Choking on insurance costs!

[oldcarkook]

I understand that this has been bantered around the forums before, but I am compelled to write again as my '04/'05 policy for the '96 R11RT came in today.

My new policy has dropped $3/year to a nice $847/year minus my safe driver points credit to a cool $655/year. This is ONLY for the bike. I have the maximum $1k deductible to reduce costs...reduce costs?

This is just outrageous in my humble opinion. I do have collision/comprehensive on the bike and that is about 68% of the cost, but I still don't get it? I am not a yahoo and have a "STEP 9" insurance rating with a flawless operator's record (no moving violations or speeding tickets), I have all the MSF certificates, I have AMA, BMWMOA, AAA, ABC and EFG and none of it does a thing to affect this sickening cost.

Progressive and Geico do not write in Massachusetts so options are very limited and state controlled. My wife's family has a ski house so I can register the bike in Vermont and defraud the insurance companies to get a lower rate, but that's exactly what I would be doing: defrauding them and that's against my principles.

Read it and barf:

 

[basketcase]

Have you checked with Bikeline (Markel)? My annual insurance cost for full coverage is less than half the amount of yours.

 

[USERNAME]

[standard insurance thread comments about 'your zip code has a huge effect' deleted.]

im a weasel, and i'll admit it, and you have to read this note with that in mind. when it comes to giant corporations, i have one principle - take care of username. im one of those moral relativists that people like to complain about. i do what i want *and* i sleep well at night.

if your principles were valid and you really believed in them strongly, they would console you in your time of need. thus you would have posted, 'i'm getting f*cked by my insurance company, but that's ok, because i'm doing the right thing, and i can look myself in the eye. this feels good, im glad i live my life this way.'

think about it this way, people *die* for their principles, youre just incurring higher insurance costs for yours. you ought to be able to feel really good about that. it's only costing you a couple hundred bucks a year to be principled. dude, that's cheap.

woody allen taught me everything i need to know about 'principles' and 'ethics:'

"It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much more."
- Woody Allen

and Brian Andreas also taught me about principles: "there are times when i think im doing things on principle, but mostly i just do what feels good. but that's a principle too."

you made up your principles. theyre yours. you can review them and change them. you should do that, or youre not being actively engaged in your life. just register your bike in vermont. see if you have trouble sleeping at night. i bet you won't. if you do, switch it back, and write a letter to your old insurance company with a check for the money you saved, and apologize.

out of curiosity, why do you carry collision?

 

[oldcarkook]

Collision?

Username - good question:

I dropped the collision/comprehensive today. I realized that I will pay for a new RT every 10 years in collision/comprehensive costs alone. That cut the costs by 70%.

But if I told you that, I wouldn't have anything to bitch about!

Grrrrrr. OK, more directly to the point. I'd like extend my deepest and most sincere feelings to the insurance companies who suck the life out of the low risk riders/drivers/pool here in the Commonwealth of MA...

There I feel better now.

 

[LORAZEPAM]

I am insured with beemerinsurance.com and I don't have the stellar record you have. I pay right at 300.00 a year for my 04 RRS. I have 250 deductable and similar coverages to yours. I would give them a try, and stop subsidizing squids and drunken bikers. You wear gear and a helmet and they recognize this at the company. They specialize in BMW motorcycles, and you don't have to pay for the others mistakes. Try this ans see if it gets you there.

http://www.motorcycleservices.com/home.asp

 

[LICK MY BRICK]

blood suckers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

,ok where did put my check book?

 

[PineGreen]

Insurance

I'm with American Modern Home Ins Co. I do not know if they write in Ma. I have full coverage , no accidents or violations in the past 3 years, $500.00 deductable. Premium is $358.00 a year on my 03 R1150 RT. Oh, roadside assistance is also in the policy. I used to live in NH. Loved New England but not the price for the privilige of doing so.

 

[99007]

Zip code makes all the diff

Insurance varies hugely from state to state.

re: Woody Allen and principles. Yup, I'm gonna take my life lessons from a guy who schtups his adopted daughter. Ah well, it probably felt good....

FWIW - Kook I admire the fact that you don't want to defraud your insurance company. So many people think it is okay to "stick it to the insurance people". Don't be so f-ing dumb. The more they pay out - the more they raise the rates.

