Bike Insurance

drewfromrisca

Bit of help required folks!!! Over the past year I've been using a company called JLT Insurance on behalf of BCbikeinsurance. I know it's good to have insurance but I've been told by a few people that it's not worth the paper it's written on. I've been looking at the fine print and notice that you also have to have house insurance if anything happens to it inside the house, the bike has to be in a car if it's stolen, being secured on a bike rack won't do (I only have a bike rack as I have no car only rental's and they won't fit in the cars) I haven't gone through the rest of the policy yet but it doesn't seem like a good start!

Anyone else use this company? Any experiences? Would just having house insurance and putting bike on that be beneficial?

Thanks Drew.

fossyant

If you have your own home get a policy extension on the contents, if not already covered.

drewfromrisca

Well we rent, does that make a difference? We don't currently have home insurance.

alfablue

Renting doesn't preclude you having a contents policy (indeed, my agents require that I have it). I have CIS who cover bikes to £1000 and assure me that it is for in and away from the house - never tested it though!

touchy

alfablue wrote:

I have CIS who cover bikes to £1000 and assure me that it is for in and away from the house - never tested it though!

I think that adding your bike to your home insurance (for most companies anyway) means that it is covered wherever it is. My dads bike fell off the back of our car (bike rack pulled the whole seal out from the back window ) and went bouncing down the road at 60mph. It was worth £1000 and the insurance company replaced it with no questions asked.
Also had my laptop repaced on the same policy (mums house insurance) when it was in my student flat and the window leaked on it.

alfablue

Yes, that is what they told me, anywhere in the world! I have bike cover and an £1800 laptop plus contents and pay around £10 per month (and get about £10 back per year as a Co-Op member). It does worry me a bit that the policy documents are short on detail, but I guess they have to stipulate all applicable limitations. Bike specific insurance could cost me £200 a year alone and offer me less cover.

BigG67

Another vote for including in house contents.

Halifax don't have an issue as long as the bike is secured and isn't used for racing. For my MTB (£1,500) and good road bike (£3,800) I'd be £500+pa for individual bike insurance.

Even with those listed, a couple of nice watches and unlimited cover- premium is based on house size and family numbers - I'm less the £600pa for the whole house buildings and contents.

drewfromrisca

Spoke to them today, they said the house doesnt need to be insured or a problem if its on a bike rack.

amyabcd

I'm interested in this as our home insurance (through groupama) won't cover bikes over £500 and arn't interested in us paying more to get them covered. Who do you all use?

BigG67

amyabcd wrote:

I'm interested in this as out home insurance (throug groupama) won't cover bikes over £500 nad arn't interested in us paying more to get them covered. Who do you all use?

Give Halifax a look, they were a lot cheaper than our old insurance (which didn't cover the bikes) without the bikes and even beat it with them.

Stuck on a Giant

We're with M&S contents insurance - they cover bikes up to £4000 within the standard policy, no need to list separately, and cover for bikes over that is v reasonable - about an extra £20 a year for a £4500 bike. No obvious exclusions although so far haven't needed to claim.
My old company would cover a bike locked to a rack on the outside, with no stipulation about the quality of the lock, but not if it was in the car - even with all the locks/alarms etc that come on a modern car!

Simon Notley

I used to have the JLT insurance but decided it just wasn't worth it in the end. As you say, the small print seemed to exclude virtually all cases in which your bike was likely to get stolen and it cost way over the odds. Mine are now covered at home by my contents insurance, but I don't think they are covered when out and about.

amyabcd

Thanks guys, I will have to do some looking around, looks like best on price in not always best value.

Thanks
Amy

Nuggs

Stuck on a Giant wrote:

We're with M&S contents insurance - they cover bikes up to £4000 within the standard policy, no need to list separately, and cover for bikes over that is v reasonable - about an extra £20 a year for a £4500 bike. No obvious exclusions although so far haven't needed to claim.

I switched to M&S due to the generous cover for cycles.

100%

Hi,

I used to use JTL, well, the company before they were bought by JTL a year and a half or so ago I think it was.

I have claimed off them when I somehow punctured a hole in the downtube of my MTB and they paid up in full for the price of a new frame and the cost of the rebuild. They were also happy for me to pay extra to get a different frame so I effectively upgraded.

That said, I didn't renew with them, I now have my bikes and car covered by the ETA, who seem pretty good and very reasonable.

I think it varies what you want the insurance for though - if it's just theft, then the ETA seem good to me, and cover the bike in a lot more situations that JTL did. They also cover your bikes for 'breakdown' providing you have some form of photo Id, and they also cover my car break down. Very happy with the service so far!

I'd recommend giving them a call to see what they can do.

Cheers,
Steve