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[dereck]

State Farm will insure any motorcycle.

My brother works for another insurance company, however he insures all his vihicles with State Farm.

[MIKEYTEE]

State Farm will insure any motorcycle.

My brother works for another insurance company, however he insures all his vihicles with State Farm.

Unless they have changed, they don't in South Carolina. I have my house and cages insured with them , my bikes with AIG. ( not the bailout side )
Mike

[Dan_Lockwood]

You might want to try Hagerty Insurance located in Traverse City MI.

I had all my streetrods insured through them and I now have my '76 FLH fully restored through them.  They offer great coverage and road service or trailer service as well.

They do collector cars and bikes.  They may not want to fool with a "custom" production bike though.  What harm will it do to call them or get a website quote.

http://www.hagerty.com/

They've treated me well and I know they have treated other with claims very quickly and honestly.

I get confused on this, but I believe they do "Agreed Value" for vehicles.  State Farm does the other, "Stated Value".  I know for a fact that State Farm has the lowest prices, but I've been first hand with their claim service.  With their stated value they have the option to replace your ride with what they feel is comparable in price.  You have to almost sue them to get what you think they promised you.

Hagerty on the other hand will pay you to fix your own ride.  They won't pay you shop rate, but will pay you an hourly rate that more than covers your actual costs to do the work yourself.  If you have a total, they will pay you what they agreed to in writing.  State Farm will use a current value similar to the value on the policy and you have to fight with them to get it.

A buddy of mine had a really nice '29 Brookville steel roadster and had it insured with State Farm with a stated value of $30k.  He was paying like $175/year for the coverage.  At the time I had my partially built streetrod insured through Hagerty for $40k and I was paying just about $500/year.  I later increased my ride to $80k and it was about $800/year for full coverage with all the extras.  So for the price difference what do you think you're going to get in a total?  That's why I went with Hagerty on my '76 FLH as well.  I have it for $13k and I pay $279/year for full coverage and the extras.  I had higher quotes from standard companies so Hagerty was a no brainer.

I'll be going with them, or I'll try to, on the new boardtrack racer when completed.  It just makes sense to me to do so.

Give them a try and see what they'll do for you.

Good luck.

[Hoist!]

Thanks for the tip Dan! I'm still shopping around. Will let ya'll know the results!

Hoist!

[sportygordy]

Allstate insured a custom i built in 2004. They determined value based on the receipts i provided plus a labor amount i came up with. Total replacement value was 35K and annual premium was $680, about $200 less then several other quotes i got at the time. I'm still with Allstate but not sure if they are still writing bike premiums.

[SPIDERMAN]

 State Farm does the other, "Stated Value".  I know for a fact that State Farm has the lowest prices, but I've been first hand with their claim service.  With their stated value they have the option to replace your ride with what they feel is comparable in price.  You have to almost sue them to get what you think they promised you.

This post is egregious, erroneous and grossly unfair as regards my experience with State Farm.

I totaled out an 03 SERK in 2005. State Farm asked me to find three examples of the same motorcycle for sale on the internet. They averaged the cost of the three. Since all three were on the east coast and there were none on the west coast, they factored in another $1,000 for shipping. THEN, they requested some sort of evidence of all of the extras that had been installed on the bike, which I provided. At that point, they sent an adjuster to view the wreck and he verified all of the items I had listed. The not only paid me for those additional items, but factored in an estimate of the labor cost to install them provided by my dealer. Long story short, in August of 2005, I received $37,500 for my wrecked 03 SERK. The check represented a combined loss of $38,000 minus my $500 deductible. They also offered me the wreck for $7,500 deducted from the settlement. In other words, I could have had the wreck AND a check for $30,000.

Having said all that, I had an SPCNS (Special Construction ) custom I built myself, inspected and titled by California DMV insured by State Farm. I provided my agent with all of the receipts for the cost of the build and the motorcycle was insured for that amount The cost of the insurance was something like $54 per month.

