Canceling Motorcycle Insurance in the Winter vs. Laid-Up Insurance

A lot of motorcycle riders live where winter prevents them from riding. To save money on motorcycle insurance when you aren't riding, you can either cancel your policy, reduce your coverage or increase your deductible. Each of these allows you to save on insurance costs but keep coverage in place so your bike is protected until summer.

Issues with canceling motorcycle insurance in winter

You could buy motorcycle insurance for the summer months and cancel it during winter to save money. But this option has several downsides.

First, you're likely to face fees if you cancel your insurance in winter. Many insurance policies have a one-year term, and the company might charge you a fee for canceling early. This reduces any prorated refund you'd get for the months you weren't covered.

The savings might be appealing and helpful in the short term. But canceling a motorcycle insurance policy and renewing the same one a few months later might not work as smoothly as you'd hope.

If your insurance company sees you canceling and renewing the same policy every year, they may choose not to insure you again. In that case, you would need to buy insurance from another company, which could cost more. Depending on how long you own your motorcycle, you might end up paying more in premiums over time than the amount you saved by canceling your insurance in the colder months.

Canceling and renewing a motorcycle insurance policy during certain months also exposes you to greater risk. Even if a motorcycle is only sitting in a garage during winter, it could still be damaged or stolen. If something happens to your bike during the period it isn't insured, you'd have to pay to repair or replace it yourself. However, if you maintain a motorcycle insurance policy with comprehensive coverage, your insurer would pay for damage.

There could also be an unseasonably warm day, and you might want to take your bike out for a ride. But if you canceled your motorcycle insurance, you might not be able to get a new policy the same day. That would mean you are unable to legally ride.

By reducing your coverage or taking other steps to lower your premiums during winter, you can keep coverage and save money.

Layup insurance and motorcycle winterization

Some companies offer "layup," "laid up" or "motorcycle storage" insurance policies. Laid up policies basically allow you to pause the liability, collision and other parts of your coverage you'd need if you were in an accident on the road. But comprehensive coverage stays in effect, which offers protection against theft and non-accident sources of damage, such as a fire.

In places with long winters, many riders winterize and store their motorcycles and stop riding until the seasons change. This is where layup policies are ideal. On the other hand, if you think you might want to take out your bike sometime in the winter months, you can ask to maintain some level of liability coverage, so you could ride during unseasonably warm weather.

Insurance companies that offer a layup period (or some form of it) might also include a "sunny day clause" that allows you one day of liability coverage during the layup period. This is a helpful option, because it allows you to maintain only the basic coverage you need in winter. And that will reduce your insurance costs.

Raise your deductible to lower rates during winter

Increasing the deductible for your motorcycle's comprehensive coverage will lower the cost of the premium. A higher deductible — the amount you pay before an insurance company covers a claim — reduced the premium cost for a Geico motorcycle insurance policy by as much as 35%*. It's a simple way to make rates more affordable during winter (when you're less likely to be involved in a collision) without compromising your coverage.

The amount of money you can save by increasing your deductible depends on your insurance company, your motorcycle and the deductible itself. It's possible other motorcycle insurance companies offer cheaper rates for increased deductibles. Geico offers one of the widest ranges of options for deductibles.

If you don't ride your bike frequently, increasing the deductible is an especially good method to save on premiums. And you can maintain a higher deductible during summer, too, to get lower motorcycle insurance rates throughout the year.