New Ride Research: CONFUSION - Insurance Rates

[Vance]

Okay,

So while I'm still narrowing down the potential new bike I decided, during a particularly boring conference call, to check out insurance rate differences between some of my likely top choices via Geico. Now, I doubt I'll go with Geico considering my home, two cars, and life insurance are all through Allstate - which I would hope would mean I should get a fairly descent rate through them on a motorcycle - BUT of course Geico has easy online rate quotes to compare.

So in plugging in a number of bikes, with a number of years where there was a viable range, I ran into something VERY strange:

The Daytona 675 - whether I plugged in say an '07, '09, or '12 - all ran almost DOUBLE the rate of a number of other litre bikes, including the "exotic" Aprilias and Ducatis.

I compared the aforementioned 3 years of the Daytona 675 to:
98 Daytona T595 (955i)
01 Daytona 955i
06 Daytona 955i
06 Ducati 749
06 Ducati 999
03 Aprilia RSV Mille
06 Aprilia RSV 1000 R
09 Aprilia RSV 1000 R

All of the above models were at a minimum $15/month lower than the Daytona 675 (the most expensive for me being the 09 Aprilia at $47/month comparative to the 07 Daytona 675 which was $62/mo, with the 09 and 12 being only a few dollars more each, the 12 capping out at $68/mo)

So my point of confusion is: Why are the rates on the 675 HIGHER than the litre bikes?

In the past - consistantly - ALL litre bikes for me have always been significantly more expensive insurance wise (typically double) that of bikes under 800cc's. My Aprilia, just 7 years ago, cost me nearly $100/mo to insure. Now - at the time my driving record was not grande by any means - but going back further, my 98 T595/955i, when I bought it in 01, and I was comparing to say a same year 600, was still double per month (with a good driving record at the time).

Is it my age? Because I'm a FOG now the 1000's are considered "tame" compared to the lean and mean 675?

Is it because the 675 is in some unique category I don't know about?

Why is the 675, a bike some 35% smaller in CC size, costing some 20'ish % more?

Can anyone explain this bizarre phenomenon to me?

Now obviously as I get closer and closer, narrowing down my options more and more, I'll eventually price these out through Allstate - but this just threw my brain for a curve so much so that I need to get my head around it before pressing forward any more - because I LOVE the 675... I would hate to knock it out of the running over insurance rates - but if the cost per month really is that much more - it will weigh on my decision.

[rforsythe]

May have something to do with theft rates or higher replacement costs to insurers (i.e. more people wad those than the Italian mistresses?). Just guessing. Could also be that they classify it under a different motorcycle category like sportbike vs sport touring; that happened with my Superhawk as well.

Just for comparison, see what their rates are for things like R6's and GSX-R 600's, and other more tour-ish bikes like VFR's.

[salsashark]

I just went through this w/ my agent. Traded in the Multi on a Tuono and my agent's rep quoted me a rate that was almost double! We went rounds about this. My contention was that I traded a 20K Italian for a 15K Italian w/ a smaller motor. She kept stating that the number of claims for the Tuono were more, hence the higher premiums. In the end, it was a glitch in their system and once we caught that, everything worked out.

So, what Ralph said would also be my guess. The 675 costs more to the insurance companies, so you pick up the tab.

[JKOL]

I have no idea why the 675 is so high. My Speed Triple is the exact same rate as my 600RR to insure, both bikes are the same year.

Have you checked other carriers to see if the 675 rate premium is higher industry wide? Insurance companies vary with how they evaluate different bikes/cars to come up with their premiums. While GEICO may determine the 675 is a much higher risk to insure, State Farm might determine it to be the safest bike on the road making it cheap to insure.

[Ghosty]

Wonder if they (Allstate or Geico) go mostly on accident rates (especially totalled bikes, rider injuries, deaths, etc.), per every specific model. Would make sense, but still sucks for us sportbike riders who ride safer than other squids.

I love my State Farm, varies by CC's. Our family has used them for 20+ years. I have the same rate (who might have a matching clean record) as any other liter, even cruisers! They don't rate higher for a "crotch rocket". If you're interested, give my agent a call, free quote I'm sure, worth checking. PM me for contact info.

[asp_125]

Cc's cut the other way too. My Thruxton (900cc) is more expensive to insure than my Gixxer was, even though the bonnie is slower and has less plastic to break and nobody wants to steal one. Then again, being a FOG makes it really cheap no matter what bike it is.

[Sarge]

Motorcycle insurance is one of the most inconsistent things I've ever seen. When I first had my RSV Factory (NOBODY accounted for the 'Factory' part, even though the MSRP was 5k higher, but that's a different point) Insurance rates were all over the place depending on who I talked to. I have USAA for my home/auto/life, etc, but they don't do motorcycles anymore (unless you're grandfathered in in certain cases), so they partnered with Progressive and created a "Progressive for USAA Members" site, but they were quoting me like $275 a MONTH. I did a lot of other searching and one of the cheapest I found was $115/m if I remember correctly. Finally, I found Dairlyand Cycle Company, and they only wanted $600 for the YEAR, or about $50/m. When I got the SV, it dropped to $400 or so (full coverage for all of these quotes), but when I tried to replace it with the S1kRR, even Dairyland wanted $2000/year+. Did a little more searching, and was getting $2000+/- all over the place, then found State Farm at about $700 a year, and finally Allstate was only $420ish, for DOUBLE the state mins, $250 deductables, medical, NEW BIKE REPLACEMENT ($25/year) $3000 optional equipment, etc, etc.

Originally, they had charged me something like $550 (typically pay in full every time), but as soon as I got the policy documents I noticed they were charging me some $130 for two accidents. (Still the cheapest even at that.) I did a little research, and it turns out that USAA had misreported an accident my wife got into under my name (I was in Iraq at the time, definitely not driving her car) because I'm the registered owner and primary insured. I did fix this with USAA a while ago, but before I fixed it with USAA, Dairyland had pulled my record and was applying it to my rate (I had no clue), and when Allstate gave me a tiny discount for changing carriers (Dairyland to Allstate) they pulled my (innaccurate) record from Dairlyland. Took me the better part of a month to get all of this figured out, but they finally sent me a check for $130 or so. I can understand how they apply accidents to the policy for married couples on cars (if you can ignore the fact that you're both more than likely on the same policy anyway), but A. My wife doesn't have a motorcycle license, and B. I wasn't even on this side of the PLANET when those accidents occurred....

/rant

TL,DR: Motorcycle insurance companies are whack. Check Dairyland Cycle, State Farm, Allstate and GEICO at a minimum. Same bike quote ran me between $400 and $3200 for the same coverage... Also, be sure to verify your driving record is your driving record when quoting.