Box Hill is a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. I registered and insured (TAC) a GS 500 Suzuki twin worth $5000 in Box Hill in 2016.
My V7 Guzzi cost more but that bike was for pleasure, not for commuting.
The costs for the Suzuki were:
VicRoads registration fee - $56.90. Transport Accident Commission compulsory third party insurance - $402.00. The CPT premium is misleading. It includes $36.55 GST (???) and hidden in the small print, "a charge for motorcycle safety initiatives" which we are told is $70 a year (???), in 2016. I can't make the sums work but the total cost to stay legal was $499.10.
It's all a bit confusing. Some say there's a tax on a tax in there. The Victorian Government all-party Road Safety Committee recommended the $70 TAC tax be abolished in 2012 which would have made the total $429.50. But that recommendation has been ignored so far.
I had comprehensive insurance too. The premium was $264.00. The insurer gave me the full no claim bonus (NCB) something TAC with its' monopoly on a compulsory product does not do. I get the irrits with that. Why should I pay the same premium, after nearly 50 years of no claim riding & driving, as a 25 year old who has had a major claim?
Anyway, the Suzuki was both reliable and cheap to run. It was light on tyres and I could get up to 300 kilometres from a full tank. Then there was parking. Parking a car for a day in Melbourne can cost up to $100. Most park & ride facilities in the suburbs are full of cars by 7 am. Parking the bike was free in almost all situations and usually close to my destination.
So I reckon the right motorcycle or scooter instead of a second car makes very good sense. The bonus for most people is, riding is fun.
Damien
IRG
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