Bike Insurance for US and Canada

[rogerroger]

I'm wanting to insure my bike for and up coming trip to Canada and Alaska.

I've heard mention of Fernet but they only seem to insure for travel in the US and you need a residential address.

The other option seems to be Motorcycle Express but there web site isn't working properly (broken links). I'm waiting for them to get back to me.

Are there any other options?

Also if I decide to just go for third party insurance which I assume is compulsory, how do I arrange it?

Thanks

[Sjoerd Bakker]

Not many takers for answering this question'
There has been quite a regular mention of Progressive Insurance being a good source for insurance for foreign riders going to start a long motorcycle trip in the USA.
Perhaps give them a look over and see what you might get , here is a link to their website .
https://www.progressive.com/lp/motor...RoCHNwQAvD_BwE

Getting somebody to allow use of their location address should be as simple as a dealership you dealt with or a relative or new found friend .
Once you buy insurance in the USA or Canada it covers you in all states and provinces . The same is true if you buy vehicle insurance in Canada , but it usually is more expensive here .
The insurance bought in USA or Canada is NOT valid in Mexico and beyond , but Mexico insurance is easily found .

[Flipflop]

Originally Posted by rogerroger

I'm wanting to insure my bike for and up coming trip to Canada and Alaska.

I've heard mention of Fernet but they only seem to insure for travel in the US and you need a residential address.

The other option seems to be Motorcycle Express but there web site isn't working properly (broken links). I'm waiting for them to get back to me.

Are there any other options?

Also if I decide to just go for third party insurance which I assume is compulsory, how do I arrange it?

Thanks

I’m looking into this at the moment so will share any info I get, please do the same
Cheers

[gperkins]

Please do flipflop, pass on any info you glean. I too have been chasing up similar insurance. Progressive seem to be the go to company. It's easy enough to get an online quote. But I'm reluctant to press the "buy" button until I get more clarification, that what I think I am getting is in fact valid for a citizen other than one from either Canada or the USA. It seems I can't phone them from Australia, or at least I'm yet to find a ph number that I can use from here. Their chat facility is also inoperable. I've msg'd via FB and are awaiting a response. All very frustrating.

[gperkins]

For those interested, i now have a quote from a broker in Chicago 12months $790. Pay in full, $198 discount. So amount payable $592.

Six instalment payments can be made. Initial payment $132, each subsequent payment $111. Seeing as we want 2 months the latter suits us.

As an aside, if you do an online quote via Progressive's own site. The cost for 12 months is a little over $100! But not having a local licence, the price is 5X more expensive.

Does anyone out there have a better quote/option than the above.

I might add the quote that i received is for liability only. Not fully comprehensive. Where as the online quote was fully comprehensive.

[Sjoerd Bakker]

Your country of citizenship has no bearing on getting insurance >What does matter is that you ought to have an Australian license valid for the type of vehicle you are using and it will be recognized as valid in the US. And that you have paid the insurance company its fee .
Now does that "installment" payment scheme apply as if to paying only for the time that you will be on vacation for the part of a year , or is it an "installment pay plan " for an entire year for those short of cash , predicated on paying a FULL year ?
I know that here in Ontario Canada I can NOT buy a discounted liability cover for only the 4 or 5 months with good riding weather , it is a full year .Period.
In either of your examples the price for the full year is in the game .

[gperkins]

We are well aware of the general requirements of obtaining insurance in Nth America. Having first toured there on a HD for one year back in 83/84. And several other times since.

But as most know, it has becoming increasingly difficult to get insurance. Two or three years ago it was damn near impossible for a short while.

Your point about instalment payments is noted and one we also gave some thought to.

The wife having worked her entire career in banks devised a crafty plan. We'll commit to instalment payments as pointed out. To do so you (we) need to supply credit card details, so an automatic direct debit can be made. Close to the expiry of the first 2 months and before the deduction of the 2nd payment. We fear our CC maybe lost. As such we'll have to report it to our bank and consequently the bank will have to cancel the card.

[rogerroger]

I went with Motorcycle Express.

The lady I dealt with was super helpful. The Canadian insurance needed to be mailed to me but there wasn't time before I left so she mailed to my hotel in Vancouver and it arrived when I was there. I needed the Canadian insurance to temporarily import my bike into Canada

[ibahabs]

Hey,
I and my wife are currently on our rtw-trip and started two weeks ago in Canada.
As we are from Austria we also had to deal with the insruance topic.

Fernet is a possibility (also without an American adress) but the only offer an insurance valid in the USA and a minimum duration of 6 month.

We went with motorcycleexpress. Carrie from motorcycleexpress is very helpfull if you need assistance.
Regarding the links: they work if accessed them from the US. We used a VPN.
Then you can input all your data and get a quote. The insurance is issued by National General but handeld via motorcycleexpress.
You will get all your documents online.

I also got the informaiton that there is no need that you need to get the insurance mailed to you, you only need to have a printout with you.
Customs didn´t bother with our insurance at all.

In case you have any futher questions fell free to drop me a pm.

Andreas

www.ibahabs.com

[PanEuropean]

I've used Motorcycle Express in the past for shipping my bike to and from Europe, and also for getting European insurance (my bike is Canadian-plated, so I have no problem with North American insurance). They are a pleasant company to deal with and I have no hesitation recommending them.

I do agree with what others have noted in responses above, it is a lot more cumbersome to get North American insurance for an overseas moto than it is to get European insurance for a North American moto.

Michael

[gperkins]

We got a quote from Motorcycle express and although I now can't recall the price exactly. I do know this. It was a lot more expensive, 5 or 6 times more expensive. Didn't even come close to progressive's quote. So their email was quickly binned.

[djays]

Rogerroger... glad to hear that went well.

I am currently working with M. Epxress now for the trip at then end of the month..

The clearing of your bike went well, or was there any issues?
thanks

[Calif_STBG]

Hello,
I just arrived in Canada (at Montréal from Paris) dealing with Motorcycleexpress. All the processus went well. At the price they announce (1725€ in my case) you have to add :145€at the intermediate in Paris they are working with + 194CA$ in Montréal. Because you are not allowed to leave your personnal effect on the bike (they told me that two weeks before !), you must add the cost for your luggages on your personnal flight (130€in our case) + the price of the bags you put them in and that you will throw away when arrived. Be aware to arrive on working day as you have to go to customs to get you bike back.
The insurance they propose is 686US$ for 3 months. No other rate avalaible (for 3 months)!! It's an insurance by National General, exactely the same that propose fernet.com. Take your time to search one in front of your computer (it's painfull on a phone). If you find better quote let people know because it's frankly the trikiest thing to do.
See you on american's roads

[Calif_STBG]

I forgot to mention the obligation for you to get the arriveCAN procedure completed (about COVID) and the AVE (autorisation de voyage électronique) also (at least for french (EU ?...) citizens) otherwise YOU will not be autorized to enter Canada !