I have nothing but praise for State Farm Insurance. I guess everyman's experience is different based on a variety of factors and at the end of the day, all you can do is check out a variety of insurers and agents and see how you're treated. My experience is that if an agent is difficult getting you coverage, filing a claim will be a nightmare. Again , for me personally, ALLSTATE insurance would have to PAY ME to be a client.

As to Haggerty, I know nothing of them. My impression is that they are a collector car insurer. I don't own any collector cars.

B B

[icybay]

I have multiple bikes insured with State Farm, all on stated value. My agent had me take numerous digital photos of each bike, making sure to show all the add ons wherever possible  and give him a CD.  The "comprehensive only"  is so inexpensive it is hard to believe, for a bike valued at 23,000 the premium is 23.00 a year. In case of theft, they will pay 23 grand, less the deductible period.

 Like BB said, if you have the documentation, they are easy to deal with. Of course, I have a great agent and he will always go the extra mile to make sure there is no problem.  I believe they have a policy that they don't insure bikes unless you are a auto/homeowner customer also.  Then you can get a 5 million dollar umbrella to cover all your cars, boats  homeowner liability exposure for about 500 bucks. Best money you can spend these days.

[Dan_Lockwood]

As Spiderman said, lots of factors play into how one is treated and the claim processed.

If you have a great local agent, that's half the battle right there.  I had State Farm for many years without any claims, but the agent I had switched to due to a relocation move, was not the best guy to deal with.  Life goes...

As far as Hagerty goes, yes, they are a collector "car" insurance company, but also insure other things like antiaque boats, old wood Century's etc.  But they do insure bikes and my '76 FLH is one of them.  Custom production bikes may not be their thing, but a simple free call is all it takes.

I'm sure lots of other insurance companies will do just fine and the claim you have with the State Farm guy and your '03 SERK was a dream come true base on how nicely everything went for you.

All Hoist can do is start looking around and calling different companies and look at what they offer.

Good luck Hoist...

[HarleyRider2004]

Again , for me personally, ALLSTATE insurance would have to PAY ME to be a client.

B B

Do you care to share with us?  I deal with about 14 insurance companies as a independent agent.  As far as all of the companies go...I rarely ever get a complaint with Allstate's claims department.  We have actually terminated our contract with some companies based on claims experiences only.  If you were insured with Allstate and had a bad experience that is a real shame and I am sorry to hear about it.  I hope that you filed a complaint.  There are bad apples with every company.  Sorry for your bad experience but as you said before...your Agent makes the difference. 

[SPIDERMAN]

Do you care to share with us?  I deal with about 14 insurance companies as a independent agent.  As far as all of the companies go...I rarely ever get a complaint with Allstate's claims department.  We have actually terminated our contract with some companies based on claims experiences only.  If you were insured with Allstate and had a bad experience that is a real shame and I am sorry to hear about it.  I hope that you filed a complaint.  There are bad apples with every company.  Sorry for your bad experience but as you said before...your Agent makes the difference. 

HarleyRider 2004
                     Since I don't know you, I state the following simply as a response to your above post and in no way relative to your status as a member of the human race, this website and the all round good guy club. In other words, don't take it personally.

                      I'm not going to be put on the witness stand every time I have an opinion on a subject. My opinion is my opinion which is why the word is used. Would you have the OPED sections of every paper in the country removed if there wasn't a 20 page legal brief filed with it ? If you wish to post pro Allstate stories, then knock yourself out. I have no intention of wasting my time explaining why I think it's an a$$hole company.

B B

[HarleyRider2004]

Fair enough.  Everyone has different experiences with different companies.  I am not posting pro Allstate comments, unless you have your insurance with me I don't really care who your insurance is with to be honest.  I was actually just curious to hear what kind of problem you had.  Some people have problems with State Farm, some Allstate...Not taking it personal at all...we are good...I think!   
                   

