Bike Insurance

salopcyclist

I recently got myself a shiny new Orbea

I'd like to make sure its insured on my home policy but direct line wont allow me to add a bike worth over £1000. I have phoned a couple of insurers but they wont quote a home policy with a bike, you have to buy the policy and then add it :roll:

Does anybody know which are the best home insurers that cover bikes when away from the home?

Thanks

soveda

Abbey were quite good, they do new for old but go through Halfrauds for replacement. You may be able to get round that with a helpful LBS.

neil3072

try one of the specialist insurers such as ET, they cover full value of the bike up to 3 years old. They also thow in free recovery sould you break down

Frank the tank

M&S will insure non-specified items upto a value of £4,000 in their building and contents policy.

Shezzer

Insured mine through Liverpool Victoria. Covered for theft and accidental damage out on the road but the policy has a few requirements:

no mass-start races (tri's and time-trialling is ok though)
got to be locked up in a brick building overnight
must have a high-grade lock and be fixed to an 'imovable' object

Whereabouts are you in Salop? I'm from Wellington.

salopcyclist

Thanks for the suggestions

Shezzer wrote:

Whereabouts are you in Salop? I'm from Wellington.

I'm from Shrewsbury, no longer live in Shropshire though

Essex Man

I have just got a seperate policy with ETA...

http://www.eta.co.uk/

Seemed cheap with a really good level of cover for bikes up to £4k.

oldwelshman

Another poster quoted M7&S up to £4k which is part true as it is for non specified items.
I can highly reccomend M&S who use Axa.
I insured two named biks for over £4k and three up to £4k. all on my home insurance.
My training bike was a Meirda with Crbon frame , I upgraded gset from 105 to Dura ace and put dura ace wheels on it and carbon chainset.
Unfortunatelt a few weeks ago I cam off during a down hill sprint at 47mph according to Garmin and other guys computers.
I cam off very lightly and initially I also though my bike did, but closer examination by the bike shop on behalf of insurers showed the rear drop out of frame damaged so ended up needing new frame, front wheel, dura ace shifter, saddle an tyre, so far this has come to £2.5K.
The bike shop could not provide me with the frame I wanted so the insurance even agreed I get one myself and they sent me the money for it, along with new racing kit and Oakley glasses.
So the cost to them comes to over £2k.
They even called me several times to check that my bike is being repaired promptly in the bike shop and to check I had received the money for the frame!!

Whilst I am happy to have survived the crash I am very happy with the insurance company.

Grazy81

In your opinoion is it worth insuring my allez elite worth £800 as i was thinking of doin thins as i use it to commute too so would be at the station locked up

Shezzer

Depends on how valuable it is to you, the likelihood of it getting damaged/nicked and whether you could easily afford to replace it.

If you get insurance then be sure to check the small print ... yeah, I know, statement of the bleedin obvious. My policy wouldn't cover my bike if it was locked up in a public bike shed like at a station. My schedule states it needs to be stored in a brick building or within my car. Anywhere else such as garden shed, public bike shed etc and it's not insured. Worth checking before parting with any cash.

Grazy81

How does the evans cycles insurance shape up for basic cover, seems ok to me

gabriel959

If M&S use Axa why not go directly through AXA seeing as they are cheaper through their website?

AGNI

I would seriously look at the small print for these policies.

The worst policies I have seen so far are the policies set up specifically for cyclists. I took one out with cycleguard but after reading through what is covered and what isn't covered, I am going to cancel it. I cant see many instances where I would actually be able to make a claim as there are so many exclusions. I have got cover with my home insurance so will rely on that instead.

Edit: Here is a copy of the policy document http://www.cycleguard.co.uk/documents/2009/CycleUrbanPolicyBooklet.pdf According to this I cant even keep my bike in our log cabin which is where I keep my other bikes. My house insurance DOES allow me to keep it in the log cabin. £17.14 per month for covering one bike? Bit of a rip off IMO

oldwelshman

gabriel959 wrote:

If M&S use Axa why not go directly through AXA seeing as they are cheaper through their website?

