Official Sponsor

As you’re gearing up to hit the road and head out to Bikes, Blues and BBQ, our official insurance sponsor, Progressive Insurance has you covered with answers to all your motorcycle insurance questions so you can bike worry-free. Whether you’re a seasoned rider or new to the road, Progressive offers the inside track to motorcycle insurance.

If you file a claim due to damage from hitting a pothole, it would be paid under collision coverage. A situation like this would generally be thought of as a single vehicle accident and would be considered the fault of the rider. As such, most insurance companies would consider raising your premium as a result. However, if the company offers some form of accident forgiveness, your rates may not go up.

For example, Progressive’s Small Accident Forgiveness waives premium surcharges on claims with a payout less than $500, and our Large Accident Forgiveness waives the surcharge on any accident, regardless of payout, if you have five years of claim free experience with Progressive. You may want to check with your current carrier to find out what types of accident forgiveness they offer.

Whether you are in an accident, you bike was stolen or receive damages while parked, be sure to gather key information to submit with your claim:

• Photos of the accident. Even if your bike was stolen, take pictures of where it was. Sounds odd, but it may help the insurance company. They might find a security camera on a nearby business that caught the crime on video.
• A police report. This can help establish who is responsible.

There are also ways you can prepare in advance to put yourself in the best position possible if you do have to submit a claim:

• Notify your insurance carrier of any modifications to your motorcycle and what the values of those modifications are.
• Take pictures of additional parts you have added to your bike and either send them to your agent or put them in a file.
• Keep receipts for all added accessories

When people customize their bikes they often don’t adjust their coverage accordingly. Progressive includes $3,000 of Accessory coverage on every policy with Comprehensive or Collision coverage, but that may not be enough if you’ve done extensive work to your bike. Getting the extra Accessory coverage will ensure your custom bike has the right protection.

Because there are a variety of vehicle and driver characteristics taken into consideration in order to derive a premium rate, it really depends. For example, vehicle make and model can influence the rate – some two-wheel motorcycles will cost more, some will be less expensive, and some will be the same price (given that vehicle make and model are the only differences in comparing two policies). It’s best to talk through your options with your independent agent or insurer to make sure you are purchasing insurance that is right for your motorcycle or trike.

There is also a trend of motorcycle-to-trike conversion. Progressive encourages customers insure their trike conversion kit under Accessory coverage. If you take a stock Harley cruiser and convert it into a trike, the conversion kit needed to make this adjustment can cost between $10,000-15,000. So in order for customers to be fully insured, we encourage them to purchase Accessory coverage to at least match the cost of the conversion kit. Without doing so, only the standard $3,000 worth of Accessory coverage would be applied to the cost of the trike conversion in the event of a total loss.