Progressive Insurance
HB: What kind of insurance do you offer for motorcycle riders?
Progressive Insurance: It's similar to what we offer for cars. Liability (bodily and property), physical damage (you and your property), collision and comprehensive (which includes theft and animal strikes), accessory coverage (included w/ collision and comprehensive up to $3,000). You can get up to $30,000 for other modifications beyond that for custom parts.
HB: What insurance do you offer for custom motorcycles?
Progressive Insurance: We only offer liability for ground ups, but not comprehensive and collision because there's no way to settle a claim. If a lot of your parts are one offs, how do we replace them? We won't offer physical damage coverages because it's usually so difficult to replace or repair the bike. With semi-custom or production customs, however, we will offer you full coverage.
HB: What insurance discounts do you offer for riders?
Progressive Insurance: The full gamut. Our safety course discount is 5 percent, the pay in full (for your annual insurance) is 10 percent, homeowner is 20 percent, multi-bike owner is 35 percent on each machine with no limits on the amount of bikes owned.
HB: Do you offer discounts for anti-theft systems (alarms, GPS tracking systems)?
Progressive Insurance: Yes, Lo-Jack could be up to 65 percent (varies), and anti-theft is 20 percent on the comprehensive portion.
HB: What unique insurance services do you offer for motorcyclists?
Progressive Insurance: A few. Most of us who work with bike insurance are also riders. We're business people first and riders a close second. Roadside assistance is available for $10/year in most states, which is sign and drive for no cost out of pocket (which is great if you're stuck in the in middle of nowhere), total loss replacement (we will cut you a check for total loss for current model year even if it's not a current year model, no questions asked, for new or used bikes), trip interruption (if your bike disabled 100 plus miles away from home, we'll pay up to $500 for hotel, food, and alternate transportation up to $500 per occurrence; when you call us, we tow the motorcycle to the nearest shop; coverage is $5,000/year).
HB: What performance enhancements can I add to a stock bike that won't increase insurance costs?
Progressive Insurance: Most anything except nitrous, turbo blower, or a supercharger; we add a 50 percent surcharge for those. There's no surcharge from us for other modifications even if you drop in a big inch engine.
HB If I build a ground up custom bike what do I need to I get it insured?
Progressive Insurance: Generally, you can get insurance so long as your motorcycle is listed in Kelly Blue Book or NADA.
HB: If I have a stock bike and over the years spend a ton of money on customizing it, how can I make sure my bike is insured for the value I have into it?
Progressive Insurance: A $3,000 accessory coverage comes standard but you'll want additional accessory coverage.
HB: What if my bike is stolen, what do I need to do to make sure I get the most out of my policy?
Progressive Insurance: Call us, tell us, we take it from there. Extra coverage (or not), make sure you have side view pictures and sales receipts for accessories so we can verify and pay you for them, always good to keep receipts and have the photos.
HB: What kind of things can affect my policy rates (eg. tickets, accidents, DUI, modifications)?
Progressive Insurance: All of them. Rolling out (we have to meet individual states laws so it takes a while to roll out) when you renew, you get a 5 percent discount if you didn't file a claim, if you do and it's under $500, there's no surcharge increase (note: if you have two claims at $900 with a $500 deductible each time, there's no increase when you renew).