Greetings from the 'sunny' UK | GTAMotorcycle.com

Greetings from the 'sunny' UK

Cheggers630

Member
Isn't the internet brilliant - I found this forum yesterday evening and thought I'd sign up. I'm soon to be back (Covid permitting) in beautiful Canada late August ish and staying with a friend in Toronto. The pandemic saw me calling time on a trip I was doing on my UK registered Honda XR 250 Tornado but hoping to be once again heading South in 2022. The Tornado is now back in the UK (as I would have lost my bike to the American authorities in LA had I not shipped it back). Anyway, to avoid the importation hassles, and a long story short, I've now purchased a 2017 DR 650 (via Kijiji) and need to attempt to arrange insurance and registration. Any contacts or advice anybody on this site might have will be greatly appreciated - but I will try to submit a new thread in due course. Thanks, Simon
 
Do you have an Ontario driver's license? This would be key to obtaining insurance and registering a vehicle in your name.

If so, then insurance can be arranged over the phone. However, as far as I know, registering the vehicle can only be done in person at a Service Ontario centre. To do this, make sure you have the UVIP (Used Vehicle Information Package) for the bike, signed bill of sale and the vehicle permit with the transfer portion signed by the last owner.
 
Thanks for your reply and I'm a UK licence holder (riding for years no accidents or convictions etc) but travel with a valid IDP - this is where I think I might have difficulties but did overcome a similar issue in Michigan back in 2008. I have all the documentation for the bike in Toronto but am trying to arrange the insurance beforehand to hopefully cut down on any issues on arrival. The transfer should apparently be done within a few days but hopefully the bill of sale and my stamped passport will explain why there's been a delay. I'm hoping that someone on here might know of an approachable insurance agent who could help - .............. Great cherry blossom photo!
 
Thanks for your reply and I'm a UK licence holder (riding for years no accidents or convictions etc) but travel with a valid IDP - this is where I think I might have difficulties

It may not be as difficult as you think. UK and Canada have a reciprocal agreement where you can obtain a license if you already have one from your home country. You might need to do a little work right now to make sure you have the necessary documentation because Ontario has a Graduated Licensing Program (GLP). This means you have to prove you have held your UK license for the minimum amount of time required for each stage of the GLP. I believe you still have to take the test to obtain an Ontario driver's license, but if you have >12 months prior experience, you can skip right to the test to get an M2 license. If you have held your license for more than 24 months, you can take your full M test.

Really important to get documentation from the UK DVLA to prove this to Ontario.

More info here:


And the different stages of the MTO GLP are here:


I'm hoping that someone on here might know of an approachable insurance agent who could help

I might be mistaken, but I'm not sure an insurance agent will be able to issue you a policy without a valid Ontario driver's license. So you may have to go through the steps above first before you go searching for insurance.

Good luck!
 
Thank you for your detailed response - much appreciated. I thought I'd supply some more details and ask yet another question based on a different scenario. I'm 49 years old and have held a full motorcycle licence for 32 years and have obtained advanced riding qualifications with a clean driving record. From my research I have ascertained that a Northern Irish motorcycle licence (even though part of the UK) is valid for exchange in Ontario and thus reducing the requirement for a test but I'm currently exploring the likelihood of success in exchanging a UK licence for a NI UK licence (confusing eh?). The only other options I can currently see is registering and insuring the bike through someone else and trying to subsequently ride to a different province where registration might be less problamatic. Any thoughts?
 
Do the footwork. You'll be fine. Neighbouring provinces will be even worse. Everyone has their hand in the pot here, so insurance and license changes involve going through the bureaucracy. But Lightcycle is right, keep records of everything, photocopies of your original license etc. In Canada you can only hold one (1) drivers license so they'll take your UK one before they mail you a new one. If they screw up (they did it to my friend) and lose the M designation they'll make you take all the licensing tests over again.
 
Roadghost is correct. No other province will let you register and insure a vehicle without a driver's license from that province. And then you have the added complication of transferring the vehicle to that province's registry. If it's an Ontario bike, best to do all the paperwork in Ontario, especially since you are landing here. Keep it simple.

As a sidenote, if you want to keep your UK license *and* have an Ontario driver's license, go to the UK DVLA and claim that your current license is lost. They'll issue you a new one. Then when you get here, just give the MTO your old UK license for the exchange and then you'll have both in your pocket. MTO will not contact the UK DVLA to let them know an exchange has been made.

Just don't let a police officer know that you are holding two licenses. That is against the law.

I did the same thing with the MTO when I traveled, since there are unscrupulous police in other parts of the world who will hold your license hostage in exchange for a small "mordida" (bribe/blackmail). If that ever happened, I could just walk away from my extra copy of my driver's license.
 
Thank you for the replies and I have also emailed ServiceOntario for confirmation on their policy. It appears that the Northern Irish bike licence is recognised but the mainland UK not. I will also look into this as a way of reducing time and expense of bike tests etc in Canada but will definitely be sticking to the registration process in Ontario so thank you for the additional details.
As for the 'lost' licence, I wouldn't be so bold as to offer any comments online but 'a friend of mine' has benefited from exactly that less than legal pre trip planning.
Once I arrive and work my way through this I will post an update that might be of benefit to others in the future.
Thanks once again for the advice - much appreciated!
 
The below is an update to my original post.

I am now in Toronto and thought I'd do an update (as promised) for the benefit of others or possibly those looking to head to the UK. I arrived here on September 11th and am now legal to ride the DR650 I purchased via kijiji. So, how I did it......... The mainland UK does not have a reciprocol agreement with Ontario but Northern Ireland (still part of the UK does). This makes no sense to me whatsoever but this is exactly how it is. So, with the super kind assistance of others in Belfast I had the use of an address and visited Ireland in August and also applied for my licence. The forms are only available in Northern Ireland and it isn't a process that can be done online but you could do it by post via an internal mail address if you had friends as good as I was lucky to have. So, my NI licence was issued and a few weeks later I attemped to exchange it in Toronto. The one issue I did have was a 'certificate of entitlement' which is definitely required. This is a document issued in Ireland that shows your driver history and any motoring convictions or endorsements. Thankfully I was able to receive one online but had I had this arranged it would have been a simple process. Once I had my licence I was able to insure and register the bike and now I am legal to ride. I'm not quite sure as to when I will start to head south, but the eventual 'plan' will be to ride to the bottom of South America having first ridden the Trans American Trail.

All plans are subject to change though (my id picture is of my UK registered 250cc Honda Tornado on the Dalton highway in 2019) because as we know, things often happen to stop us in our tracks - it did for my previous trip.

Anyways, that's the update and if you are heading from Canada to the UK it should work in reverse but suffice to say I am now a full Canadian motorcycle licence holder - phew!

Thank you to those that offered advice and hopefully the above might be of assistance to others in the future.
 
I still have my UK drivers lic, never handed it in, this must be something new.

Cheggers630? Keith Chegwin fan?
 
The below is an update to my original post.

I am now in Toronto and thought I'd do an update
Well since you will inevitably be taking part in Photo Tag, we need to know if you're an Eastie or a Westie? I guess you could be in the middle too but that's not fun.
 

Back
Top Bottom