Insuring foreign bikes in North America
 

Cheryl Dudek from Fernet sent the following (September 17, 2018). It's good stuff. Hope it's helpful and lays things out clearly. There's a link to apply online. * Note the requirement for a U.S. mailing address and sole payment method (credit card).*

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"We are writing insurance for foreign registered motorcycles and RVs. There must be a US address used for the policy. The hard copy of the policy will be sent to this address. Any other correspondence from the carrier to the client will be done via email. The policies are all a standard 12 month policy, which may be cancelled at any time. The premium may either be paid in full, or monthly installments. We prefer the monthly installment plan for our clients as this way they pay for only the amount of insurance they use. We will make the payments on the client’s provided credit card so the client does not have to worry about making the payment on time. The payments will be made until we are notified via email to cancel. There will be no payments after the cancellation date.

There is a standard form attached that we send out for a quote. Or you could follow this link to our overseas page on our website:

https://fernet.com/Pages/overseas.htm

Once we receive a submitted form, the client will receive a quote within 48 hours (allow more time on weekends)

If all criteria requirements are met, insurance policies may be bound and sold almost immediately. There is no waiting process. Once we have all the required information and signed contract, payment is accepted by credit card only.

Once payment is made, you will receive your policy documents, ID card and receipts via email once processing is complete. This process is usually immediate. In some cases it may take up to an hour to receive your email.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us."

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This is how I did it, for my trip round the US. Through Fernet/Cheryl. No problems, and the refund cheque showed up very quickly. In the end, initial cost vs refund, it cost me around $120 for 6 weeks.

Product Disclosure Statement
 

Is it possible to get a link to the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) (Called this in Australia) so we can read the Fine Print..... i'm one of those boring ones that reads all this before signing up :(

David

Coverage Amounts
 

Couple of additional questions if thats OK,

In completing the Online Quote

- Garaging Zip Code, I'm assuming this is our address in the US, in our case 80226.

- Coverage Amounts, we realise this is a totally individual thing but we have no idea what would be the "Norm" in the states so any guidance would be appreciated. and if possible a brief explanation on each,the items listed are totally foreign to us from Australia

From what we read...... in the States, Medical needs to be the highest!!!

Coverage Amounts Requested
- Bodily Injury/Guest Passenger:

- Property Damage:

- Collision Deductible:

- Comprehensive Deductible:

- Medical Payments:

- Uninsured Bodily Injury:

- Uninsured Property Damage:

- Underinsured Bodily Injury:

Thanks David

I am looking at using Fernets third party insurance for my trip next year through Canada and the US and have the same questions. If someone could clarify the items listed by 2wheelsinmotion that would be very usefull. In the Netherlands it's all very different so I haven't got a clue as to what would be reasonble numbers.

Motorcycle insurance of foreign registered vehicle
 

Hi,
I have tried to obtain a third party liabilty insurance for a trip to the USA. The bike is registered in Germany and I will not have a permanent address in the USA as I will be travelling.
Having contacted several insurance companies / brokers. it seems to be impossible to have the bike insured in the USA. This is actually a prerequiste for getting the bike out of customs.
As a side note, I had no problem in 2009 to obtain such insurance.
Can anybody help me?
Many thanks for your help and best regards,
Wolfgang

A "permanent" address is a relative thing. Nothing is permanent... :)
A hotel may do for instance, or a PO Box from someone like Mailboxes Etc..


MoppettFJR, have you contacted Cheryl at Fernet?


2009 is ancient history, it's all different now, and primarily due to GDPR. It will all settle out, but it's taking a lot of time.

I'm not surprised no one has answered this, it's HUGELY personal, and no one wants to hear "but you said" when it all goes pear shaped.


What I pass on here is from me as an ordinary person, with no real interest of expertise of any kind in the insurance world, just passing on what I know from experience, so do your own research, make your own decisions, and assume I'm talking through my ass here. :unsure:

I would ask Cheryl what she RECOMMENDS directly, and also ask what's the minimums, and if there is a maximum amount too. Then make your own decision based on budget and risk aversion.

Some basic guidelines - YES Medical needs to be very high - a 1,000,000 medical bill, while unlikely, is possible. Think - an accident is my fault, and someone is now permanently disabled, and my insurance has to cover their bills - for life.

