BIKE INSURANCE

jon1993

just wondering if its a good idea to take out insurance for the boardman pro (£1000)
its £9 a month for that u get any accidental damage cover, legal cover and recovery - among other things, Is this a good idea (from protectyourbubble.com) and what do these really cover....
accidental damage? such as part brakages ect or will they just replace bike or do they only cover if u kill your bike properly
recovery - only if you brake your bike out riding is there any limitations on what this is? will they come out for something as stupid as a puncture that cant be fixed and will they take you home or to your nearest bike shop? will this cost anything like an exess ? thanks

tom_howard

Any insurance is a good idea, but as for whats included, CHECK THE POLICY! perferably before its too late! Theres rarely such thing as a standard insurance policy.

I thought protect your bubble was a gadget insurance specialist? Can you not get the bike covered under your house insurance?

jon1993

no unfortunately not well we do have insurance that covers bikes upto £500 but the only bikes that would be covered is the carrera. The boardman pro boardman team both worth £1000 and specialized fsr pro plus addons still worth £1500 and 2 other bikes not entirely sure what there worth prob more than 500 tho . Plus im only 18 so im living at home with my mum and dad, there not really willing to do that for me especially with my crash history :P haha.

Basically i was just wondering if anyone has had any dealings with them. what exactly happens about the recovery? do they come out and try and fix, or do they just come take u home? If so who exactly is it that does so?

also what do they class as accidental damage where does this stop?

p.s. they also do bike insurance i know i was supprised i went on to do my laptop lol.

tom_howard

I think, by 'recovery' they dont send the cavalry out if youve bent a wheel or snapped a chain, but they do sort out collection of a bike with a severed headtube. Again check the policy.

As for accidental damage, youll have to check the policy of what this covers. it may be that it falls into line the/a warranty (ie dont ride this bike off road etc...) but similarly you might find that the excess means it only realistically covers the frame or fork as the value of the excess will be more than the cost of just replacing the item yourself.

Most of all, dont assume anything when it comes to insurance, as they will find any and all ways of not paying out.

Try to convince the 'rents to move to M&S contents insurance, theyll cover anything up to £4000, or if you want damage cover etc, try one of the specialist bike insurers.

BUT ALWAYS CHECK THE POLICY!!!!

Anonymous

Often with house insurance, a quick call and you can bump up the "away from home" cover though you'd have to bump the single item limit also. Often it's a small increase in the annual premium and would be far cheaper than £9 a month. Think when I did it last it was more like an extra £10 for the entire year!

Though some may insist you specifically insure the bike in the house insurance under the bike policy bit, but I think this is more for bikes at home and maybe for accidental damage. Away from home is often just possessions and can include bikes.

Not sure what accidental damage would cover though. It isn't going to consider having a crash as accidental damage.

Not sure what kind of service you'd get for recover either. Do they have fleets of vans like the AA ready to pick people off some windswept mountain if they snap their chain? . Can't say I see much value in it. Go prepared, ride with someone, take a phone. The cost of getting some kind of recovery if you really needed it that one time would still be cheaper than what you're paying per month over many years.

My take on dedicated insurances though is, think about how often your bike is likely to get nicked? Maybe once in 10 years. 10x a £9 a month premium = full new value of the bike over 10 years. Save the money instead.

Steve_F

It's a funny one with the insurance for crashing, most crashes will break a certain component. Unless it's a very high end bike it's usually an excuse to upgrade that part (for me anyway) and highly unlikely that insurance would pay out when components fail.

If it's a bigger crash and the bike is totally written off (unusual) it might be worth a claim but suspect they've got very strict criteria.

My road bike frame got written off, cracked carbon, from avoiding someone else's crash. First time I've wrecked a frame but it had to be my most expensive one! When it happened I was cursing not having insurance but after moving all the components to a new frame I haven't insured that either.

Think it works for the theft aspect but suspect it would be very difficult to cover all breakages and it's a lot of money to shell out especially when I've got a fair few that would need covered.

