Convince me that it's stupid to buy and insure a bike at this point in the season | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Convince me that it's stupid to buy and insure a bike at this point in the season

We just bought the wife a new bike. We insure with TD at 7 payments March to september. Just added her bike, it's costing me $147 in one payment to insure it until renewal in march. That's with collision, comprehensive, fire/theft all in.

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Personally June is my fav but I love fall too...I put 15,000 km on the CBF between Sept 15th and the end of season ( was there one ? ) in 2015.
Buy - ride it .... call email

Christopher South, R.I.B. (Ont), CIP
Insurance Broker, SurNet Insurance Group Inc.
csouth@surnet.net
P: 416-546-8969
F: 866-491-4002

for best rates/service/advice.

Enjoy
 
Buying a bike with your mind and not your heart will leave you riding a scooter. Go for it.
 
When i was starting I had two options...

1. Wait till spring and not pay insurance till i actually started riding (while waiting for the baby to be born, and risking never getting the bike due to new baby/wife/family)

or....

2. Get the bike before the baby is born and pay out insurance over the winter months when i wasnt even riding...

You know my odds of getting the bike after the baby were significantly smaller than getting the bike before...

guess which one i went with?


(I also rode as much into the winter as possible)
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the replies.

Will you have the days off or time? If so, get the bike and ride it.
Orrrrr ride to work?

Op, if you have your M and can get insurance for around 1k, sure it'll be worth it.
If you're one of those guys paying 3800 for insurance on a 636, then I'd wait.
I won't have much time off work but I can at least ride it to and from work (which would help with my sanity at this point tbh). And yeah, I am one of those guys. I'm quoted at around 2400. That could have changed though since more than a month has passed since I got the quote.


Bikes are still over priced right now, I would wait until it gets a little colder. People will be more willing to negotiate as they don't want to incur in the cost/work of winterizing it and possibly storing somewhere paid.
But how much would I even save by waiting a little bit? Seems like it'd be <$1000, right? The going rate for the 636 seems to be 4-5k depending on the mileage

Wait until spring, save a bit more and buy the 09+.
That year has always been my dream bike - I'm not sure I care to pay more than 5500 for a used bike but I can be convinced otherwise (and it'd probably make it that much easier to find A bike).

Buying a bike with your mind and not your heart will leave you riding a scooter. Go for it.
Truth. Haha I guess you guys already know which way I'm leaning towards.


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So my other question is the whole pro-rated thing. I asked the broker to explain it a couple of times and I still don't really get it. But if it's pro-rated, then it really doesn't matter when I insure it, right? because I'm paying for when I care to ride it? The best quote that I found was through Mitchell & Whales and it would be Wawanesa Mutual.

On Kijiji now hoping to find a bike on my only half day off tomorrrow haha
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the replies.



I won't have much time off work but I can at least ride it to and from work (which would help with my sanity at this point tbh). And yeah, I am one of those guys. I'm quoted at around 2400. That could have changed though since more than a month has passed since I got the quote.



But how much would I even save by waiting a little bit? Seems like it'd be <$1000, right? The going rate for the 636 seems to be 4-5k depending on the mileage


That year has always been my dream bike - I'm not sure I care to pay more than 5500 for a used bike but I can be convinced otherwise (and it'd probably make it that much easier to find A bike).


Truth. Haha I guess you guys already know which way I'm leaning towards.


----
So my other question is the whole pro-rated thing. I asked the broker to explain it a couple of times and I still don't really get it. But if it's pro-rated, then it really doesn't matter when I insure it, right? because I'm paying for when I care to ride it? The best quote that I found was through Mitchell & Whales and it would be Wawanesa Mutual.

On Kijiji now hoping to find a bike on my only half day off tomorrrow haha
As far as you giving money to them, prorating doesn't matter. It only really comes into effect if you cancel your policy before the year is up and they determine how much money to give you back, if any at all.
5500 for a 2009 600cc is pretty good. I bought my 2009 GSXR 600 last year and it's been a terrific time.

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I've put 20,000 km on in jan/feb in Ontario before. Some years we don't get bad weather. Just buy it and enjoy life (assuming you have the time to ride).
 
That year has always been my dream bike - I'm not sure I care to pay more than 5500 for a used bike but I can be convinced otherwise (and it'd probably make it that much easier to find A bike).

I'm pretty sure you can find an 09+ around the $5500 mark.


