Insurance & Vehicle Plate
 

I am shipping my bike to Europe. To purchase Green Card and comprehensive insurance I have been told by one insurer that I must have active and valid license plate. So, that would require me to carry the additional expense of ICBC minimal liabilty coverage to have an active vehicle licence with appropriate date stickers. Seems like a waste of money since ICBC offers no overseas coverage.

I thought that since I would have proof of vehicle registration - bottom half of ICBC insurance document - it would be sufficient for Europe.

Is this correct?
bcBiscuit

As long as your insurance provides coverage in Europe then you won't have any problem, have you checked with your insurers, you haven't said where your insurance is.

Here in the UK our insurance policies list the countries where our insurance is valid.

In the UK if you get stopped and cannot prove that you have insurance your vehicle will be seized on the spot and held until you show proof of insurance. Whether you would get stopped on foreign plates is another matter. I would carry written proof that your insurance is valid.

Where are you from and where do you intend to travel?

The two aspects to consider are having the documentation in place to first get your green card insurance, and then to ensure that you have the proper insurance policies in place to make sure that your green card insurance is valid in case of an accident.

The first issue is pretty easy to deal with, you can show up with your valid insurance from British Columbia and once you get your green card you can cancel your BC insurance and get a refund, which is easy to do with ICBC. Your plate will have the appropriate expiry sticker, but that is rarely an issue as different countries have different approaches to title, registration and insurance and for a bike from Canada, many would be hard pressed to figure out what exactly is required.

Another approach which may be worthwhile looking into, is that I seem to remember that Scrabblebiker mentioning something about showing proof that her BC bike was out of Canada and out of the US (on a trip to Central America) and receiving a refund based on that. You may want to google this site and look up her posts or contact her directly.

The second issue is a little more complex and sometimes overlooked by people and that is to make sure that you are complying in case you ever do actually need to use the insurance due to an accident. In that case, you want to definitely confirm with the Green Card insurance issuers as to what is required and if they require valid home country insurance, then it's a good idea to comply. That makes sense for countries within/near Europe as they want people to carry their home country minimum third party liability and the Green Card is a top up. In the case of countries such as Canada where the home country insurance is not valid, one would hope that they are a little more lenient and not force you to carry non effectual coverage but only they can confirm that.

ICBC has a territory option for folks like us who are from B.C. but not in Canada or the continental US where ICBC covers you. What is likely needed is simply proof that the bike/vehicle is yours. Current registration is what they look for. They do not want to insure stolen vehicles obviously :)

To get this you need to contact the head office. Local brokers DO NOT know about this. I think it is Territory "9" if I remember right.

Also, if you have this territory designation you CANNOT travel in ANY area covered by ICBC.

As the previous poster has hinted at, you can also simply get a refund from ICBC once you are out of ICBC covered areas. If you were traveling south a copy of your Temporary Importation Permit from Mexico along with receipts and so on to substantiate the claim work.

Coming to Europe I suspect that a copy of the bill of lading for shipment of the bike with the bike serial number of course and then the Green Card should be sufficient for such a refund. This refund will not be given until either you are back in ICBC covered areas and have proof of your return or after the current insurance expires. Be aware that they do not refund for periods of less than 30 days.