Please read before getting quotes

TLDR; USE VIN NUMBERS FOR QUOTES



A tip for everyone getting quotes before the season begins. Use the vin number of the desired bike you are quoting, do not base it off of the year/make/model. Last season I was interested in buying a Honda Shadow Aero as an upgrade from my 300, so I called around and found that Statefarm was willing to give me 2200/year medium coverage which was appealing. I gave the exact details of the bike and my exact backround/licensing so I thought this quote would was solid. I sold my 300, purchased the Aero and went to sign up with Statefarm. After giving them the vin number of the bike my price changed. Statefarm says the bike was now in a different class of motorcycle so my premium would go up, my price was now at 3200/year for liab only. There was a $1000 difference from my quote price compared to my actual price, all because of the vin entering the system. I still signed (could afford still) as it was my only option, nobody else would sign me (I'm young) or I could of paid Aviva +$4000. I was very ****** off as I was never told that the quote price is subject to change based off the vin, and even if so, a $1000 difference with less coverage? Wtf? I had this all on email and opened a case with Statefarms Head Office, maybe someone screwed up the original quote? Maybe statefarms system is at fault? They agreed that there shouldnt be that large of a difference in pricing and they would speak to my broker about it as they have the final say, not the office. After arguing with the broker for weeks, it came to no resolution. I was stuck paying as I did agree to the price because I was not about to sell another bike that I had literally just purchased. This stupidity has never happened to me before on my other bikes or cars. You give details about the vehicle, your licensing and receive a quote, that quote is what you pay. So please if getting quotes, use a VIN number, I've learned my lesson

How much time elapsed from the quote to signing up? Quite a few insurance underwriters changed a number of policies over recently.

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Not sure how readily a VIN will be available, unless your serious in buying not sure how many private sellers are going to give up the VIN, might even have a hard time with dealers. This must be something new, never heard of a price change due to vin, and if it did it would or could be due to a difference in the year or engine cc's

It was about 2-3 weeks from the quote to when I signed. This happened in Sept.

Some dealers display vin's online, you check in person or give a call. The vin number of my bike also matched the details from my quote, the bike was just classed differently in the system for whatever reason when the vin was entered

I have had an insurer misidentify my bike WITH the VIN, so this isn't a guarantee

Did you ask for an explanation exactly why it happened? It's a Shadow, they're pretty much all the same, it's not like there's a high performance RR version of something that would only become evident with the VIN being input vs the badging on the side.

It doesn't make sense to me.

FWIW, if you started this policy in September, shop around NOW for a better price - if you cancel the existing policy that you've been paying for all winter and move to a new carrier now, because of the way MC insurance is weighted, you'll get almost all of those premiums refunded.

I had the same issue years ago when I bought my Daytona. I got a quote on the bike (Triumph only made one model of Daytona in 2008. ) from TD. Based on the quote I bought the bike and got the "oh, based on the VIN that's not the bike we quoted on" response. No amount of reasoning with them got them to honour the original quote. Thankfully the difference was relatively minor but it still bothered me. Going forward I will be sure to get an EXACT quote based on the model and VIN of any bike I am looking at buying.

RickT said:

I had the same issue years ago when I bought my Daytona. I got a quote on the bike (Triumph only made one model of Daytona in 2008. ) from TD. Based on the quote I bought the bike and got the "oh, based on the VIN that's not the bike we quoted on" response. No amount of reasoning with them got them to honour the original quote. Thankfully the difference was relatively minor but it still bothered me. Going forward I will be sure to get an EXACT quote based on the model and VIN of any bike I am looking at buying.

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Or do what i do, get quotes via Email.

You got a paper trail, im no expert but that sounds like bait n switch, threat of litigation might help

Also I found TD to be notoriously unreliable in terms of quotes.
In all likely-hood your not speaking to an insurance broker/agent/expert, but rather a call center where everyone has their heads up their own ***, and you get a different
answer/quote every time you call.

The only time i got a quote from them was from a gay dude who considered himself an 'expert' and 'knew all about bikes' because "my mom rode a harley"

Had the same issue with StateFarm a few years ago.... I feel your pain. I was lucky enough to be able to sell and purchase a different bike but I still lost out on a couple of hundred dollars. Funny thing is, the same state farm agent STILL emails me asking if my insurance renewal is coming up and I need quotes. UMMMM.... NOPE.

I cancelled and got almost all of my money back, thanks @privatepilot

Interestingly enough, I recently got a quote from a broker with Aviva for $1500 /yr. I had previously been denied by Aviva but this time around I only provided the VIN.