Well, every province is different. Alberta, where Oldschool lives, has a normal system where companies compete for your business.
BC, where I live, has mandatory insurance run by the Crown. The rates are high because there's no competition. Insurance rates for motorbikes are strictly based on displacement. The type of bike, amount of power and the value don't have any bearing on the rate class. A 1200cc old junker worth $400 is almost not worth insuring because you pay the top rate class and it is quite expensive.
It's a bit of a shitty system but the additional $325 a year I pay for private coverage is worth it for sure.
Now you understand my curiosity. It's still better than living in the USA
Sounds awfully familiar with something we in American are just getting a taste of... Obamacare! My wife has a few young (and incredibly naive) Canadian friends that think the health insurance in Canada is just great and we (Americans) should switch to a single payer system (like Canada)... because you know, it's free! Sure, it's great when you're young and healthy, but just wait until they get a little older and start to have health problems...
Anyhow, sorry this happened to the OP. It sucks, it's happened to me, a few times.
When i was 17, I was walking out to my car when about 100 feet away I saw a car straight up back into my door (completely caving it in), turn off their lights (it was night) and take out. Yeah, they were leaving a liquor store.
You know how people can never be bothered to put their shopping cars into the car corral or
at least move it up to the curve so it doesn't wonder around the parking lot running into people's cars? Yep, had that happen. Came out to my new 4 month old car with a shopping cart laying on it's side and a nice big dent in my door.
My brand new (at the time) '11 WRX... bought it in October 2010 and by August some asshole hit it in a parking lot, caving in the
driver's side rear door. And, because you can't make this stuff up, as I was driving home from the body shop, fresh from paying the $500 deductible a car on the right lane on the interstate runs over a good sized rock sending said rock into into my
passenger side door, leaving a nice gash down to the metal and a string of dents.
But wait, there's more! I work in a downtown building with below ground parking. There are two exits. A main gate with an attendant (so visitors can either pay for parking or provide the validated parking pass stamped by one of the businesses) and a side exit for people who work in the building and thus have a badge to get out of the parking garage.
This teenage/20s? blonde chick (who doesn't work there, looked like she was there for an interview) tried to get out using the side exit, which involves a ramp to get out and requires a badge. Upon realizing she couldn't get out, she pressed the call button and the attendant remotely raised the gate for her. She however forgot to put her suv into gear and proceeded to roll back 10 feet into the hood of my car. Subarus have a "hill assist" which leaves the break on for a half second to make it easier to engage the clutch when the car senses it is on an incline. I saw her rolling back into my car in slow motion and my car was just stuck there...
The kicker? Besides it being a friends card and the girl giving me an invalid insurance card (when I called her insurance agent.. the coverage had been canceled). I eventually tracked her down and her parent's insurance and started the claim. Her dad ends up calls me at my office to basically argue with me that the accident wasn't his daughter's fault and tried to play the "prove she hit your car and she was at fault... maybe you were too close behind her!"
The conversation went like this "Sir, my car stationary, she rolled backwards into me but hey... the FBI and Homeland security work in this building as well.... there are cameras EVERYWHERE. I already have the camera footage of your daughter rolling into my car, would you like to see it? Because I'm sure the police would consdering she provided false insurance information and then effectively left the scene of an accident. Please come down to my office and we'll sort this out".
He never showed up at my office but the next day his insurance agent called me to start the claim.
So... 4 people have hit (and damaged) my car. 5 if you count the shopping cart.
3 took off
1 store denied responcibilty. I was 21 at the time... now I know better that you can't simply write off liability by posting a sign that you're not responsible. That would be like me posting a sign on my car that says I'm not responsible my car damages you or your property. It's simply a scare tactic.
1 tried to deny responsibility until faced with undeniable evidence and threatened with prosecution.
Never had some asshole knock one of my bikes over but I did have my '07 R1 stolen in 2008 from a parking lot. Showed up a year later 1600 miles away in North Carolina running from the cops.
Uninsured motorist coverage is expensive in Colorado and it's ridiculous that we have so many uninsured motorist driving around.
Moral of the story, mistakes happen... own the fuck up!
:justkidding:
