Hi, just looking for input on motorcycle insurance. I have had all my bikes with State Farm for years never an issue and rates seemed reasonable, just got renewals and all of my bikes went up 30%-50%. Who are others using, I got an online quote from Progressive and they were basically what I used to pay but I have seen a lot of bad reviews on them. Any input would be greatly appreciated
Bike insurance
- Thread starter 98xtc
- Start date
- Joined
- May 27, 2021
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- 1,158
- Age
- 64
- Location
- Coquitlam British Columbia Canada
- Bike
- 2009 ST1300
Unfortunately my input won't help you at all since I'm in Canada still relavent I suppose and good to know exactly what everyone pays
In BC we have ICBC [government] which recently went to a no fault type of system [don't know what it really means, not gonna google it] but somewhere along the line, my rates got cheaper.
They go by displacement and pretty sure it was early last spring I was quoted 550 for the black bird and 650 for the ST for six months one million liability no collision no nothing.
I ended up with getting a year on the ST, switching over to the BB and when that was close to expiring, I received a renewal notification for close to $678 but for a full year.
I let it lapse two weeks, went in and got it for a year, on the BB. So that's like a drop of 550 x 2 plus I think 2% over one year to $678.00 plus, since I was insured for the full month of January, I'll get a $110.00 rebate from ICBC which means my insurance essentially got cut in half over the last year [or two years].
In BC we have ICBC [government] which recently went to a no fault type of system [don't know what it really means, not gonna google it] but somewhere along the line, my rates got cheaper.
They go by displacement and pretty sure it was early last spring I was quoted 550 for the black bird and 650 for the ST for six months one million liability no collision no nothing.
I ended up with getting a year on the ST, switching over to the BB and when that was close to expiring, I received a renewal notification for close to $678 but for a full year.
I let it lapse two weeks, went in and got it for a year, on the BB. So that's like a drop of 550 x 2 plus I think 2% over one year to $678.00 plus, since I was insured for the full month of January, I'll get a $110.00 rebate from ICBC which means my insurance essentially got cut in half over the last year [or two years].
I switched to Progressive to save money a year ago.
But very soon after I had a breakdown and tried to invoke their "roadside assistance" that I was paying extra for,
and their computer said I wasn't covered and the tow truck driver would not even roll in my direction unless I
paid nearly $200 by credit card. My agent STILL says he doesn't know what went wrong. I think Progressive just rips people off and doesn't care.
But very soon after I had a breakdown and tried to invoke their "roadside assistance" that I was paying extra for,
and their computer said I wasn't covered and the tow truck driver would not even roll in my direction unless I
paid nearly $200 by credit card. My agent STILL says he doesn't know what went wrong. I think Progressive just rips people off and doesn't care.
I have had a great experience with AAA Insurance so far, auto and moto.
About a month ago we got our car insurance renewal...it was double the previous premium. My wife started calling everyone to get quotes. I went down to a body shop guy I know and asked him how the various companies dealt with him. He said both Progressive and Geico 'suc*'. State Farm, he said was very fair and good to work with and Erie was very good. Erie is a regional company trying to expand, when we asked for a quote for our cars and bikes, they beat Progressive's price and increased the limits. We bought Erie. They also have an interesting option...for $20 they will lock in the premium - the cost will never go up unless you buy a new (another) car or add a driver.
I had an accident last June that totaled my bike. I learned a lot from that experience. You never know how good your insurance company is till you use them.
I had Progressive with Actual Cash Value coverage. I had just bought a new 2023 BMW F900XR and had about 3600 miles on it at the time. Progressive considered that mileage to be high and factored that into my payment. Progressive also had three different people handling various parts of the claim. One was for deciding how much to pay me for the vehicle claim. That took about 3 weeks as they itemized everything that was damaged. Everything. Every nut, bolt, piece of plastic.
That's the front. The right side looks pretty good. The left side didn't exist.
The total cost of repair was @$24K. Actual Cash Value came out to be around $15-16K. That included things like replacing my air bag vest, the add-ons like the side cases, etc. So while it seems like I made out well, I took a loss of a couple thousand probably. With a difference of @$8K, you would think they would've said within a day or two, that the bike is totaled. But no. It took them three weeks to count every item before I could get a check. I finally gave up waiting for them to pay me, and went out and ordered a new XR and accessories.
