Dairyland vs The General motorcycle insurance

Both of these carriers exist for the same rider — the high-risk one standard insurers decline — but they reach that rider differently. Dairyland is a dedicated motorcycle specialist with decades of motorcycle-specific underwriting and a clearly defined coverage menu. The General is a non-standard auto carrier that also writes motorcycles, with several motorcycle coverage options unconfirmed. For a high-risk rider focused on the bike, Dairyland is the better-defined choice. The General earns its place for a different rider: the high-risk driver who wants a non-standard car and a non-standard motorcycle with one carrier.

Verdict

motoinsure scores Dairyland 3.9 out of 5 and The General 3.7 — both modest scores, which is expected when scoring non-standard carriers against a methodology built for the whole market. Both scores break into the same five sub-scores — coverage, pricing, claims, customer service, and financial strength — each traceable to our published methodology. Dairyland leads on coverage (3.8 to 3.5), and the gap is mostly coverage clarity rather than coverage breadth.

Neither score should be read as a warning. A rider who needs an SR-22 filing and has been turned away by standard carriers is not choosing between these two and a 4.6-rated insurer — those carriers will not write the policy. The real choice is between two carriers that will, and Dairyland's edge is that it is a motorcycle specialist first. For a rider whose situation is genuinely about the bike, that focus is worth more than the half-point score gap suggests.

Side-by-side comparison

| | Dairyland | The General | |---|---|---| | motoinsure score | 3.9 / 5 | 3.7 / 5 | | AM Best rating | A+ ^{[AM Best, 2025]} | A+ ^{[AM Best, 2025]} | | Primary specialty | Non-standard motorcycle | Non-standard auto, also motorcycle | | SR-22 filings | Routine — core to the book ^{[Dairyland, 2026]} | Handled for high-risk customers ^{[The General, 2026]} | | Custom-parts coverage | Optional add-on | Unconfirmed | | Founded | 1953 ^{[Dairyland, 2026]} | 1963 ^{[The General, 2026]} |

Dairyland is a Sentry Insurance Group member company. The General is underwritten by Permanent General Assurance Corporation, also a Sentry Insurance Group company after Sentry acquired The General in January 2025 ^{[The General, 2026]}. The two carriers now share a parent group at A+ financial strength, so the comparison is not about which insurer is stronger — it is about which one is built for the rider.

Non-standard / high-risk rider coverage

This is the section that decides the comparison. Both carriers serve the rider standard insurers reject — a DUI on record, a recent lapse, a string of violations, or an SR-22 requirement — but they were built around different vehicles.

Dairyland has written motorcycle coverage since 1953 ^{[Dairyland, 2026]}, and its motorcycle coverage menu is clearly defined: liability standard, with comprehensive, collision, medical payments, uninsured-motorist, and roadside as documented options. Its SR-22 process — filing the certificate of financial responsibility a state requires after a serious violation — is established and routine for motorcycles specifically.

The General is a non-standard auto carrier first. It writes motorcycles through National General, and its published materials confirm custom-accessory and safety-apparel coverage — up to $2,000 at no extra cost, with higher limits available ^{[The General, 2026]}. Other options a rider might expect, such as a lay-up storage endorsement and new-bike total-loss replacement, are not clearly documented and need confirmation with the carrier. The General handles SR-22 filings for high-risk customers, but a rider whose situation is specifically about the motorcycle should confirm exactly what the motorcycle policy includes. A motoinsure guide to SR-22 motorcycle insurance covers how the filing works regardless of carrier.

Pricing

Neither carrier is cheap, and neither pretends to be — both price non-standard risk, and a rider who needs them is paying for access to coverage standard carriers will not extend. The pricing question between them is not "which is cheaper" in the abstract; it is which carrier prices a given rider's specific profile and vehicle mix more competitively.

A rider insuring only a motorcycle should quote Dairyland, where motorcycle is the core book. A rider insuring both a non-standard car and a motorcycle should quote The General, where a combined high-risk household can sometimes sit with one carrier at a better combined rate than two separate policies. Premiums vary by state, bike, and record, and both carriers' state footprints are narrower than the standard market — Dairyland writes motorcycle coverage in roughly 40 states rather than all 50 ^{[Dairyland, 2026]}, and The General's motorcycle availability also varies by state. Confirm each writes in your state, and quote your own profile.

One cost a high-risk rider should treat as fixed rather than negotiable: the SR-22 filing itself usually has to stay in force for a set period — commonly three years from the triggering violation — and a lapse during that window can restart the clock or trigger a license suspension. Both carriers maintain the filing continuously, so the relevant question is not which one files an SR-22 but which one prices the rider's full profile more competitively over that multi-year window. A first-year quote that looks lower but comes from a carrier that does not write the rider's state, or does not cover the rider's bike type cleanly, is not the cheaper option once the policy has to be replaced mid-term.

Claims and service

Both carriers serve a non-standard book, where a higher share of policies see a claim than in the preferred market, so claims handling is not an edge case for either — it is routine. Dairyland's motorcycle-specific experience means its claims process is used to valuing motorcycle losses; The General's process is built around its larger non-standard auto book. Neither carrier is positioned as a high-touch service brand, and a rider choosing between them is choosing on acceptance and price, not on a premium claims experience.

A note on complaint data: the NAIC folds motorcycle complaints into the broader private-passenger-auto line rather than reporting them separately ^{[NAIC, 2026]}. Any review quoting a precise "motorcycle complaint score" is extrapolating from auto data. motoinsure's claims sub-scores draw on each carrier's overall auto-line record and claims-process structure, not a motorcycle-specific figure that does not exist.

Who wins for each rider

For a high-risk rider focused on the bike — someone whose SR-22 or violation history is the obstacle and whose decision is genuinely about the motorcycle — Dairyland wins. Its dedicated motorcycle specialty, decades of motorcycle underwriting, and a clearly defined coverage menu make it the better-documented choice. A rider should not assume a motorcycle option exists at The General without confirming it.

For a high-risk driver bundling a non-standard car and a motorcycle, The General is worth a quote. Its non-standard auto focus can keep a combined high-risk household with one carrier, which simplifies billing and claims for a rider managing coverage on two vehicles. That is the honest split: Dairyland for the bike-first rider, The General for the household that needs non-standard auto and motorcycle together.

If your situation centers on the motorcycle, start at Dairyland. If it centers on a car and a bike together, quote The General. See the Dairyland review and The General review, or browse every head-to-head in motoinsure's comparison hub.