DO NOT automatically renew, DO start a new policy with the same company

adri

adri

Well-known member
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In the battle of humans versus insurance companies, one simple human scored a small win yesterday. He is me.

I took insurance off of the Harley-Davidson Sportster Iron 1200 because I sold it yesterday, and I put it on another bike... Let's call it NewBike.

Agent on the phone told me NewBike would cost $72 less/year than the Iron 1200.
Seemed ridiculous because two weeks ago I did a quote online with them and NewBike would've cost about $400 less/year.

I asked the agent about it, and he said the rates may have gone up since two weeks ago, but the new rate he gave me is what the price for NewBike would be moving forward until rates change again one day.

So I pulled out the Change Direction card from my Uno deck and I put him on hold and I ran my online quote again.

This time the price was even cheaper than two weeks ago. Now it was about $550 less/year vs the Iron!

I told the agent this, he was surprised, but I gave him my quote number and he confirmed everything was on point (same VIN#, same driver's license #, same coverage, etc.)

TLDR: We insured NewBike on my same account, but under a new policy number, and it saved me over $400/yr versus keeping NewBike on my existing policy number.
 
Insurance co's are crooks. A story as old as time.

"Our quote is a bit high but if we bundled in your house you'd save a ton" Nope. Nope Nope. I make payments to 3 different co's for vehicles house and condo.
 
I auto renew, same bike, lower rate than previous year. If either changes I would the put the effort into a new policy.
 
I am very surprised that they wrote you the new policy and didn't just tell you to FOAD.
 
gtam screenshot iron 1200.jpg

Meant to include this in my original post but had an unexpected visitor so I had to disappear for a while...

But wait, there's more!​

Since I was saving nearly $500/yr on insuring NewBike instead of the Iron 1200, I decided to ask about putting the Vespa back on insurance while I had the agent on the phone...

Get this...

2006 Vespa GTS 250... capable of about 130 km/hr-ish maxed out... $60/yr. to insure.

Last year it was a little under $200 to insure it. I don't know why it's down, I don't know how. All I know is it's on my new policy # where everything is cheaper, and I wasn't going to question it.

So now, compared to the Sportster, I'm saving $400 ish per year on insurance, have an arguably much better liter bike, AND my Vespa as the little red cherry on top.










Yes the $400 saved will be spent entirely on mods. Obviously.
 
AllistonGT said:
They'll get you next year!;)
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Yep, and then I'll get a quote online, get the quote number, and call the agent again to start a new policy. Maybe even post a thread on GTAM about it when I'm done lol

Truth be told we aren't strangers to making the most of corporate greed trying to lure new customers while fleecing loyal ones. The missus and I switch names on our internet (but stay with the same plan and same provider) every 13-14 months because Teksavvy does a $50/month off for the first year offer for new customers. It's about 30 minutes of work between the phone call and mailing their modem back to them, but it saves us $600 every 13-14 months. I think this is our 4th or 5th time one of us have moved to this address.

Next week we can talk about getting a free Apple Macbook Air from RBC.
 
Nice! Good on you for keeping them as honest as you can.

Shockingly my scrambler insurance went DOWN this year a whopping $7/month.
 
adri said:
Get this...

2006 Vespa GTS 250... capable of about 130 km/hr-ish maxed out... $60/yr. to insure.

Last year it was a little under $200 to insure it. I don't know why it's down, I don't know how. All I know is it's on my new policy # where everything is cheaper, and I wasn't going to question it.
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Who are you with?

Today I called the broker who has gotten me the best rates in the past (Riders Plus) to see what the incremental cost would be to add a Vespa GTS 250. They quoted me $700 with no comprehensive, ~$800 with comprehensive. I have a Multistrada 1200 with them for about $1050, with the same comprehensive as they quoted for the Vespa.

I don't understand how adding a Vespa could come so close to doubling my overall premium.