One of the other claim adjusters was strictly for sorting out the medical costs. The emergency airlift from Northern California to Oregon was about $90K. The emergency room docs, labs, and the paramedics all wanted their cut too. My medical portion of the insurance was only about $3-5K. She sorted it all out between Medicare and Tricare for Life and I ended up paying $0. She was good.
The same week of my accident, a riding buddy at church totaled his GS. The rear brake caliper came off at 60 mph on I-405...in traffic! Gulp! It took out all the spokes on his rear wheel before he went crashing down on the pavement. He had a new GS the next day. (He has Farmers.)
_____________________________________
And there lies the crux of the matter. It took Progressive 3 weeks to sort out the cost of restoring my bike when it was clear to anyone looking at it that it was totaled. They could've made that decision in 1 day. I kept wondering how much that cost Progressive to itemize that cost, compared to simply saying this is the max we'll pay you and giving me a check in a couple days. Maybe the difference was in how I had ACV coverage and my friend had Replacement cost? In any case, I was extremely frustrated to be waiting and waiting for them.
Did they do a good job? In the end, I'd have to say yes. Especially on the medical coverage. Will I renew with Progressive? That remains to be seen. I'll compare costs again and try to find the insurance company with the best reputation.
Some lessons learned.
I had Progressive with Actual Cash Value coverage. I had just bought a new 2023 BMW F900XR and had about 3600 miles on it at the time. Progressive considered that mileage to be high and factored that into my payment. Progressive also had three different people handling various parts of the claim. One was for deciding how much to pay me for the vehicle claim. That took about 3 weeks as they itemized everything that was damaged. Everything. Every nut, bolt, piece of plastic.
That's the front. The right side looks pretty good. The left side didn't exist.
The total cost of repair was @$24K. Actual Cash Value came out to be around $15-16K. That included things like replacing my air bag vest, the add-ons like the side cases, etc. So while it seems like I made out well, I took a loss of a couple thousand probably. With a difference of @$8K, you would think they would've said within a day or two, that the bike is totaled. But no. It took them three weeks to count every item before I could get a check. I finally gave up waiting for them to pay me, and went out and ordered a new XR and accessories.
One of the other claim adjusters was strictly for sorting out the medical costs. The emergency airlift from Northern California to Oregon was about $90K. The emergency room docs, labs, and the paramedics all wanted their cut too. My medical portion of the insurance was only about $3-5K. She sorted it all out between Medicare and Tricare for Life and I ended up paying $0. She was good.
The same week of my accident, a riding buddy at church totaled his GS. The rear brake caliper came off at 60 mph on I-405...in traffic! Gulp! It took out all the spokes on his rear wheel before he went crashing down on the pavement. He had a new GS the next day. (He has Farmers.)
_____________________________________
And there lies the crux of the matter. It took Progressive 3 weeks to sort out the cost of restoring my bike when it was clear to anyone looking at it that it was totaled. They could've made that decision in 1 day. I kept wondering how much that cost Progressive to itemize that cost, compared to simply saying this is the max we'll pay you and giving me a check in a couple days. Maybe the difference was in how I had ACV coverage and my friend had Replacement cost? In any case, I was extremely frustrated to be waiting and waiting for them.
Did they do a good job? In the end, I'd have to say yes. Especially on the medical coverage. Will I renew with Progressive? That remains to be seen. I'll compare costs again and try to find the insurance company with the best reputation.
Some lessons learned.
- Consider whether you want/need ACV or Replacement value. An old ST might not be worth Replacement value coverage...but a newer bike might be. Replacement value for my XR is only a few bucks more than ACV.
- Reputation is important and trumps cost when the cost is somewhat close. There are places online where you can get satisfaction ratings from other customers who've had claims. Probably more important than cost when you actually have a claim.
- Medical coverage. This goes hand in hand with your normal medical coverage. It is important to sit down and review both it and your vehicle medical coverage together. If I didn't have Medicare and Tricare for Life, I could've been out a couple hundred thousand. I was lucky.
ChucksKLRST
Team Colorado
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Make a complaint to insurance board in your state, better business and maybe even states attorney's office. And stay on top of your agent, he is supose to work for you.
Did you have special insurance or coverage for that?
I always go through an agent to get the best deal. I'm currently through auto owners, previously I've been with progressive and Citizens.
I end up changing insurance every 3 or 4 years to keep the cost down.
