The Insurance Minefield

used with permission, written by Dennis Mautone  DMautnoe@Verizon.net

For a couple of years I've watched club members muddle through this insurance topic with confusion.Motorcycle insurance in New jersey, as in most or all states, is controlled by statutory law and refined by case law interpretation.help you all navigate this minefield let's look at this topic as I believe a middle class citizen should, using insurance for its intended purpose.That is, protecting you and your family from potential disaster. You should be interested to know that I maintain Aegis' predecessor as my carrier.may be curious to you since Rider Ins. Co. is and has always been a little cheaper.  Unfortunately, their coverage doesn't allow us to do what we should be trying to do by getting insurance.That is, to increase the part that protects us.If you have more money then you will ever be able to spend in your lifetime then you can probably get away with the cheapest and most basic coverage. You don't need to read on.However, if you are like the rest of us you should considervery basic question before you go insurance shopping.The question is: what is the purpose of motor vehicle insurance?The answer is:protect oneself and family from catastrophe.you agree, read on.If you simply want insurance sufficient for the state to allow you to get and keep your registration privileges then you don't need to read on.You probably own no property and have no family that depends on you in any way.If all you view insurance as is a necessary evil that the state requires of you to allow you to maintain your motorcycle driving privilege then you probably won't appreciate what I'm trying to say anyway.

To Protect Oneself and Family from Catastrophe

1. Property Damage.

Relative to motorcycles, what can the catastrophes be?Some might say a catastrophe is when you scratch your chrome either a little like I frequently do or a truck runs over your bike while it's parked in front of your local bar or some bad person steals it. would be a property damage claim, either a comprehensive, collision, or theft claim.Simple enough.If that's all you want to protect then that's all you have to worry about.Do the math.Add up the sum of all the parts and go in search of the cheapest policy.Rider may be your company.

However, remember, yourwhole family has gotten used toas the bread winner and you shouldwant to protect them against any catastrophe occasioned by your use of your most favorite and most dangerous toy.Personal Injury claims are generally the most costly and the most troublesome.You want to make sure that if someone cuts your legs off and or fries your brain or in some other way interferes with your ability to keep buying those toys (maybe even food and shelter for that matter) for you and your family that your dependantsprotected.

The typical motor vehicle (automobile and motorcycle) insurance policy provides you with the following:

2. Liability coverage.This means if you by your actions(negligence) cause injury (personal injury or property damage) to someone else (either another driver, pedestrian, your passenger or some property owner) then your insurance company will protect you by paying that individual's claim up to the limits of your policy.Without this type of protection the cost of that claim will be your personal responsibility.(Say goodbye to your house).From what I am reading in the past e-mails and hearing in discussions amongstmembers, many of you are choosing $100,000.00 as your limit. In my opinion that's too low especially when you read on.If the claimant is a passenger on your bike you better hope they are not seriously hurt or they don't have a good job and/or dependants.This amount ($100,000.00) is chump change for serious injuries of a bread winner or someone's mother.

2(a). Underinsured or uninsured coverage.That covers YOU and your passenger in case you get creamed by an indigent with minimum or no coverage.In these cases the driver (you) and all passengers will be covered not up to the limits of the's coverage but up to the liability limits on the bike you are driving. In my opinion this fact makes the $100,000.00 too low.Since this coverage protects you and your passengers and your family its generally considered to be the most important coverage you can buy.

I don't want to keep going untill everyone gets bored and puts this downthis is a good place to start.The idea is to increase that part of the policy that protects you and yours.The under/uninsured protection should be made as high as you think prudent to cover your dependants.This is what I have done and I offer it simply as an example.Increasemaintain your general liability coverage$250,000.00 on all yourpolicies (house, car, motorcycle, etc.). Then purchase one general umbrella policy that also provides under/uninsured coverage usually up to a maximum of $1,000,000.00.Then you and your family have proper protection.After all, that is the reason for insurance in the first place.

Have I confused you all. Sorry, but this is a start.If you have any specific questions you can send me an e-mail at DMautnoe@Verizon.net and I will try to answer those questions in future articles.