American Family Insurance on your bike - CHECK YOUR COVERAGE!

[Prubert]

If you insure your FJR thru American Family Insurance you may want to see if you have 'special equipment' insurance in addition to your full coverage policy.

If not, your faring, engine covers, saddlebags and windshield are NOT COVERED under your American Family motorcycle insurance policy.

I am in the process of filing a claim for a low-side and the adjuster told me that with my current level of insurance that the items stated above are not covered. This coverage is an additional ~$40 year on my policy.

I am working with my agent to resolve this issue since it was not explained to me when I went to them to get FULL COVERAGE on my FJR.

I am sharing so if anyone else has this lack of insurance on their bike w/Am-Fam they can get it resolved or at least are aware of it.

I will let you know how my claim goes....

Later.

 

[bramfrank]

Sorry, but they can't exclude the components of the basic machine. The bike itself is what they covered - there is no 'special equipment', that's just the way the machine is built and they can't change that.

The fairing and windshield and sidecases are NOT accessories,. They are part of the basic machine and the value that they insure includes those components.

I can understand if they excluded your PC-III or HID driving lights, but the plastic and related bits that come as standard equipment are NOT accessories.

Tell the adjuster that he'll have to explain to a judge in small claims court why, if he doesn't pay you for all this - and believe me, the Judge will NOT be amused by the antics of this company. Note that you MUST pay the dealer (or whomever) for the full repair (including the excluded parts) and then sue the insurance company for reimbursement . . . do NOT leave the excluded parts out of the repair for after you win and then try to sue, YOU WILL LOSE IF YOU DO THAT.

When the policy expires, go to another insurance company - one that has (let me hide my smirk) morals.

 

[ponyfool]

They can, and DO exclude side cases, regardless of whether or not they came with the bike originally. Their policy specifically states such. I had American Family when my Bandit caused my house fire. When I came to realize how little they actually covered, I immediately switched companies.

If it is an aftermarket windshield, they will exclude that as well, regardless of whether or not the bike came with a windshield.

 

[bramfrank]

What a bunch of cheap *******s - and I thought AXA was bad.

 

[SilverHound]

I read about Prubert's dilemma on the STN board and I was so pissed that I called a good friend who is a lawyer and he confirmed that basically if it is specifically excluded in the policy then it's excluded...cut and dry. Doesn't have to make sense, doesn't have to be fair, it just is what it is. Insurance companies can exclude anything they want. So it pays to read your policy regardless of what the agent tells you.

 

[El Toro]

A couple of guys who crashed recently commented that they'd had fair payment by Progressive. I've had them for some time, although I've never had a claim.

What I remember about the policy written for me is that the bikes with "full coverage" are covered for anything that's stock, plus up to $1000 worth of add on items. If I had more than $1000 worth of non-stock additions, I'd have to have them added specifically to the policy.

 

[Prubert]

UPDATE:

I talked to my agent and he agreed that they dropped the ball and he was going to fix the problem. He said that he would work to get the claim paid and the best that he could do would be to get me the special equipment coverage back dated to start at the beginning of my policy thru the whole policies term ($40/yr).

Got a call from an Am-Fam claims supervisor yesterday and they are going to cover my bike and I should have payment next week!

Am-Fam apologized for my inconvenience and said they are re-evaluating their moto policies due to a high number of people that are in the same boat as I was.

Looks like Am-Fam is trying to play a shell game with their prices on moto insurance and it is coming back to bite them.

My agent said he is starting to communicate with his customers about the special equipment coverage when they get their quotes.

Am-Fam fixed the problem for me and I am happy with the results.

The main thing is that others should check their coverage so they don't have the same issue I had.

Now, off for a ride!

Later.

 

[1FJR]

Am-Fam told me about the extra coverage from the get go. I still went with them as I had my vehicles and my condo. I was not able to find cheaper insurance for all that with any one else. I guess it helped that I have known my agent for years. Good luck.

 

[opt8low]

The funny thing about this is that to add the extra coverage is like 20 bucks a year. It happened to me but the agent took care of it and everything came out great.

Still with AF and did some checking a couple of months ago and no one was even close to AF's prices.....

Dana

 

[Concours]

Same thing on our RS Venture as well...basic policy covers the frame, tank, fenders, motor, and wheels; fairing, saddlebags, and trunk (all techically permanently attached) are not covered.

I went to them from Dairyland (Sentry) when I went to work for AmFam back in 2000. The agent then didn't know how to write an motorcycle policy, even though he was one (probably still is) AmFam's best agents. My wife and I were reading the fine print and noticed the language, or lack of language, regarding what AmFam calls add-ons..yes, Ethel, OEM bags and fairings to AmFam are add-ons. A quick conversation with one of the underwriters got the issue taken care of and the agent then knew how to write a motorcycle policy. It's been a few years and I don't remember all of what the underwriter and I talked about, but once I got by being pissed off (and I didn't even have a claim), she did a great job of telling me how their risk structure was set up and why they had their motorcycle coverage built the way it was/is. She mentioned then that they were looking at changing so it was all covered at once...I guess 8+ years later they're still talking about it. However, AmFam's price for coverage, including the extra $40/year or so per bike for the "add-ons" is still a better deal for us than Progressive or Sentry, and let's not even talk about Allstate or State Farm.

Even though I no longer work for them, I continue to use AmFam for home, auto, and motorcycles. We've had a couple of house related items and one major car accident (wife's car, wx related) and they've been courteous, knowledgeable, and very fair in both the claims process and billing process.

I worked for them for three years...LOUSY employer, decent insurer!

Curt