15/30/10/Comp & Coll w/$250 deduct./9 on 3 off policy/$848)
5-8-03 Call dealer have him prep bike.
5-10-03 AM Pick up bike!!!
5-10-03 PM Call Progressive to get policy started.

Agent tells me this policy will cost $3200
State mins. and $1000 deduct. will cost $1007
They can't find the quote for $848
They say the had a "rate revision" the day after I called.
Have them put policy in place to cover my @ss.

Call Gieco and get quote similar to first Progressive quote, but 12 months on for $994, and that's before I switch my 2 cars to them and get another 5% off the motorcycle policy.

Needless to say... Progressive.

[yamabob]

ha too bad you don,t live in mass. they tell you don,t bother shop around we all give same rate because state of mass has a no fault so all rates the same i pay 645.00 for my thunderbird triumph 900 cc 2001 value 6000 500 ded. collision comprehensive and fire .theft as well as bodily injury to others and passengers all included but i want to sell thunderbird and get fz1 and they can,t quote me yet because they are waiting for the new state rates . oh i hate mass. damn democrats

[daveman]

Just did an online GEICO Cycle Gard quote. It's $161.90 for 12 months of coverage. I specified that I will not ride to work, have 15 years' motorcycle ownership/experience, taken ERC, and will ride less than 3K miles per year. I am highly suspicious of such a lowball quote, however.

Here is the coverage I specified:
Body Injury Liability (25/50K)
Property Damage Liability (20K)
UMBI (25/50K)
UMPD (20K)

If I remove the optional UM coverage, my rate drops to only $104 per year. Is this crazy?

Oh, I also selected a 2003 "FZS10." FZS1000 was not on the Yamaha drop-down list of motorcycles.

I also got an online quote from Progressive, my current insurer. That quote was $1800.

I thought all these insurers used the same crash data and actuary tables. I read somewhere recently that there have been a disproportionate number of accidents with FZ1's, and that the insurers have responded accordingly. I hope today's GEICO quote uses the latest data.

[bqe]

Dairyland insurance rules!! 1/8 of what progressive quoted

[ol'bikefreak]

I spent some quality time on the phone yesterday comparing quotes from GMAC, Geico, and Bikeline with my current Progressive coverage. I run minimal liability coverage (25/50k bodily injury,10k property damage,25/50k uninsured motorist) on five motorcycles (94 CB1000f, 97 Bandit 1200, 98 VTR1000f, 99 ZRX1100, and an 02 FZ-1.) I'm 57 with no tickets or claims in recent history. Long story short. Bikeline-$623.00 yearly. Progressive-$380.00. Geico-$338.00. And GMAC-$256.00. So with my age, claims record, zip code, multi bike discount,etc. GMAC gets my business- this year.

[hopalong]

just got off phone w/dairyland, $356 w/o uninsured motorist, another $210 with, progressive wants $1800 & i'm current customer with no claims/tikets/etc., was having 2nd thought on buying the bike! now i'm planning on polishing my trade-in & getting dealer's offer with all the accessories & w/o. most likely w/o & selling tons of parts on vstar forums.

hopalong

[kloker]

Just got an excellent quote with Dairyland, gonna go with it. Geico, which I've had for a couple of years now, wanted $817 for the same coverage, Dairyland's is $589. Nice. Full coverage is 20/40/15 with uninsured motorist and $500 deductibles all around (except uninsured motorist, which is $250 deductible). $228 cheaper.

[dmallind]

Damn I never realized I was getting such a good deal!

Possibly because I live in MN where only the truly brave or the truly stupid ride for more than 8 months a year tops but Mendota provides full coverage for me for $204 - just renewed this week.

I'm 37, married, with a couple of minor tickets in last five years and 20+ years riding. Have taken MSF and ERC courses although I think I'm out of date by now on the ERC.

Thing is I've been insuring bikes all but one of the 15 years I've lived here, so covering a period when I was much younger and even when I was single, and have never paid more than $300 or so.

I wonder how much locality has to do with this. Any other MN riders paying a lot more?

[grendel]

Dairyland. $67 annually. Yo. That also covers my Goldwing. Yo.