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Cheapest bare minimum insurance?

Kornholio said:
I had McGraw when I crashed on my Kawi a couple years ago. Absolutely hands down the worst representation ever from an insurance company. Beyond Geico and Progressive in terms of poor service and representatives that don't even have a clue what they're looking at when doing assessments. That's pretty bad considering how crummy Geico and Progressive are!
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Had two claims in my life. One with Progressive and one with Geico. Both were fantastic experiences, both paid out more than expected and sooner than expected. Great service both times. All my insurance is now with Geico.
 
russ69 said:
OK guys, short lesson here. You insure to protect your own assets. If you have no assets, you don't need much in the way of protection (you can't get water from a dry well). I have a few assets and insurance to match but if I run over Bill Gates, my policy may not be able to cover his loss but it will cover mine. Driving a Ferrari with 15, 30, 5 is probably a mistake. If you are making 6 bucks an hour and living in your Mom's basement, it might be enough.
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And this sums up everything that is wrong with this country. Lack of responsibility. So as long as you're a loser living on Mom's couch in the basement, you don't have any responsibility to be financially responsible for damage you might cause? Fuck em, they were unlucky and got hit by the loser instead of a responsible citizen!
 
Archimedes said:
Had two claims in my life. One with Progressive and one with Geico. Both were fantastic experiences, both paid out more than expected and sooner than expected. Great service both times. All my insurance is now with Geico.
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Without a doubt I'm sure people have had good experiences with those companies. I just never did.
 
Burning1 said:
Yeah. I'm in a similar situation... Spotty record. I still pay for half a million in liability coverage, as well as UIM. Also, do you have health insurance? If not, you don't belong anywhere near a bike.
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What, are you saying that I won't be covered like illegal immigrants... :mad
 
Archimedes said:
And this sums up everything that is wrong with this country. Lack of responsibility. So as long as you're an illegal, you don't have any responsibility to be financially responsible for damage you might cause? Fuck em, they were unlucky and got hit by the loser instead of a responsible citizen!
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Fixed for accuracy.
 
russ69 said:
OK guys, short lesson here. You insure to protect your own assets. If you have no assets, you don't need much in the way of protection (you can't get water from a dry well). I have a few assets and insurance to match but if I run over Bill Gates, my policy may not be able to cover his loss but it will cover mine. Driving a Ferrari with 15, 30, 5 is probably a mistake. If you are making 6 bucks an hour and living in your Mom's basement, it might be enough.
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It makes sense if you have no assets, and never intend to have any assets. As mentioned by other posters, having no assets now doesn't mean that you won't have any assets later. It also means that you probably can't hire a lawyer to protect your interests, keep the points off your record, or keep you out of jail. Obtaining a judgement won't be as expensive if you can't afford a lawyer.

A million dollar judgement will pretty much ensure that you're going to be poor for the rest of your life.

InNoHurry said:
But hang on. If I cause $50K of damages while totaling Bill Gates' 3 Dodge Neons, don't I need to pay for that? Can't a judge find me guilty, order my insurance to pay my minimum liability coverage, garnish my wages and order me to pay the balance, even if it takes 50 years? I don't think I can automatically walk away from liability debt just because I don't have 2 pennies to scratch together, or because Gates didn't have sufficient under insured coverage. I could file for bankruptcy, but that too would suck.

I think liability ought to be proportional to the type of damages I believe I can cause with my bike, so I can walk away from the accident with peace of mind.
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For what it's worth: Someone else's UIM policy won't protect you from financial responsibility - it simply ensures that the owner is paid. The insurance company will still pursue you for damages once they pay out.

Xenophonii said:
What, are you saying that I won't be covered like illegal immigrants... :mad
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This isn't a political thread. Take it to the sink.
 
Thank You...Like a Good Neighbor State Farm is There

Thanks for the kind word about State Farm and a good reminder about under-insured and/or uninsured coverage. CRITICAL for riders.

originalsturge said:
usually first place to check would be with whatever car insurance you have if you have a car. second would be state farm around here they seem to be the best deal in town for a lot of us. also you live in the bay area and you want cheap insurance? jsut remember that when/if you get into something and the other driver probably did even less for insurance.
i have state farm, no accidents/tix 03 r1 and pay just under 800 a year.
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Great Advice...

I agree with your thoughts. You want the right insurance for the right price. You pay for insurance for things that WILL happen and you want the right insurance/insurance office/insurance company to be THERE for you. I hope to never need my insurance but when I do need it. I want the best the most to be there for me.

