Insurance renewal 2019 pains

[sburns]

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Insurance for bikes is a tricky business, I've been studying it for a while an I'm starting to understand it a bit better. I have found the best experience and prices for riders with clean records and at least one car or home to bundle will get the best treatment from TD, Desjardins or the Personal -- all direct insurers. For riders with any any driving/riding blemishes (tickets, claims, suspensions, cancellations etc) brokers might be better.

A few tips:
- pick a bike 300cc and down until you have 2-3 years experience if you are =<25, do the same for lowest rates at any age
- bundle at least one other item -- your car, truck, house for best rates with direct insurers. Be patient, you may wait 10 minutes to talk to a direct rep, but that's often faster than waiting for a return call from a broker.
- when a brokerage advertises themselves as motorcycle specialists -- don't assume every agent has that expertise. Talk with the agent, if you say you have a DL650, or an YZFR3 and they ask who makes that? Consider that a clue. Experts will be able to tell the right story to underwriters for the best possible pricing.

For OP: TD and Desjardins will probably be the best. Check their affinity groups, if you belong to any of them you might see a substantial discount. If that doesn't work out, I have found Dalton Timmins has always directed me and others to agents with tons of MC experience -- thich has led to some great pricing.

Hey Mike thanks for the post, I am not sure if I want to give up riding my HD at the moment, been ok with it for 2 years. If the quotes were through the roof I was thinking of getting a smaller displacement bike and brand. But so far calling around I've managed to find a similar rate I have been paying.

TD I am really liking their quote and professionalism. That last part says a lot, honestly the rest of the brokers and insurers seem like a bunch of jokers just reading a script or just punching in numbers. Unfortunately with TD they dropped my school assoication a few years ago otherwise I could have gotten the group rate. But I do have my house with them so I do save a bit there.

I just tried SurNet.. Didn't even want to quote me, first thing the guys says "we got dropped my Avia".. me "ok just looking for a quote". I asked "I heard you work with Wanessa"... response "it wouldn't work out, have a nice day".

Dalton Timmins has the same quotes everyone else has, nothing special, an no extra help, like talking to a robot.

Called Desjardins... though I feel they are just data mining me with all the unrelated questions, and they have to call back with the quote.
So they call back and give me the quote for full insurance, then tell me this is not the final quote. I am like what? They have a better rate if I can give them more information, more questions.. Unbelievable. Just hung up on them.

Honestly I should get my insurance license or whatever it is, because these people can hardly service clients properly I am sure I can do a better job then this.

Ranting a bit my apologies.

After all this my options are TD, Streetride (Young), or Ridersplus. All had decent quotes and positive call experiences.

 

[KLR Junkie]

I've got my coverage through TD Meloche Monnex (different from regular TD). If you have an alumni or professional association with a group policy through someone like TDMM you could save fairly big.

I've had the bike, car and apartment with TDMM for 6 years. The car went up $190 on this year's renewal. I called around for quotes. Mitchell and Whale were able to get me comparable coverage for about $75 less than the renewal price (still over $100 more than I had been paying). I called TDMM to see if they could match the quote and the woman I spoke with was very helpful. I had been on the alumni program from the university where I did my undergrad. By switching to the alumni program from the uni where I did my masters I saved over $400 on the car. All those years in school are finally paying off

FYI; mid-30's, 7 years experience (full M for 3 years), KLR650, Whitby. Bike is ~$650/yr

P.S. Mitchell and Whale was competitive and very professional. I would recommend talking to them at least.

 

[Mitchinsurance]

Ok riders

My renewal is up and I got a nice letter from M&W stating Echelon has dropped them. Then an even nicer email quote +$1092 (with intact) more then I was paying previously. I called in and asked if this was a serious ligitmate quote. Yes best they could do. Ya not going to happen.

Background for your info to compare.
Mid 40's
Scarborough
HD
2 years experience.
Yes a bunch of strikes against me. I have been riding with just liability only to keep things affordable. Have been paying $1749 with Echelon.

I've called around Streetrider (Young insurance) and Riders Plus both still work with Echelon and can match my previous rate...whew..

I tried dejardans, but that felt like I was being data scraped with all the questions just to get a quote. Finally just hung up on them, might try again.

Now what is interesting I called TD and they gave me a pretty good quote of $1966 full coverage. I have my home with them, so I saved $90 on this combo. Now what is even funnier the agent said they don't like motorcycles and I should be able to get a better rate someplace else. I found it strange as this rate was pretty good.

Still calling around. The thing about Echelon being bought out by CAA worries me a bit, if they decide to stop working with all brokers and this is just a in between moment for them until they get around to it with the rest of the brokers. With TD you know they are not going anyplace.

Wanted to chime in to provide some insight into what exactly is going on with Echelon. Indeed, they did end their relationship with us and some other brokers. Simply put, they were losing money, and cancelling brokers is a fairly quick way of shedding the policies that are costing a lot of money in claims. Then they were purchased by CAA, which is now working on making Echelon profitable again. That generally means increasing rates. If you were able to renew with Echelon through another broker, that's great. I wouldn't expect that you'll avoid an increase at the next renewal, but cross that bridge when you come to it I guess.

 

[J_F]

moved on from Echelon today
M&W have moved my 2 bikes and car to Wawanesa
also received 40% discount for the bikes

both bikes are now on same policy for under a grand/year
this is slightly more than what I was paying for just the cruiser with Echelon
with the Aprilia on the policy and coverage out the wazoo, this is a great deal

car policy was maybe a bit more than I could get by shopping around
but being able to keep both bikes affordably made the switch a no-brainer

my guy @ M&W has been, as usual, great to deal with

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