If you drive any type of motor vehicle in the great state of Michigan, chances are you are paying one of the hundred of Insurance companies a monthly premium. You also may have noticed, right around May of 2019, the monthly payments for your premium dropped quite significantly if you had your own PIP (personal injury protection) coverage outside of the insurance company. Public Acts 21 and 22 of the no-fault auto insurance reform legislation was a historic law passed to make auto insurance more affordable for most drivers on the road…Emphasis on the “most” part of that last statement (que the dramatic, ominous movie soundtrack violins and cellos).

While this new law was a great advancement for modern day insurance coverage in Michigan, one group of motorists were impacted a little less favorably than the rest…and by less favorably, I mean like the red-headed stepchild, locked in the cellar. Ok, lets just say it like it is…Party bus insurance premiums went through the mother F’ing roof! What was once a semi-acceptable process of finding and acquiring insurance for a party bus, became like trying to find an open bar at an AA meeting. In fact, most companies that offered insurance policies for party buses (called livery insurance) completely dropped their bus policies, or at best, increased the annual premiums by 2 to 3 times!

Now you may be wondering, if everyone else saw a decrease in their monthly payments, why did the bus people have to pay more? Well without getting too far into the weeds on the legal robbery performed by Insurance companies on a daily basis, the explanation is pretty straight forward. After the reform law stated motorists were allowed to seek their own PIP from other alternative sources, this put a lot more potential liability on the companies covering livery transportation (party buses). With a party bus holding 20 people, the insurance company now potentially had to cover every single one of those passengers personal injury claims if the bus were involved in a traffic crash. While we can’t imagine what could possibly go wrong with putting 20 intoxicated humans inside of a 26,000 lb metal box on wheels, traveling 70 MPH down a freeway in Detroit…Aaaapppppppaaaarently the insurance companies deem that “risky business”… psshh. Most companies decided it was easier to just stop offering policies all together. All of the major companies that you see on your TV screen everyday pulled out completely of the livery insurance game. This left a small group of mostly unknown insurance companies to choose from when attempting to get your bus or limo insured, which doesn’t fair well for consumer price bargaining. Speaking from experience, the first 3 quotes we received for The Whiskey Wagon were 27k, 31k and 40k a year…yes, A YEAR, just for ONE BUS! It took about 3 months of searching high and low to finally find a company that would offer us “affordable” livery insurance.

This dramatic increase for party buses and limos are why many companies had to close their doors for good. It became almost impossible for a large number of companies to remain profitable when they were paying such high monthly premiums per each vehicle they used for business. There were also (and still are) a number of companies that fly under the radar and operate without ANY insurance on their vehicles. This is not only very illegal but also an extremely irresponsible and downright stupid way to operate a business and ultimately, puts you the customer at a very high risk. If that uninsured bus crashes into another vehicle with a boat load of people on board, you the customer will be left to pay for the hospital and medical bills by yourself (that bill would make the 40K a year bus insurance premium feel like shopping at the Dollar General).

Here at The Whiskey Wagon, we have the state mandated, $5,000,000 policy for every vehicle used for livery transportation. This can be independently verified through the State of Michigan Bus and Limo website by searching our company name. Every bus in service is also inspected by an MDOT inspector annually who confirms the buses are road worthy and up to State of Michigan standards. When it comes to you and your loved ones safety, don’t take any chances with a shady, fly-by-night transportation company. Make it a habit to ask for and verify their insurance before considering booking a ride with them.

If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this literature, you are either an Insurance sadomasochistic, or extremely bored. Whichever one it is, You are our kind of people and are welcomed on The Whiskey Wagon, so climb aboard (our expensively insured party bus..) !!!