Motorcycle Insurance Experts??

[ICloud22]

I'm on the verge of selling my motorcycle because the insurance is what I'd consider 'outrageous' for a weekend bike.

1. Why is it so expensive? is it the classification
2. What can I do to reduce it and have similar coverage?
3. Is it a lost cause and I should sell it?
4. What does the SM30 driver class and 001 territory mean?

Thanks so much for any help!!!
-------

Background and history:

30 yr old white male. Airline Pilot. I had 1 car accident 3 years ago that nearly totaled my SUV when I hit black ice in the snow. It was repaired via insurance. No speeding tickets. My plan is attached with my 60 year old parents who own several car and homes and have worked with this agent for many years.

I drive the bike 550 miles a year, 3,300 miles total. It's a garage queen that sits covered and secured 98% of the year.

Insurance is now $792 a year or $66 a month. In 6 years I've spent $5,910 on insurance for it. I have 0 claims on it and have never even dropped it. The bike cost me $9,000 used, $10,400 msrp new and is valued KBB at $4,500.

Doesn't make sense financially to own this unless the insurance can be lower. Don't you agree?

I asked my agent to lower the medical payments to $1,000 and that saved $200 a year. My sister/lawyer told me this was ok.

Attachments show my bill and bike

 

[Josh]

There are a few reasons why your bike insurance can be so expensive. I'm curious as to why an agent is letting you get away with being on your parents insurance as a grown man, but that's a different issue.

Medical payments is very expensive. I'm on a cadiliac health insurance plan so I dropped it altogether and pay about $20/month for my Honda Shadow 1100. It's a 96 and worth about $3k, so that's definitely different, but yours is also the infamous "crotch rocket" and known to be more of a problem for insurance carriers. It could also be that the agent your working with just doesn't have the right carrier for your bike, have you shopped it around with an indy or checked with geico or progressive?

Back to the med pay, I don't know why it matters that your sister is a lawyer in relation to giving insurance coverage advice, but do you understand what the med pay covers? If you have a good health insurance plan that may eliminate the need for med pay altogether.

tl;dr: Call a few other insurance companies, ideally an independent agent, and shop it. Have an agent explain to you what the med pay is.

 

[Newby]

Why would you have full coverage on a $4,500 vehicle in the first place?

Get liability.

You need to ride it more to make it worth it.

 

[GreenSky]

I agree. If you'd like, I'll ride it to L.A. and put some miles on it.

In fact, let me save you $5K over the next 6 years by allowing you to sign it over to me.

Yeah, I'm a giver.

Rick

 

[Newby]

Why would you have full coverage on a $4,500 vehicle in the first place?

Get liability.

You need to ride it more to make it worth it.

That's a good looking bike but insurance companies classify it more with the Japanese crotch rockets than the Harley's. That means they expect you to ride to fast and crash often. Your rates would go down if you had a different style of bike like the regular HDs that fat guys ride slow.

 

[ICloud22]

Thanks everyone. Lots of great information you posted. I learned a ton.

1. In reference to the lawyer thing. Sister and her husband specialize in auto insurance and taking on insurance carriers that don't pay out and delay. Given that I know very little about all this (i'm trying to learn) I trust her advice that it was ok to lower my medical payments from $5,000 to $1,000 saving me $90 a year. I have UnitedHealth Care PPO via the airlines. I have no clue is this is good vs. bad health insurance coverage.

2. I get the 'crotch rocket' classification. I figured that was one of the reasons it was so high. I don't know how to read the code or if it is even coded on there somewhere. This is also one of the reasons I was thinking about selling it and shopping for a bike that doesn't fall into this classification. But I like the naked bike style like Ducatti and Buell.

3. I wish I got to ride more, but I'm away from home 15-20 days a month. I work a lot. Feel free to take it for a spin!!

4. I think the plan is associated with the parents bc it was my dad's bike for a year. Now it's under my name and insurance, but it still shows discounts marked for homeowner, of which I'm not. I don't know why.

