Insurance for foreign bike in CANADA
 

Good morning.

I wish to thank all the members for their inputs to https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...-bike-us-93901
and https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...-america-96022

It was long, sometimes confusing, and difficult to tease out the info. It may be good if the moderators to make a sticky in a summary table format of company/address...

In any case, it appears the options include FERNET, MOTORCYCLE EXPRESS, PROGRESSIVE, GEICO. (Did I miss any?)

With the exception of MExpress, all companies require a US address. In EVERY case the insurance companies are American.

So here is the rub:
1- am a Canadian living in Europe, have a European plated bike and will transit CANADA only, summer 2020.
2-looking for a Canadian agency (yes it's understood that NA insurance covers USA and CDA irrespective of where it is sourced)
3-don't have US address (yes yes find a hotel..) but DO have CDA address with family.

Is there NO Canadian insurance companies capable of providing insurance for foreign bikes?

Thanks
Chris

Update
_CAA Insurance = no
_Certas/Desjardins/State Farm = no
_TD/Primus =no
_HUESTIS = nope

They all state they can only insure locally registered vehicles.

...I could say i will (eventually) register.. but not. ;) Of course to register my European bike will mess up my Temporary Importation Permit. NOT to mention my EU spec moto won't pass Canadian inspection!!

Leaves me with FERNET or MotoExpress.

BTW FERNET, from another thread
"Fernet are agents for Progressive so you'd think they would know but I have my doubts...

After this, I called Progressive directly and spoke to a guy who asked all the right people and he confirmed Progressive will not insure us. Foreign vehicles are regarded as transient and cannot be insured through Progressive.

Quite how Fernet are doing this is anyones guess as they only use Progressives online applications. Phyllis told me they never speak to them. Now I'm not saying they do anything illegal but I do wonder if they are filling in teh forms as if the US address we give is our home address. If this is the way they do it, the policy would be null and void in the event of an incident...."
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...1-4#post586072

Jeez

UPDATE

Called Progressive. After a long deliberation the short answer is NO.

They cannot insure a foreign registered bike without a PERMANENT US residence address. Even as i was explaining that 1)i have a US address to use (family) and 2) i also dont have a permanent CDN address, they politely..but firmly told me to go find a Canadian insurance company!

Nice!

(I guess he could see that i was calling from Canada ..oops)

Apologies if this has been raised before.

If you have a French(?) plated bike in Europe you presumably have insurance that covers you in the EU and perhaps beyond to some non EU countries. Have you checked with your current insurer or other EU insurers to see if they offer coverage that would extend to North America?

It's not uncommon to see travelling European plated vehicles in Canada, including some very expensive looking overland truck type things. Most if not all of them presumably have insurance so, logically, it must be available. Perhaps looking closer to home may provide an answer.

Best of luck.

relevant thread
 

Hi Monnom, I was going to look into this myself for next year then noticed your post, I guess I can pick up hints within this thread but in general as you're a CDN resident and I'm not would it be any different for me..??

I'm doing the full east to west TCAT starting next June including an added visit to Alaska so I would need USA + CDN insurance....

Mez/UK

Hello Mez
I am a resident of France (permanent address), but have a Canadian passport. Thus bike, driver's license and address all French.

You will be in the same category.

All insurance purchased in US and CDA covers both countries, no problem.

Clearly it is not possible to get insurance IN CANADA with Canadian agencies.

So, I will be asking for quote from both FERNET (despite the conflict about Progressive) and MotoExpress. Both American sources, yet I will not be visiting USA.

Bummer. Be nice to have clarity on this: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...022#post603046

UPDATE

We regret, we cannot offer insurance for Canada and USA anymore as most insurance companies do not want to insure foreign registered vehicles or foreign drivers anymore.

You could try and contact Dairyland insurance company in the USA - they used to offer motorcycle insurance for USA/Canada, so perhaps they can help you.



