Dual Sport Insurance for Off Road Use

[tomcycle]

In the past when I thought I was not going to do any "on road" riding with my Dual Sport bike, I purchased off road insurance from Oasis. Today May 12 2020 I finally thought it was time to insure the bike to ride off road only but I need insurance for FSRs. I contacted Oasis and found that they can no longer provide this insurance.

Turns out because both of my Dual Sports are registered as on road vehicles that I can only buy my basic insurance from ICBC then I can add optional insurance if required (Oasis does not offer any coverage for street registered vehicles in BC)

So any of you out there running with Private off road insurance on you street registered Dual Sport, make sure that you are being covered by your insurer. It woiuld suck to pay money for something you dont even have (like insurance)

So its off to ICBC to cut loose with the cash.
?

 

[tomcycle]

Ouch almost 200 bucks for 3 month of the very basic insurance from ICBC, for a bike I conceivably could skip all on road riding.

I used to get off road only insurance from Oasis for 80 bucks a year. Not sure if it is worth the extra cost of insurance owning a dual sport anymore?

 

[MegaHz]

Cost for basic on road 101-400cc insurance for me is just shy of $38/month.

Attached is the bill for 9 months.

It damn near doubles for a bike that's 401cc. Its part of the reason I stay to smaller bikes. As well, any insurance offered by ICBC or Beacon or any other insurance company does not cover you when you are off of the pavement, including FSR's. Basically, all I want is basic ICBC insurance and theft. The rest... well cheap dualsports are cheap dualsports. Strangely enough, Yesterday a friend of mine was curious what it would cost to get collision and comprehensive on his 2008 DRZ. Its an extra $120 per month on top of basic ICBC, on a $4000 bike.

 

[Rustic]

Cost for basic on road 101-400cc insurance for me is just shy of $38/month.

Attached is the bill for 9 months.

It damn near doubles for a bike that's 401cc. Its part of the reason I stay to smaller bikes. As well, any insurance offered by ICBC or Beacon or any other insurance company does not cover you when you are off of the pavement, including FSR's. Basically, all I want is basic ICBC insurance and theft. The rest... well cheap dualsports are cheap dualsports. Strangely enough, Yesterday a friend of mine was curious what it would cost to get collision and comprehensive on his 2008 DRZ. Its an extra $120 per month on top of basic ICBC, on a $4000 bike.

View attachment 383590

Thats not quite correct; ICBC on road insurance for covers you exactly the same when on any pubkivly maintained roadway, just the same as if you were in a truck. So FSR is covered UNLESS, here is where it gets blurry, unless its cataloged or designated as a trail or as a permanent deactivation. Now that is all for the vehicle damages for LIABILITY it covers you for any riding, the act was amended to allow for these issues through the provinnmces change to requirements to register offroad vehicles and require liability insurance onnthese same said publicly maintained roadways.

 

[rgmr250]

It's my understanding that there is one other option - to register the bike for off-road use only. Then, you're only subject to the rules applied to non-street legal bikes (registration, and min. $200,000 in liability insurance if you'll ever ride on an FSR). The real issue is once it's registered off-road only, it's potentially a real hassle to change it back to street-legal. Some have said they just needed an inspection (at a certified mechanic?) to verify that everything needed for road-use is present and working and legal and all was good. Others have said they spent a ton of time and could not get it changed back to street-legal (might be an issue of not knowing the correct process?).

 

[tomcycle]

It's my understanding that there is one other option - to register the bike for off-road use only. Then, you're only subject to the rules applied to non-street legal bikes (registration, and min. $200,000 in liability insurance if you'll ever ride on an FSR). The real issue is once it's registered off-road only, it's potentially a real hassle to change it back to street-legal. Some have said they just needed an inspection (at a certified mechanic?) to verify that everything needed for road-use is present and working and legal and all was good. Others have said they spent a ton of time and could not get it changed back to street-legal (might be an issue of not knowing the correct process?).

My understanding that is not a simple process to get your bike registration changed back to road legal. And by not simple I mean time and money.

I am still trying to get better clarification of what Oasis was getting at. Presently talking to local Beacon Rep for there take on this question

Oh yes my very basic insurance cost on a TE450 is 753.00 yearly plus licence

 

[filterx]

Ya once the bike is street legal my understanding is you cann't change it and vis a versa. My buddy has a XR400 that he could have gotten plated/insured but got the ORV registration and hes now stuck with only that and the PLI for off road.

IMO its nice to have a 400cc bike and I only pay about $38 a month for my DRZ as well and I'll ride it anywhere I want (unless riding bikes is not allowed) and will deal with any insurance issues if they actually arise at my own risk.

If I was to buy a new DS bike it would most likely be a Beta 390 unless I win the lottery then that would only be one of the many DS and street bikes I bought along with a few for my friends cus I'm all about sharing the wealth and fun with buddies

 

[lagbc]

This is kind of off topic, but for anyone wondering how much insurance costs, this should give a good idea:

As this is a bit old (according to my estimates need to add 6% on top) and there are new way of discounts (driver factor) following formula should give you rough idea on what your premiums will be:

Base Rate from table above * 1.06 * Combined Driver Factor (CDF) = Basic insurance premium

i.e. DRZ 400 insurance in Lower Mainland for somebody who has CDF of 0.6 should cost:
680 * 1.06 * 0.6 = $433

CDF is shown on 2nd page of your insurance.