Shame M&S won't touch my house insurance since I've had a reasonable sized claim when someone else's broken pipe flooded my kitchen and bathroom.

Anonymous

Steve_F wrote:

Shame M&S won't touch my house insurance since I've had a reasonable sized claim when someone else's broken pipe flooded my kitchen and bathroom.

My house is on the edge of a flood plain that whilst has flooded houses across the road has never flooded mine and is unlikely to. To most insurance companies that's either loads of money required or "no chance mate".

I curse the damn Environment Agency web site as you can see the flood area, and so can insurance companies and potential buyers .

composite

Don't know about the company you have mentioned but be really careful with the small print on when they pay out for theft. A number of "specialist" bike insurance companies have small print that says the whole bike must be stolen. So lets say you had the frame locked to a stand and everything but the frame was stolen this would not be liable for a pay out. I looked at 3-4 companies after a reading a thread like this one and it was the case for all of them. Ended up just putting it on the house insurance and paying the extra tenner a year to bump it up to £1500.

jon1993

fair enough ill beg my mum and dad to have a look at the insurance but im like 18 just going to uni with a £6 an hour job lmao. These are years worth of savings that i just wouldnt be able to replace if they got nicked. Plus i live just outside a huge coucil estate (bransholme) and you cant help feeling watched as you go in your house with them, Plus the garage there now has been broken into 3x in 19years of my family living here, Cant help feeling a little on edge with 3 years works worth of money sitting in there haha Looking into it theres to many loop holes for them to go its wear and tear haha, thanks alot everyone.

timpop

It might be wotth that call to your insurer to see if they'll bump up your cover. Or you could use E and L insurance. the policy is good and you can cover from month to month. Then when it comes to renewal you can look at M&S home insurance.

meesterbond

deadkenny wrote:

Steve_F wrote:

Shame M&S won't touch my house insurance since I've had a reasonable sized claim when someone else's broken pipe flooded my kitchen and bathroom.

My house is on the edge of a flood plain that whilst has flooded houses across the road has never flooded mine and is unlikely to. To most insurance companies that's either loads of money required or "no chance mate".

I curse the damn Environment Agency web site as you can see the flood area, and so can insurance companies and potential buyers .

If you're prepared to take the risk, then some carriers will allow you to take a larger deductible for flood damage in return for a reduction in premium.
I had a (first floor) flat in SW20 a while back which was apparently at risk of flooding (!) - they (M&S I think) stuck a £1k excess for flood damage on the policy and premium came right down.

Anonymous

Tricky bit may be if it covers as a student away from home. I remember I parents insurance wouldn't cover my stuff at university so had to pay a fortune for pathetic student insurance. They insisted on having everything locked up in my room in the shared house and the room needed it's own lock, else they wouldn't cover anything and the bike was practically worthless anyway.

meesterbond wrote:

If you're prepared to take the risk, then some carriers will allow you to take a larger deductible for flood damage in return for a reduction in premium.
I had a (first floor) flat in SW20 a while back which was apparently at risk of flooding (!) - they (M&S I think) stuck a £1k excess for flood damage on the policy and premium came right down.

Hadn't thought of that. Worth a try as I'm in a first floor flat also. Though I have the ground floor entrance at the front (hallway where I'd typically keep the bike!) and also own the freehold shared with the other flat owner so flooding of the land is an issue, as is subsidence. In theory. Area has flooded twice since the 60s though and neither time flooded as far as my house.

jon1993

It's on a bit of a hill no risk of flood so I can't try that and uni in hull so not moving out lol I wouldn't fit all my bikes in a uni flat lol

jon1993

It's on a bit of a hill no risk of flood so I can't try that and uni in hull so not moving out lol I wouldn't fit all my bikes in a uni flat lol

Walkertalker

Try out AXA just been told that my house insurance policy covers the bike away from my home with the cost of same new model if stolen. Seemed to good to be true will scrutinize the policy when it arrives.