Sturgis is but 1 week away and you have strategically packed your bike and are ready to roll. This is a trip you started planning months ago, you think you have checked and double-checked everything you will need. You head out and are enjoying the open road and then something happens! Here are some things you can do quickly before you leave to make sure in the event of a breakdown, or accident that you have the coverage you need to be safer on the road.
License, Insurance, and Registration
Police presence will be everywhere you go while at Sturgis and increases the possibility that you could be pulled over for even the most minor infraction. As with any police contact, they are going to require you to show your license, registration, and insurance on your bike. Failure to have those documents readily available can cause your stop to be delayed, fines to be assessed that will require you to either pay the fine on the spot, or require you to hire an attorney to fight the charges. Don’t give law enforcement a reason, have your documents available on your bike.
Under-Insured or Under-Insured (UIM) Coverage
There is nothing worse than a driver or another biker coming into your lane and causing you to have an accident and then finding out that they have no insurance or the basic minimum that can be as low as 15k in some states. You have injuries, and some surgeries, and could spend the duration of Sturgis recovering at the hospital and even after Rally is over and your friends have had to head home. How are you going to get home? What are you going to do to get reimbursed for your bike, your injuries, and the time off from work recovering?
Answer: Call your insurance agent or provider and consider adding Under-Insured and Under-Insured motorist coverage. This is the #1 thing you can add to your bike or car (depending on what state you live in) to protect yourself in the event of a no-fault accident. You insure your bike “the asset” but not yourself in the event of an accident. While this can make your insurance premium higher, my feeling is I am paying now for possibly a 1/4 of a million dollars when I really need it the most. In many states, you can insure yourself with UIM coverage on your vehicle and it can roll over to your bike. The point is on a road trip or even daily riding, what do you do when you are hit by a driver with NO insurance? You need to have something to get you through recovery.
50% of all drivers nationwide are driving with no insurance or the most basic minimum.
Motorcycle Towing
I know you will probably say that you already have some sort of roadside assistance on your current bike insurance policy, but is it a certified motorcycle tower? or some guy that comes out with a flatbed and won’t care for your bike in the manner that you want. Bikers make a point to ride in rural areas and breakdowns happen leaving you stranded and needing to find a way to get your bike to a shop, your hotel, or a dealership. Most riders assume that their current roadside has to get them to where they want to go, and that is false. Depending on where the breakdown or accident took place, roadside assistance can tow your bike to your home or your auto shop if it’s within the mileage limit. Do you know what the mileage limit is on your current roadside assistance? Anything over the mileage limit the towing company will require you to pay the difference. What do we recommend?
BikerDown Foundation – Roadside membership thru Motorcycle Towing Service – For as little as 35.00 per year, you can add an additional motorcycle roadside assistance policy to your bike, to give you the added protection to get you to where you want to go. It takes minutes to sign up or you can call BikerDown at 888-BIKERDOWN! We recommend that if you need roadside assistance you call the BikerDown towing line FIRST. Our certified motorcycle towers can stack your roadside (bill both MTS and your coverage) to safely get your bike towed to where you want it. To register for their membership, click here
Sturgis – Everything is at a premium, and do you really know what a motorcycle tow could cost during Rally? We asked Jeff Riley from Motorcycle Towing Service to give us some quotes on tows and recommendations of motorcycle tow companies that are real motorcycle towing companies. Here is a list of the costs and whom they recommend
The estimated cost during the Sturgis Rally this year is $100 to $150 just to load your bike
- $2 to $4 per unloaded mile to get to you and
- $5 and $7.50 per loaded mile.
These bike towing prices have risen just in the last few days. The estimated cost this year;
- Spearfish to Downtown Sturgis Harley Davidson dealership—Approximately $225
- Mount Rushmore to Downtown Sturgis Harley Davidson dealership—Approximately $475
- Devils Tower to Downtown Sturgis Harley Davidson dealership—Approximately $500 to $600
- Lodge at Deadwood to Downtown Sturgis Harley Davidson dealership—Approximately $200
Don’t get caught with just your “insurance company” roadside assistance. The BikerDown Membership will cover you for up to $300, per incident, by the only motorcycle specific provider in the U.S.
If you choose to take your chances with the numbers above,
- Plains Towing and Recovery – (605) 892-3712,
- JP Towing – (605) 578-3324,
- Rapid Towing – (605) 716-9400 or
- Tow Pros – (605) 388-8700
Accident Policy thru Aflac
Aflac offers supplemental accident insurance that helps with what your health insurance plan might not cover. They pay cash benefits directly to you to be used however you choose.
BikerDown offers this Aflac Accident policy thru their BikerDown Association at the Roadside Plus for $35.00 per month ($1.16 per day) + plus you get the motorcycle roadside mentioned above.
Some of the benefit rates are as follows:
We all want to enjoy our road trips and Rally’s, but Freedom of the Ride is no longer FREE. Having some of these coverages in your arsenals will give you the peace of mind to enjoy the ride more.
If you should have any questions, please contact Laurie Montoya, President, and Founder of BikerDown Foundation at 720-328-9795 or email her at laurie@bikerdown.org, she is always available to help you get a FREE INSURANCE REVIEW, and to give you some examples of how these additions can really give you the relief you need when you need it.
On a side note: BikerDown Foundation will also be attending Sturgis Rally for the 11th year to help any injured riders who should need assistance. You can do a help request by clicking here