I did mine with M&S house insurance and paid for it by stopping gas cover and put gas cover and bike insurance all on house policy so it cost the same in total.
M&S later changed to insure through Axa which is why I did not go to Axa direct originally.
The cycle specific policies are very expensive with limitations.
The one I have covers me durin use away from home, travel, and when at home as long as locked up.

gabriel959

Just tried a quote with AXA and they are not as good as they only insure bikes up to £1000. Problem with M&S is that they are very expensive!

schlepcycling

gabriel959 wrote:

Just tried a quote with AXA and they are not as good as they only insure bikes up to £1000. Problem with M&S is that they are very expensive!

Oddly I found M&S to be amongst the cheapest quotes I got and it was the £4k bike cover that sold it, it's like all insurance it pays to shop around.

Mikelyons

Grazy81 wrote:

In your opinoion is it worth insuring my allez elite worth £800 as i was thinking of doin thins as i use it to commute too so would be at the station locked up

Grazy

I've just insured my own Allez Elite with Halifax as a named item on household policy for £28. Standard policy covers any bike up to £500 without additional payment.

Halifax also paid out when my Ridgeback Genesis was stolen last month while locked up at local railway station. They didn't even wait for Police to investigate.

Policy Excess was £200.

Mike

oldwelshman

schlepcycling wrote:

gabriel959 wrote:

Just tried a quote with AXA and they are not as good as they only insure bikes up to £1000. Problem with M&S is that they are very expensive!

Oddly I found M&S to be amongst the cheapest quotes I got and it was the £4k bike cover that sold it, it's like all insurance it pays to shop around.

You must have got the same policy as me.
A number of bikes up to £4k ( I just gt over £2k on claim) and I have two "named" bikes of £6k and the policy is not that expensive, about £165/year with plumbing included and contents
May go up following the bike claim mobile phone and laptop

sherer

i read on one forum not sure if it was on here but if you are a member of CTC or BC do you get bike insurance as part of the membership ?

silvermetalfox

My Zurich building and contents insurance covered a bike up to 350 quid. Phoned them Wed after getting a new Cannondale Synapse Carbon and got the cover up'd to the value of the bike, 1600GBP, and it was just an additional 50 quid which will be added to my monthly direct debit. Nice and simple. The guy quoted me what the requiremetns were over the phone (basically just use a Gold rated lock). Some of the other companies use Zurich themselves, so as someone else said about another lot - might as well go straight to them.

delcheung

Hello, i had the same problem in which insurance company to use when i bought my Trek 5.5 Madone. Because of the cost many comapnies will nto insure a bike over £1000 or if they do include it on the home insurance they charge a massive wrong price premium.

Hiscox i was recommended by a friend and they are great for home insurance and insuring valuable items. the cost was reasonable and they insure in house and out of home and even cover charity rides, races will be an ddditional charge i imagine. very good service and very competitive on home insurance and they are experienced in dealing with high cost valuables.

hope this helps people

regards

Derek

delcheung

Hello, i had the same problem in which insurance company to use when i bought my Trek 5.5 Madone. Because of the cost many comapnies will nto insure a bike over £1000 or if they do include it on the home insurance they charge a massive wrong price premium.

Hiscox i was recommended by a friend and they are great for home insurance and insuring valuable items. the cost was reasonable and they insure in house and out of home and even cover charity rides, races will be an ddditional charge i imagine. very good service and very competitive on home insurance and they are experienced in dealing with high cost valuables.

hope this helps people

regards

Derek

delcheung

Hello, i had the same problem in which insurance company to use when i bought my Trek 5.5 Madone. Because of the cost many comapnies will nto insure a bike over £1000 or if they do include it on the home insurance they charge a massive wrong price premium.

Hiscox i was recommended by a friend and they are great for home insurance and insuring valuable items. the cost was reasonable and they insure in house and out of home and even cover charity rides, races will be an ddditional charge i imagine. very good service and very competitive on home insurance and they are experienced in dealing with high cost valuables.

hope this helps people

regards

Derek