Insurance Woes, uh Rates

Just got my renewal for the VFR.

WARNING: Rant Mode initiated, failsafes to standby.

Among the other fun and games Geico added $300 for a BS 08 red light, $100 for lost of my Mature Rider discount because of the ticket and best of all, $74 because I live in this pisshole shitstacked abortion of a state for an increase from $544 to $1030! Any constructive suggestions?

 

Call an independent insurance broker and get quotes. Mine saved me 60% off of Progressive and Geico! Best move I ever made.

 

Ball Insurance. Spring TX. One of the few agents who really know bikes unless you believe those ads in the mags about "this is an insurance agent" Sort of like those "lawyers" who ride that pop for a custom chopper by those fools on TeeVee and write it off as an ad cost.

Don't expect your local guy to know shit about bikes. I called a local about two of my bikes and told him specifically what I wanted and not to try to sell me up. He did. No biz from me on my bikes or my car from this dude. Same insurance company BTW.

Any moving violation any more is worth going to court. The LEO might not show and you walk. There are also lawyers who specialize in traffic violations and some of them are just what you want, badgers. If ya'll find one, don't hesitate to ask about his or her win rate. It's a legit question and if the lawyer waffles, fuck em, go someplace else.

 

Shop around and find someone different. You will find a better rate. However you might not get the same quality of service should something bad happen. I know that I can get cheaper insurance, however I've stuck with Progressive due to the outstanding support that is there whenever I have called them.

 

Not so. It is patently unethical for a lawyer to make comments or statements that imply previous results indicate a similar outcome is going to happen in the particular instance you are inquiring about. So, you should be guaranteed to not get a direct answer to such a question. If you do get one that is when you should go someplace else. 20 + years in the profession is the basis for my comment. By all means though, find a lawyer who handles only traffic matters and use their services. Several hundred bucks in attorney fees is better than 3-5 years of increased insurance premiums on every vehicle you have to insure.

As an old judge I knew many years ago would always say, "You have an absolute right to represent yourself, just as you have an absolute right to remove your own tooth with a pair of pliers. I suggest to you that either endeavor will be equally painful."

 

Good for you on that one! BTW, be sure you double check the court record system unless you have received a letter of dismissal from the court. Would hate to see you have to deal with a "no response" issue if someone "forgot" to enter the dismissal of charge into their records. Pays to verify and be careful.

 

Laying the old judge aside for a moment and returning to the rather odd advice and lecture on ethics, one either has a win/loss rate or one does not. Unless of course, one wishes to retain the services of counsel who loses a whole bunch and who falls back on some silly ethics argument to cover his rear end rather than disclose that he ain't all that good in traffic court.

 

Ok, back on topic, I checked with State Farm (don't any of you even think of asking about Allstate or Progressive) and here's what They're offering:

2000 Ford ZX2
Liability only $138 6mths

2005 Honda VFR
Full Coverage $241 6mths

Renter's 20k $141 yr

 

My state farm '07 vfr: $340/yr full coverage. May not be applicable since I have no tickets.

 

I have a red light ticket, so there's gonna be a bite on the rates... :moony:

 

State Farm - Collision/Comp/Liability/ Med/$500 ded. = $360 every 6 mos.

 

Looks like the agent is doing the old upsell on you. SOS, you ask for one thing and gee whiz, it looks like you need all kinds of insurance.

All this increase on the basis of one "red" light?

 

thats not what it looks like to me...... and just because an agent offers you more coverage....doesn't mean you have to take it so the only upsell there is is if you buy it...

By the way 200dollars a year from progressive...I also have an older bike... next year if my nose stays clean..it drops to 75 bucks a year ... then I up all the additional coverage.....

 

what makes you think that they dropped it because you scheduled a court date? The reason they gave you sounds like a viable excuse..

there was a bunch of tickets given at a red light camera here (down in Ventura actually) a few years ago. this camera was generating a huge amount of violations....they were really surprised about it thinking that a shit load of people run that red light...one person challenged it they looked at the camera to get all the maintainace records etc... they found that the camera was taking pictures early......from that day back they dismissed all the tickets..... it pays to go to court because they have to bring records of maintanance and if its a speeding ticket they have to supply information about the radar gun..when it was last calibrated, when the last calibration check was done..that sort of thing.
so becasue they found that your violation was an accident just be gratefull that someone was lookiing through the files and caught it....

 

i have progressive. i got a 87 vfr700. i live in va. i took the safety course. i have no tickets. $95 a year for liability.

and u pay 1,000 some dollars....wow dude...i wouldn't ride if insurance cost that much

 

Would you be interested in some of our seat protection spray or some undercoating of your fenders on your bike? We also have riders on HO insurance for pet fish. This includes interrment and the proper religious ceremony of choice and a DVD of same. Most folks have this coverage.

Seen your bike. Never seen your nose inside or out.

 

Short yellow light blamed for tickets in Ventura

Author: John Scheibe

jscheibe@ VenturaCountyStar.com
Date: June 23, 2009
Publication: Ventura County Star (CA)

The Ventura County Grand Jury is recommending that the city of Ventura lengthen the duration of a yellow light at a busy downtown intersection to decrease the number of red-light-camera violations and make the area safer.


The yellow light at California Street and Thompson Boulevard lasts for three seconds before turning red, compared with four seconds at nearby intersections, the Grand Jury says in a report released Monday on the use of automated cameras in Ventura and Oxnard to catch...
Click here for complete article ($2.95)






Two bucks and change will get anyone the whole story.

 

Actually, I asked her about car and renter's insurance up front, she didn't get the chance to upsell anything. You see, I have my car insured with Geico along with the VFR and was planning to get renter's insurance when the VFR's rate increase from 544 to 1030 landed. Yes, the increase is because of the one ticket, and I did it in the car, not on the bike. I expected a surcharge, maybe a jump of 10%-30% but 90% is BS, especially given I haven't had even a traffic ticket since, so I'm taking all my business to State Farm.

Jayluv420, I had Progressive when I first got the VFR, they charged me $1400 the first year and with NOTHING on my record, wanted to renew at $1622. Even now, they want $975 for the VFR and $312 for the car.