Best regards,

Maria M. Alessie

Assurantiekantoor Alessie

Eliotplaats 174

3068 VL Rotterdam

The Netherlands

UPDATE

yikes...

2020 tcat
 

Monno,

That's not looking too good for you, sorry.....

I had a quick look online at my current bike insurers and they offer cover in both USA and Canada. I did an online quote for me (not the bike) and the premium was around £240 for one year continuous or broken travel. I am ringing them on Friday to ask about the inclusion of my own motorcycle whilst travelling the two quoted for countries, let's see what they say.

Also, anyone reading this have any experience with the authorities from USA & Canada accepting UK or European bike insurance that covers for there country. OR am I mislead in thinking that I can get coverage from the UK...??!!

IF you can get coverage from a UK Company for Canada / USA I would have to call it a miracle. And not believe it actually worked. I have NEVER heard of it.

IT MIGHT BE TRUE - but be super careful and read ALL the fine print. And make sure the paper they give says clearly on it "valid Canada / USA."

Chris, we'd love to - but as you note it would be a long and tedious job - and a constantly changing document!
All we can do is hope that people like yourself that do the work required for themselves do a good job of posting results here in as clear a fashion as possible.
BTW re Sticky - we can only stick a thread, not a post. :( If you have all the details together, we can always do a new thread with all those details and sticky it.
They SHOULD all be available in the links page anyway. Let me know if you know of changes or missing info.
thanks!! :)

Point taken Grant, I think your right here, I got mislead by offers of repatriation and medical cover, there was a lot of fine print which I skimmed through picking up key words, motorcycle being included eg: 'covered for riding'. The search continues.....

UPDATE
Sent an email to FERNET asking for a quote. Just received this reply:

Hello,

Unfortunately, Progressive no longer allows us to write any Foreign vehicle travel policies. We are currently working with a few other carriers and hope to have a secure program in the beginning of the year.

At any time should we secure the dedicated program, we will contact you immediately.

Kind Regards,

FERNET INSURANCE

While i knew the answer, i did contact my French insurance company, MAAF, to verify if they could cover my trip to Canada. The response, of course was in French, the tldr is "No Way José".

To backtrack a bit, in a previous post I mentioned a Dutch company named ALESSIE. This is an address i found on a french camping carist forum. Clearly they used to do it, but no longer.

So the options have been exhausted, the only option is Moto Express with the cost of insurance for 4 months is approximately half of the value of the bike. Well ok a bit less...

So, @Grant, that table sticky I suggested? Really easy now.

Awesome. I guess I'm not going home in 2020!

UPDATE

Hi Chris
Thank you for your email. Happy to help. You can get quotes for your motorcycle on our website:

https://www.hctravel.com/essentials-extras/

and click on the US and Canadian motorcycle insurance. Follow the link, complete the form and you will receive our quote. Please note that this is currently the only available policy in the World for non US/Canadian residents to ride in the USA and Canada. We are looking to work with another insurer as an alternative option, but they have not yet agreed to consider offering a policy.
Regards
David Grist
Founder and Owner
E / david.grist@hctravel.com T / 01256 770775 W / www.hctravel.com
A / 16 High St, Overton, Hants. RG25 3HA Fb / HCTravelMotorcycleTours



...which links back to MOTORCYCLE EXPRESS insurance.

Means that there is only ONE insurance option and i can't afford it. Insane.

Vehicle Insurance
 

I too intended to ship my Land Cruiser to Halifax from Liverpool next April using Seabridge forwarders. All was booked and they offered insurance, but I was quoted £1200 for 3 months but only for a fully made up motorhome that included a bathroom. When I enquired about an ordinary vehicle, it was the same reply as everybody else. So reluctantly I have had to cancel the trip.

It is indeed insane when you can drive your vehicle all over central Asia to the Russian far east and buy insurance at every border and then find it is impossible to purchase vehicle insurance at two of the most advanced countries in the world.

Boycie