Florida Biker insurance, heads-up

[Big_Steve]

I had gotten bike insurance from a company that deals in 800 numbers with a call center in Whoknowswhere, USA. The rate they gave me was pretty good compared to other call center based companies.

I have since met an insurance agent here in Florida. She had me drop uninsured motorist coverage on the bike, and add "Stacked" uninsured motorist coverage to my auto policy. She showed me the Florida statute that proves I will be covered by my auto policy if I'm a victim of an uninsured motorist on my bike. She also told me about other customers who have did what I did, and the auto insurance paid out.

My original policy on JUST my trike was $489.00/year. I now cover a trike and a Valkyrie for under $300.00/year. My auto policy went up $55.00 per year.

Moral to the story..... If you live in Florida, buy your insurance from an agent that does a lot of motorcycles. I now have Progressive, but the savings is because of an experienced agent, not Progressive.

My agent is in Sarasota Florida. If anyone wants the number, send me a personal message.

[Pittsburgh Biker]

Remember that you get what you pay for. Uninsured and underinsured cover the operator and passenger if involved in an accident caused by a motorist
with no insurance or too little to cover the injury damages that were caused.
Stacking allows the insured to add together the uninsured and underinsured
on other household vehicles. THERE IS NO MEDICAL COVERAGE FOR A SOLO ACCIDENT WHERE A BIKER IS THE ONLY PERSON INVOLVED. That is because
most states do not allow first party benefits on motorcycles. This is only one phase of an insurance policy. Liability is to protect your ass (ets) if you are at fault. Physical damage, comprehensive and collision, cover your bike. If financed, the lienholder will demand that comp and collision are in place. Uninsured and underinsured do NOT pay for your bike.

[jfingalls]

So help me out with this FREDG, is the stacked approach on our motor vehicle insurance adequate or does it leave us some liability? My limited understanding of uninsured motorist insurance is to protect us against the person who hits us and does not have insurance coverage for some reason or another (whatever the damages or personal injuries are). By the way, I would like the savings from dropping the uninsured motorist if this will work. Thanks and I am from Florida.

[Doc]

Let me add my 2 cents on this....while I'm back in New Jersey, I did live in Florida for 12 years and had Progressive Insurance. In 2002 I dropped them after my Ex had a Minor Fender bender where she backed into another Vehicle. Damage to our PT Cruiser was a Minor rub in the paint and a Cracked Tail Light lens...their adjuster estimated our damage at $935.00 and recommended a Body Shop to do the Repair. When I called them and requested to take the Cruiser to a friends shop to minimize my expense for the Repair they said "no, you have to repair it at a Progressive authorized Facility". I got a New Lens from the Chrysler Dealership I normally dealt with for $68.00 (I ran a Service Shop and that was my Dealer Cost)...purchased a Tube of McGuire's Scratch Out for a couple of bucks and Buffed the Rub Mark out of the Paint and Immediately cancelled the Progressive Insurance. Moral of the story is I won't pay inflated Insurance Rates so my Provider can get Kick-backs from the "Authorized Repair Facilities"!

Ed

[Pittsburgh Biker]

Uninsured and underinsured are strictly medical coverage to protect you, the operator against drivers that have no (un) or not enough (under) to compensate
for injuries that they cause you, the operator. Maybe an example. Bad citizen steals a car at a mall and while driving he hits you, the motorcyclist. Bad citizen of course jumps out of car and runs. You have injuries caused by an uninsured motorist. (The vehicle owner is not responsible as his car was stolen) (Bad citizen is unknown.) You, the motorcyclist, turn your claim into insurance coverage under YOUR uninsured coverage. Now if you carry stacked
uninsured, you can add all of your uninsured coverage on all your vehicles together. So maybe you have two cars and a bike. Each carries 100,000 stacked. That would entitle you to $300,000 for medical bills. (I hope I am not boring everyone to death) Your bike is wrecked due to bad citizen so you the motorcyclist would turn this loss in under your collision coverage to YOUR carrier. Reverse the situation, you leave the mall in your car and hit a biker.
That biker would look to Your liability insurance to cover his damages. Now as to the post about fixing a vehicle. You always have the choice of where to get your vehicle fixed. Some unnamed insurance companies want you to go to the cheapest shop around to keep their claims cost down. Don;t buy into this b.s. Hope this clarifies a bit

[jfingalls]

Thanks FREDG, it is crystal clear now. And thanks Big_Steve for the heads up it appears I can save about $175 a year (net savings). The actual savings on my Trike insurance will be around $230 per year with Foremost Insurance by dropping the Uninsured Motorist coverage. Thanks to all, John

[Doc]

Wow...you're intitled to your opinion but there was no BS involved! Unless of course you work for Progressive and took offense to the truth!

Ed

[Big_Steve]

This was supposed to be a helpful thread. Take any fighting to email for Christ's sake.

[Doc]

Nuff said!

[Pittsburgh Biker]

My b.s. statement was meant to say that the insured does not have to go to the shop of Progressive's choice. Not that the statement was b.s.

[Big0]

Will definitely check into this as they just quoted me an enormous rate of over
$1,000 for the Stallion alone at Geico.. Are they crazy ? Living it up in florida.

Big0

[whentwothree]

I will ask our agent about the stacked uninsured coverage, sounds plausable,

but finding the willing agent was the KEY... Thanks Chiefy

[michbiker1]

I used to have Progressive and changed to Allstate when I owned a Spyder because Progressive was way to expensive. I have just purchased a Hannigan trike kit for my 2012 Wing and found that Allstate will not insure it. I just got State Farm this morning and they insured the trike with no problem. I was able to stack the uninsured, under insured portion on with my truck at all three agencies.

[FRR]

Be very careful before accepting the idea of "stacking" uninsured/underinsured motorist. If you live in a state that permits it, please remember that if you have a claim, it counts against your bike AND your auto coverage. Might cause a rate increase that would negate the savings of Stacking. Think carefully, and talk to an agent that KNOWS, and can discuss the pros and cons of the move.