5. I'll shop it and see what other agents can offer me for the same coverage. I DO need to learn what the "med pay" is. I figured I was getting the best price with this company because we have had such good business with them over so many years. That probably means nothing.

6. Great idea about the liability thing. I could financially handle the loss if I was to total it. I don't drive it fast. SO maybe that is a good option.

 

[Josh]

With respect to the rates, the insurance companies generally don't give a heap of anything about how long you've been with them, you'll get the exact same rates they'd give anyone else. There are a few discounts for being an extended customer and perhaps a few other perks, but some companies just aren't competitive with certain risks. This is especially true if you're with a state farm or allstate or someone captive like that. Some independent shops will reshop your case every year and/or at your request.

Sister and her husband specialize in auto insurance and taking on insurance carriers that don't pay out and delay

If any of the big carriers delay a claim, it's usually because they see something suspect. Odds are many of the clients of your sister and her husband could have things settled about the same without having them take their cut if they were just a little patient. I could be wrong and perhaps their practice is different, but most of the attorneys that "go after insurance carriers that don't pay out and delay" are just legally stealing from their clients. There are certainly some claims that get handled poorly, but on the large the notion that the big bad insurance company is trying to find excuses to not pay is a fear that is hyped up by (generally) greedy attorneys. I'm sure Dan (djs) can come along and share more of his experience too, but the fact of the matter is that insurance companies usually have a reason for delaying a claim and the attorney gets their cut just for holding the clients hand and keeping them calm while the insurance carrier sorts the claim out.

The med pay is just medical coverage related to an accident. If you lay your bike down and hurt yourself, that's the amount of coverage you would have. If you have $1k worth of coverage and you are in an accident, you can claim against your insurance up to the $1k. If your health insurance has a low enough deductible that may be another way to lower the cost of the insurance. If you have a $5k deductible on it though, you may want to consider the med pay. You should have on your policy a breakdown of what each type of insurance is costing, odds are the liability is relatively low and closer to what you want to be paying.

Hope this helps.

 

[ICloud22]

Yes, very helpful. Thanks Josh!

I get what you're saying> I've learned more here (in the forums for a few hours) than anywhere else.

Turns out the sister doesn't work on car insurance, more contracts. But her husband does. I'll have to drill him on some of this soon hah.

 

[BlockO]

Not an expert but here's my 2 cents...

Looking over your policy.... comp, collision & med pay aren't what's hurting you all that bad.... you're getting killed on uninsured motorist coverage!

UM coverage is very important, and I wouldn't dare suggest dropping it. But with your policy, UM coverage is almost half of the total premium. That's crazy! I don't think I have never seen UM be that high of a percentage of the total.

Shop around with some indy agents. They will probably be able to blow that price out of the water without reducing coverage.

 

[djs]

Josh - be careful about the medpay coverage. It doesn't cover just you, but will cover a passenger or the person whose foot just got broke because the bike fell on them.

Coding - SM30 - I'm willing to bet this is single male, 30 years old. Territory 1 is simply where you live and the associated rating factors. Not much you can do there.

You are to be congratulated on carrying decent liability coverage!!!! Your UM coverage is very expensive, but my guess is this bike has a habit of getting drivers hurt when they are involved in an accident (most bikes do, some are worse than others).

For full coverage on a bike with a rated accident, its not a terrible premium. You can shop it and you might find a carrier with a better appetite.

Alternatively, park the bike, drop the coverages to minimal till the 3 years for your accident are up and then start a new policy and get the bike back out.

The other thing you can do, is if you don't ride the bike from October till May, once you put it up for the winter, call your agent and have him put minimal coverages on it until you are ready to ride. Mostly, you can drop the UM coverage if you aren't riding it (keep comp though) and be okay. Just remember to restore the coverages before you start riding again.

Dan