Why are insurance quotes for the Ninja 250 so high?

Question

I have been doing a lot of research to make sure I can afford a motorcycle and I have been very surprised with the cost of insurance. I wasn't expecting it to be cheap, but really! Everything has been between $2000 and $3000 a year. I am a 19 year old female who has taken the safety course and I have no accidents in my history. Also, the Ninja 250 is such a low powered machine, I thought that made a difference. Is there an insurance company that is cheaper?

Answer 1

Everybody is taking advantage of the high demand right now. They are sold out across much of the country and dealerships are jacking the prices up. So are insurance people. It's a scam!

Answer 2

My suggestion is trying to get as much resource as you can before making final decision,here is a good one.http://insurance.online-frees.info/insur...

Answer 3

Because it is a sport bike you can argue till  your blue in the face but it is a sport bike. Low on power or not.

Answer 4

it is cheap. i have a 01 ninja 250 and it is $77 a year.  i only have liability because if i wreck it i don't want another one

Answer 5

it's cause most of the idiots that ride them are inexperienced and wreck them so there a very high risk bike for the insurance company. 29 cbr 600 $150 a year.  

Answer 6

There are many insurance companies out there. There will be a cheap one if you search around. I had a same problem then finally I found AAA insurance and it offered me $900/year full coverage. Good luck.

Answer 7

$2000 does seem high for a Ninja 250. Even for a 19 yr old with a clean record.

But then, depending where you live, I have seen some premiums around $5000 for a 600cc, so maybe $2000 for a 250cc for a 19yr old is common in some parts.

How many insurers did you check with.  Check with as many as possible. There is quite often a HUGE difference in premiums for sportbikes.  Try State Farm. They usually go by the engine size,CCs, rather than the type of bike. So a Ninja 250cc may be cheaper through them.

Answer 8

I am an MSF instructor, and I have owned MANY bikes.  I have full coverage on a 2006 Triumph Tiger 955cc.  I am 28 years old and I pay $480/year for the bike insurance.  I remember paying $2400/year to insure a bike when I was 19.  Age and experience is a factor, having multiple policies with the same agent is a factor, but another major factor is the type of bike.  Insurance companies are not bike experts.  If a bike is classified as "sport", the rates are high.  Not all bikes live up to the stereotype of their classification.  For example, it is cheaper to insure a Suzuki Hyabusa 1300cc, the fastest production motorcycle in the world, than it is to insure a Suzuki GSXR 600cc sport bike.  Why?  The ultra fast Hyabusa is considered to be sport-touring instead of sport.  For the sake of comparison, get an estimate on a Honda Nighthawk 250.  You may never intend to buy one, but it is a great experiment.  If the price is much lower, you will know it is the bike itself that is the reason for the high quote.  In that case, you might go for something that is sporty but not classified as a sport bike.  You can also argue about the classification of the bike.  My triumph was quoted for $1400/year when classified as "sport."  I showed picutures of various sport bikes and how it was different.  I then showed them pictures of bikes that are considered to be touring bikes, like the BMW 1200GS and 1200RT that resemble my Triumph.  They then reclassified my bike as a touring bike so I pay $480/year.  Rightly so, as I have hard saddlebags on it and I use it for touring.

Recap:

1. See if a non-sport 250 is significantly cheaper.

2. Argue that the Ninja 250 is not a "sport" bike, but a "standard" bike.  Unlike it's sport bretheren of larger displacement, the Ninja 250 sits upright in a non-racing position.  The foot pegs are under the rider, and not swept back.  Also unlike the big Ninjas (600, 1000, etc), there is not a recoginized racing class for the 250s.  The Ninja 250 is a low-powered standard motorcycle with some plastic on it.  A good insurance agent will take this argument into consideration and try to work with you.  In fact, print this out and see what he or she thinks.

3.  If all else fails, get a bike that is not initially labelled "sport" that will likely have more performance than that little 250 anyway.

Good luck

Answer 9

being a 19 year old and your location are the biggest factors in motorcycle insurance. I'm 36 and pay $75 per year for my ninja 250. I'm with Progressive

Answer 10

Evry thing looks good on papers but just think about 19teen year old girln on a sports bike!!!!!!!! usually sport bike insurance is expensive its not going cheap so i suggest you start bying scooters first

Answer 11

You are under 25, and that's that.  If you were male, your quotes would be $4,000+ per year.  There is a reason insurance companies charge a lot for younger riders, and that reason is that they make up close to 80% of ALL fatalities on motorcycles.

Yes, the 250 is a great bike, and it is small enough to be a perfectly safe starter bike.  It does sound like you are being gouged for some unknown reason, maybe tickets?

Answer 12

Keep trying other insurance companies.  Unfortunately many companies will automatically put you in a high risk category due to your age and that the bike is a "Ninja".  

What you can also do is use the on line quote features that Geico and Progressive have.  Run the application with the Ninja 250 and then run it again with a cruiser or scooter.  Change your age or location.  I am not saying lie to the insurance company, but you can figure out what factor is causing the high rate quote.

If you have not already purchased the Ninja you may need to look at buying a different bike.  Sorry. :(

Here is a true story.  I wanted to buy a sport bike in 1989.  I like the Ninja 600.  I got rate quotes from Geico. before I bought.  Turns out no one would insure me for a Ninja or Hurricane or whatever.  They had these bikes on a do not insure list.  The person from Geico even suggested that I buy a Harley Davidson.  She didn't know the difference in the bikes, but she had all the Harley models listed as on their ok to insure list.  In 1989, Honda changed the of the Hurricane to CBR.  Even though the 1988 Hurricane 600, the 1989 CBR 600 was not.  I was able to buy and insure the 89 CBR 600 with no problems.  

Answer 13

There are specialty motorcycle insurance agencies which have lower rates. I was quoted $8,000/yr full coverage for my Ninja 650R which is more than the bike costs. What I ended up doing what paying for the bike in full (you don't necessarily need to have all the money but just pay the dealer in full with a credit union check, loan, etc.) and getting minimum liability. If I get hurt, anything over my limits falls onto my parent's health insurance (make sure that would apply to you as well of course). If the bike gets destroyed I'm out $7k. However...if the bike is destroyed I probably will be too and won't give care about it. I've talked to many people about crashes and despite what you might think, it takes a lot to really break one beyond reasonable repair so I figured I'd go for minimum liability. $500/yr rocks!