You are a good biker. You have owned your motorcycle for years, and you take safety seriously. As a result, your insurer will likely view you as a trustworthy, low-risk policyholder. They might offer you reduced insurance rates and perks not offered to drivers with higher risks. Among the most-common of these perks are insurance discounts. What are some of those you can ask your agent to include with coverage?
What Are Insurance Discounts?
An insurance discount is a reduction of your annual motorcycle policy premium. Various insurers offer discounts of differing shapes and sizes under certain conditions. Discounts often range from 5 to 10 percent off your premium.
One perk of discounts is that they only apply to certain policyholders. Usually, these are the customers who pose the lowest cost risks to the insurance company. Eligible customers are those for whom the insurance company has a low likelihood of having to pay a claim. As a result, the insurer might transfer the cost savings to the customer in the form of a discount.
You might qualify for an insurance discount if:
- You don't have a history of driving violations, tickets, arrests or license suspensions
- You haven't had any accidents in the recent past
- You are a loyal customer to the insurer and maintain coverage with them for years
- You maintain continuous coverage and pay your premiums regularly
Is There A Catch?
You probably think insurance discounts are a great idea. Indeed, there are almost no situations when you won't enjoy the savings offered by the coverage.
Yet, there are situations where you might not qualify for every (or any) discount. Often, you lose eligibility if you make mistakes that cause your biking risks to increase. Thus, you might have to pay more because you pose more of a cost risk to the insurer.
Also, if you make mistakes while biking, or even make errors on your insurance, discounts might expire. So, you often must work to maintain discounts. A commitment to safety behind the wheel will likely help you.
Common Policy Discounts
Insurers often have a lot of leeway to choose the discounts they want to offer. Most offer a combination of driving and policy maintenance discounts.
Driving discounts will apply to low risks present in your driving practices. They might include:
- Mature Rider/Experience Discount: Maturity might mean both your age and experience level. Older drivers typically have a lot more experience. They have been riding for years. They have lower risk factors than younger drivers in most cases. Those without years of riding experience might make more mistakes or take riskier actions. So, if you can increase experience without causing problems, you can often save on your policy.
- Safe Driver Discounts: The safest bikers are typically those who have a low risk of filing a policy claim. The insurer can often measure this risk by looking at your existing driving record. If you have a history of accidents, tickets and other offenses, then you might not be able to claim discounts. Also, your discounts might expire if you make mistakes throughout a policy year.
- Driving Course Savings: Multiple safety groups offer defensive driving courses. During classes, bikers can brush up on safe driving practices and learn crash avoidance techniques. If you pass one of these courses, your insurer might award a discount. Keep in mind, you will likely have to take a course approved by the insurer.
- Association Membership: There exist various recreational groups and associations. Membership might therefore help you get a discount from certain insurers.
- Accident Forgiveness: This is not necessarily a percentage discount. However, it might equal cost savings. If you have a minor accident, or make only one claim on your policy, the insurer might waive premium increases for a single accident.
Discounts might also relate to your interactions with the insurer. For example, some insurers offer discounts to those who:
- Transfer their insurance to the company
- Set up their policies to automatically renew period over period
- Make automatic or online premium payments
- Bundle their motorcycle insurance with other policies from the same company
- Insure multiple motorcycles on the same policy
- Have maintained continuous insurance coverage for the duration they have owned the bike
Furthermore, veterans or members of the military might also qualify for savings. Students enrolled in school and maintaining good grades might also get a discount.
The good news is, discounts are fluid. If you didn't qualify for one last year, then you might qualify the next time that your policy comes up for renewal. Your driving record and other risk measurement factors might also stabilize over time. Therefore, don't hesitate to talk to your Auto Insurance Discounters agent about the savings available to you.
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