Manitoba Public Insurance is trying to run motorcycles off the road with "extortion" through ever-rising premiums, dealers charge.
The latest of many annual hikes to rates is prompting a widespread parking of motorcycles and pushing suppliers out of business while MPI continues its "outrageous" gouging, Winnipeg dealership owner Ted Hector said yesterday.
'OUTRAGEOUS'
"Do you think $3,000 for a bike is insurance? It's not -- it's bloody extortion," Hector, of Thunder Road Motorcycles, said of some Manitoba owners' yearly fees as a result of premium hikes -- the latest an average increase of 7.2%.
"And they've been putting it up over 10 years, every single year. But it's compounded. And it just keeps going. It's absolutely outrageous."
Hector slammed MPI and the NDP government for what he said is their eagerness to use their monopoly to make a yearly hit on motorcyclists' wallets, while charging premiums which "have nothing to do with anything" in common sense or trends across Canada.
MPI's latest hike for two-wheeled vehicles -- if approved by the provincial Public Utilities Board this fall -- will jack up premiums for motor scooters by 25% for the 2009-10 fiscal year, while increasing fees 1.9% for sport bikes in Winnipeg. Touring motorcycles in Winnipeg, however, will see a 1.5% premium decrease as of next March 1.
Three local motorcycle shops, including Sargent Suzuki and Arlington Auto Parts, "went under" this year, Hector said.
Though Hector pointed to Saskatchewan premiums in some cases as little as 20% of what Manitoba motorcyclists pay, MPI spokesman Brian Smiley argued comparisons often put "apples to oranges" with differences in coverage provided for damages as well as for fires, thefts and injuries.
MPI's motorcycle rate hikes are "coming back down" due to a change to split costs evenly between owners of motorbikes and other vehicles following collisions, he said.
