Another green plate blue plate question

Hello

Greetings from the Sault.

I just bought a 2015 XT250 Yamaha (factory dual sport). It was originally blue-plated and the first owner rode it on the road for several years.

The second owner was asked at Service Ontario which he wanted and he opted for a green plate because he was just going to be using it on the roads near his camp.

Now I'm buying it and want to go blue plate again. Bike has compliance sticker, original exhaust, even still has mirrors and signal lights.

Anyone with experience doing this, converting green back to blue? Or is it a one-way trip from blue to green and I should kiss my deposit goodbye?

Any advice or experience is appreciated!

If it was manufactured as a fully compliant road legal machine you should have no trouble getting a blue plate.

It might be easier to have the current owner switch it. Then sell it to you as unfit. Or better yet fit.

It shouldn't be an issue.

Print this out and take it in with you.

Kirk Norris Insurance is still a club sponsor. Their best agent acquired this letter.

Thanks, Neil, Chef and cambam!

I completed the transaction and now have the bike home. It's a mild-mannered bike and I like it.

Local Service Ontario office said to take a picture of the compliance sticker and bring it when I bring in my safety certificate and they can switch it back to blue.

If that turns out not to be so I'll advise this forum.

Regards,

Michael

Huh, I have a similar question:

I just bought a CRF450L, mainly to give me options, but intended on using it only off-road for now. I called my State Farm broker to transfer my off-road policy from the Freeride I sold to the CRF450L, and they said they *cannot* write an off-road policy for an on-road bike. There was no discussion or wiggle room.

This blew me away. Has anybody else seen this?

I have a 1983 Yamaha XT125 at the cottage that is a real junker, will never be safe to drive on road again. But is a fine bike for plunking around cottage trails Are they telling me I can't put off-road insurance on it?

They said the exact same thing to me. It was suggested by someone on this forum to not renew my sticker and therefore it would be illegal to ride on the road, but State Farm didn't care.

To follow up:

Brought my safety check papers and a photo of the XT250's compliance sticker in to Service Ontario and walked out FIT and ready to go on the road. Service Agent at Service Ontario called the internal hotline but was told he could have made the change himself without calling in.

I had been spooked by some stories on this site and others that once a bike was green-plated it could never go back to blue, but this turned out not to be so.

Thanks for the help and advice.

Oh, it gets worse.

So I called Desjardins/Certas to transfer the off-road insurance from my Freeride to a CRF150F that my wife rides and we want to be legal in Limerick forest. Was told that they *will not* write a policy on anything 150cc or smaller. Their reasoning is that anything 150cc or smaller is intended as a kid's bike, and they do not write insurance for kids bikes. I argued that the CRF150F is way too big for kids (it's 250lbs and ~32" seat) but of course this is above her pay grade.

So now I can't get insurance for my kids, and now I can't get insurance for my wife on an appropriately sized bike. She's being forced onto a 250cc that is way too much for her.

Seriously think it's time for a human rights complaint. We are required to have insurance to access public lands. But the government doesn't ensure that we can buy insurance. In the case of my wife, she can only buy it if she buys a motorcycle that is too big and dangerous for her.

Ya there are more and more complaints about insurance companies not insuring kids. Try Kyle Brown at Dalton Timmis. Their info I think is in the sponsor section. I moved all my insurance to him after a disagreement with my last insurance company and have been super happy with the service and pricing

Your problem isn't insurance, it's your retarded broker.

I just insured a 125 with Desjardin

Generally zero value in arguing with someone like this but wonder what reaction would be on asking why "kid's bikes" can be insured for use by adults on the street (Honda Grom, Honda CBR125, etc).

And I love my latest "kid's bike" (Husky TE150)

Hmmm... interesting. That wasn't actually my broker. I called on a Saturday, office was closed, and this was their weekend calling center. You'd think they'd know even more than the local brokers because it should be direct with the company?

I'll try again with the actual broker on Monday. Either way, so frustrating dealing with this.

Was it green or blue plated?

I will add my two cents. Bought a used CRF250L that had been green plated by the initial owner. It was a royal pain in the ass trying to prove it was street legal to the Service Ontario staff. In the end I had to contact Honda Canada and get an official printout saying it was a street legal dual sport motorcycle. There are number designations on the VIN that make this classification, but they wouldn't budge.

Green

When did you do that?

I called 3 Desjardins brokers today. Jennifer Hunt, Sheldon Carrassco, and Kirk Norris. All said the same thing: Desjardin no longer insures kids bikes, and that includes 150cc and smaller. The lady from Kirk Norris talked to me about it for a long time, they are really upset about it. She said it is as of May 7th. She does know of one exception they were able to make for somebody who had all their business with them. But they had to call head office. Was this you? Or was it before May 7th?

Something is not adding up here.

I also called TD twice. They said they do not sell off-road motorcycle insurance. Full stop. I don't get that as somebody else told me they did. The hell is going on?

It was before May 7, but I've had all my business with them for almost 40 years. I don't know if that matters.

She did say something about them no longer offering new off road policies, though people with existing policies will be able to maintain or move them to new bikes.
I don't believe anything they say but I'm playing it safe and still paying for a policy on a bike that's long gone.

I was tipped by a BMA member that TD sells it still. So I called, and the agent I spoke to said they don't sell insurance for off-road bikes. So I called back, got another agent, same thing.

After communicating again with the other member, I was able to obtain a quote for my family dirtbikes from TD Insurance. But it's road insurance, not off-road. They have a pull-down list where you choose your motorcycle, and all the off-road models are there alongside the on-road models. They don't seem to distinguish. This is... ok I guess, because I actually have my M license with a clean record. But the price is about $200-250 per bike instead of <$100 that off-road insurance normally costs. The only good thing is they offer OPCF 32 for no extra charge, which means the family is actually covered if riding off-road. So it's not just paying $250 for a piece of pink paper. However, this is still a high price so I haven't pulled the trigger yet. Also no guarantees that if I call to actually buy the policy, they will actually put it through. They might find it odd if I'm insuring 5 motorcycles for myself.

Good news, is that the quote for my personal CRF450L, including theft/collision, is actually a little less than I'm paying Wawanesa without theft/collision.

I'd say $200-250 doesn't sound terrible compared to none at all. As a point of reference both of my ATVs are in that price range and my street legal dual sport is north of 1k. Insurance is ridiculous for all segments recently, my auto insurance is up about 30% and I'm hearing some business insurance is up 60%. I have a collector truck that rose $700 since last year I ended up moving it to specialty insurance.