What Will Your Insurance Company Ask You When You Purchase Motorcycle Insurance – Here's a Handly List of Those Questions
What will you need to know when you take the final step to calling your insurance provider to buy your motorcycle insurance? You need to be prepared to answer the questions we’ve put together for you on his handy-dandy list.
This list was built based on buying motorcycle insurance in Michigan, but the list will be essentially the same for insurance providers from most of the fifty states, so it should at least give you a handle on what you’ll need to know and disclose when you get to the last step of buying a policy to protect you and your motorcycle.
If your bike is homemade, heavily customized, assembled from after-market components and accessories or made from a kit, you’ll probably have a few more hurdles to climb when you finalize your policy. As long as you have a state-assigned Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for your machine, you’re most of the way home, but without that, you’re going to have a hard time insuring your bike, so have one handy when you get to the purchasing phase of your motorcycle insurance hunt.
The Most Common Questions You’ll Need to Answer When You Buy Motorcycle Insurance
- Is any motorcycle used for any business or commercial purpose including rental or lease to others?
- Is any motorcycle used in organized racing, speed contests or stunts?
- Does any motorcycle use a nitrous oxide system?
- Is any operator’s driver’s license suspended, canceled or revoked?
- Are you a resident of Massachusetts or Hawaii?
- Are you the titled owner of all the motorcycles?
- Number of years you have operated a motorcycle?
- Do you have a motorcycle endorsement on your driver’s license?
- Have you had any accidents or moving violations in the past three years? If yes: state where did the accident or accidents occur?
- Do you belong to any motorcycle groups or associations?
- Have you received a certificate of completion for taking a motorcycle safety course. You’ll need to provide the date you completed the course
Motorcycle Information
- Year
- Make
- Model
- Displacement (cc)
- Cash value or purchase price
- Date purchased
- Is this motorcycle turbocharged or supercharged?
- Miles you plan to drive each year
- Does the bike value include more than $7,500 in optional equipment?
- Have you had insurance on this type of vehicle for the past six months ?
Coverage and Policy-Specific Questions
- Are you requesting liability-only coverage on this motorcycle?
Answering ‘Yes’ to this question means Collision, Comprehensive coverage and Optional Equipment Coverage will NOT be included for this motorcycle, and you’ll want to seriously consider if this is right for your before answering. Liability-only might cover the minimum requirements you have to meet in your state, but it leaves you hanging in some very important ways should you ever be involved in a collision or be injured as a result of one.
The advice here? Don’t answer ‘Yes’ to this question, it just doesn’t make good sense no matter what your circumstances…
Your Options and Standard Coverage Amounts
Bodily Injury (including Passenger Liability)
- $20,000/$40,000
- $25,000/$50,000
- $50,000/$100,000
- $100,000/$300,000
- $250,000/$500,000
Property Damage
- $10,000
- $15,000
- $25,000
- $50,000
- $100,000
- $250,000
Medical Payments
- $5,000
- $10,000
- $15,000
- $20,000
- $25,000
No Coverage
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists Coverage
- $20,000/$40,000
- $25,000/$50,000
- $50,000/$100,000
- $100,000/$300,000
- $250,000/$500,000
- No Coverage
Other Than Collision (Comprehensive)
- Actual Cash Value Less $100 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $200 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $250 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $500 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $1,000 Deductible
- No Coverage
Collision
- Actual Cash Value Less $100 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $200 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $250 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $500 Deductible
- Actual Cash Value Less $1,000 Deductible
- No Coverage
Optional Equipment
- $3,500 (Often included with full coverage policies as a standard amount)
- $4,000
- $4,500
- $5,000
- $5,500
- $6,000
- $6,500
- $7,000
- $7,500
- No Coverage – Other Than Collision
Towing/Roadside Assistance
- Reasonable/Necessary (Requires Collision Coverage)
- No Coverage
Keep in mind that insurers might want to review your credit report or obtain or use a credit-based insurance score based on the information contained in your credit report. They often use third party companies when they do this, so expect to see the name of one of those third party companies show up requesting your CR.
Laws are vastly different for many states when it comes to this kind of credit checking, so if you live in Kansas, you have the option to dispute any adverse action that the insurance company takes based on your credit information and you can even appeal their decision.
In Virginia, you can request that your credit information be updated as part of the process, and that’s generally a good idea as it will keep your credit information and score current.
In most cases, this is the kind of information you’ll have to have handy when you finalize your motorcycle insurance policy, and it pays to be honest. Should you omit problems with your driving record or any accidents you may have had when you apply for coverage, you’ll be throwing your money away in the event you need to file a claim, so stay on the straight and narrow here.
Bad things can happen to you and your bike, and your insurance needs can get complicated.
We’re here to help you be prepared to get the best deal on your motorcycle insurance…