Public Liability - property damage including other vehicles etc: 1,000,000 is low. I have 2 and it should probably be more.

Deductible: simply means the amount you pay before the insurance company starts to pay - the higher the deductible the lower the price of the insurance - but this can bite if you have 1000 deductible and 1100 damage.

NOTE: Insurance in Canada is DIFFERENT from the USA, and here in BC it's different from the rest of Canada. If someone else is uninsured and hits me, BC takes care of me regardless, for instance.

UNinsured "other" motorist is illegal here, but NOT in much of the USA. There are drivers without insurance of any kind on the road, so YOUR insurance must cover everything.

Insurance Update
 

Hello everyone.

Australian about to ship a bike over to the USA for a 4 month tour.

I took out insurance via Fernet back in 2017 and everything was fine however I went (like a lot of people) to take insurance for this trip and received advice that they no longer do it but will take steps to help? Has anyone else from Australia obtained bike insurance for the USA/Canada recently?

Regards Noel.

Motorcycle insurance of foreign registered vehicle
 

Hi Novas and many thanks for your help.

I am actually in cpntact with Cheryl and she was very helpful.
Currently I am trying to sort out a reference address in the USA. I am rather
hopeful this might work.

Thanks again and keep the throttle open.

Wolfgang (Wolf) aka MoppetFJR

Motorcycle insurance of foreign registered vehicle
 

Hi Grant and many thanks for your help.

Yes, in the meantime I did contact Cheryl and she was very helpful.
Currently I am trying to sort out the US address issue and as of now I am quite optimistic.

My trip is now planned for mid 2020, so there should be enough time.

I was surprised about the cost of such insurance cover, which is much more reasonable than in 2009, but that was different broker.

Thanks again and best rgeards,

Wolfgang (Wolf) aka MoppettFJR

I just entered the USA from Mexico so I needed an insurance. So here‘s my experience:

Cheryl / fernet.com was not helpful at all. I always had to mail 2-3 times until I got a response. she charges 60$ for her ‚service‘ in addition to the insurance costs.
First offer was 2200$ ! I clearly wrote her multiple times that I only wanted minimum coverage (liability only), which she ignored. Second offer was still 800$ !

I‘ve been in contact with other travelers who got their insurance with Cheryl / fernet.com: the insurance company is progressive.com (fernet.com is just a broker).

On progressive.com you can do the insurance online all by yourself, you just need an US address. But you need one with Cheryl, too!
Depending on the state/city of your address, the prices vary a lot. I got an offer for 99$ a year with a Texas address. they won’t send paperwork, it’s all online.

So imo Cheryl is a scam: she just enters your information in the progressive online portal and charges you way more for it...

Insurance policies of all types vary by state in the US. Whether health, travel, life, vehicle, homeowner, renter....the policies vary, and so do the prices. It's always worth checking around if you have choices--this doesn't apply when insuring a locally-registered bike, where it's got to be insured in the same state it's registered.

I will admit freely that I don't know what happens if you have to make a claim, or whether that, too, will vary by state.

I don't know whether Cheryl "is a scam." Judging by many previous posters, she provides a lot of value to a lot of people. For example, some have reported they were unable to buy insurance from Progressive on line, but that they were able to purchase using an agent--not limited to Cheryl. Mileage varies, and it probably changes over time, too.

Hope that's helpful to someone, sooner or later.

Mark

Addendum: I do have a (Washington State) Progressive policy on one of my bikes and a car, and my only experience filing a claim was pretty good.

It's Cheryl / Gerber a scam? I don't think so. She provided me with some good advice as to what level of cover to go for when I asked the questions and quickly set up the policy I wanted. Yes her/their services cost me$60, but I for one am always willing to pay for a service if it is done well, and theirs was. Nowadays $60 buys 40 minutes (or less) of professional time in most developed countries so I think it is a reasonable fee for what is done.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

I called it a scam because she makes the customers believe to get an official insurance for foreigners. But all she does is selling the exact same online insurance policy of progressive.com and charges 60$ for it.
It’s unclear if the progressive.com policy will hold up in an accident if you are a foreigner, no matter if you buy it directly or through her...