Explain What Factors Affect Motorcycle Insurance Rates Should Helmets Be Considered?
What Factors Affect Motorcycle Insurance Rates, should helmets be considered?
By
Eddie Wenzel and Vincent Starkson
Group 18
Dr. Zhang
Fall 2012
10:00 AM Section
Purchasing motorcycle insurance is not the same as purchasing car insurance because different factors will affect the premium. Both you and your motorcycle will be considered by the insurance company, and there are several ways you can decrease your motorcycle insurance. The following are the most common factors that affect motorcycle insurance rates in the United States
As with all automobile insurance premiums, your age will be a large factor. Female drivers under the age of twenty-one and male drivers under the age of twenty-five will typically …show more content…
have higher rates than older drivers. The exact age limits may vary from state-to-state, so you might want to hold off on buying your motorcycle (or at least driving it) until you reach an age that qualifies you for lower motorcycle insurance.
Many insurance companies will take your motorcycle experience into consideration when generating a quote. Motorcycle owners who have been riding them for ten years may qualify for a lower premium that someone who has just bought his or her first bike. Call around to different insurance companies in your area and find out if your experience will be a factor for motorcycle insurance.
This is an important factor for motorcycle owners.
If you live in a small, rural area, your insurance rates are likely to be lower than if you live in a large metropolitan area. Motorcycle accidents increase with more traffic and your risk for accidents and injuries decrease dramatically when you live farther out in the country. However, don 't say that you live in a rural area when you don 't; this is insurance fraud. In some areas, your occupation can affect your motorcycle insurance rates, but a more important factor is what you use your vehicle for. Insurance rates will change dramatically if you use your motorcycle for business rather than purely for recreational …show more content…
use.
If you have modified your motorcycle in any way, this will have a profound effect on your insurance rates. Make sure that you report any modifications you make to your insurance company; some will lower it, while others will raise it. For example, if you add an aftermarket security system to your motorcycle, it presents less of a risk for theft, and you premium might go down.
This is another factor that will affect your motorcycle insurance rates. Storing your bike in your garage will be less of a risk than if it sits out in your driveway. Parking your motorcycle on the street presents an even larger risk. Different factors that might affect your motorcycle insurance can pertain to the specifications. Engine size, age of bike, value and maintenance records can all play a part in determining your premium. One controversial aspect of riding a motorcycle is whether or not wearing a helmet should be a requirement.
Many states (20 and counting) have passed laws requiring all riders to wear helmets. This includes motorized and non-motorized bikes. States that have universal helmet laws observed rider use percentages nearing 100 percent, where states that have no such laws have rider use percentages under 50 percent. Studies from the CDC have shown that cyclists wearing helmets survive accidents at a three times higher rate. Riders who do not were helmets and were involved in an accident have cost the health care system over $12 billion in 2008
alone.
This leads to the question of whether insurance companies should consider use of helmets in regards to insurance rates. The answer is that some insurance companies do, in fact, require their insured to wear helmets at all times, regardless of their state’s laws. The most common requirement from insurance companies is age related and only applies to riders under a stated age. Failure to wear a helmet when one is required by your insurance company can lead to loss of coverage and steep increases in future motorcycle insurance. All cyclists should be aware of their insurance terms in order to save themselves the costs that breaking your contract could entail.
A way that insurance companies could entice riders to be safer and save both the insurer and the insured money would be to offer a helmet riding discount. Currently, some motorcycle insurance companies do offer discounts for taking a motorcycle safety class like that offered by RiderCourse and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, but few offer a straightforward helmet wearing discount. Although a helmet wearing discount would probably increase helmet use and save lives, insurance companies would have the nearly impossible task of policing their customers as some would surely be untruthful about their use of a helmet.