At that rate, I'll probably just sell the Vespa. It's fun to zip around on, but I'm not willing to pay anything close to that.
 
mimico_polak said:
Nice! Good on you for keeping them as honest as you can.

Shockingly my scrambler insurance went DOWN this year a whopping $7/month.
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Different province, but my insurance has also been going down steadily since moving out here.

Fixing my ride myself every time I crash instead of making a claim is working out quite well...!
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Who are you with?

Today I called the broker who has gotten me the best rates in the past (Riders Plus) to see what the incremental cost would be to add a Vespa GTS 250. They quoted me $700 with no comprehensive, ~$800 with comprehensive. I have a Multistrada 1200 with them for about $1050, with the same comprehensive as they quoted for the Vespa.

I don't understand how adding a Vespa could come so close to doubling my overall premium.

At that rate, I'll probably just sell the Vespa. It's fun to zip around on, but I'm not willing to pay anything close to that.
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Co-Operators. That's under a new policy #. When I had it as part of the same policy as my other vehicles, I think it was about $150/yr.

I've never had Riders Plus beat any rate I've gotten from either TD Meloche Monnex and Co-Operators on any class of bike.
 
adri said:
Co-Operators. That's under a new policy #. When I had it as part of the same policy as my other vehicles, I think it was about $150/yr.

I've never had Riders Plus beat any rate I've gotten from either TD Meloche Monnex and Co-Operators on any class of bike.
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A few years back I called maybe 8 different places -both insurance companies (including TD, I believe) and brokers. Riders Plus had the best quotes for me then and with the Multistrada I bought in 2024

I did (and still do) have stuff with Desjardins as well as a broker who has our house and cottage (I think) with Intact. Interestingly, the latter broker could not do better on my Multistrada than Riders Plus - who placed me with Intact this go-round. And I have maybe a half dozen vehicles with Desjardins and they still can't come close to Riders Plus for me.

The exception is with my dirt bikes - Riders told me they won't insure dirt bikes.

Having said that, I'll definitely call around on this one. For $1-200, I would keep the Vespa around as an occasional fun ride, but not for what I've been quoted. I hope I can - that thing is fun in a completely different way than a full-on motorcycle.
 
Maybe Riders Plus wins on Ducatis? The only quotes I've ever gotten on Ducatis have all been so awful that I never end up buying one :(
 
Which online quote URL please?
 
adri said:
Maybe Riders Plus wins on Ducatis? The only quotes I've ever gotten on Ducatis have all been so awful that I never end up buying one :(
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My last bike was a Kawasaki Z400. Riders also had the best quote on that. That's the sum total of my experience insuring road bikes. But I do understand different companies are looking for different risk profiles to round out their portfolios.

I understood the whole purpose of brokers like Riders was for them to pull quotes from a whole bunch of providers... so it's surprising to me that they could find quotes from Intact that beat Broker B, when Broker B who also deals with Intact, and when I have a bunch of coverage with Intact through Broker B. So weird.
 
I shop my insurance around every single year and constantly switch. Loyalty is not worth it with how premiums change between companies. My insurance history is a complete **** show when they view it but it never makes a difference. You can saved hundreds to thousands a year (cars, bikes and a house...) not sticking with the same company over and over.
 
Point taken about magnitude of difference in premiums between companies. Is it true that switching policies is a red flag for companies and switching policies often moreso? I can imagine that it could be - but then that would run counter to the reality that these companies run expensive ad campaigns precisely to pull you away from other companies.
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Point taken about magnitude of difference in premiums between companies. Is it true that switching policies is a red flag for companies and switching policies often moreso? I can imagine that it could be - but then that would run counter to the reality that these companies run expensive ad campaigns precisely to pull you away from other companies.
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They don't seem to care I've switched 10-15 times at least now. I think even they as agents aren't multi millionaires and understand people just want to save money as they do. As long as you haven't been cancelled for any reason, I doubt it will ever matter. They just want your business. Definitely never been denied a policy just because I switch around for best rates.
 
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