I found out why motorcycle insurance in Ontario is so expensive

seestheday

New Member
I was asking a family member who is in the insurance industry about it and he explained it to me.

Here are the interesting things I found out:
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[*]The Ontario government mandates personal liability on all vehicle insurance policies. This means that the vehicle insurance company pays your medical bills if you get hurt, not OHIP. This is why if you get liability only coverage on a big, brand new super-duty truck, it is much cheaper than liability only on a motorcycle, or even a small car (e.g. a Hyundai accent). You're much less likely to be personally injured in the truck, so the likelihood that the insurance company will have to pay out is much smaller. This is also the reason why all medical forms have a checkbox to see if the injury you're getting treated for is as a result of a motor-vehicle accident. This is the biggest reason for the high premiums. It's not motorcycle insurance, it's health insurance. Once I found this out I became much less angry about the situation.
[*]There is no multi-motorcycle discount because if there was then this would be a way for people to get around high insurance rates. E.g. I own two motorcycles and are insuring them both, but I happen to "loan" my brother a bike. The bike is insured under my name, but in reality he's riding it 100% of the time under my insurance. This would be effectively committing fraud, but they find it easier to just shut it down by not giving a discount rather than trying to identify and prosecute the fraudsters.
[*]Insurance companies usually pay out $1.01 for every $1.00 they take in. You probably want to know how they stay in business? The do it with investments. They take all of that cash, invest it in some very safe stocks etc, and make their profits from that. What they can invest in and how much they can invest is heavily regulated so if the markets crash they will always have enough to pay out claims.
[*]Fraud is a huge problem and it is hurting us all. If there wasn't rampant insurance fraud then everyone's insurance would drop by like ~30%
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If you've got an older bike, give Desjardins a call. I hope I don't jinx it, but this year I've gotten rates from them like I've never seen before. $400 for my BMW R75/6, $260 for my Yamaha XS650...
 
I got a decent rate from Desjardin as well even though my record has not been the best in the past.

But I still think the we are getting robbed by the insurance industry here in Ontario regardless of what your friend said
 
seestheday said:
  • The Ontario government mandates personal liability on all vehicle insurance policies. This means that the vehicle insurance company pays your medical bills if you get hurt, not OHIP.


  • This is absolute BS and actually the opposite. When I made an motorcycle injury claim, my insurer TD Primmum clearly said they were the last to pay for medical expenses. First OHIP, second company benifits (if available) and lastly insurance. Ontario insurance is such a scam. And why doesn't the provincial Liberals reform the business and bring down the rates like they promised? Because of all the HST collected of which they get a cut.
 
I can also add to this discussion, at least in some small way, because I do some plaintiff side insurance work against insurance companies. I can assure of one thing that is absolutely incontrovertible.... we, here in Ontario, pay insurance that is MILES higher than our US friends, most of whom can ride a much longer season than us, and our court system gives damages for personal injury and insurance claims that are a fraction of what American courts award.

I often have clients come to the firm with a personal injury or motor vehicle claim and ask how many thousands $$$$ they will get. I tell them what is likely and they think I am a lousy lawyer. They have figures in their head from either the US news and media or from television shows. Canadian courts have purposely attempted to avoid following the hyper-lawsuit culture of the States.

All that is to say that there is absolutely NO excuse for Ontario-based riders to pay such high insurance, especially if the insurance company is a MNC and operates internationally.

By the way, Tim, thanks for that tip on Dejardin. I will give them a call.
 
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