MC Insurance Help Request

   In the last couple of weeks, I bought a street legal bike. (It's a
"brand new in the crate" 2009 WR250R, like Charles's 2010. I'm still
trying to figure out if it's "dirt oriented" enough to allow me to do
what I bought it for, but it sure cuts the paved backroads like a race
bike. My worries are the weight and the lowered ground clearance,
relative to the WR250F.  I'm going to figure it out before I spend a
lot on guards and suspension. It does feel pretty nimble on the tight
singletrack practice trail beside the house, but is "heavy feeling" at
rest. I've only riden it back and forth to the shop a couple of times,
and on one 20 mile "ring seating" blast run on the back roads. I don't
know the top speed, because the back roads were so twisty. On the
longest straight, it was at an indicated 82 mph and still accelerating
strongly when I ran out of straight.  A  trip to TrainRobbers Trail is
in order. )  

  I checked insurance rates available on-line, even from Progressive,
to get a comparison of available offerings.  For basic liability
coverage, Geico wanted $99 and Progressive wanted $95 (per year).
  I looked elsewhere, but got bogged down in the on-line forms.  

  I then called my Shelter (formerly Shield of Shelter), where we have
our car insurance.  His quote for me (for a year of basic liability)
was $43.84.  Then, he said that during the quote process he found that
we had a better credit score than when we last got a quote, so he owed
me money.  I walked out of there with the bike insured for basic
liability (paid by the refund) and the promise of a $5 check to be
mailed in the next couple of days.
       
  However, when I asked him about covering my (and the family's) dirt
bikes for theft, fire, and a potential hwy accident while trailering
them, he said that Shelter wouldn't cover off-road bikes.

  Mostly, I worry about theft; but have fears of a trailer fire or hwy
accident keep cropping up in my brain.

  I know a recent thread contained some of your solutions to these
insurance problems, but I can't find them.
Would it be possible to repost them?

 I think that Shelter will work fine to insure my old XV920R. (The
insurance companies call it as a Seca, but the Secas that I'm familiar
with had  4 cylinder engines, and mine has the Virago 920 engine,
except with chain drive.) It's at the stage of restoration where I
simply need to ride it to make sure it is sorted out.

  I just want to find out what it would cost me to cover all my
various dirt bikes; whether they are in a shed,  on/in the trailer, or
parked in the back yard.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Good Riding!

Jim

 
You want comprehensive coverage.  First, find out if your homeowner's
policy covers them already.  Homeowners coverages typically don't
cover vehicles, since they should have their own insurance, BUT being
off-road machines that are typically not insured, they might fall
under some kind of coverage.  You might have to attach a rider to gain
coverage.  That is probably the cheapest way out to cover them all.
For regular MC coverage, you'd have to put each bike onto a policy,
but it shouldn't cost all that much.  MC rates are set by engine
displacement, and anything less than 500ccs is real cheap.  I'd bet
that full coverage is only marginally more expensive than just
liability.  I remember getting full coverage on my XR400 for about
$100/year when it was new.  I jumped it right into the face of a
boulder a week later - totaled, but paid for.  If you have a policy
written on one bike already, it might be cheap to add the others onto
the same policy, but with only comprehensive (fire/theft) coverage on
them.

Remember, if you get a loan on a dirtbike, the bank is going to
require full coverage - and I'd bet that any company that insures bike
also insures dirtbikes.  Personally, I wouldn't even bother to mention
that a specific bike is an off-road bike.  You give them the model,
they give you the rate - done.

JayC

 Thanks Jay!

Jim

-----------------------------------------------------

 Hi!

On Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:54:30 -0500, Wudsracer wrote:

Check out Phil's blog at http://flatboarder.de/cgi-bin/index.cgi?choice=q01wr !

It's all in german but he seems to be pretty satisfied with his new scoot.
And: Valve checks every 40'000km!!! This is close to unbelievable. He says
he needs to rev the bike a lot, especially during his onroad cruises but
it seems to hold up pretty well.

A few onboard videos can be watched here (needs Flash 10):
http://vimeo.com/4328917
http://vimeo.com/4329400
http://vimeo.com/4329616

The fuel injection is a no-brainer if you wait 1-2 secs before you press
the magic button after you've turned the key.

Phil also modded the taillight because the extender looks a bit bulky. This
can be done with a LED module pretty easily:
http://flatboarder.de/wr250r/wr1.jpg
A plug&play solution could be purchased by Evotech:
http://www.evotech-performance.eu/index.php/yamaha-wr250r-x-mx-sm-versions-2008-10-uk-tail-tidy-fender-eliminator.html


It might not be the ideal MX bike, but the suspension is not too bad.

I can't help with the insurance issue, though...

In Germany this is quite an easy thing to do: If the bike is street legal,
something like a WR250R costs almost nothing to insure (limited liability,
third party, fire and theft insurany - you will, however, *NOT* want a
fully comprehensive insurance) - around 100EUR for my KTM 620 SC per year.

Ontop of that come motor vehicle tax, for 600cc displacement, this is about
40EUR.

But the precondition for the above is, to actually _have_ the homologation
and stamped licence plate.

Cheers & have fun with your new bike!

Volker

--
@:  I N F O at B A R T H E L D dot N E T
3W: www.bartheld.net

 
just for fun, this is what I pay on insurance  (year rates):

01' Honda CG125
Liability: about 130 euro (govt insurance, no other option)
Theft, Fire, Collision: not offered, they say it is too old and too
cheap.
Vehicle tax: about 15 euro.

-- T