 

[USERNAME]

Re: Zip code makes all the diff

Insurance varies hugely from state to state.

re: Woody Allen and principles. Yup, I'm gonna take my life lessons from a guy who schtups his adopted daughter. Ah well, it probably felt good....

just because im a masochist, i have to ask, who *do* you take your life lessons from? i'm serious, PM me and tell me. it's also interesting that you worry about *who* the lesson is from more than you think for yourself whether or not the lesson itself is valid on its own merit. and of course it's telling that you brought up something socially unacceptable (but a private matter between two consenting adults) as a purported refutation of his statement. [cough] ad hominem [cough]

whatever. let's talk about motorcycles.

FWIW - Kook I admire the fact that you don't want to defraud your insurance company. So many people think it is okay to "stick it to the insurance people". Don't be so f-ing dumb. The more they pay out - the more they raise the rates.

he isnt trying to get them to pay out more, he is trying to put in less. so according to your statement, his behavior will have zero effect upon rates.

keep in mind, we're discussing a rider here who's got a pristine and proven driving/riding record. he should be paying very little for insurance, he's pure profit, and has been for years. (decades?) he isn't sticking it to anyone, he's trying to figure out if he's getting stuck, and un-stick-it to himself. he's thinking for himself and challenging the way he is treated - i think we can all agree that *that's* admirable.

 

[prowler]

After reading several posts here regarding bike insurance costs, I thought I had some really good news for you. My wife writes for an Independent Insurance company and she has recently been directing most of her clientele to a relatively unknown Insurance Company [to me] which offers great coverages and great rates.

However, I noticed at their website that they insure in 47 of the U.S. States ... but Massachusetts is NOT one of them. Sorry.

I am insurance challenged and don't understand why some states are so much higher with premiums than others, but I feel your pain. To prove my point, I live in Indiana and paid over $800 last year for license plates (tags) for one pick-up truck, one SUV, and one motorcycle.

 

[99007]

Sticking it to kids and insurance companies

My reference to "sticking it" to the insurance company was a bit confused. Kook felt he would be defrauding the company by pretending to live somewhere that he doesn't live in order to lower his premium. Not exactly the same as inflating damages to get a larger claim, but a very close relative in my opinion.

I will go do some research, but I don't think she was an adult when Woody first got his woody. But I will double check and happily admit my wrongness.

Rates in States: rates are determined by "actuaries". They are number crunchers who factor in various factors - cost of doing business in broad terms. Claims paid out, average cost of claim, average repairs to a certain model, and on and on and on. They don't look at Kook as an individual - they look at him as a resident of a particular state (and they break it down to areas in a state as well, i.e. zip codes) who rides a particular bike. They feed that into their giant number crunching computer and figure out how much $$$ they must charge in order to make a profit and still offer the coverage they promise in the policy.

 

[99007]

I stands corrected

He married her when she was 27, he was 62. Her adopted mommy found some nude shots of her in his possession when she was 21. There are some indications that he was dating her while still a teenager, but info is sketchy.
No harm - no foul. Henceforth I will follow Mr Allen's advice. He does, of course, ride a beemer, don't he?

 

[oldcarkook]

Re: I stands corrected

Originally posted by Cliffy777 ...Henceforth I will follow Mr Allen's advice...

Originally posted by Cliffy777 ...He does, of course, ride a beemer, don't he?...

He's riding something all right, but it's not a beemer.

 

[99007]

Back to the topic

Hey Kook - do you have a helmet law in your state? Many times rates will climb 2-3 years after a helmet law is repealed so I was just curious if that was a factor.

 

[oldcarkook]

Noggin wrappers required here.

Massachusetts and Vermont require helmets. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire do not. Rates for bike insurance in NH are MUCH lower than Mass because we are a state that is run by a bunch of bureacrats and insurance lobby. This is an immensely profitable state for insurance companies.

People not from around here like to refer to us as Massholes. I think that's pretty funny, and I live here.

 

[YB in IN]

Re: Noggin wrappers required here.

Massachusetts and Vermont require helmets. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire do not. Rates for bike insurance in NH are MUCH lower than Mass because we are a state that is run by a bunch of bureacrats and insurance lobby. This is an immensely profitable state for insurance companies.

People not from around here like to refer to us as Massholes. I think that's pretty funny, and I live here.

Indiana and Illinios don't have helmet laws either. They allow their citizens to make their own dumb choice as well. Insurance is cheap compared to cars

 

[LORAZEPAM]

It is organ donor season in OH too...