Lol everyone hide yo kids.
Hopefully, someone in the same situation as me will learn from my experiences, and not make the same mistakes! These are all the problems I've encountered on my journey for the first used vehicle, and first motorcycle purchase ever, and in a way my first time dealing with insurance by myself. I've been on my parent's policy ever since getting my G2, and only recently switched to an individual policy. I've never had to deal with those things since our Broker really just handled everything for us. My family has a type of mentality where we just have someone else deal with the problems for us, so we don't really hear about how things are done on the backend.
So I found a bike I wanted, and the seller was honestly one of the most helpful people I have EVER met. He and his brothers were all very welcoming and open about their bike and were happy to give advice and just overall great people. As I was driving away, discussing with my girlfriend about how we felt about the interaction, we talked about how they're probably one of the nicest people we've ever met. It's a 2017 Yamaha R3. But here's what happened after I purchased it on a Monday.
A week prior to looking at the R3 I had set up insurance with Rider's Plus, for a bike (a CBR300) I WAS going to buy but ended up not feeling comfortable with the seller, and how little he knew of the bike so I felt like it was just safer for me not to. I called them as soon as the deal fell through to let them know that I'll be looking for another bike, and so they cancelled the policy for me. My broker was Gary Megill, he was very responsive and helpful as well. I knew that it would be a busy time for them with lots of people setting up new policies. Once I told him that I finalized a purchase, I expected to get a pink slip in 24 hours, which is how long it took for me to get it on the CBR.
Mistake #1: Not getting a UVIP
Being slightly uncomfortable with leaving "my" bike that's not technically under my name at someone else's house, I went on Tuesday to Service Ontario to transfer the ownership. At the time, I didn't have insurance set up for the bike. The whole time I'm standing in line, I'm thinking "maybe they can get me my pink slip in the next... 30 min. Maybe they can get me my pink slip in the next.. 20 min.." All the way until I get to the counter, and I don't have my pink slip lol. Anyway, the bike didn't come with a UVIP, but I was guaranteed that there wasn't going to be any issues. Guess what, the bike has a lien on it. ****. I called the seller and he said he'll figure it out for me, and after I couple of phone calls I got proof that whatever lien was on the bike has been paid off, and have the document sent to my email. It was a bit of a hassle, but props to the seller to getting it dealt with so fast. The issue was that they had already paid off the lien a while ago, but it was never put into the system or whatever. Now I have to go BACK to SO and line up AGAIN. Damn it.
Mistake #2: Registering the bike to be unfit
Mistake #3: Not having a policy set up prior to going to ServiceOntario
I went back to SO on Wednesday, and again I was thinking "maybe I'll get the pink slip in the next 30 min.." lol. And of course, I didn't. So at the counter, they told me that since I don't have insurance on it, that I'll have to register the bike as unfit. I didn't really know what this meant at first, but AFTER everything was completed on their end, I asked a couple of questions which revealed that once a bike is named unfit, I'll need BOTH insurance and safety before I can come back for plates. I originally thought that I can just come back with insurance to get temp plates/sticker to drive the bike to get a safety, but it is not the case. After learning this, I was thinking "OK, I can still work with this. It's become a bit of a pain in my ass though." In hindsight, I could have just given them the policy number I originally got for the CBR, even though the vehicle has changed, the policy number hasn't. So I COULD'VE said that I did have insurance, to avoid any of this hassle.
Mistake #3: Not booking a service earlier
Knowing that I need a service before I can get plates, I call Markham Outdoor Power, since it was the closest place to me. I have a friend who's dad owns a couple of bikes, he didn't like MOP for whatever reason, but I didn't ask why. Anyway, they were fully booked until mid July, what the hell? So I try the next mechanic I researched, Wrenchworx in Richmond Hill. I found this place just from Google reviews, and the owner (Kaz) was apparently a good guy and everyone so far was happy with his service. I just need to figure out a way to get the bike there now.
Mistake #4: CAA doesn't tow unplated vehicles
Okay, so now I have a bike that's under my name, finally! I own a bike now. I'll just take it home with me and deal with the safety and insurance without having to trouble the seller. My plan was to use my girlfriend's dad's CAA membership to get a "free" tow, but an hour before I was supposed to pick up the bike, I called CAA and told them I bought a new bike and I need it towed. They asked whether there are plates on the bike, and I said no. They said they can't tow vehicles with no plates. Damn it! It makes sense why they don't, just never thought about it as a problem. That means I'll have to actually pay for a tow. The one friend I have who owns a truck isn't available, nor do I want to drop the bike off the back of the truck with a skinny little ramp. I've seen those videos, I'm not THAT stupid!
You know that uncomfortable feeling you get when you don't really know what the options are? That's what I start feeling now. I obviously didn't want to spend a ton of money to tow the bike, but I couldn't come to terms that that's just what I'll have to do. The answer was right in front of me (paying up lol) but I was trying to find the best option I was willing to go with. Here's where I start looking into renting a truck, renting a trailer, anything that can get my bike home. I didn't know anything about hooking up a trailer to my car, nor did my car have a hitch. There were just too many things I don't know about, too many things I'd have to learn at once, and that was frustrating. AND I'll have to figure out something to get the bike to the mechanic now, ****. What am I, made of cash? I knew I'd be spending some money but I didn't know I would have to pay for extra things like this.
I spoke with the seller, and he offered to call around for me to see if he can get me a tow for cheap, and I took him up on his offer. He wasn't able to get anyone, but I definitely appreciate his effort. He even offered to just ride the bike to my house, which I originally accepted, but he messaged after saying that after he thought about it, he wasn't comfortable doing that since it wasn't really his bike anymore. I respected that decision and he was right about it being a risk, especially for the distance he was going to have to ride it. If it was me I wouldn't do that either, so I moved on to looking at other options.
I ended up calling a couple of towing companies, the first one I found on Kijiji had a flat rate of $80, but the guy didn't give me a call back quick enough to confirm that he's available. So I went with MotoLimo, a company I just found by Google which had decent reviews. For the distance I needed the tow for, I paid $140. I spoke to Rod (?), and was a good interaction. They have insurance as well, so I figured the other guy I found for $80 might not have had insurance. It was just a safer bet to go with MotoLimo. It's as I've learned very recently about bikes, a 50 or 100 here and there won't matter in the long run (especially when haggling the price on a bike). On the day of the pick up, Friday, the tow came on time, and the operator was a nice guy. He looked like he knew what he was doing so that was nice. Didn't have any issues at all getting it home!
Mistake #5: Respond to any calls you missed from the Insurance
So apparently, Rider's Plus had given me a call on Wednesday, but I didn't pick up cause I thought that the broker was dealing with the pink slip for me. I was called again on Thursday afternoon from Customer Service at RP and they were like "we were trying to reach you to solve the issue, but you never called back". I told them I thought that my broker was dealing with it, and they said that brokers don't do that stuff. Whoops. I guess I could've gotten the policy set up sooner, but a day or two didn't matter after already transferring ownership. So insurance is set up finally. If I had been more patient and informed of the process, I could've been able to ride my bike as soon as I picked it up. I still wasn't going to ride it home, I don't feel practised enough to be safe on the streets, so the tow was already an expense I had to spend.
Finally..
So today is Saturday, the morning after I got the bike. I'm glad I finally have my bike, but now comes the next hurdle of getting the bike to the shop. I ended up booking a truck and motorcycle trailer from Uhaul, it wasn't that expensive so it's not too bad. The ways the timings work out make it a little rushed to get the bike there on time, but that just the way she goes I guess. I'm excited to start practising, it just sucks that there aren't plates on it so I can't practise freely.
Lessons Learned:
1. Have friends, or make friends, who know the process well. I spent a lot of time on this forum reading as many things as I can about buying bikes, which led to the decision of writing this post about my experience. HOPEFULLY, someone who is in the same situation as me can learn something from my mistakes, and wouldn't have to make them themselves. They can make other mistakes, and someone else can learn from those too.
2. Get a UVIP prior to paying for the bike. I guess it's not a requirement to do it, but it's definitely a safer course. I didn't because the seller seems trustworthy, and it didn't come back to bite me in the ass too badly.
2. Get your insurance before transferring ownership! This will save a lot of hassle!! Since I didn't get insurance first, I couldn't get a temp sticker to ride my bike as soon as I got it. Caused all of the hassles afterward.
3. CAA doesn't tow unplated vehicles. Most people wouldn't even come across this problem, but to some, I would think is a "good to know".
IMO, the ideal sequence of being a used bike would be:
- Find a bike you like. If you want to buy it, then
- Get insurance for the bike, all you need is the VIN to get the initial set up done. I used the resources on the forum as to how to pick the best one, but I really just ended up calling as many companies as I could and answering the same questions over and over again until you decide on the one you like.
- Pay for the bike
- If the bike is not safetied: switch ownership, get plates and temp sticker. If it is safetied: switch ownership, ride into the sunset.
- Take it to get a safety. Really it'd be best if the bike was already safetied, but from what I've encountered so far, it's unlikely a seller would already have that ready unless they are extremely prepared
- Go back to SO, get a permanent sticker. NOW ride into the sunset.
Actually, I shouldn't try to give TOO much advice, I haven't gotten to the safety part, nor have I gotten plates yet... So I'll stop here. Hopefully, you enjoyed my story! Thanks for reading!
