Changing address

[mastahjay69]

I have recently moved, to an area where my car insurance is higher than before. Since I do not have room to park my bike, I leave it at my parents house. Can I leave it insured with that old address? Or must I change it to the new address?

P.s my address on my drivers license has changed to the new address.

[meme]

Does your policy have a contact address and an other address? Eg when insuring a trailer loads of insurance companies recognize that it won't ness be stored at your home.

I'd just call and ask.

[mastahjay69]

I'm afraid to ask before I have some opinions from others.

[tricky]

I think they usually word it like "where will the bike be garaged" when you give them your info. I live downtown for school, but my drivers license uses my home address in Newmarket. I told my insurance company that the bike will be downtown, and they didn't ask any questions at all (though that may be because I'm paying more this way). My insurance papers all say my downtown address. I think they want to know where the bike will be, not necessarily where you will be.

[VifferFun]

Your mailing address does not have to equal your garage address. If your bike is kept at your parents' place during the riding season and that is where you principally garage it, then your insurance company will determine your premium based on your parents' location. If you happen to lie about the garage location then you would be committing insurance fraud.

[mastahjay69]

Now, do I need to change the address on the ownership, even though the bike is stored at my parent place?

[Wasted]

You need to make sure that if you get pulled over, your license, ownership, and insurance all have the same address. Your insurance company should be able to do this for you so that you're legal under the hta and paying the appropriate rates for the risk address.

[mastahjay69]

Interesting... I will call and inquire.

[mastahjay69]

My broker told me that, thornhill and north york are in the same "zone" and so the rate will now change. Seems odd...

[Robert_Smalls08]

You should have the bike registered at your new address and your liability cards should show the new address as well, but like Vipper said, if your bike is primarily garaged and operated at your parents address then the company should rate the premium for the parents address.

[Aleks Hara]

Robert and Viffer are exactly right - you want ownership, driver's licence, and insurance slips all to match for address. Simply tell your company where the bike is garaged, and they will override the postal code in the policy, thereby rating it for the correct location. With some motorcycle companies, they only distinguish between rural and urban areas - so it makes sense that North York and Thornhill are the same price. Auto insurance is a whole other story... I've had clients move down the street and premiums jumped or dropped significantly! Always call broker/company ahead of moving when dealing with car insurance - It might influence where you move if your auto insurance is a big chunk of your monthly budget.

[VifferFun]

As Aleks said, Motorcycle Territories are not nearly as refined as Auto Territories. Some companies don't distinguish motorcycle territories at all, and those that do usually have a very simple structure with few territories.

Territories are generally defined by FSA/Postal Code, and each territory will have a rate factor assigned to it. For example (completely hypothetical):

M1P -- Territory 04 -- 1.00 (i.e. pays the average rate)
M1R -- Territory 18 -- 1.50 (i.e. pays 50% more than average)
N1G -- Territory 02 -- 0.80 (i.e. pays 20% less than average)

etc.

If you think of Ontario as a big 50-piece jigsaw puzzle, each of the 50 pieces represents an Auto territory with a distinct rate factor that determines how much people in that "puzzle piece" must pay relative to the average Ontarian. For motorcycle territories, there are MUCH fewer puzzle pieces, meaning the rates vary less based on where you live. In general, most companies have about 50 Auto Territories but only 1 to 3 Motorcycle Territories.

[coyo]

Now, do I need to change the address on the ownership, even though the bike is stored at my parent place?

Your ownership will be the same as your licence (if it's registered to you). Your slip may be out of date but if you got a reprint it'll show the same as your licence.

[LucasM17]

How does all of this work with a student living away from home 8 months of the year? I go to school in Kingston (Sept-April) and live in Toronto in the summer (May-August). My drivers licence is registered to the Toronto address of course. I will have my bike with me in both cities where I am living (so the majority of the calendar year in Kingston but majority of riding season in Toronto). How does this break down the "garaged" address, etc.?

The difference between the two cities is about $400 a year for insurance. Is there any way to get it registered in Kingston?

[Wasted]

Call your insurer. They should be able to change the risk address to Kingston for at least the duration of the school year.

[VifferFun]

Call your broker/agent, but as a general rule, you bike's garage address is where it is garaged the most during the riding season. For the car, the garage address is where it is garaged the most during the calendar year.