IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING MOTORCYCLE INSURANCE
I am putting this information out there simply to make you aware of a policy held by one of the insurance companies that covers motorcyclists. Rider Plus, who is a broker for Echelon, has a “cancellation table” that reflects “the seasonal nature of motorcycle riding in Ontario”. This applies when you want to cancel your insurance for any reason. They require us to pay for 6 months up front for one year of coverage. I guess this covers them in the case of a rider cancelling their policy and claiming a refund during the months where the weather is less desirable to ride in… or something like that and I don’t know where to find this “cancellation table” that they speak of anyway.
This is how their nonsensical policy affected me:
My policy renews in January of 2015. At the end of October I called Riders Plus to cancel the coverage of my two motorcycles as I had sold the one, was soon to sell the other, and no longer needed the coverage for them. That leaves two months of insurance that I had already paid for, unused, and therefore I would like to transfer that coverage to the new motorcycle I will be receiving in March of 2015. This seems to me to be a fair request, but no way! According to Riders Plus because of this “season” that they have arbitrarily come up with, I will only have a credit of $7 due to it being “short-rated”. I was not asking for a cash rebate but simply to apply the two months of insurance that I had already paid for, to the next motorcycle. I explained I was planning on still being a customer but this meant nothing to them and therefore I will no longer be a customer of Riders Plus.
I’m not saying Riders Plus is a bad insurance company as I have not ever made a claim with them and my only interaction was to send them tons of money for which I would have thought there would at least be some customer service. I would have thought that an insurance company that advertises itself as a ‘motorcycle friendly’ company would be more flexible with situations like mine, but they are not.
So a word to the wise; If you are CERTAIN that you will be riding the same motorcycle ALL year AND into the next go ahead and pay Riders Plus up front in the first 6 months for one year’s insurance; BUT if you think you might be changing your motorcycles sometime through “the season” with any gap at all, I would suggest you find a company that offers a month to month payment plan. And seeing as none of us own a crystal ball, the later of the choices would be the wisest.
I hope this information can save some of my fellow riders from losing money to these corporate S.O.Bs the way I did.
Cheers,
Cameron
I am putting this information out there simply to make you aware of a policy held by one of the insurance companies that covers motorcyclists. Rider Plus, who is a broker for Echelon, has a “cancellation table” that reflects “the seasonal nature of motorcycle riding in Ontario”. This applies when you want to cancel your insurance for any reason. They require us to pay for 6 months up front for one year of coverage. I guess this covers them in the case of a rider cancelling their policy and claiming a refund during the months where the weather is less desirable to ride in… or something like that and I don’t know where to find this “cancellation table” that they speak of anyway.
This is how their nonsensical policy affected me:
My policy renews in January of 2015. At the end of October I called Riders Plus to cancel the coverage of my two motorcycles as I had sold the one, was soon to sell the other, and no longer needed the coverage for them. That leaves two months of insurance that I had already paid for, unused, and therefore I would like to transfer that coverage to the new motorcycle I will be receiving in March of 2015. This seems to me to be a fair request, but no way! According to Riders Plus because of this “season” that they have arbitrarily come up with, I will only have a credit of $7 due to it being “short-rated”. I was not asking for a cash rebate but simply to apply the two months of insurance that I had already paid for, to the next motorcycle. I explained I was planning on still being a customer but this meant nothing to them and therefore I will no longer be a customer of Riders Plus.
I’m not saying Riders Plus is a bad insurance company as I have not ever made a claim with them and my only interaction was to send them tons of money for which I would have thought there would at least be some customer service. I would have thought that an insurance company that advertises itself as a ‘motorcycle friendly’ company would be more flexible with situations like mine, but they are not.
So a word to the wise; If you are CERTAIN that you will be riding the same motorcycle ALL year AND into the next go ahead and pay Riders Plus up front in the first 6 months for one year’s insurance; BUT if you think you might be changing your motorcycles sometime through “the season” with any gap at all, I would suggest you find a company that offers a month to month payment plan. And seeing as none of us own a crystal ball, the later of the choices would be the wisest.
I hope this information can save some of my fellow riders from losing money to these corporate S.O.Bs the way I did.
Cheers,
Cameron