I end up changing insurance every 3 or 4 years to keep the cost down.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2,401
- Age
- 69
- Location
- West Des Moines, IA
- Bike
- 2022 Kymco AK 550
- 2025 Miles
- 000099
Insurance rates will be different in every location... even from one side of town to the other!
I go through an insurance broker/agent and have always beat the rates on the likes of Geiko or Progressive. If those companies were to save me as much as they claim they'd be paying me to have their insurance.
Up until this year I've had IMT/Wadena on everything. This year I am switching to Auto-Owners for everything. Those were the only 2 companies in Iowa now that cover home and auto and power sports. Other companies have dropped covering motorcycles altogether around here.
I go through an insurance broker/agent and have always beat the rates on the likes of Geiko or Progressive. If those companies were to save me as much as they claim they'd be paying me to have their insurance.
Up until this year I've had IMT/Wadena on everything. This year I am switching to Auto-Owners for everything. Those were the only 2 companies in Iowa now that cover home and auto and power sports. Other companies have dropped covering motorcycles altogether around here.
Up to a few years ago, My wife's sister-in-law worked for a large insurance company ( one of the largest). She ran a call center that handled questions about claims, etc.
I will always recall something she said-" God invented lawyers because of insurance companies."
I will always recall something she said-" God invented lawyers because of insurance companies."
Farmers is supposed to be a good company! The only way to find out how good or bad your insurance company will be when you have a claim is to talk to someone who had a claim with that company, or, (my opinion) talk to the folks who work with them a lot - your body shop or contractors who do insurance repair work.
What I did not post was what my body shop guy said about the companies he did not like.
Reading articles like Consumers Reports or other online reviews is pointless, I think. People like their insurance company if they have not had claims and the premium was low.
Those numbers are always inflated. Look at what your hospital bills for anything and what Medicare actually pays. From what I've seen, Medicare authorizes as little as 1/10th of what was billed (but it varies somewhat).
I am writing a check today to Markel insurance for $50.00 to cover my ST1100 for one year. Love this company my premium has been 50 bucks for 6 years in a row.
As Robert said....hard to compare between locations
Markel used to be advantageous at my location years ago but then shot up overnight.
ChucksKLRST
Team Colorado
As with all insurance policies, Life, Home, Car, Bike ETC. the chickens come home to roost when a claim is filed. What kind of service is one getting for the money they spend.
Interesting thread. I can't help the OP, but just a comparison with across the pond.
Here in the UK I pay just under £400 for a multi bike fully comprehensive (cover for the full cost of repairing damage to your bike following an accident (regardless of who is at fault), damage to third party vehicles, fire or flood damage to your bike, theft of your bike, and injury to other people) for 3 ST1100s including a sidecar and trailer with one of those. I have an excess of £300 which means I would pay the first £300 of any claim, although this, in theory, could be reclaimed from another party if they were deemed responsible for the damage! My policy does not include medical costs as there would be none here in the UK, Air Ambulance included. If I travel to the EU then there are reciprocal arrangements for medical treatment with many of the countries but only to a limited degree so I have full family annual worldwide medical cover through my bank account provider at a very low cost. My particular policy also covers vehicle breakdown recovery both here and in the EU.
As others have stated, any cover is only as good as the action in the event of an accident, thankfully on the few occasions that I have had to use their services, my insurers have been really good and quick to work with (different companies in each case). The same with the breakdown recovery!
Here in the UK I pay just under £400 for a multi bike fully comprehensive (cover for the full cost of repairing damage to your bike following an accident (regardless of who is at fault), damage to third party vehicles, fire or flood damage to your bike, theft of your bike, and injury to other people) for 3 ST1100s including a sidecar and trailer with one of those. I have an excess of £300 which means I would pay the first £300 of any claim, although this, in theory, could be reclaimed from another party if they were deemed responsible for the damage! My policy does not include medical costs as there would be none here in the UK, Air Ambulance included. If I travel to the EU then there are reciprocal arrangements for medical treatment with many of the countries but only to a limited degree so I have full family annual worldwide medical cover through my bank account provider at a very low cost. My particular policy also covers vehicle breakdown recovery both here and in the EU.
As others have stated, any cover is only as good as the action in the event of an accident, thankfully on the few occasions that I have had to use their services, my insurers have been really good and quick to work with (different companies in each case). The same with the breakdown recovery!
Actually, Farmers was my friend's insurance company and they seemed to have done great by him.
He was in the hospital on Friday from the accident and the dealership was working on his new GS already.
Chris