Insurance Question

[Scored51]

I was wondering what all your opinions were on the "uninsured motorist" premium, and if any have opted out of it by writing to your insurance company. The reason I am asking is because it literally makes my current policy 5 times more expensive per year, and has doubled in cost this last year alone. It really burns me this premium is enforced by law, and has absolutely nothing to do with my level of responsibility as a motoring person. I'm wondering how useful it may be to continue paying.

Some other stats about me if you may think it matters are... I haven't had an insurance claim for anything since 1987, and have had a clean driving record for more than 10 years. (Racing will do that to you once you understand how expensive it is to speed on the street.) The other thing of course is I have very little opportunity to ride on the street. I'm either toting kids around or with the family, and have no daily commute.

So, whaddya all think? Am I looking to shoot myself in the foot, or save enough to pad my ass with the cash in an accident?

Thanks,

[D_Sp8s]

Here's what I know about the subject:

What can happen if you decide to go without uninsured/underinsured motorists (UM/UIM) coverage:
About 4 years ago, a car turned in front of me causing me to t-bone the car. He/She proceeded to "hit and run" and fled the scene in a stolen car. My hospital bills totaled $25,000 when all was said and done. My UM/UIM coverage paid for all of that. Had I not had this coverage, I would be have ended up paying more for one incident than I did for 5 years of college.

I've done quite a bit of research on this subject. In short:
In Colorado, some insurance companies will allow for the coverage to follow the person and not the vehicle. This means that if you have UM/UIM coverage on your car, then you do not necessarily need it on your bike. However, you need to contact a Colorado-specific representative at your insurance company to make sure.

My $0.02: I wouldn't ever go without it, whether you are covered under your car's insurance policy or under your bike's.

[rybo]

Chris,

As an alternative, in Colorado you only have to have UI motorist coverage on ONE of your vehicles and ALL of your vehicles are covered. I keep it on the truck and the bikes and mini van are covered under the primary policy.

This was brought to my attention by my insurance broker.

[~Barn~]

Having "Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist" protection is not actually a Colorado requirement. For that matter, I've never even heard of it being necessary to request that it be removed in writing. Really, your carrier should just be able to add/remove that particular coverage at will. I can de/activate mine on their website at any time, but yours may just be going out the way to make it hard for you to cancel it. :dunno: But yeah, the only thing the state requires a registered vehicle owner to carry, is BI/PD Liability insurance.

For what it's worth, the item that typically requires a signed waiver (if you so choose), is what's called "Medical Payments" coverage. MP applies no matter who is at fault and covers the cost of medical care provided to you, if you get in a wreck. With certain stipulations, of course. This coverage always seems to be added by default, and I've always had to waive it with a signature page. My feeling is that the state likes to see people carry this coverage, because of so many people having inadequate or insufficient personal health insurance.

Getting back to your question though, I personally do not waive Uninsured/Underinsured coverage, as it's potentially very important, should somebody end up smashing me up, and not have their own insurance. Or perhaps having some ins. but not enough to cover all the damage they've caused, but only what the state mandates them to (see BI/PD Liability above). And like Scott said, it's not a per vehicle thing, it's a policy wide coverage.

As far as why this coverage is allegedly quintupling your 12 month policy, I honestly have no idea. It definitely shouldn't be doing that, and you may want to have a sit-down with your agent to find out what's up. It's normally Collision insurance that make the $$$ dent in policies. For reference sake, UN/UD insurance costs me an extra $11.00/per 6 months on my policy. And I have a driving record like if DMX and Paris Hilton had a kid!

[SOCAL4LIFE!!]

I personally would not go without UM/UIM since it has saved me in the past. Here is the link to the Colorado Division of Insurance.

http://www.dora.state.co.us/insurance/consumer/AutoMain.htm

Here is the important part.

Automobile liability insurance is generally defined as coverage for bodily injury you cause to another person or for property damage you cause to another person’s property through negligent use of your vehicle.

The minimum amount of liability insurance required by Colorado law is as follows:

$25,000 per person for bodily injury;
$50,000 per accident for bodily injury; and
$15,000 per accident for property damage
Additional coverage, such as medical payment coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, comprehensive and collision are available, but not required.

As of Jan. 1, 2009, Colorado requires
mandatory "med-pay" coverage with
all insurance policies. Consumers
may refuse this coverage in writing.
For more information on medical
payment coverage (med-pay), click here:

[CaptGoodvibes]

Chris,

As an alternative, in Colorado you only have to have UI motorist coverage on ONE of your vehicles and ALL of your vehicles are covered. I keep it on the truck and the bikes and mini van are covered under the primary policy.

This was brought to my attention by my insurance broker.

This.

We have it on the lowest-premium vehicle of the three and they are all covered.

[Ricky]

It's not a requirement. It's optional. It's also required on only one vehicle among all your vehicles in your policy with one company, then it covers you on all your vehicles. If you have no health insruance, it's a good thing to have. If you are hit by an uninsured, you pick up the tab for medical expenses.

