Motorcycle Insurance during Winter

I was curious about something. For all you riders that live up north, do you carry insurance during the winter months?
I have GMAC Insurance, and I called them this morning to see if I could just carry Comprehensive (Theft) during this time of year since the bike is parked in the garage, but I was informed that with a motorcycle you have to have both Comprehensive and Liability.
Tempting to drop the insurance until spring, but theft is the only thing that concerns me, even though the bike is in locked garage, covered up.

 

Good to see I'm not alone in shopping around. I hate paying money when the bike is just sitting there.
I'm hoping someone will read this post and say just that........"my insurance company allows just comprehensive for fire/theft.
Makes me wonder what people do when they have a boat??

 

hey guys,don't complain....if you were unlucky enough to live in manitoba you would be paying over $2,000 to insure your bike FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS think you'd rather shop around?...YOU CAN'T!!! we are forced to buy insurance fron manitoba public insurance...a government owned monopoly. rates for bikes usually go up 10% per year while the company enjoys such a huge surplus it mails out rebate cheques of around 10% to other vehicle owners. what do 'ya think of that????

 

Well...I just removed collision and liability from my Vegas insured with Progressive. Monthly payment went from about $28 to $17/mo. I don't believe in paying for collision or liability when storing the bike. I would call them back and see what they say.
Not insuring a newish bike at all is a concern with either fire or theft IMHO.
Good Luck,
George

 

biker that is dirt cheap! What year model is the bike if you don't mind me asking?

 

Shop around. Good deals are out there.

I'll admit that I havea few rate-determining items in my favor (45 years old, married, multiple car / bike discount, etc.), but on the negative side, I live in Los Angeles.

I have an '86 VFR, '99 VFR, '03 VFR and a Blackbird. All of them are $25 / mo each for comprehensive coverage.

 

Hold on....I had to go get a condom, because I'm getting screwed!

 

Storage insurance is about $50 a month fire/theft/damage... A one day ride permit is about $33

Standard ICBC (our provincially run insurance company) rate is around $190 or so a month with full insurance for my details and bike.

Our best private insurance only insures for the whole year and the cost works out to be more a year than ICBC if I storage it for 6 months. Can still get about 10 day permits before the cost equals out.

Insurance company's suck

 

Plus on a nice "Indian Summer" day in February or something, you wouldn't be able to take it out for a nice spin.

But, and it has been a while, so it might have changed, but when I lived back east and had a bike (Honda Nighthawk 450) I could have sworn that the insurance assumed a certain number of months of "non-operation."

For theft fears, you can always remove something inportant, like the ECU, or just unplug it so that they couldn't start it easily. For a lift and carry, chain it to something, something BIG, or even mount a D-ring security device in the floor of your garage.

 

I'm in Minnesota and I pay about $190 for the year for liability insurance on my '84 vf500f. I did take off my insurance for the winter but don't know if that will be the case every year. Just happened to work out that way since my bike was in the shop a couple months before and into winter so i figured i'd save some money if I couldn't ride.

 

Ben,
My bike is a '04 Victory Vegas and it is cheaper to insure even though it was $15K+ new. Go figure...dem's/stat's of accident probability of cruiser versus sport bike...which is what the VFR is for most companies. Why? Because they can which sux of course. Progressive wants twice the premium for a VFR then my Vegas. This btw is a decent reason to pick up a nice used Viffer versus new. You then don't have to put collision on it with much of a guilty conscience.
Insurance is certainly a consideration for any motorycle but regardless, I would have a hard time paying collision on a motorcycle I don't ride. I for example am motorcycle shopping and one bike on my short list is a Ducatti GT1000 but it is as expensive to insure as a new VFR. So I may have to settle for slightly less powerful retro standard...a Triumph Bonny T100 because insurance is half that of a VFR or GT1000. Of course it won't be as fast but that will likely save me speeding tickets and feathering too close to the edge.

I have to believe you can insure your new VFR Ben without collision to store your bike for the winter. I would call around. My bike is in storage from generally late Nov until March 1 or so depending on weather.
Best of Luck,
George

 

Of course you have to keep full coverage on it if you have a loan on the bike... it isnt yours until it's paid off.

 

All my bikes are paid for. I won't borrow money to buy a "toy". Most insurance companys I've delt with only renew on a yearly basis. I guess I could just drop in in the winter, but what if it caught on fire and burned my house down? There are so many things that could happen, things you could never think of. I pay $800.00/yr for full coverage on 5 bikes. I wouldn't go through the hassle of dropping then adding ins to them through the winter. I never know when the urge (or weather) will hit to go for a winter ride. It never fails, when not fully covered, something stupid will happen.

 

One other very important part of an auto/ motorcycle premium is a person's credit score. Progressive does it and most of the other big co's as well--not sure about Geico.

So, if you're 45, record is clean for 20 years, you've ridden for 15 with no accidents, etc etc, and your premium is higher than your buddy's--it's partly because your credit is worse than his. :wave:

Some companies I work with will allow you drop everything but comprehensive for the winter. Shop around--good luck!:thumb:

 

I dont own the bike so need full coverage. In MASS that was $700 a year. Then I moved to RI.... The CHEAPEST coverage was $2400 per year IF you paid in one lump sum!!

So now I am going to sell the bike to my dad in mass for a dollar, he will register and insure the thing, and I will "borrow" it in the riding months....

That or I will take out another loan, pay off my "bike" loan, so that as far as the bank is concerned, I own my bike, then get the cheapest crappy liability only insurance and actually be legal. It is stupid how much they charge. Ugh.

 

When I had my CBR600F3 and my BMW K1200RS, the CBR insurance was more than the K12 policy. Even though the K12 was worth about twice as much, had twice the displacement, more power, and I put more miles on it!
:-/
When I went from a '98 VFR, to a '05 FJR1300, to a '06 FZ6, to an '04 VFR in about an 18 month span. The FZ6 was the most to insure, the '04 VF was the second, both were more than the FJR.

 

Comp and liability on my 99 ST1100 and 04 VFR is $172 for the year with Progressive. This is a 9/12 policy that assumes limited winter use.