Most people have health insurance but health insurance only fix you up. but if you are disabled for life and/or needing short-term/long-term care recovery
and do not have the right insurance coverage, you are ruined for life with limited options for your future. Get educated about insurance so you and/or your family are not poor for life.

InNoHurry said:
Just curious, why do you want the cheapest deal around?

Nothing wrong with spending less money, but as you seem to be an upcoming star rider, and if I may ... maintenance, protective gear and insurance are 3 items not to be cheap. When shit happens, and in addition to licking your wounds, you don't want to armchair-quarterback yourself with destructive thoughts such as "I should've this", "I shoud've that".

Your bike is old and cheap, probably less than $2K. Forget about covering it. You can always find another. Forget about roadside assitance and other bells and whistles. You need good coverage for your own hospital bills, for those you may send to a hospital, for property you may damage (and yes, bikes can cause quite a great deal of damage), and for the other road users with "cheapest bare minimum insurance" (the "uninsured/underinsured") that may hit you and send you to a hospital. If you're rich (not my case) or have good health insurance via work (my case), then it may be another story.

BARF is full of stories of bikers that wished they had spent an extra $30 for the next level of coverage. Heed those advices.

Ride hard, ride safe!

Cheers,

Marc.
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Only a few bucks a month

Absolutely. In most situation, it is only a few bucks more a month to get the protection you need. Don't skimp on liability and underinsured/uninsured coverage.

Archimedes said:
Why insure at all? Minimum insurance is barely better than no insurance at all, the levels of coverage are a joke. You avoid the ticket, but do almost nothing for yourself of the people you might injure. Best of luck going bankrupt when you t-bone a car and your insurance doesn't come close to covering the liability you have to the victims. What's that saying about being penny wise and pound foolish...
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Thank You...Like a Good Neighbor State Farm is There

Thank you for the plug. We are not perfect but my office goes out of our way to help our BARF riders with service and advice.


shoelace said:
you might spend a couple of bucks more, but i can't say enough about the customer service i receive at state farm. they are so attentive and pretty affordable. i don't know anything about mcgraw, but i've had to deal with esurance and liberty mutual in the past, and they both really sucked.

remember... you get what you pay for. if all you want is liability then by all means just get the cheapest. but if you want full coverage + uninsured driver and whatever else, go for state farm.
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Thank You...Like a Good Neighbor State Farm is There

Thank you for great idea about the multiple discounts... State Farm also gives 3% loyalty discount each year you are with us maxing out at 18% after 6 years for your vehicle insurance.


orbframe said:
when i started i chose mcgraw because i thought it was cheapest... i then discovered with my multicar, multiline, and loyalty discounts State Farm was waaay cheaper...
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$450/yr with progressive. i should call in and see if i can get that reduced with the classes i took.
 
crick said:
$450/yr with progressive. i should call in and see if i can get that reduced with the classes i took.
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That's $37.50 per month. Barely a movie date. Any cheaper and you'd probably be unnecessarily under insured.
 
InNoHurry said:
That's $37.50 per month. Barely a movie date. Any cheaper and you'd probably be unnecessarily under insured.
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yup. actually the baremin from progressive for me was 250 bux. it was what i selected online. The salesRep on the other end said that the baremin is horrible for any accident and tho it meets the neccesarry requirements of most dealerships/state, it was as he said very under insured. So he made a recommendation for me that bumped it from 250 to 450. i cant remember the details of the plan, but it was much better in coverage.

the same coverage quoted to me from geico was twice that amount.
 
49 years old, licensed since 16. That's uhhhh, 33 years on the street. In the early 2000's, I got a felony speeding ticket/arrest, 137 mph on radar, it never showed up on my record (driving record, that is). Never affected my license at all. Don't run, it isn't worth it.

Insurance. My Ducati is $250 something per year, full coverage, as required by my loan company. The Kawasaki KZ1000 I just added is an additional $3.41/month, $41/year, liability only. State Farm covers my house, and won't bundle it with the bikes, since I've got a ticket on my record (in my truck).

Other than insurance costs, it sucks to be getting old.
 
OP, I'd say shop around, and check on reputation (easy with the internet). I've always stuck with "big" companies, as my personal and anecdotal experience recovering from small companies or insurance broker companies has been less than stellar. Whatever company you go with, shop around for rates. Even as a good/no accident driver the quotes I got last year varied wildly.

Most important, IMHO, is carry as much uninsured/underinsured coverage as you can afford; if you need it you NEED it- hospital bills add up quickly. I also carry a lot of liability, not because I own much, but because the CA minimum is laughable should one actually injure someone.
 
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