I switched to Progressive and rather than buy new shoes or a tricked out name tag, I bought YES.
I also bought an extended warranty on my digital camera which my wife dropped at Kings Island and got a new one. I also purchased one for my Rebel XT as these are relatively cheap compared to the total cost of the items.
The cost of the FJR is based on some formula at Yamaha that incorporates true production costs, warranty costs. lawsuit costs etc. Why are airplane parts so expensive? The liability makes them so.
So, for the FJR it costs about $12,000 with a 1 year warranty. Seems motorcycle people like to buy only the parts that they think they will use and then add to that. By offering the FRJ with a 1 year warranty the company can sell if for less as their liability is less.
Honda ST ABS MSRP is $15,599
Yahama FJR MSRP is $13,899
Kawasaki Concours 14 MSRP is $12,899 - $13,799
So for $2,000 more for the Honda and 3 years of warranty adding YES to the purchase of the FJR is a bargain.
ABS appears to be about $1,000 looking at the Kawasaki. Is $1,000 in the price of the FJR for ABS worth the price? Some people may think sure I like having ABS but never use them. Did they waste $1,000?
Bottom line is that the $400 for the YES is probably cheap insurance. Will everyone need the YES protection? No
Does the company make money selling YES? Absolutely otherwise YES would cost more.
Do you need to buy YES? No
YES was such a small amount to pay compared to the price of the bike and the discount that I got it was not a hard decision to add it to the purchase. Also, the dealer did not talk to me about YES but I learned about it on this forum and told him what I would pay based on what I read here.
Power to the people and the written word. Maybe that should be the motto for this forum as I think the discussions on this forum influence real decisions made every day.