Pissed at Progressive

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blassoff

Its just the dog in me, baby
FJR Supporter
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I've been with progressive for 10 years. They've insured all my bikes (two or three at a time). 100/300 Stacked limits, Full Tort Option, Deductible is $1000 (which is zero based on vanishing deductible). The 05 used to cost me $320 a year. I had them cover the new 14 (and I've sold my other bikes), they want $914 per year for coverage.

I called Markel and Geico. They want $629 and $616 respectively. I called Progressive and said WTF fellas. They told be the 14 is rated differently than the 05. I can't believe they want to lose a 10 year customer, but they're gonna unless they re-think the rates.
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That's crazy. Guess I'll keep the 07 then, thanks for convincing me.
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That's assuming his one case is true for others...which I think is a bad assumption. One other data point would be me going from my '05 to '14 and it was about 5% more with Progressive for the non-collision portion. I fully expected the collision part to be more since I was doing from a bike with FMV tripling.

 
As pointed out, the new bike is considerably more expensive plus in your earlier scenario you were insuring multiple bikes at one time, probably opening the possibility for a multiple vehicle discount.

~or~ The agent with whom you spoke doesn't know what they are doing!

I have been dabbling with Suzuki Bandits the past couple of years, and found them to be as easy and inexpensive to insure as the FJR, given a many year relationship with the insurer, and a completely clean driving record with no claims.

I got rid of one Bandit and replaced it with an exceptionally low mileage 2011 GSX1250FA (the Suzuki marketing departments idea of a new name for the water-cooled former Bandit). I called Merkel to check that my quote from my original insurer was in the ballpark, and was staggered when she quoted me somewhere north of $1200!!! I realized immediately she had misconstrued the Model Designation I had carefully given her, and was quoting me on a Hayabusa! Then she got huffy with me when I pointed her error out to her.

I have had excellent service and relatively good pricing from Nationwide Insurance out of Des Moines, IA... You might want to give them a try. The insurance market is a strange one, for certain!

Good Luck!

Don

 
Yup, same thing happened to me last year when I went from an '07 to a new '13. Progressive wanted to more than double the premium. Called my agent and she said Progressive was raising their rates on new motorcycles. I had been with them for 23 years but wasn't going to pay $963 when the old premium was $417. Shopped all the motorcycle insurance markets and went with Allstate for $407. This year it renewed at $363. It pays to shop around!

 
On the other hand, I just talked to a friend 2 nights ago who had totaled his Gold Wing. He said Progressive was the way to go. he couldn't believe how fast and well they settled up. Even drove to his house, looked at his damaged riding gear and wrote a check on the spot.

 
^^^ Who do you think really pays for that wadded up Gold Wing?

( See OP for answer. )

Rates are based on an insurer's losses or payouts much more

than the insured's history or driving record or year of bike.

Type of bike will influence an insurer's risk of exposure.

For the record, Progressive has always quoted the highest

rates for me.

 
While I now live in Arizona with a presumed year round riding season, Progressive now wants to charge me $1800.00 a year for three bikes. (2014 FJR, 2015 KLR, 1983 V-65 Magna) I've never had a motorcycle claim on any insurance, over 30 years since I've had any claim on any vehicle insurance and no tickets in over 5 years. (boy am I lucky) When I lived in Washington and before Farmers quit writing policies for bikes there, (maybe they do again now although my agent found me other coverage for basically the same money) I paid $300.00 per year on my FJR's. I've always heard Progressive is great to work with if you have a claim but even if Flo was handling my claim personally and it came with a "happy ending", I'm not paying that much for insurance.

 
I just purchased the same coverage from Geico as the OP on my brand new 14A and the yearly premium (with my pointless driving record) is $557.00. This in Louisiana, which this week a national Underwriter's research firm declared the 3rd costliness State in the country for car insurance (behind Michigan 1st and of all places, Rhode Island 2nd).

I do risk management in my profession, but it is all centered around a State-Government Self-Insurance type of insurance, which is apples and oranges, as I appreciate it.

None the less, shortly after Hurricane Katrina, I made my peace with loyalty and insurance companies. They arbitrarily jack up and down rates (and even drop policies) based on some majic that happens at an office far far away. The Underwriters at least have to mind the State Insurance Commissioner, but that means very little. So every time a policy is up for renewal, Pants goes shopping. The ONLY thing that matters with an underwriter to me is its financial ability to pay claims. So as long as you are an AM Best A+ company, may the lowest bidder win.

I currently have:

Progressive for the cages

Geico for the FJR

State Farm for the Homeowners

State Farm for the flood insurance (which doesn't matter - FEMA underwrites all of it, the insurance company just pushes the paper)

Frankly from time to time, I forget who I have a particular policy with for a particular type of coverage. I change that often, and don't think twice about it.

 
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I will be shopping around too. Progressive has the 15 at almost 4 times the 07, but still only a little over $600 for the exact same coverage as the 07. I wil check out your lead Lisa. thanks.

 
Check USAA as well, we just moved everything to them and dropped over $1400 a year across 4 vehicles and the 2 bikes, with no change in coverage. It's different for everyone though, but worth shopping around.

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Intech" data-cid="1240679" data-time="1435508112"><p>

I will be shopping around too. Progressive has the 15 at almost 4 times the 07, but still only a little over $600 for the exact same coverage as the 07. I wil check out your lead Lisa. thanks.</p></blockquote>

 
i refuse to do business with a sawed off little gecko with an Australian accent.
I don't care for him either - can you find me insurance for less than what I am paying though with them? $240/yr with my 2013......

 
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