Theft - An Overview - Mike Felder Insurance

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SAFETY TIPS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am always amazed at how creative we are getting as a society. As soon as one faction of the society develops an item to improve our lives, there is another who develops something to counter it. This gets very evident every time I enter into a discussion with either the claims department of the insurance company or the investigators who handle the reports for the claims. At times I find myself sitting there with my jaw dropped to the floor in complete amazement. Maybe hearing about these "creative" people can help you protect your cycle. During the last three years, there has been over 100 thefts of motorcycles in San Francisco. A pretty fair amount of cycles when you think about. Everyone of these victims took some sort of precaution with his cycle that day to prevent it, but none the less, they became victims. Maybe by hearing the "how-it- happened" you can prevent it on your own. There were a few cases of people who were selling their cycles. A person came out to meet them, flashed cash in a few cases, and asked for a ride. The owners of the cycles agreed to give them a ride. A couple of blocks later the buyer pulled a gun, told the owner to get off the cycle, and then drove away on the stolen machine. SO MUCH FOR TEST RIDES!! Pier 39 has been the host of several thefts. These cycles were stolen WITH THE FRONT FORK LOCKED!! They were either lifted into trucks or placed upon skateboards and wheeled out to a location where they were trucked away. (I call this the Lex Luther syndrome...using very creative and intelligent thinking for a devious purpose!) Some of them were even chained to permanent objects. Speaking of chains, not only were chains found in either cut, ground, or torched pieces, but also Kryptonite locks! (Again, the Lex Luther syndrome!) The most interesting statistic of this whole research was that only two people "claimed" to have an alarm on their cycle! Most of these cycles were definitely what would be called "high- profile" cycles. That is Ninjas, Hurricanes, FZR's, Harleys, GSXR's, and so on. In some case, the owners spent anywhere from $300 to $1800 on after market items but never purchased an alarm. From past experience I know that alarms can be purchased for a little as $50 to $90. That is definitely less than the deductible that would have to be paid if your cycle was stolen! It is the cheapest form of insurance you could get. SO, OUTSIDE OF KEEPING MY CYCLE IN THE GARAGE AT HOME, HOW DO I PREVENT IT FROM BEING STOLEN?! Using the same amount of deterrents as the desirability of cycle increases! If you own a Ninja-Hurricane-GSX-R, there is the possibility that should that bike be stolen, the engine could be out and remounted into a race bike before you even get to report the theft! High demand product so better use a high amount of deterrents! Kryptonite to post, ALARM, high visibility parking in public areas. A friend of mine owns a beautiful Harley Low Rider. He tips every parking attendant when he rides IN! And then lets him know that there is another tip in it for him when he returns to ride out! We all worked pretty hard to get our cycles. It doesn't matter what make, model year, or whatever. The bike represented a certain amount of personal sacrifice to obtain. Yours may be better than mine...it doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that there are people out there who want something for nothing and will take it if the opportunity presents itself. I can't stress the importance of guarding your cycle against this. Two weeks ago, the police busted a ring of people buying stolen goods in Contra Costa County. They showed a half year history of buying goods from people who made a living out of stealing. One item was a Corvette. THEY BOUGHT IT FOR $600!! That tells me there are some pretty desperate people out there. Use good judgement on where you leave your cycle. Use proper anti-theft devices. And if you haven't checked into alarms...it wouldn't be a bad idea. Articles Page Home Page. Get A Quote

Information in this article is probably correct as of the date it was written. Please check with your insurance agent or call Mike at 800-729-2537 before you make any life changing decisions based on what you read here. Comments are always welcome.