Steering You Right: The rising costs of motorcycle insurance and registration CanadianDriver
19.04.10
By Jordan W. Charness
“This is absolutely ridiculous!”
Peter came storming in to my office the other day. He had just received his motorcycle registration renewal papers in the mail.
“$1,410!!!” he exclaimed. “Are they out of their minds!?” He was really on a tear.
In the past couple of years, the cost of registering a motorcycle in Québec has gone through the roof. Since part of the registration cost goes to Québec’s no-fault accident insurance plan, the government decided that they were going to raise the cost of registering a motorcycle to help defray the cost of medical care that may be required for victims of a motorcycle accident. The thinking was that motorcycle riders would then be paying considerably more than car drivers for engaging in what the Québec government seems to think is a risky driving activity.
To top it all off, Peter owns what the Québec government considers a “high risk motorcycle”. These types of motorcycles have the following characteristics:
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Why Is Motorcycle Insurance Considered High Risk
Motorcycle insurance is considered a high risk by many insurance companies. The risk obviously is that there are going to be bike damages wherein the company will have to incur the repair costs. This is one of the main reasons why most insurance companies make you pay high premiums. We look to discuss why companies find motor cycle insurance risky and also how you could find low premium insurance policies, in this discussion.
Insurance companies take into consideration quite a few points to determine your premiums. The details include your age, occupation, bike model, and so on. Whatever the information they collect and manipulate, the premiums are high in most cases.
There is no doubt that bikes meet up with more accidents in a calendar year than any other vehicle. In fact, numerous accidents are reported every day. So what causes more bike accidents? Most of the bike riders are the young generation. This obviously means that bike riders are generally inexperienced or less experienced. Although the riders pass their tests and have a valid two wheeler license, the inexperience causes the accidents. More accidents mean that the insurance company has to pay for the damages.
Apart from inexperience, younger generation also has a tendency to ride fast. The rush of blood gets them to ride only in the top gear. Needless to say, higher speeds result in frequent accidents. It therefore becomes difficult for the insurance companies to trust these riders to not commit any accidents.
The tendency to take over comes automatically to most bike riders. This is because it is easier to take over with a bike, even in the narrowest of roads than with any of the four wheelers. In an attempt to over take at most times, the accidents are more likely to occur.
Bikes are more susceptible to damage when met with an accident, than any of the four wheelers. This is because a four wheeler is well protected with a front guard and a bumper in the front and at the rear. However, you could at max have a pair of leg guards to a bike and nothing much. This implies that bikes get heavily damaged when met up with an accident.
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