Edit - After a few minutes on Kijiji, here's a few:

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-bikes...6r/1293503092?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-bikes...6r/1293290012?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-bikes/hamilton/2009-zx6r/1292995349?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
 
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So my other question is the whole pro-rated thing. I asked the broker to explain it a couple of times and I still don't really get it. But if it's pro-rated, then it really doesn't matter when I insure it, right?

You pay the same thing all year round on a 12 month motorcycle policy, but of course insurers know that the typical rider only rides ~6 of those months.

Therefore, say (for example) your yearly policy was $1200/year ($100/month) instead of paying $200/month for the 6 month season and then $0/month for the other 12, they spread it out over the full 12 months and you pay a more palatable $100/month all year round instead.

Therefore, if you start a policy in the fall and cancel it in the spring most of that money is refundable since you never really "used" it.

But if you start a policy in the spring and cancel it in the fall, well...you used not only what you paid during the summer, but what you WOULD have paid all winter as well, so they send you a big bill (for the remaining months of the policy) in the mail instead of a refund.

If you have no intentions of cancelling/changing the policy it's all rather moot, but keep it in mind.
 
Definitely not planning on storing my bike until atleast after PD13, no matter what temps are like I'm going, it will be my first one on 2 wheels. Hoping for a mild-ish november too, I get better parking at work with the bike, and it sure helps me stretch out a tank of gas on the F150.
 
Come rain, come snow, come sun or fog... I'm at PD13.

Well. Maybe I'll think twice if it's snowing. :D
 
So my other question is the whole pro-rated thing. I asked the broker to explain it a couple of times and I still don't really get it. But if it's pro-rated, then it really doesn't matter when I insure it, right? because I'm paying for when I care to ride it?a

The other consequence of this is if you go with someone that wants payment up front (say TDMM), if your policy was $1200 per year, you may only have to pay ~$400 for insurance between now and feb when their policies renew. Almost half a year of potential riding days for 30% of the yearly premium.
 
Come rain, come snow, come sun or fog... I'm at PD13.

Well. Maybe I'll think twice if it's snowing. :D

I went once in January. It was the largest collection of camry's and people dressed like bikers that I have every seen. Not very many bikes relative to the number of bikers (probably 1 bike for every 50 bikers). It was a beautiful sunny day and the only dodgy parts were high winds and roads with blowing snow on the way there. I never went back, I would rather be riding than posing/drinking.
 
Insurance companies calculate your annual premium like this,

Jan $0
Feb $0
Mar $0
April $100
May $200
June $300
Jul $500
Aug $500
Sept $300
Oct $200
Nov $100
Dec $0

In this example, the annual premium is $2200 and the majority of the premium is charged over 8 months of the season.

It's not exactly like this but, it's a rough example.

So they know the vast majority of riders will likely store/park their machine during the winter months.

If you cancel during the winter, you won't be refunded anything and you won't save anything.

So it's a little confusing. Especially when going on a payment plan of sorts to make it affordable.

You want to keep coverages on so, that warm day you want to take it for a ride. Or it gets stolen. Or it's damaged or what ever.

When you purchase insurance, the term is generally a year. And the premium is typically calculated over the months that you would ride.

They just make the monthly payments equally spread over a period of time. And they don't break down the premium calculation over a monthly basis.
 
I went once in January.

The first one I ever went to in 1994 was in April IIRC on my Seca 900.

It was cold and generally miserable out. I was young and stupid, didn't have proper cold weather gear (or much proper gear at all, for that matter, to be honest) and still remember riding about 20 or 25 minutes at a time before being forced to stop and warm up somewhere.

I got there, it was sorta quiet (PD13 back then was a smaller affair vs what it is now,), and I turned around and headed home after stuffing some food down my gullet. I repeated the ride out more or less, freezing my *** off the whole way.

Now I'm less stupid. I might still ride in conditions some would consider insane (Hell, look at the "who's still riding" threads from the last 2 winters), but I have gear that keeps me comfy now at least. ;)
 
If you cancel during the winter, you won't be refunded anything and you won't save anything.

Not necessarily true. A refund or balance owing outcome depends entirely on when the policy was started. If you start a policy in October and cancel it in March you'll get almost all your premiums back, for example. If you start a policy in May and cancel it in December however, well, you'll get a big bill in the mail.
 
FWIW I put more miles on my bike last winter than I did on my sled.
 

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