Bike Insurance - Help Please
 

Can any one tell me which is the best company to go for RTW motorcycle insurance, ive tried some companys from the ABR magazine and the MCN none has been interested, i never bothered with insurance unless i could get it on the border of the country i was entering. So any advice please. Skip

Hi Skip,

I am not aware of any one stop RTW insurance solution. Your technique works for me. I only buy insurance in countries that require it at the border. This has included a lady with a clipboard in the Nicaragua border parking lot, a cute young girl in a shack around the corner from the Panama border and a Sanbors office at the Mexican border. If insurance is required in a country there is usually an enterprising entrepreneur willing to sell it nearby.

Others may know more.

Best,
John Downs

I think the companies that advertise in the mags you mention only offer medical insurance for motorcycle travel, which is not easy to find in itself, as John as said there is no worldwide cover for your bike, just yourself.

Have you tried Progressive?

Try Globelink travel insurance, they provide cover for a great number of activities, including motorcycle trips. I use them for couple of years already and they are always nice people to deal with. Here is the link Adventure Travel Insurance - Globelink Travel Insurance

Hi Skip:

I concur with John, I don't think you are going to find any company anywhere on the planet that can underwrite a policy that is valid on more than one continent (their home continent).

In North America, insurance policies are normally valid in all of Canada and all of the USA. In Europe, you can get them for either all the EC countries, or all countries from Iceland to Israel inclusive - just depends on how much you want to pay.

I think that everywhere else (Africa, Central and South America), you pretty much have to do things on a country by country basis, although it is possible that some countries that have well-established trade agreements (e.g. Mercosur in South America) might also have provisions that allow underwriters to write coverage valid in all the countries that participate in the trade agreement.

Michael

Well, you could at least inquire here:

Assurantiekantoor Alessie | Horizons Unlimited

Another place to ask from:

TourInsure - Ihr Spezialist f�r Internationale Fahrzeugversicherungen, Autoversicherungen, Motorradversicherungen, Camper-Versicherungen

I doubt you can really get a worldwide insurance. And what such a policy might cost, would be yet another thing.

Also worth noting is, that you must be very clear about what the insurance covers. Usually (when you plan to ride outside of Europe, US, Australia, NZ and maybe South Africa, and you live elsewhere), the best anyone can offer, is often a 3rd party insurance.

Possible damage to our own vehicle (or if it gets stolen or otherwise destroyed) will not be covered, and usually you also need to have your own personal insurance for your own injuries sustained in a road accident. You must make sure your travel insurance covers you for such cases.

But even that 3rd party traffic insurance would be good, especially if it actually worked – I feel so lucky, that I´ve never had to test it in real life, and I´ll do my best that I never will..... but it is claimed, that in many countries, the insurances you buy at the borders, aren´t really worth the paper they are printed on. So they might only be good for showing to the bribe-hungry policemen, in case you get stopped. And even if border insurances were actually worth something, then the maximum amounts that can be payed from them, could be very low, so it´s not like back home, where insurance might pay everything.... and the rest would still be taken out of your wallet. In fact that last bit is where those companies like Alessie could actually be of some help.

Bike Insurance
 

Hi
Many thanks for all the info on internationl bike insurance it is as i thought best to pick it up at the boarders as i go, my biggest problem is that i have an Australian bike in the UK with Australian reg that has now run out, ive not regesterd it in the UK because i'm not stopping here so with out an English registration number no insurance company will touch it and that go's for the Australian insurance companys as well, they would if i took it back to Australia and reregisterd it again.So i'm a bit stuck i don't want to ride around Europe with out insurance. Any one any idears. Skip:confused1:

You should be able to get the minimum legally required Euro "green card" insurance for an OZ-registered bike to ride, starting/ valid in the UK, across Western Europe from:
Green Card
or
How does the European Green Card Insurance work?
or
TourInsure - Online Application forms (already mentioned above).
You should be able to apply to any of the above by email/ online/ phone while you're still in the UK, and they will arrange/ send a valid policy to you in the UK before you leave.
Give yourself at least a week to arrange this paperwork with any of the above before you set out from the UK. Actually, if you buy it "now," you'll be covered in the UK, for however long you plan to remain there, until you leave (but you'll be paying on a monthly basis, or min 15 days from Mototouring.com)

It's confusing because, when you approach UK vehicle insurance underwriter/ agents, they don't write for non-UK registered bikes, and the UK auto clubs (RAC, AA) also don't write separate Euro green card policies for non-UK vehicles. Brits are peculiar that way (but then so are Americans) :mchappy:

After "Western Europe," it's "border by border."
Depending on your routing--if you ride across the Balkans (Croatia, Bos-Herz, etc) you're "supposed" to get country-specific cover starting at the Slovenia->Croatia border, but it's not always available depending on border crossing. Just ride thru with that extra risk, if necessary. Serbia may not allow your bike to enter without their extra 60Euro min 30 day Serbia-only cover; and it's available only at their major border crossings.
But if you ride Romania-Bulgaria, you're covered to the Turkey border; or if you ferry Italy-Greece, you're also covered to the Turkey border (where border insurance is again available & required).

good luck
p.s. above assumes you're planning to ride eastward thru Europe; if you're instead shipping to North America, you can get NoAm insurance for your OZ-registered bike from TourInsure.de, or MotorcycleExpress.com.