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Originally Posted by tlwisner I'm not exactly sure I understand your point. Every May, I send in my check, my insurance card, and my registration slip and I get a new sticker for my license plate. It seems pretty efficient to me. I keep my license plate year-round, but I ride year round too. |
Because you have to organize an insurance card before you can apply for renewal. That's why I thought it was inefficient - you have more work, when it *could* be handled automatically if the insurance company would just notify the DMV whenever your insurance status changed. The difference is "management by exception" versus "regularly scheduled updates (once per year)". With the system in the US, you could purchase insurance, get your tags, and cancel the insurance the next day. With the Swiss system, this isn't possible, because I'm not in the loop - the notification takes place directly between the DMV and my insurance company.
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Originally Posted by tlwisner The thing that puzzles me is why motorcycle insurance is so expensive in Europe? Are there that many more thefts and wrecks or does all of that excess money go elsewhere? |
There are various reasons, some of which have to do with government regulations (minimum cash reserves for insurance companies required by law), some have to do with the high cost of living (a typical shop charges about CHF 95 = US$75 per hour for labor), the high cost of parts (customs charges, shipping costs, etc.), and so on.
In some parts of Europe, there are higher risk of theft (parts of Spain, France, Germany, etc.) as bikes and cars get stolen and stripped down by organized crime or are trucked to eastern Europe and Russia where they are sold with forged papers.
My insurance (41yo, male, clean driving record) is only $210 per year for the basic liability (up to 100 million CHF coverage, $400 deductable). The full-coverage comprehensive costs me $564 per year, including 3rd party, fire, theft and replacement of my protective gear in case of an accident, with an $800 deductable.
I don't think that is very expensive for a bike that is 3 years old and would cost more than $11,000 to replace.