Delaware Motorcycle Insurance: What to Check First

When you buy a first motorcycle policy in Delaware or review a renewal, check first what it pays for you and your own bike. Liability coverage pays for bodily injury and property damage you may cause to other people in an accident, not for your injuries or damage to your motorcycle.

Coverage for damage to your own bike may include collision and comprehensive, depending on the policy terms. Collision pays for damage to your motorcycle after a crash with another vehicle. The payment is usually the bike's book value before the loss, minus your deductible.

Four things to check on a motorcycle policy

Whether you keep the bike in Wilmington, Newark or Dover, start with the paperwork: if you are renewing, open your declarations page. If you are buying a first policy, open the quote. Find the line for each coverage, with its limit and deductible.

1. Liability: check what it pays for and whom it pays. Note the limits printed beside it.
2. Collision and comprehensive (for fire, theft or vandalism): each one usually pays your bike's book value before the loss, minus your deductible. Note the deductible for each.
3. Custom parts and accessories: ask how parts you added after the factory are covered. Many policies pay only for factory-standard parts, or they limit that coverage.
4. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage: check whether it is listed and at what limits. It pays for damage to you and your property when another driver with no insurance, or too little, causes it.

Step 1: Check what liability pays for, and for whom

Policies vary, so read the liability section of your own policy form for its exact terms and exclusions.

On the declarations page or the quote, find the liability line and the limits printed beside it. If bodily injury and property damage appear as separate amounts, note each one, because they are the figures you will compare later. When you ask for a quote, you can request prices at more than one set of limits so you can see the difference for yourself.

Read the rest of the page with the "for whom" question in mind. Mark any line you cannot match to a person or to the bike, and keep that note for the questions you ask before you buy or renew.

Step 2: Check how collision and comprehensive value your bike

Collision coverage and comprehensive coverage (for events other than a collision) can each pay for damage to your own motorcycle, subject to the policy terms. Each one usually figures the payment from the bike's book value before the loss, minus your deductible, not from a repair estimate or the price you paid. Here, book value is the bike's value just before the loss.

Comprehensive applies to damage from an event other than a collision, such as fire, theft or vandalism, subject to the policy terms.

The book value limit matters most on an older bike. Suppose, as an example, you bought a used motorcycle several years ago, added nothing to it, and it is stolen. Under a policy that includes comprehensive, the payment is figured from what the bike was worth just before the theft, minus the deductible, and comprehensive pays only up to that book value. Because the payment rests on book value rather than the price you paid, it can fall below what you paid for the bike.

On the declarations page or the quote, find the collision coverage line and the comprehensive coverage line, and write down the deductible printed beside each. If you are comparing quotes, line up both deductibles at the same amounts so the prices reflect the same terms.

Step 3: Ask how custom parts and accessories are covered

Many collision and comprehensive policies pay only for the factory-standard parts on a motorcycle, or they limit what they pay for those parts, according to Triple-I. Policies vary, so the wording of your own policy decides how those parts are treated.

If you have added parts, list them before you buy or renew. Write down each part, what you paid for it and when it was installed. Keep the receipts with the list, along with a few photos that show the parts on the bike.

With the list in hand, ask how the policy treats each item on it. Some parts may fall outside the coverage, and others may be paid only up to a set amount. Then ask whether added coverage for custom parts can go on the policy, and at what limit and cost. Write each answer next to the matching item so you can compare quotes on the same terms.

Step 4: Check uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, often shown as UM/UIM, pays for damage to you and your property when another driver causes it and has no insurance or too little. An uninsured driver has no insurance.

Look for a line labelled uninsured motorist, underinsured motorist or UM/UIM on the declarations page or the quote. If it appears, write down the limit printed beside it, and note whether the two show up as one combined coverage or as separate lines. If you cannot find either one, add it to the lines you marked earlier and ask about it before you buy or renew.

Read the uninsured and underinsured motorist section of the policy form, and check that the limit on the page matches the amount you chose.

What does full coverage mean for motorcycle insurance?

After the four checks, you know what each coverage pays for, whom it pays and what it leaves out.

It helps to sort those coverages by whom they pay. Other people fall under liability, for harm you cause. Your bike falls under collision, which applies after a crash with another vehicle, and comprehensive, which applies after an event other than a collision. You and your property fall under UM/UIM.

When you ask for a quote, name each coverage you want instead of asking for full coverage, and give the limit and deductible for each one.

What to have ready before you compare motorcycle policies

Before you compare motorcycle policies, gather the details below so every quote starts from the same facts about you and your bike. Most of them come from the checks above.

• Declarations page from your current policy if you are renewing, with the limits and deductibles you wrote down.
• Year, make and model of the motorcycle, copied from its registration.
• Custom parts list you made earlier, with the receipts and photos.
• Names of everyone who will ride the bike.
• Deductible amounts you have weighed for damage to your own bike, based on how much of a loss you could pay yourself.

Ask for every quote with the same coverages from the checklist, at matching limits and deductibles. A lower price on a quote that drops a coverage or raises a deductible does not compare like for like, so set that quote aside or ask for it again on the same terms.

When your list is ready, you can get a motorcycle insurance quote.

Questions to ask the Wilmington office before you buy or renew

The questions worth asking come from your own page or quote: how the deductibles work and how added parts are treated. Bring the lines you marked during the four checks, and write each answer beside the line it explains.

• Deductibles: how a higher or lower collision or comprehensive deductible would change the price and the amount you pay toward a claim.
• Custom parts: how each item on your parts list would be paid for, and whether added coverage changes that.
• Unmatched lines: what any coverage you could not tie to a person or to the bike pays for.

Anne Scharp Insurance Agency serves Delaware from one office in Wilmington and has 16+ years of expertise. Call the office with your current policy page or quote and your parts list in front of you.