2009 Cheap Scooter Insurance Comparison

Although insurance isn’t required by all states for scooters, it is always a good idea.  Whether to protect your investment, bike, liability, or body, insurance can pay off big time if the correct policy is purchased.  But just because it can pay off big time doesn’t mean that you should pay big for it.  We’ve analyzed the rates of three popular online scooter insurance providers to discover which company was the cheapest.

The purpose of this article was to directly compare the cost of scooter insurance with similar coverage from three different insurance providers.  Price is the sole concern of this article.  Although customer service is a factor that definitely should be considered when shopping for insurance, it is not factored in for this article.

RIDING/COVERAGE BACKGROUND:

First I’d like to give a little back ground about my riding history and myself because in case you didn’t know, who you are drastically affects your insurance rates.  I’m 25, male, have 10+ years of two wheel driving experience, have completed a Motorcycle Safety Course, I have a valid motorcycle endorsement, and no violations within the past three years.  Your rates are going to vary based on your own actual driving record, but I think that the differences in rates between companies should stay fairly consistent whatever your past record may be.

As far as the coverage went I tried to keep the rules fairly simple.  I used $500 deductibles for all policies, the lowest amount of coverage available, and checked the rate as a single vehicle only.  If you combine your car and scooter insurance, I would expect and be looking for some sort of extra discount.  $15,000 damage/liability/medical was the lowest available out of all the plans and was still more than enough to cover a scooter.  All of the rates listed are for 12 months of coverage.

New Models

Next up is the scoots.  I picked six different models that could represent a wide variety of scooters and hopefully there is something similar to what you’re riding represented.  I picked three new models and three used models to try and cover all spectrums of scooter riders.

Vespa LX50 – The LX50 was picked to represent a new model, low displacement, high value scooter that you would want to insure fully with comprehensive and collision coverage.  Anything that was newish, fairly valuable, and had the same engine size could be lumped in with the LX50.

Yamaha Vino 125 – I figured the Vino 125 would be a good pick to represent a new scooter that has mid-sized engine, high value, and one that you would want to insure fully with both comprehensive and collision coverage.

Vespa GTS 250 – I picked the GTS250 as a model for new, expensive, fast scooters for which comprehensive and collision is a must.  I think of the GTS as a worst case scenario for similar scooters due to its value and the greater cost of insuring the vehicle.

Used Models

’65 Honda Super Cub – I picked the Super Cub as a cheap 50cc mount which required basic liability insurance only.  Since a Super Cub can be had for less than $1000 I wanted to test minimum coverage prices and comprehensive/collision wouldn’t necessarily be a good decision based on the low replacement cost of the vehicle.  If you have a Chinese or cheap scooter worth around the $1000 mark (give or take a couple of hundred), your mount would be most similar to this bike.

‘63 Lambretta LI150 – For the mid sized used scooter I wanted to pick a vintage model that was worth a good amount to test collision/comprehensive coverage on vintage machines.  Although all the insurance companies allowed you to put comprehensive/collision coverage on older scooters, only Progressive allowed you to specify the value of the vehicle.  I would be scared of getting a $1500 payout on my vintage Lammy or VBB from the other two insurance companies if they didn’t know the value.

’05 Suzuki Burgman -  I chose the Burgman to represent a couple of different things.  First and foremost I knew I wanted a larger displacement maxi scooter.  Secondly I choose the Burgman 400 as a model that was a couple of years old but still worth a bit so one that would probably want comprehensive and collision coverage on.

INSURANCE COMPANIES:

Geico –  Geico is who I currently use for my insurance.  When I picked Geico I had shopped around and found that Progressive was generally cheaper, but I had a bad sales rep. experience and decided to go with Geico.  I recently had a similar bad experience with Geico and have decided that no company is immune from morons.

Progressive – Progessive generally seemed to be the cheapest provider in most categories and in all but a couple of cases they were significantly less expensive than Geico and Esurance.  How there is their service you ask?  Unfortunately I would say it most likely depends on the phone rep. that you happen to get.  I've found both Geico and Progressive to be pretty pushy from a sales perspective and sounds like they are reading from a script.

Esurance – To be honest, I don’t have a lot of experience with Esurance other than seeing their commercials on TV.  They advertised low rates but they turned out to be the most expensive of all three companies by an extensive margin.  Odd considering they don't even have to pay real people to be in their commercials. 

RESULTS:

Vespa LX50 - The LX50 turned out to be a relatively cheap bike to insure even with comprehensive and collision insurance.  Progressive was almost 50% less than the next cheapest company, Geico.  The best rate for full coverage on the LX50 was $160 per year with Progressive.

Yamaha Vino 125 - The Vino seemed to be the worst value as far as insurance rates go.  While is has only half the displacement of the Vespa GTS250 it is only $50 cheaper to insure per year with virtually the same coverage.  It also happen to be more expensive to insure than a three year old Suzuki Burgman 400, a significantly larger and faster scooter.  Maybe 125s aren't all they cracked up to be eh? 

Vespa GTS250 -  The GTS250 was the most expensive bike to insure but at $294 per year with full coverage (from Geico) it hardly breaks the bank.  The GTS is only $50 more than a new 125 costs to insure but has a lot more go and still costs significantly less than any cage would.  This is probably the one catagory I would steer away from Progressive and go with Geico.

Honda Super Cub - The Super Cub wins the award for the cheapest bike to insure.  With only basic liability the Super Cub costs 75 bucks a year from both Progressive and Esurance.  Geico is 25% more expensive at $99.  On an interesting note, when I signed up for scooter insurance I also signed up for a multi line discount due to my car insurance also being thru Geico.  I still had not seen a discount so I called customer service to inquire.  The customer service rep said that I would be seeing the multi line discount on my motorcycle policy.  I have yet to see a discount.  I have concluded that discounts may be difficult to obtain with Geico.

Lambretta LI150 - Progressive was the most expensive to insure but they were also the only company to allow me to enter the value of the vintage vehicle.  I was able to tell Progressive to value the scooter at $3500, more than the average insurance actuary would think a 40 year old scooter would be worth.  Although both Esurance and Geico are cheaper in this instance I would be afraid that they would value your prized vintage scooter for much less than its actually worth.  This is one of the few times I would personally pick a higher rate to ensure my vintage ride is protected.

Suzuki Burgman 400 - Believe it or not, the scooter with the largest engine wasn't the most expensive to insure for a year.  In fact it proved to be the best value by being cheaper to insure than a Vino 125, despite the extra 275ccs.

 CONCLUSION:

Based on rates solely, Progressive seems to be the best value in all but a few categories (really in all the categories except the GTS 250).  While Geico is close behind in most catagories, Esurance seems to be even farther behind.  If I had a vintage scooter that was worth some money I would definitely go with Progressive due to that fact that they allow purchasers to specify how much their vehicle is worth.  In the end, price is a big factor but if the service is really bad (I'm not expecting any insurance company to be great) I personally would look else where.  In fact, my service with Geico hasn't been that great lately, so I think I'm going to consider Progressive for their cheaper rates.  Every rider is different when it come to their insurance needs, so please use this price comparison as one factor in your choice for new scooter insurance.  Along with price, customer service and policy options should always be considered, but the mix of the influence is up to you.