A lot of US insurance companies let you ride in Canada for up to 180 days. Considering how short our season is, that's not a bad temporary solution for people finding themselves currently in an insurance pickle. Is anyone doing this? Did you get an international license and purchase your bike south of the border, or just bring it south and call a broker?
Are you asking this for real? Don't you run a motorcycle tow service? Posting questions about insurance fraud is not likely to help your companies image.
Is your tow service properly insured?
With the surprising high number of ny, fl and az plates I see driving around, my guess is saving money while ignoring insurance fraud and its implications. If you did it for a few vehicles, it may be worth spinning up a us corporation to own amd insure the vehicles. You rent them from the US company. If insurance didnt pay put, your assets have a layer of separation (other than the vehicles within the Corp which would be lost).
Lying to get your policy may get you on the road less expensively, in the short term. In the event of an accident, or maybe a roadside check of some sort means you get caught, your insurance is invalid and then you are screwed, and rightly so.
............. If insurance didnt pay put, your assets have a layer of separation (other than the vehicles within the Corp which would be lost)............
Not necessarily, a principle or director in a corporation cannot escape liability for an illegal act. They can be personally sued and their assets are at risk.
My daughter is an insurance agent and she tells people up front that on new policies they are going to check their license abstract and people still lie and misrepresent their driving/accident record. Other than declining or cancelling the policy there are minimal consequences to the lying clients and we all pay for this directly or indirectly. I think there should be some way to link misrepresented insurance applications to a central database so that scammers are identified and tossed into the facility insurance pool. Take them out of the general insurance pool and let them be financially accountable for their lousy driving record and the significant administrative burden of managing their misrepresentations they place on unsuspecting agents and brokers.
We have many snow bird friends with residency in the states. Some have vehicles registered and left down south and from time to time, bring the vehicle back to Canada occasionally.
Oddly enough, their motorcycles are registered and insured here in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta or New Brunswick and BC.
I believe the devil is in the details. While many states enjoy cheaper insurance simply because their population pool of insured is higher, the coverages vary significantly. I believe many also pay for additional health care coverage that may off set the savings.
And many states coverages are very limited out of country.
So for the snowbird already down south, their concerns are about getting back home.
As for the folks insured by American coverage and back in Canada, their concern would be a lack or cap of coverage or benefits.
Another thing is our coverage is no fault. Meaning the coverage you purchase is for you. The US is a different kettle of fish.
So, I don’t think it’s as easy as renting a US post box and obtaining insurance on a vehicle in one of the states and then riding care free in Canada.
This is a quick way to end up living in a carboard box under the DVP somewhere when you get in an accident, get sued, and suddenly find out your cheap insurance is null and void because of misrepresentation.
Not planning on misrepresenting or being fraudulent in any way, but I guess I should have been clear about that. I just wanted to maintain some privacy and also keep things brief.
Full situation is:
I'm in a position where for the winter months I can work from anywhere. This led me to consider snowbirding for a month or more at a time.
That led me to trying to figure out what vehicle(s) to bring with me and possibly leave down there.
That led me to realizing that one of the states (Texas, have a couple friends there) I'm considering snow birding in allows anyone from any country to legally purchase a vehicle, insure, and license a vehicle with only an IDL (International Driver's License) provided you get the license in your country of origin (Canada) before arriving in the US. You do not have to be a resident to purchase/insure/license a vehicle there from my understanding.
From the bit of research I was able to do over the weekend it seems like insurance companies and laws there are much more flexible re: coverage on both sides of the border than my current insurance co. For example: I could get an IDL in Canada, purchase a motorcycle in the US, and my US policy would legally cover up to 180 days of riding in Canada.
However, it's the weekend, so I can't get brokers on either side of the border to pick-up the phone to explain my situation and find out for sure how it could or could not work, so I was hoping some of GTAM's finest might have some valuable input.
TLDR: Might start snow birding, while trying to figure out how my vehicles and coverage would be effected, I wondered what my options were and if anyone has any experience with this.
Was looking to do a little more just rent a PO box lol, possibly even purchasing a bike down there for this year, maybe look at an investment option the year after that if everything goes well. You bring up a good point about the coverages being VERY different from one country to the other though. That's why I've been waiting to get brokers from both sides on the phone to understand what the options are. Unfortunately I only thought about this on Fri. evening and I've been stuck waiting and wondering ever since.
My understanding is it's illegal to drive a US/foreign plated vehicle in Canada if you are officially a Canadian resident. I discovered this a number of years ago when working in Detroit with a visa, and driving US rental cars back to Toronto on weekends. Didn't think it was a big deal until about the third crossing when the Canadian border guard pointed it out. I ended up having to return the rental in the US, fly back to Toronto, and rent a Canadian car in order to drive legally on both sides of the border.
My understanding is it's illegal to drive a US/foreign plated vehicle in Canada if you are officially a Canadian resident. I discovered this a number of years ago when working in Detroit with a visa, and driving US rental cars back to Toronto on weekends. Didn't think it was a big deal until about the third crossing when the Canadian border guard pointed it out. I ended up having to return the rental in the US, fly back to Toronto, and rent a Canadian car in order to drive legally on both sides of the border.
It's hard to find solid info for this directly from the government online, but my understanding is that U-Haul has a commercial exception due to the cross-border nature of their business. For everybody else (including car rentals), the key item is your official place of residence. If you are officially a US resident (even if a Canadian citizen with a temporary work visa), then you can bring your US-plated vehicle across the border with no issues. But if you are a Canadian resident, you can only do so with the intent to import the vehicle, get it safety'd, and pay appropriate taxes, duties, etc.
My understanding is it's illegal to drive a US/foreign plated vehicle in Canada if you are officially a Canadian resident. I discovered this a number of years ago when working in Detroit with a visa, and driving US rental cars back to Toronto on weekends. Didn't think it was a big deal until about the third crossing when the Canadian border guard pointed it out. I ended up having to return the rental in the US, fly back to Toronto, and rent a Canadian car in order to drive legally on both sides of the border.
With the surprising high number of ny, fl and az plates I see driving around, my guess is saving money while ignoring insurance fraud and its implications. If you did it for a few vehicles, it may be worth spinning up a us corporation to own amd insure the vehicles. You rent them from the US company. If insurance didnt pay put, your assets have a layer of separation (other than the vehicles within the Corp which would be lost).
Not sure you can save money, even with cheap US rates. I don’t think you can insulate your personal self from liability that way. I guess you could pay a small fortune for D&O insurance, but that would exceed possible savings.
Lying to get your policy may get you on the road less expensively, in the short term. In the event of an accident, or maybe a roadside check of some sort means you get caught, your insurance is invalid and then you are screwed, and rightly so.
Not necessarily, a principle or director in a corporation cannot escape liability for an illegal act. They can be personally sued and their assets are at risk.
My daughter is an insurance agent and she tells people up front that on new policies they are going to check their license abstract and people still lie and misrepresent their driving/accident record. Other than declining or cancelling the policy there are minimal consequences to the lying clients and we all pay for this directly or indirectly. I think there should be some way to link misrepresented insurance applications to a central database so that scammers are identified and tossed into the facility insurance pool. Take them out of the general insurance pool and let them be financially accountable for their lousy driving record and the significant administrative burden of managing their misrepresentations they place on unsuspecting agents and brokers.
There are no unsuspecting agents and brokers, they are trained and conditioned from day 1 to know about misrepresentation. It’s a huge part of their licensing training. It’s day 2 is when they start learning how to use it as a sales tool that potentially gouges customers.
remember agents and brokers are licensed ‘pros’, consumers buy insurance infrequently, they are the ‘Joes’.
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