What I learned about insurance and GS motorcycles

[500rider]

I dropped the collision off mine and saved about 25%.  My bike is about 5 yrs old now and the deductible was about $500 bucks anyway.  I kept the fire and theft though becuase I didn't want to be out the cost of the entire bike if something were to happen that was totally out of my control.

[My Name Is Dave]

From the bowels of hell returns the thread on insurance    

I want to emphasize the point of shopping around and doing a lot of it. My story goes as such:

I got quoted for insurance at about $20 a month before I bought the bike. Sweet! So I buy the bike and find out I may need full coverage. Now insurance is $140 a month, and that is the absolute lowest quote I find  :x . shaZam!, so maybe riding this thing isn't going to be so cheap after all. But I need full coverage, right???  :dunno:

Or do I? I call the stealership I got my bike from and the financing manager tells me that for bikes under $10K, Suzuki does not require proof of insurance. Well yippie-ki-yay, I say. I call AllState back and ask them how much to drop the collission and comp. $56 a month? OK, nice!   But the aforementioned lady from the dealer gave me a number of a guy that she has done a lot of work with. So I decide to give them a call...

So I talk through my deal and ask for minimum coverage. He runs the info, and then says that he wants to run them with $500 deduct on comp and collision. I tell him to go ahead, but I'm expecting the worst. He calls me back an hour later and says "I have good news..."

What exactly does he have?  :dunno: Well, it turns out that if I add my Monte Carlo to the policy, not only will my bike insurance be cheaper, but so will my car! Yes, success!   But I am hesitant, thinking it may turn out to be a faulty quote... so I wait.

Last night he met me at my house after Kung Fu. We go over the policy and this is my rate:

50/100/50 limits, 500 comp and collision, 1000 med- $21.37 a month. Oh, and the Monte went from $120 a month to $91. Hi, my name is Dave, and I am paying less then HALF what I was paying a month for insurance, and I increased my coverages!  :kiss: I love this!

My point is this: Do NOT give up in the quest for insurance. I kept getting higher and higher quotes (BikelinE wanted $4,233 a year, I shaZam! you not). But I stayed with it and couldn't be any happier right now. And I'm dropping in on the MSF class tonight to try for a spot, by the way   Things are a lot better.

Don't give up, guys. I know a lot of people are struggling with the costs, so keep searching. Country Insurance is who I am with now. They may not work for you, but someone will.

Dave

[Chris.t.Collins]

That is a sad story you have. My insurance gives a discount for 'The course"!   and other discounts.    Of course I have a 90 so the insurance is really low, $170 per year.

[500rider]

Yep ... there are discounts for multiple policies.  A friend of mine was quoted 2500 a year for a 20 year old SRX 600 yamaha.  Went to a new company and got $480 when he switched over his other policies too.

MY car insurance company now takes bikes .. they didn't a year ago but they acquired Primmum insurance which does cover bikes.  They are going to give me a quote.  Hopefully they save me some $$$ cause I am paying $650 a year which IMO is too much considering my age & profession, marital status etc.

[LizardQueen]

We've had mostly good luck with Dairyland insurance.  For me alone its about $250 a year for full coverage (40 yr old female with mostly clean record (old speeding tickets have aged off my record) on a '93 GS500E).  

We have 3 bikes on it which may help - my GS and my husbands 2 Hondas ('82 CB750F Supersport and '02 919).  

Our biggest problem with them is that DH imported the 919 in from Canada - it's doable and legal as long as the same model is EPA-certified in the states and the company provides a letter saying that the model is the same.  We're in Vermont only 45 min from the border, too, which made it easy.

But now after 3 years of insuring it and not saying a word suddenly Dairyland realized that the bike has a Canadian VIN and balked at insuring it!

DH finally got them to make an exception but if all companies are like this it could mean that he'll never be able to sell the bike in the US if he ever wants to. No one would buy it if it's not insurable.

By importing it we saved about $1K because of the exchange rate plus he got the color he wanted, that wasn't offered in the US.  

LQ

[Rema1000]

\Our biggest problem with them is that DH imported the 919 in from Canada - it's doable and legal as long as the same model is EPA-certified in the states and the company provides a letter saying that the model is the same.

Cool.  I wonder if I can buy a left-shift Royal Enfield in Delhi for 70,000 Rupees, and bring it back?  Wonder what container shipping costs.

[LizardQueen]

I don't know - if the Royal Enfield model is sold in the US too (I don't know anything about them) you may be able to bring it in from elsewhere too.  But shipping could be prohibitive and trying to arrange things with a supplier in India could be a gigantic hassle - time delay, long distance charges, etc.  It may be easier to get one from England (I don't know what the exchange rate with the pound is running at right now).  
If the RE isn't already sold here you can pretty much forget bringing it in legally, as I understand it.

DH only had to borrow his brothers truck and go up to Canada to pick his up. There was a little bit of duty charges and paperwork at the border but overall it was very easy.   He bought it from a dealer that was familiar with how to do it and had done it a lot before.
Up there they call it a CB900F, not a 919. But it's the same bike.

The one oddball bike that I've seen that I'd buy if I had money and we had room is a mil-surplus Swiss army Ducati of indeterminate vintage (60s - 70s). I saw it advertised in a military surplus catalog - it's very funky looking, all olive drab, and is a 350 (single cylinder, I think, can't remember).  
It would probably be a big hassle getting it registered and insured, though.  

LQ

[un1261]

not sure where you are. i use rider insurance. they only insure bikes try them. i got mine for 308 a year, full.

[Cal Price]