Quebec Panel of Experts says license fees should reflect the real risk of driving motorcycles

Quebec’s Panel of Experts on Automobile Insurance Contributions is recommending to Quebec’s auto insurer, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), that license fees for motorbikes should better reflect the real risk of driving motorcycles.
The mandate of the Panel of Experts is to review the approach taken by the SAAQ and the data it uses in support of its regulatory amendments. The SAAQ proposed in August 2011 to reduce fees for motorcyclists between 2011 and 2015.
In a report released on Dec. 9, the Council of Experts said the SAAQ’s proposal deviated from the principle of equity among various groups of contributors to the insurance plan. Specifically, the concern was that reduced license fees for motorcyclists would not reflect the real risk of driving a motorbike.
In its report, submitted to the SAAQ board of directors, the Panel of Experts made 14 recommendations, nine of which related to motorcycles. These included:
•changing, during the next rate review, insurance contributions upon acquisition of a motorcycle so as to reflect the real risk in connection with driving a new motorcycle.
•tracking the effect of the insurance contribution upon acquisition of a motorcycle on changes in the motorcycle fleet, so as to avoid interference with efforts to improve motorcyclists’ safety;
•contemplating, during the next rate review, the possibility of modulating insurance contributions upon acquisition in order to encourage the acquisition of motorcycles that have safer equipment, inasmuch as risk assessments justify doing so.
•eliminating from the proposed rates the cap on insurance contributions to register sport motorcycles, in order to reflect the real risk of this type of motorcycle.
The full list of recommendations can be found at:
http://www.conseilexpert.aauto.ca/communiques2_en.htm