A personal journey for the best insurance. Well I got my insurance renewal in the mail while I was away on vacation. I've always been very happy with my insurance agent and the company he represents. But in the continuing effort not to be taken advantage of (ie: keeping'em honest) I thought I'd set out on some comparison shopping. Not only that it seemed I was paying more for the privilege of driving my bike a few thousand miles a year compared with the tens of thousands I put on in my car. In keeping with the spirit of this site I thought I'd start with the company that at least has been sending me some competitive marketing information for getting a bid on my insurance. They are Maryland Motorcycle DIRECT and as their literature states they are your local source for Motorcycle Insurance. Well, they are really a company called Interstate Insurance but your dealing with local folks and ones who ride themselves. They mailed me a form to apply but I thought I'd check their web site again and low and behold, a web site that worked well. The get a quote form is very clear, easy to use, fast and works. Boy does it work. It comes back with a quote $340.00 less than my current premium. Well that opened my mind a little bit. Next comes a phone call to see if this is good as it looks on-line. I found them to be very helpful and able to answer every question I had. First off lets says I'm resistant to much change. But over $300 is a lot to consider. I've been with the company (Nationwide) sence I've started riding but never had so much as a ticket on my bike. I have had it hit twice in parking lots but that is almost 13-14 years ago and other peoples insurance covered it. Come to think of it I've paid more for insurance over this time than I did for the bike. Next in line was an advertisement I saw on TV today for Progressive. Another impressive web site but this one is a bit slow the first time I used it. Upon a second visit it responded well. On-line quotes also available. While the response time may be just a bit sluggish the forms are clear and easy to use and the rate that came back is even better yet. Only $12 better but money is money. With this information in hand I feel it necessary to see if I'm comparing apples to apples. So its off to visit my current insurance agent and find out why my rate is so high in comparison to these quotes. He informed me that Nationwide this was the best he could do and his company didn't specialize in motorcycles and that other rates could most likely do better. He thanked my for my coutisy call. In looking at a few others the rates were slightly higher $30-$50 than the first two I had tracked down. I settled upon Maryland Motorcycle Direct. Now I have to find a way to spend that $340.00 I just saved. Opps, just told the wife about it, so there goes those funds. Mike H.