Bike insurance - policy wording!

shredder900

hi i've been investigating the policy wordkin on BC bike insurance and on ETA insurance and it states that the bike must be locked inside a building with a 5 lever mortice deadlock OR locked to an immovable object (solid concrete) inside the building with an appoved deadlock.

problem is i don't have either of the above! i live in flats where there are not deadlocks on the doors and the walls in my flat aren't concrete!

any suggestions?

nicklouse

look for insurance that covers you. But TBH you will be struggling.

as that is really the minimum that most want.

Daz555

Whats the point of a bike insurance policy if it effectively means you cannot keep your bike in a shed or garage or even park it outside the shops?

Find somebody else.

nferrar

Most cycle specific insurance has very exacting (read easy to get out of paying) clauses - I ended up just switching to M&S home insurance cover (fine unless you really want accidental damage/race cover).

TheRevOlutionary

I used to work in an Insurance claims Dept and the lists of potential get out clauses, or means of non-payment was huge! I remember a guy bought protection payment for a car, broke his leg & was unable to work as a brickie so couldn't earn, but was rejected his claim due to fact he could still walk and should get another job until his leg was healed! He'd paid nearly £600 in fees over the couple of years of the insurance, but was rejected the £200 claim for 2 months off work. I have NEVER taken any unnecessary insurance, and having never needed to claim for anything have been quids in over all the years Ive not paid a premium!

Buy a cheap bike to go to town, and get a decent lock to keep it at home. They'll both be cheaper than the insurance!

Northwind

Bike-specific insurance doesn't seem to be worth the hassle, we just put all our bikes on the house insurance and it's not just better, with less exclusions and requirements and a lower excess, it's also cheaper. Only downer is that any claim will impact our future home insurance costs.

Bungalow Bill

Ive looked for months and ended up putting it on my travel insurance for flights/trains ect ect and on my home contents and accidental damage insurance. So it is covered for loss/theft/breakage/damage all across the world except if Im competing.

shredder900

Just re-read ETA insurance policy document and can't actually see anything about mortice deadlocks now! Must have been reading from something else!

So think I will go with them. One thing is you must have an approved lock in order to take the insurance (and they may ask for this in the event of a claim) but since my bike never leaves my bedroom apart from to go proper riding I don't see the point of a lock?

The only risk of theft would be from my bedroom in which case having a placed on the bike would do nothing at all!

Hmm???

nicklouse

Errr get an aproved lock.

Fully comply with all of the small print or they WILL find a way not to pay out.

If they say use Lock X use it Dont fit Lock Y as they will tell you to piss off.

Dont even fit a better lock with out papers from them saying that it is OK for you to do so.

Also see about the keys. How many will they want handing in in the case of a claim?

and keep receipts.

SSheply

Northwind wrote:

Bike-specific insurance doesn't seem to be worth the hassle, we just put all our bikes on the house insurance and it's not just better, with less exclusions and requirements and a lower excess, it's also cheaper. Only downer is that any claim will impact our future home insurance costs.

The home insurance option is fine provided you don't have a 6k plus bike or more than one. In my experience the home insurance quotes just rocket upwards and it is just prohibitive...

canada16

I just took out contents insurance through the AA.

They cover my bike for 3000.00 and costs about 180.00 a year, and that includes all my stuff at home.

They only ask you lock your bike up.

And they advised me if its in the home then its covered, it does not need to be locked.

They had no probs, and I dont live in the hamptons, I live in a normal city home, with crime ect..

yoohoo999

I use ETA.

I'm a lawyer so I spent a considerable amount of time looking through policies and speaking to claims departments when trying to find someone to insure my two bikes.

I didn't want to put it on my contents insurance because of the impact it would have had on my already bonkers premiums if £5k of bikes were stolen.

I live in converted victorian mansion which has been split into 5 apartments. We have about an acre of gated grounds, a code locked door at the entrance and my own house is obviously locked also. We also have a housekeeper who lives on the grounds and doubles as our resident guard dog (seriously, she makes a note of all the registration plates of cars that come onto the grounds! although two of the apartments are inhabited by actors so we constantly get rag photographers on the grounds, so I can see why she gets angry).

But despite all this, you would not believe the trouble I had trying to find a policy that would actually cover my bikes. :x Undoubtedly I will have weeded out more policies that most simply because I know contracts, but still, it was almost getting to the stage that my bikes were going to have to live in my house!

We ended up building a metal shed (had to be without windows) and putting a Kryptonite ground anchor into some concrete inside the shed (bolting it onto the 30kg flagstones already on the ground wasn't enough).

I then bought one of the approved locks from ETA's list (which is actually very reasonable since the price of the lock doesn't go up with the value of your bike like most other policies).

The added perks with ETA's insurance are actually very good - i've used the breakdown recovery twice already! Taxis home when I've broken parts while out in the woods etc

I'm now comfortable that my bikes are covered. The same could not be said for many of the policies I looked at.

I've actually had a look through the M&S home contents wording and it does seem to be rather favourable, however it's worryingly favourable. Perhaps it's my own scepticism towards the broad drafting of any contract (never mind an insurance agreement), but it does seem to cover bikes comprehensively. Does anyone have any experience in actually claiming from M&S?