But after you’ve brushed up on your motorcycle maintenance, and checked every item off your pre-ride checklist, you can’t get on the road without one more important thing – insurance.

Use our motorcycle insurance primer for everything you need to know about protecting yourself, and your prized bike, with the right insurance coverage.

Motorcycle Insurance: It’s Mandatory

In Ontario, purchasing insurance for your new motorcycle is not just a wise choice, it’s a necessary one. Motorcycle insurance is mandatory in Ontario, and owners are required by law to purchase insurance.

Purchasing the right kind of coverage for your motorcycle is just as important as choosing the right build and model of motorcycle – you want your motorcycle itself, and the insurance that protects it, to fit within your budget and lifestyle.

How Does It Work?

Your motorcycle is considered a recreational and leisure vehicle, and is insured with your auto insurance, along with other recreational vehicles such as snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and motorhomes.

Just like your car insurance, the rates for your motorcycle insurance is based on multiple factors, such as your age, how much riding experience you have, and the type of motorcycle that you own.

In Ontario, each motorcycle owner is required by law to have the following types of coverage:

• Third Party Liability: this coverage will protect you in the event that you are responsible for another person’s injury, or damage to their property. The minimum coverage amount for Third Party Liability in Ontario is $200,000.
• Accident Benefits: this helps to pay for medical treatment, rehabilitation, income replacement, attendant care, and other similar benefits, in case you are injured in an accident – regardless of who caused the accident.
• Direct Compensation – Property Damage: this type of coverage helps to pay for any damage sustained to your motorcycle and its contents, in case an accident occurs and another licensed Ontario driver is at fault.
• Uninsured Automobile Coverage: this coverage protects you and provides compensation if you are involved in an accident caused by an uninsured, or unidentified, motorist.

Other Optional Coverages

Besides the mandatory coverages detailed above, you can also purchase extra, optional insurance coverage for your motorcycle to suite your specific needs.

To protect yourself and your vehicle from damage or loss, you can purchase extra coverage, including:

• Comprehensive Coverage helps to cover theft, fire, vandalism, lightening, or falling objects, and gives you compensation if your motorcycle is damaged or stolen off the road.
• Collision or Upset Coverage helps to cover damages incurred to your motorcycle if you run over a pothole or into a lamppost or tree.
• All Perils Coverage offers both collision and comprehensive coverages.
• You can also ask your insurer for a customised policy, choosing the specific perils against which you’d like to be insured.

You can also increase the liability limits under your Third Party Liability and Accident Benefit Coverages, giving you more flexibility.

Getting the Right Insurance

Since motorcycle insurance is a specialty insurance product, not all insurers will offer this type of coverage. Check with your insurance company to make sure they offer insurance for your motorcycle. If you currently have auto insurance, you can check with your insurer whether they provide coverage for your motorcycle as well.

Desjardins offers motorcycle insurance coverage adapted to your needs, covered under your auto insurance policy. Learn more about Desjardins’ auto insurance coverage here.

Remember: the best way to help keep your premiums down is by maintaining a safe riding record. Always ride safely and according to weather conditions, just like you would with an automobile.