Motorcycle insurance for Ecuador, Colombia, and further north
 

Hi ...

I'm currently in Peru (I am from South Africa, and so is my bike) and I will hopefully be heading north in about 2 months. I'm looking for motorcycle insurance that covers Ecuador, Colombia, and then preferably the central American countries as well.

Does anyone know of anything? My preference would be one insurance company for all countries, but any information will be appreciated.

Thanks

Each, Colombia and Ecuador requires it's own ''soat'' which is an insurance tie to the motorcycle in any case one get hurt or die. They are easy at the borders

And most of the Central American countries (with Mexico) require their own insurance--it's cheap, except Mexico. There is nothing like Mercosur, Comesa, Ecowas, EU Green Card, or the multi-country insurance policies available in southern Africa.

The USA and Canada honor each other's insurances, so at least there's that. You'll pay for the privilege.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Hi. What do you mean by "require their own insurance"?. Do I need to go somewhere when I will be in, say, Lima, and buy Ecuadorian insurance in advance, or do I just show up at the border without insurance and they charge me when I get there? And if so, how much will it cost? Can i pay by credit card? Where can I read up on this?

And thanks for the response!

You buy mandatory SOAT insurance at each border crossing. Each country is different, pricing, policy length, etc.

Everyone doing border crossings buys it at the border or close to the border as you can often get shorter policy durations, so it's cheaper. Normally paid in cash using the local currency.

Where can you get more info?
Many posts on this forum and others about "SOAT" insurance and how to handle border crossings, what's needed etc.

Aside from multi-country consortiums like the ones I listed above, it is *sometimes* possible to buy insurance for the next country before arriving at the border. As GenXrider says, in most cases there is no reason to bother (and many reasons NOT to bother), but sometimes it's worthwhile, or even the only way it can be done.

The first examples coming to mind are Mexico, where an on-line purchase in advance can be cheaper and offer more choices, and Guyana (or Suriname, I honestly forget which), where advance purchase is required because they won't otherwise let you on the river ferry which connects the two countries. In the latter case, you learn this by paying attention to all the many streams of information available these days, and you include it in your plans--this normally means arriving the day before you plan to take the ferry in order to purchase insurance in person at the only place which sells it, then spending the night before waking up early to queue for the only boat of the day.

To repeat: you learn all this stuff by listening, reading, asking, and consulting Google frequently. Regular perusal of The HUBB will load you up with an astonishing amount of information, some of which will turn out to be essential. Every country is a little bit different, and sometimes the rules change abruptly for no apparent reason. But remember that lots of people have done it before you, and if they can do it probably so can you.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Thanks for the clarification guys! I appreciate all the responses.