I have 4 insured vehicles, and we found it was cheapest to keep on my truck. It adds probably $20/mo to my premium, which I find absolutely ridiculous.

[TFOGGuys]

24% of the cars on the road in CO are uninsured, last I heard. This is part of the reason why insurance here is so friggin expensive. UIM coverage is cheap compared to dealing with the medical expenses should one of these deadbeats hit you.

[Scored51]

Thanks for the responses. I knew this would be the right place to ask.

In the past when I've had multiple bikes on a single policy, I never associated the uninsured motorist with one bike, but looked at the policy costing so many $$ to insure X number of bikes. At that point it was just another line item on the bill. Now that I'm just down to a little old RD400 where liability coverage is mere peanuts, it's obviously setting off internal alarms. I will make some calls to my agencies to figure out the specifics and see if there could be a benefit to regrouping this policy and include it with others and reduce costs. Eliminating it doesn't sound all that appealling now. I've been in the situation on a bicycle where an old man hit me with his car and took off. Nothing serious, but it could have been different.

Thanks again.

[FZRguy]

I called Geico re UM coverage since I have it on my Jeep and on one of my bikes. Rep said since they were separate policies (I have three bikes on one policy and another for my Jeep), I have to keep UM on both. The bikes are $57 and the Jeep is $42 per year. May revisit this when my bike policy is up for renewal.

[PROFLYER]

I'm an insurance broker, let me clear this up.

UM coverage follows ALL LISTED DRIVERS on a policy. So, if you have 100/300 (min I'd recommend) then this follows you, your wife and anyone else that holds a valid license in the state. This means a few things:

First, you don't need to carry it on your bike, in fact, if you have 100/300 on a car and 100/300 on a bike you can COMBINE the coverages in the event of a terrible accident. So, if someone hits you that doesn't have insurance or whatever, you can file a claim against both companies/policies so essentially you have 200k per person for coverage, 600k aggregate (total).

This also means if you're riding with me in my truck and someone his us and doesn't have coverage YOUR policy will cover you. This is the reason its so expensive. I'm assuming you were quoted about 120$ a year for the UM on your bike, you could essentially list you and all drivers on the bike and not carry the coverage on your vehicles. I tell people to carry it on their primary vehicle and leave it off the bikes, as it really adds up on the bikes.

[PunyJuney]

Proflyer PM me your business contact info. My insurance rates are crazy with American Family. We have 2 cars, 3 bikes and 3 houses to cover.

[Scored51]

This is all very interesting. I ended up following through with rybo's suggestion and indeed found AmFam would lump my little old RD400 in with the auto policies. Progressive was not happy or even nice about me cancelling my policy. During an exit interview I was told point blank this was against Colorado insurance laws and the woman I was speaking to was going to investigate it personally. Of course she never asked me any of the details of my new provider, nor have I heard anything since.

It seems to me just another industry where the quality of individuals you are dealing with is far more important than the actual product/service for which you are paying.

[Sarge]

I'm confused, what exactly did the Progressive lady say was illegal?

Progressive for USAA Members quoted me something like $275 a MONTH on my bike. I laughed at the lady on the phone and hung up. Right now I've got Dairyland and they're closer to $75 a month. I'm about to turn 25 here soon, and thinking about switching to State Farm or something when I get back. I hear they're the cheapest gig in town, but they also want you to carry vehicle insurance. Everything expires the same month I get back from Iraq anyway, so I'm just going to go shopping around again.

[Matt]

We have 250,000/500,000 UM coverage for $230/yr from State Farm on one vehicle. That coverage applies to all vehicles. That may seem high to some. But when something goes really wrong, $20 per month is pretty cheap insurance.

[Scored51]

I was told every vehicle had to carry it's own UN/UI motorist protection, and that she actually was the one responsible for writing such policy at Progressive.

I would definitely shop around. While my family seems to have done well at AmFam for all our insurance needs, PunyJuny is trying to get away from them. Geico has always been the one I've laughed at for insurance quotes. Their best deal was always more than twice that of the next highest quote of any insurance company I requested when looking in the past.

PM me and I can give you the contact info for my agent here in Westminster. I can't guarrantee anything, but at least it may provide another option or another laugh.

[PROFLYER]

You guys have to understand that insurance companies have "appetites" and what may work for one may not work for another. Credit, vehicle type, living situation, driving record etc. etc. all affect rates. This is why I love being a broker, I can take what looks like 2 identical households and get the the same "deal" with two different companies simply because one likes the risk more then the other.

Of course I'd love to insure everyone on this board, but do yourself a favor and find a good broker in your area. There are a ton now and its really the best way to get the best coverage for the best price.

[FZRguy]

And age is a major factor. I pay $324 per year for three bikes for liability, UM and comp. FOGdom has its benefits.