References
Eddie Wenzel. Owner of motorcycle
Geico. (2011, May 24). Retrieved from http://www.geico.com/information/discounts/motorcycle-i insurance-discounts/
Halterman, T. (2012). Motorcycle Insurance. Retrieved from http://www.motorcycleinsurance.com
Motorcycle Safety Foundation. (2012). Retrieved from http://msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm?spl=2&action=display&pagename=RiderCourse%20Info
Stoltzfus, J. (2011, June). Auto Insurance Quotes. Retrieved from http://www.autoinsurancequotes.com/news/motorcycle-helmet-laws
By
Eddie Wenzel and Vincent Starkson
Group 18
Dr. Zhang
Fall 2012
10:00 AM Section
Purchasing motorcycle insurance is not the same as purchasing car insurance because different factors will affect the premium. Both you and your motorcycle will be considered by the insurance company, and there are several ways you can decrease your motorcycle insurance. The following are the most common factors that affect motorcycle insurance rates in the United States
As with all automobile insurance premiums, your age will be a large factor. Female drivers under the age of twenty-one and male drivers under the age of twenty-five will typically …show more content…
have higher rates than older drivers. The exact age limits may vary from state-to-state, so you might want to hold off on buying your motorcycle (or at least driving it) until you reach an age that qualifies you for lower motorcycle insurance.
Many insurance companies will take your motorcycle experience into consideration when generating a quote. Motorcycle owners who have been riding them for ten years may qualify for a lower premium that someone who has just bought his or her first bike. Call around to different insurance companies in your area and find out if your experience will be a factor for motorcycle insurance.
This is an important factor for motorcycle owners.
If you live in a small, rural area, your insurance rates are likely to be lower than if you live in a large metropolitan area. Motorcycle accidents increase with more traffic and your risk for accidents and injuries decrease dramatically when you live farther out in the country. However, don 't say that you live in a rural area when you don 't; this is insurance fraud. In some areas, your occupation can affect your motorcycle insurance rates, but a more important factor is what you use your vehicle for. Insurance rates will change dramatically if you use your motorcycle for business rather than purely for recreational …show more content…
use.
If you have modified your motorcycle in any way, this will have a profound effect on your insurance rates. Make sure that you report any modifications you make to your insurance company; some will lower it, while others will raise it. For example, if you add an aftermarket security system to your motorcycle, it presents less of a risk for theft, and you premium might go down.
This is another factor that will affect your motorcycle insurance rates. Storing your bike in your garage will be less of a risk than if it sits out in your driveway. Parking your motorcycle on the street presents an even larger risk. Different factors that might affect your motorcycle insurance can pertain to the specifications. Engine size, age of bike, value and maintenance records can all play a part in determining your premium. One controversial aspect of riding a motorcycle is whether or not wearing a helmet should be a requirement.
Many states (20 and counting) have passed laws requiring all riders to wear helmets. This includes motorized and non-motorized bikes. States that have universal helmet laws observed rider use percentages nearing 100 percent, where states that have no such laws have rider use percentages under 50 percent. Studies from the CDC have shown that cyclists wearing helmets survive accidents at a three times higher rate. Riders who do not were helmets and were involved in an accident have cost the health care system over $12 billion in 2008
alone.
This leads to the question of whether insurance companies should consider use of helmets in regards to insurance rates. The answer is that some insurance companies do, in fact, require their insured to wear helmets at all times, regardless of their state’s laws. The most common requirement from insurance companies is age related and only applies to riders under a stated age. Failure to wear a helmet when one is required by your insurance company can lead to loss of coverage and steep increases in future motorcycle insurance. All cyclists should be aware of their insurance terms in order to save themselves the costs that breaking your contract could entail.
A way that insurance companies could entice riders to be safer and save both the insurer and the insured money would be to offer a helmet riding discount. Currently, some motorcycle insurance companies do offer discounts for taking a motorcycle safety class like that offered by RiderCourse and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, but few offer a straightforward helmet wearing discount. Although a helmet wearing discount would probably increase helmet use and save lives, insurance companies would have the nearly impossible task of policing their customers as some would surely be untruthful about their use of a helmet.
References
Eddie Wenzel. Owner of motorcycle
Geico. (2011, May 24). Retrieved from http://www.geico.com/information/discounts/motorcycle-i insurance-discounts/
Halterman, T. (2012). Motorcycle Insurance. Retrieved from http://www.motorcycleinsurance.com
Motorcycle Safety Foundation. (2012). Retrieved from http://msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm?spl=2&action=display&pagename=RiderCourse%20Info
Stoltzfus, J. (2011, June). Auto Insurance Quotes. Retrieved from http://www.autoinsurancequotes.com/news/motorcycle-helmet-laws