These are documents you need to legally ride a motorcycle in Malaysia

The big cities in Malaysia have something in common...traffic jams. It’s a pretty effective mood killer when you have to start your day stuck in traffic and watch other fellas try to cut lanes to get ahead, but for motorcyclists, it’s not that bad. They have motorcycles lanes which are almost never clogged and even without those special lanes, motorcycles are maneuverable enough to zig-zag through the lines of slow moving cars.

While motorcycles is a super convenient way travel, it’s common knowledge that motorcycles aren’t the safest way to travel. In fact, a small collision can result in some injury and damage to the motorcycle. Although, following proper traffic rules and maintaining proper caution can avoid such a calamity for motorcyclists, in the off chance that an accident does happen – it’s always prudent to have proper documentation on hand (your road tax and motorcycle insurance).

And despite knowing that a road tax gives legal legitimacy for vehicles to be on our roads and insurance provides a financial safety net in situations of accidents, according to a press release by Loanstreet – out of the 12.6 million motorcycles in Malaysia, a significant portion of them don’t have these proper documentation. This is a problem because…

You can go to jail for riding motorcycles without road tax and insurance

While speeding on your bike like you’re in a Tom Cruise chase scene may get you a pretty hefty fine (around 150 – 300 ringgit to be exact), riding your motorcycle without road tax and insurance can actually land you in a jail cell. 

According to Section 90 of the Road Transportation Act, it’s against the law to ride your motorcycle without insurance on our roads and if you’re caught you may be liable to a fine not exceeding RM1000 and/or jail term not exceeding 3 months.

As for road tax, the same law tells us that driving without one can result in a fine ranging from RM 300 – RM 5000. And for some added trivia, Loanstreet told us that without a valid insurance policy JPJ wouldn’t issue a road tax to you in the first place. 

Now that we know that it’s against the law to ride a motorcycle without these documents, the next question becomes “why does the law want us to have these documents anyways?”.

To maintain roads and protect your pockets

With road tax it’s pretty straightforward, the money would be used to create and maintain the roads you ride on.

For insurance on the other hand, it’s necessary under the law because it ensures that anyone involved in vehicular kerfuffles are financially protected. The type of financial protection that’s received would depend on what kinda insurance coverage is purchased. So there are about 3 types of coverage, with the first being...

This type of insurance has the least coverage and probably the cheapest. It essentially covers any claims against you by a third party.

So basically if you’re a motorcyclist who hit another vehicle, and the vehicle owner is claiming money from you to repair his ride– fret not because this insurance will pay for the damages. But only that expenses would be covered.

This one is similar to the earlier insurance policy, with a little bit of extra stuff. So if someone claims vehicle repair money from you for an accident you may have caused, this policy has got your back. And on the plus side as the header suggests, it covers you during instances where YOUR BIKE got stolen or burnt down.

So if you left your bike in a parking lot and you came back to find the parking lot empty or your bike all charred up, this insurance will offer the protection you need.

As the mother of all motorcycle insurance, this one has the most coverage. In addition to the coverage areas mentioned earlier, this one has got one more extra important thing – it covers you too.

So to give you a better idea, we will recap and compare the policies:

1. The first one covers the damage you caused to another vehicle. It DOESN’T cover the damage to your bike.
2. The second one covers damage to another vehicle too and it DOESN’T cover the damage to your bike also. But if you’re bike is stolen or burnt down, you’re covered.
3. For comprehensive insurance, damage to the other vehicle is covered, theft and fire to your bike is also covered, and damage to your bike is also covered!

So if you don’t want your motorcycle repair costs to burn holes in your pockets, this type of insurance is probably the best bet for you.

Now getting your motorcycle road tax and insurance is easy like water

You would remember a time when your parents had to contact an agent or go to a vehicle dealer to renew their road tax and insurance. But those instances would probably exist only in your memories soon, because you can renew these documents online in the comfort of your own home.

For like the first time ever, Loanstreet has developed an online platform where motorcyclists can easily renew their road tax and insurance online. If you’re going, “Eh wait ah, I thought you can renew in MyEG?”. Unfortunately, MyEG’s platform only covers road tax and insurance for cars and not motorcycles.

So if you’re a motorcyclist and you want to get your insurance while lazing in your couch. You only have a few teeny-tiny steps to follow:

1. Visit this webpage here and click “GET QUOTE”
2. Fill in the required details
3. Click BUY NOW
4.  Oh and before the purchase is complete, you’ll be given the option to purchase your road tax
5.  Confirm your details and the purchase

Seriously, it’s that easy. So have fun riding your bike legally!