[Puzzled]

As the owner of two customs who has had this discussion on all of the chopper boards and with every agent I come across I'll add my .02$. First as you know not all companies insure the same items in every state. This is one I don't get as if it can be insured elsewhere than why not where I reside? Another thing I have come across is how they insure the bike, stated value or appraised value. Stated value is based on a number that corresponds with your said value of the bike and your rates match said value. Appraised value has you getting an appraisal on the bikes worth (not a problem for you). The rates for appraised are less as the value of the bike will drop over time according to their calculations. I currently use stated value with the carrier I use. While not inexpensive I do have the coverage I desire in the event of a total loss. With that said I currently use Foremost Insurance for all four of my bikes. They are not very Sport Bike friendly as my Busa was high and so is my current GSXR. I have found companies who would write my chopper but not my Busa?! Some companies wanted me to move my cars, yeah right. Others would only insure for liability. I will dig back through the threads on Chopperweb.net for the insurance company thread and the list of companies we compiled.

[inthewind729]

Hoist,
      I see you live in NYC. You do realize that in NY, bikers are not covered by no fault insurance. Unfortunately, what that boils down to is you better cover yourself. As much as we all hate to lose a bike, whats really gonna be costly when you go down is hospital related. Make sure you get Supplemental Underinsured Motorist coverage for as much as you can afford in your policy, no matter what company you end up using. Theres a hell of a lot of people driving cages with minimum or no insurance and no assets for you to draw on if you pile up $100K in hospital bills. SUM will help you out with that. And it ain't that expensive, $20 -50 dollars added to policy a year probably.   Hope ya never need it, but ain't that the deal with any insurance?

Ride safe to one day ride free.

[Hoist!]

Hoist,
      I see you live in NYC. You do realize that in NY, bikers are not covered by no fault insurance. Unfortunately, what that boils down to is you better cover yourself. As much as we all hate to lose a bike, whats really gonna be costly when you go down is hospital related. Make sure you get Supplemental Underinsured Motorist coverage for as much as you can afford in your policy, no matter what company you end up using. Theres a hell of a lot of people driving cages with minimum or no insurance and no assets for you to draw on if you pile up $100K in hospital bills. SUM will help you out with that. And it ain't that expensive, $20 -50 dollars added to policy a year probably.   Hope ya never need it, but ain't that the deal with any insurance?

Ride safe to one day ride free.

Thanks for the heads up ITW!

Been riding in NYC since 1974. I'm covered for what I need. Found out the hard way in '77 though.

Hoist!

[mrmagloo]

HarleyRider 2004
                     Since I don't know you, I state the following simply as a response to your above post and in no way relative to your status as a member of the human race, this website and the all round good guy club. In other words, don't take it personally.

                      I'm not going to be put on the witness stand every time I have an opinion on a subject. My opinion is my opinion which is why the word is used. Would you have the OPED sections of every paper in the country removed if there wasn't a 20 page legal brief filed with it ? If you wish to post pro Allstate stories, then knock yourself out. I have no intention of wasting my time explaining why I think it's an a$$hole company.

B B

Wow, just catching up on this thread that I missed, but was kind of surprised to see your sensitivity to an honest inquiry. Seems to me, the thread was started with Hoist's request for recommendations, and for whatever reason, out of the blue you choose to bash one of the company's mentioned, that some have had great experiences with, including myself.

I guess my question is, similar to folks sharing the pro's on con's of info on parts, accessories, and dealers here, didn't you think someone would be curious over what obviously has you so fired up? If not, why'd you bother making the comment in the first place?

I don't think HarleyRider asked anything beyond genuinely being interested, so I'm just rather dumbfounded over this 'Legal Brief' tirade stuff? Obviously, you've had a bad experience, but jumping his case like that? Seems counter-intuitive to the objective of this forum, imho.

I've actually had a poor experiences with a firm mentioned - I'm sure we all have, and because I didn't feel it was reasonable to get into something I didn't feel comfortable detailing, and probably not a fair representation of the firm itself anyway, I kept it to myself. Might be worth considering instead of setting folks up just to flame them when they inquire??