What do your policies cover in Canada? Just the other person or you also? What about a stolen bike or you dumping it over?
I don't know what other jurisdictions require, but policies here in Ontario must be a minimum of $200,000 Liability coverage. Most underwriters start coverage at $500K and $1M is getting more common. Liability covers damages to other people's property that your vehicle might cause, plus personal injury and recovery for yourself (or operator) plus passenger. That's presumably why we pay so much for much for motorcycle coverage here in Canada - even with "medicare", the extra costs for injury recovery from motorcycle accidents can be very high...medicare/OHIP doesn't cover this and with "no-fault" policies, neither does the other party's insurance, even if they are at fault in causing the accident. If you are caught without insurance, then there is a hefty fine of around $10,000!
Along the line of "no-fault", if you don't have the optional coverage for Liability (an extra charge that provides payment for your vehicles repair or write-off from an accident), then you are on your own if your vehicle is damaged - regardless of who is at fault. Without Liability coverage, if the other party causes the accident creating the damage then you would have to personally sue them for damages.
Collision only covers damages caused by an accident, so there is still another part to vehicle insurance that is optional and another extra charge. That is for Other Perils that would typically include Fire and Theft. There is also falling debris from airplanes, but more common would be vandalism and upset from what-ever (e.g. someone knocks-over or runs-over your parked bike in a parking lot).
Policies for motorcycles here in Ontario are always written for a full year, even if the riding season is not. That means if you cancel the policy at the start of winter, they pro-rate the refund in recognition that the winter months of the year are not typically ridden and only give a pittance (if anything) back. In other words, the refund isn't a simple calculation of percentage of months/days remaining over the whole policy duration.
Ya get the drift that here in Canada (Ontario) that the insurance guys are out to ...
At any rate, with a good driving record I pay about $800 Full Coverage for a 2003 Goldwing, $400 Full Coverage (special vintage policy) for a 1974 CB350F, and $140 Liability only ($500K) for a 1981 CB750-K that I picked-up in July but is only is covered for the 1/2 year through to January renewal (what a deal
). I can only ride one at a time, and the insurance would be the same cost for each even if I had only one to ride all the time.
For comparison, I pay $166 for Full Coverage on a 1965 Austin Healey sports car, a convertible without seat belts and with a 3 litre straight six motor.
