Insuring a UK bike for a month in the US

[And]

Shipping my bike to the US for a road tour and am finding it trickier than i thought to find insurance and the necessary Proof of Insurance paperwork.

Any recommendations here for either:
- A. a UK insurer who offers coverage in the USA included in their policy, or
- B. a US insurer who offers short term cover for non-US vehicles and non-US persons

Cheers,
Andy

[Onelastattempt]

Don't ship your bike over, arrange to hire one over there and then the insurance should be sorted.
Or do what myself and two workmates did, we had been working over there for six months and when the contract ended we all bought used Goldwings and toured around for two months. Two of us sold them at the end for a loss but cheaper than hiring them whilst the other guy eventually got his shipped to Holland where we had all gone to work for a year. The dealer we bought the bikes from supposedly sorted out some insurance for us but we never saw any evidence that he had, he just told us to ring him if anything happened. This was in 1995/ 96 so probably would not get away with it now.

[KTMsm]

Surely this is something your current insurer should be able to sort out

Quite a few people do round the world trips these days, which last many months to years

[jumpingloci]

Try Motorcycle Express
https://www.motorcycleexpress.com/

Since gdpr regs came in it's about the only cast iron option

Some use Progressive if you have a us address to give

[Drawweight]

Can’t help you re insurance but I’m curious about the logistics.

How much is it going to cost to ship there and back and how do you go about organising shipping?

Also if you do buy there as another poster suggested you’re still going to have to find insurance.

[KTMsm]

Drawweight said:

Can’t help you re insurance but I’m curious about the logistics.

How much is it going to cost to ship there and back and how do you go about organising shipping?

Also if you do buy there as another poster suggested you’re still going to have to find insurance.

There are various companies set up to ship motorcycles around the world, prices vary massively - I was asking around the various stands at ABR, one way was £1000 upwards which seemed expensive because they were using crates where you would get 20+ in a container

[And]

jumpingloci said:

Try Motorcycle Express
https://www.motorcycleexpress.com/

Since gdpr regs came in it's about the only cast iron option

Some use Progressive if you have a us address to give

Thanks for this I applied to motorcycleexpress and am waiting for a quote/decision. Similarly I’m waiting on Fernet.

I also found Progressive and do have a US address to use if motorcycleexpress or Fernet doesn’t come off.

[And]

KTMsm said:

Surely this is something your current insurer should be able to sort out

Quite a few people do round the world trips these days, which last many months to years

Current insurer Footman James don’t cover touring beyond Europe I don’t imagine other mainstream insurers are interested in the hassle of cross continental cover! But if anyone here knows differently finding a Uk insurer who does would solve a massive headache for me!

I’ve reached out to Hagerty and I also noticed some speciality insurers targeting expats I could look at if nothing mainstream comes up.
Andy

[And]

KTMsm said:

Drawweight said:

Can’t help you re insurance but I’m curious about the logistics.

How much is it going to cost to ship there and back and how do you go about organising shipping?

Also if you do buy there as another poster suggested you’re still going to have to find insurance.

There are various companies set up to ship motorcycles around the world, prices vary massively - I was asking around the various stands at ABR, one way was £1000 upwards which seemed expensive because they were using crates where you would get 20+ in a container

With current global freight rates and the fees (crate, + agents handling, + customs fees etc) budget 2-2.5k for crated airfreight and 1.5k crated seafreight. That’s each way…. Basically you’d only do it if you have to ride that bike, otherwise it’s a no brainer to rent locally.

[And]

Onelastattempt said:

Don't ship your bike over, arrange to hire one over there and then the insurance should be sorted.
Or do what myself and two workmates did, we had been working over there for six months and when the contract ended we all bought used Goldwings and toured around for two months. Two of us sold them at the end for a loss but cheaper than hiring them whilst the other guy eventually got his shipped to Holland where we had all gone to work for a year. The dealer we bought the bikes from supposedly sorted out some insurance for us but we never saw any evidence that he had, he just told us to ring him if anything happened. This was in 1995/ 96 so probably would not get away with it now.

I get what you’re saying but on this trip I have to have my own bike, so I need to find a solution via the insurer route

[jumpingloci]

And said:

Thanks for this I applied to motorcycleexpress and am waiting for a quote/decision. Similarly I’m waiting on Fernet.

I also found Progressive and do have a US address to use if motorcycleexpress or Fernet doesn’t come off.

I forgot to mention this gem;
Seguro Gringo, a Mexican broker who we had to use in the aftermath of the gdpr fiasco in 2018. They only offer minimal liability insurance but it made us legal....

https://www.segurogringo.com/Default.aspx?tabid=23...

[And]

jumpingloci said:

And said:

Thanks for this I applied to motorcycleexpress and am waiting for a quote/decision. Similarly I’m waiting on Fernet.

I also found Progressive and do have a US address to use if motorcycleexpress or Fernet doesn’t come off.

I forgot to mention this gem;
Seguro Gringo, a Mexican broker who we had to use in the aftermath of the gdpr fiasco in 2018. They only offer minimal liability insurance but it made us legal....

https://www.segurogringo.com/Default.aspx?tabid=23...

I found those guys too the site is a work of art! In fact I took a deep breath and I went through the screens before the ruled me out by them only covering back to 1999 and not having my brand of bike on the list!

[Gnits]

Yep, I went with Seguro Gringo, thought it was a wind up initially but called them and sorted bike no real problem.
Your bike will have to leave the country before 1 calendar year and annoyingly Mexico and Canada don't count as having left the country!
I used Motofreight who made the whole thing simple, fly it out so you know when it will be there and sea freight back to save the cash.

[And]

Gnits said:

Yep, I went with Seguro Gringo, thought it was a wind up initially but called them and sorted bike no real problem.
Your bike will have to leave the country before 1 calendar year and annoyingly Mexico and Canada don't count as having left the country!
I used Motofreight who made the whole thing simple, fly it out so you know when it will be there and sea freight back to save the cash.

I'm using Motofreight too and the same setup - airfreight out, sea freight back.

[vindaloo79]

Ask this YouTuber how he got it for this tour he did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIeoXIDUqpQ&li...

RichyVida

[Dibble]

I looked at this a while back for a retirement trip, but it was a little while ago so things may have changed.

My plan was to fly to eastern Canada/US, buy a bike, travel for a few months then sell it/give it away. The issue was having an address to register the bike to in the US/Canada. I emailed a few of the garages selling bikes but they weren’t willing/able to register the bike to me at their premises, which made buying something very complicated (if not impossible).

All the suggestions at the time were that it would work out cheaper to pay to freight your own bike there and back for anything longer than a month, because the hire costs would soon outweigh the freight for anything longer than that. James Cargo at Heathrow was one of the companies mentioned that does this fairly regularly (Itchy Boots used them, riding over from the Netherlands and getting her bike airfreighted from there).

[And]

I sorted this with Hagerty insurance.

Motorcycleexpress.com also quoted me but could only quote 3rd party only because the bike is >25 years.

Segura gringo couldn't quote because of the >25 years and also because the manufacturer doesn't appear on their list.

On the shipping side, look no further than MotoFreight