How to insure your motorcycle to meet local legal requirements and indeed protecting your asset is a complicated game that we get questions on all of the time. Rather than give advice that could go out-of-date at any moment, this post aims to point you in the right direction for the most accurate, up-to-date information on insuring your motorcycle when travelling to a foreign country.

Note: Getting travel insurance for yourself when you are travelling is essential, especially when you are riding a motorcycle and we have some suggestions in this article on travel insurance for motorcycle travel. It is also important to note that this insurance is very different to getting a Carnet de Passages, should you require one.

Types of insurance

Getting 3rd-party/liability insurance is often the minimal legal requirement for travelling on a foreign-registered motorcycle in another country. Along with travel insurance for yourself, this is absolutely essential in most countries.

Comprehensive insurance, which covers damage to your bike and gear is a whole other kettle of fish and is much harder still to secure, even sometimes when you are renting motorcycle abroad. In reality a lot of people will skip this as it can be so difficult to secure and not financially viable.

Getting insurance

Depending on where you live, your current policy might actually already cover your for surrounding countries and it’s definitely the first place to start.

If you are going a bit further afield, we recommend you check out this guide on getting insurance for overland journeys prepared by the Overlanding Association and this page on Horizons Unlimited.

In some instances you are able to get the minimum level of insurance at the border (parts of Central & South America and Africa). Otherwise it will need to be purchase beforehand and best to start the process sooner rather than later.

Motorcycle Insurance for Foreign Vehicles in USA and Canada

Obtaining insurance for foreign registered vehicles in North America has recently been almost impossible, but it looks like it is finally getting sorted out.

Fernet insurance seems to be one of the best options available at the moment and Cheryl Dudek is the contact there to get in touch with. Check out the first post on this Horizon’s Unlimited thread for specific details.

It looks like Motorcycle Express and Seguro Gringo might also be options for liability insurance from this Horizons Unlimited thread, but Fernet appears to be the preferred choice.