I had been with MM for over two years and used to insure my car, my home and my first motorcycle (Kawasaki Ninja 500) with them and was part of the professional engineers discount. This year, I planned on upgrading. I had done my research and found 3 bikes that I was interested in:
1) 2009 Ducati 848
2) 2011 Daytona 675
3) 2011 Ducati monster 696
I called MM for quotes on all three. I was quoted $19xx for the Ducati 848, $19xx for the Daytona 675, and $9xx for the Ducati monster 696. I went for the Ducati monster 696 in large part because of the huge difference in insurance premiums. After buying the motorcycle, I call MM to finalize my insurance and give them the VIN number. They now tell me that to insure the bike, it would cost $19xx. I was baffled and shocked. I asked them why there is such a significant difference between the price initially quoted and the price been quoted to me now. They tell me that when I initially called, I got a quote for a “2011 Ducati Monster 696”, but my bike was a “Ducati Monster 696 ABS”, which is classified as a superbike. I ask them how one can be classified as a superbike and the other not if the only difference between the two is ABS? So I tried to explain this to them I asked for this situation to be investigated and they obliged. They came back and told me that they would not be able to honor my initial quote, and so I escalated the case to a supervisor. I contacted Ducati North America and asked them if they would be willing to clarify this fact for my insurance company and they said they would and gave me a contact to forward to them. MM said that they would take it into consideration. A few days later, they told me that they would still not be able to honor the price quoted to me. They also added that without a VIN number, no quote is final (this was the first time I was actually stated this fact). I asked them how the regular version could be classified as a regular bike and ABS a superbike and they said that this was a mistake in the system and that they will be correcting the mistake to make the regular version also a superbike. I asked them how they can admit that this was a mistake and yet not honor the price that was given to me and they said that it was out of their control and that the supervisor had made that decision. I told them that if they had classified both models as superbikes when I had initially called, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and that I would be riding and 848 right now. I asked to talk to the supervisor that made this decision because I wanted to hear it from them. I waited a week to receive that call and no one called me back. I called again and asked talk with this supervisor and was again blocked. At this point, I gave up. I was furious, but at this point, they had already lost me. I had been so happy with MM but just couldn’t stay with them after this experience. So, I started doing my research and called several companies/brokers and eventually went with Jevco via Dalton Timmis, who quoted me $9xx. It’s unfortunate, but MM has lost me for life as a customer.
The moral of the story, which a lot of you may already know, is to ask for the VIN number of a potential bike you’d like to buy and get a quote based on the VIN and not the make and model alone.
1) 2009 Ducati 848
2) 2011 Daytona 675
3) 2011 Ducati monster 696
I called MM for quotes on all three. I was quoted $19xx for the Ducati 848, $19xx for the Daytona 675, and $9xx for the Ducati monster 696. I went for the Ducati monster 696 in large part because of the huge difference in insurance premiums. After buying the motorcycle, I call MM to finalize my insurance and give them the VIN number. They now tell me that to insure the bike, it would cost $19xx. I was baffled and shocked. I asked them why there is such a significant difference between the price initially quoted and the price been quoted to me now. They tell me that when I initially called, I got a quote for a “2011 Ducati Monster 696”, but my bike was a “Ducati Monster 696 ABS”, which is classified as a superbike. I ask them how one can be classified as a superbike and the other not if the only difference between the two is ABS? So I tried to explain this to them I asked for this situation to be investigated and they obliged. They came back and told me that they would not be able to honor my initial quote, and so I escalated the case to a supervisor. I contacted Ducati North America and asked them if they would be willing to clarify this fact for my insurance company and they said they would and gave me a contact to forward to them. MM said that they would take it into consideration. A few days later, they told me that they would still not be able to honor the price quoted to me. They also added that without a VIN number, no quote is final (this was the first time I was actually stated this fact). I asked them how the regular version could be classified as a regular bike and ABS a superbike and they said that this was a mistake in the system and that they will be correcting the mistake to make the regular version also a superbike. I asked them how they can admit that this was a mistake and yet not honor the price that was given to me and they said that it was out of their control and that the supervisor had made that decision. I told them that if they had classified both models as superbikes when I had initially called, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and that I would be riding and 848 right now. I asked to talk to the supervisor that made this decision because I wanted to hear it from them. I waited a week to receive that call and no one called me back. I called again and asked talk with this supervisor and was again blocked. At this point, I gave up. I was furious, but at this point, they had already lost me. I had been so happy with MM but just couldn’t stay with them after this experience. So, I started doing my research and called several companies/brokers and eventually went with Jevco via Dalton Timmis, who quoted me $9xx. It’s unfortunate, but MM has lost me for life as a customer.
The moral of the story, which a lot of you may already know, is to ask for the VIN number of a potential bike you’d like to buy and get a quote based on the VIN and not the make and model alone.
