You are right on the money here. It all comes down to a few solid factors. Insurance rates are determined using the law of large numbers and loss experience over time...and trust me there are mountains of market research data to support it.

Here is a crash course in insurance 101. Each State is basically broken down by aterritory or zip code. That territory is thenlooked at for frequency and severity of loss over "x" period of time broken down by coverge (Bodily injury,property damage, UM, collision etc). Factor in the historical average cost ofpaymentfor a given coverage and that gives you a good "base" premium for that coverage. You can see that when the cost of parts, shop labor, and yes the over-paid medical industry "professionals" and drug manufacturing goes up it does impact insurance.

Also if Houston has historically had a high amount of Uninsured and/or Underinsured losses in your paticular territory or zip code and the severityh of those has been high,expect to have higher premiums for UM/UIM. Same goes for Comprehensive coverage (heavily influenced by theft claims) etc, etc...

You can then see how insurance FRAUD affects us all...more azzholes faking claims = more claims to pay = more losses to the insurance company = higher premiums for us = more azzholes faking claims = etc etc...a vicious circle.
But it is a felony and the fraud investigators are very very good theses days and it ain't worth it.

UM and UIM should be NOT AT FAULT claims on your "insurance record". Since they kick in when the guy hitting you either doesnt have any or enough coverage to cover your medical bills. If you need coverage to cover your BIKE damage for UM losses, that would be UMPD (uninsured motorist property damage).

Anyhow, thats the basics....

 

The minimum amount of the liability portion of your insurance is set by each State individually and may vary. For instance,Illinois requires20/40/15. Translated means Bodily Injury coverage of 20,000 per person/40,000 per accident and 15,000 of property damage.

Texas requires 20/40/15 also as a minimum.

I'd never carry only the minimum limits though. If you hit someone AT FAULT and their injury exceeds 20,000 bucks, you are on the hook for the rest brother.
Think of how quick the medical bills, pain and suffering, mental anguish can add up, then multiply that by the number of people you injured....I carry 250,000/500,000/100,000 for my Bodily Injury/Property Damage and same for my UM Coverages.

 

Not saying that the CEO's don't get rich, but this has nothing to do with them. Their compensation doesn't make up 1% of their revenues even if combined together. It's all about the risk. We're riskier than others to start with, and then some of us make it worse.

I was in San Diego the last few days. One morning I'm on I5 north going with the flow of traffic at 75mph next to another car, when an idiot on a BMW bike lane splits between us. Now, the speed limit was 55. All 4 lanes were filled but all were moving really well. One twitch and that guy isn't just killing himself, but he's also putting the entire group of cars at risk. There is no reason for what he was doing except stupidity and a complete lack of consideration for other drivers and riders.

 

IcemanVA, thanks for the heads up;
It ain'ta bad idea to look at your policy every 6 months. I've got some changes to make

 

There is no place on the 5 in San Diego that is 55, it is 65. Which doesn't mean we don't all pay for folks that ride like that and crash.

+1 on checking your coverage on all of your policies on a regular bases. One to make sure you have the coverage you think you have, but also your situation changes, best to have the appropriate coverage.

 

Just got my insurance delcaration/policy for the upcoming year, wife and I are going to look it over, as this would be the best time to do so. Thanks for the post.

 

Thanks for the post. I will check mine out. Happy Holidays to all! Watch out for all the cages.

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I saw a post last yearI think where someone found thier injuries in a car/motorcycle accident were excluded from thier regular health insurance coveage. I jumped to look at my policy and luckily I am covered....

 

UM and/or UIM coverage is mandatory here in MA. I'd get even if it weren't. Thanks for the info.

 

Sometimes you find out to late. I have an EPO provider and I am hoping all is covered from my recent fall. I will be adding the personal injury to my bike insurance when I get going again, just to be on the safe side.