 

[filterwrench]

In the past when I thought I was not going to do any "on road" riding with my Dual Sport bike, I purchased off road insurance from Oasis. Today May 12 2020 I finally thought it was time to insure the bike to ride off road only but I need insurance for FSRs. I contacted Oasis and found that they can no longer provide this insurance.

Turns out because both of my Dual Sports are registered as on road vehicles that I can only buy my basic insurance from ICBC then I can add optional insurance if required (Oasis does not offer any coverage for street registered vehicles in BC)

So any of you out there running with Private off road insurance on you street registered Dual Sport, make sure that you are being covered by your insurer. It woiuld suck to pay money for something you dont even have (like insurance)

So its off to ICBC to cut loose with the cash.
?

I thought the Oasis offroad insurance is for liability only and is on the person not the bike? As long as the bike is registered your good to go. My dirtbike has a plate but no icbc insurance only Oasis. The plate is my registration and Oasis is my offroad liability insurance so Im assuming its all good on FSRs.

 

[Benj]

About 3 weeks ago I was riding my KTM690 and went up Stave FSR. A conservation officer had a roadblock and was stopping everybody including ATV's. My KTM is plated with stickers. He wanted to see my insurance and I showed him that. But he insisted on confirming that I had liability coverage (page 2) Fortunately I did have it with me and he was satisfied with the basic $200K coverage.

He was a great guy but was checking everybody for liability coverage

 

[04klr]

great guy? 200k liability coverage is included in basic insurance. if you had page 1 it automatically included the 200k, thus no need for page 2 and i have never carried it. thinking he was just looking for a reason to turn you around,,, he's one of two characters, #1 he has poor knowledge of basic icbc costs or #2 he's a Peckerhead. What business is it of his to know what you've paid for (as in extras like higher liability, theft, underinsured etc.).
I could be wrong, as I was once, but I'm going with he's a number two. (a big turd?)
FYI, a 690 and 990 combined kicked the crap out of the better part of 2 grand, and I've never made a claim.

 

[tomcycle]

Spent some more time with Oasis on the phone again today, just to confirm there was no misunderstanding.

Here is what I got told
If you buy your insurance on line from them, there is a question that asks if your bike is a Dual Sport, if you answer yes you will be informed to call their office and they will confirm that they can not insure you on that bike.

They define a dual sport motorcycle as a motorcycle that is / or was registered for road use. ie you ride an old ktm 400exc that was at one time was registered and licenced for road use, but you only ride FSRs and trails now so you purchase Oasis dirt bike insurance. You will not be covered.

The only way you can get insurance from Oasis is if your bike is registered as an ORV.

What about the other guys? Seems Beacon has no problem to insure your Dual Sport Motorcycle for off road (FSR) use only.

 

[farmerger]

What about the other guys? Seems Beacon has no problem to insure your Dual Sport Motorcycle for off road (FSR) use only.

Last I ckecked (last summer) Beacon only offers collision and comprehensive insurance, NOT liability insurance. My guess would be that big brother ICBC reminded Oasis that they are not allowed to sell liability insurance to on-road registered vehicles. I suspect you will find that as long as you want to keep your bike street legal/registered you are stuck with ICBC liability coverage. (You can still get collision and comprehensice fro Beacon, Megson Fitzpatrick, etc.)

 

[filterx]

IMO if you get pulled over by a CO etc on a FSR etc its the Personal Liability Insurance (PLI) that matters and that's what Oasis sells for ORV bikes and I believe the PLI is covered under the insurance I buy for my DS bike but have not yet been stopped on FSR's etc on my DS bike cus they cus see my bike is plated and don't bother me.

I really don't see them that often but last time a Cat Lake, a dude and his girl friend both got like $500 plus fines each for not having the ORV stickers OR PLI and they had been warned about both before hand so expensive lesson.

 

[tomcycle]

As many of you here carry a policy thru beacon for the extended or additional coverage, I have sent them a letter to confirm they type of coverage they can provide Dual Sport riders

 

[lagbc]

If we are talking about other insurance companies check out Westland insurance, when I was looking for private insurance they were reasonably priced and very helpful. Insurance policy/quote even specify's Type: Off-road/Dual Sport bikes.

Don't think they provide 3rd part liability (Off Road Liability insurance), maybe as separate product.

 

[tomcycle]

I must be having a problem explaining myself, you know its clear in my mind

What I and some other cheapskates do is only buy ICBC third party insurance when we need it for road use.

I have two dual sport bikes three if you include the Tiger and am not going to insure all of them at once (I am on a fixed income)

as an example I will insure both DS bike with off road only liability for the year, usual cost of about 80 bucks each

Then is I plan on riding on the road I will get my ICBC basic third party coverage and additional coverage from private company (have been using Beacon/Cansure) I usually only insure for 4-6 months road use.

I just leave the off road only policy on the bike for the whole year and I understand that that policy will not cover me when I have and ICBC policy in effect.

T

 

[lagbc]

Did you end up figuring out what is the proper insurance required and how it's called if you want to insure your DS bike for Off-road use only?

 

[cactusreid]

Tomcycle I'm picking up your reasoning for insuring your DS bike/s with off road only liability for the entire year. Cheap and it makes sense. BUT, my understanding has been that you also need an off road decal or an off road plate in order to be fully compliant when your in off road mode? This is the issue a lot of guys are and have had! They want to ride their one and only dual sport as a "dirt bike"-off road in the fall/winter/spring and only insure it as an on road dual sport for the summer months. But it seems under the current rules, you can't do this with one bike! Unless your willing to go through the crappy tire reinspection and cost at least once every year, so those pro's can re certify your motorcycle as being street legal.

 

[cactusreid]