[Ram Jet]

Originally Posted by Triple Jim

My insurance agent told me it's worse than that. To get a loan on a new sport bike, the buyer is required to get full coverage insurance. On the high powered bikes, the annual premium for full coverage insurance for a new rider can approach the cost of the bike, because statistically it's very likely to not make it a full year. So instead the kid puts the bike on a credit card and gets only liability insurance. Then he wrecks it, and if he survives, chooses not to keep paying off the card, since he no longer has the bike, and he ends up with bad credit for a long time.

My third bike was a new 1973 Kaw 500 triple. I just got out of college two years prior and I bought it with my first installment loan. I had no credit rating and got a "wink-wink" loan at the bank I was working for. I paid off the loan, established my credit rating and all was good. Not all new bike purchasers are nit wits. As a former bank loan collector I can attest to the horror stories told here also. In sum, it was the first and last motorcycle I ever financed. There's a-lot to be said about leaving a dealership on a brand new, squeaky-clean bike but intelligent decision is not one of them.

Bill