How much should I ensure my bike for?

EightOhEight

This one

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12804505

I know the bleedin obvious answer is what it will cost to replace... It cost me £1160 to put together, would insuring it for £1500 be appropriate??

What would you do and why?

808

stigofthedump

You can't 'overinsure' items, it is against the insurance company rules. They would value it, based on your recipts, or possibly the list price of the parts you bought, and pay you something less anyway.
You might be committing fraud if you overvalue the bike, and your premium would be greater for the same eventual payout. You might as well be honest.
BTW if you undervalue items to get a reduced premium you get paid out proportionally less as well. They have you over a barrel either way

LeicesterLad

I would Ensure that you Insure it, to be honest.

Squillinossett

LeicesterLad wrote:

I would Ensure that you Insure it, to be honest.

:evil: Beat me to it!

jawooga

stigofthedump wrote:

BTW if you undervalue items to get a reduced premium you get paid out proportionally less as well. They have you over a barrel either way

Yes, worth reading small print in the insurance docs, but if you under-insured they may say:

Bike worth £1160
You have insured for say £750 to get cheap premium
You are only insured therefore for 65%
So we'll pay you £750 x 65% = £488

Someone correct me if this is wrong, but I think this is the way they work and house contents insurers are notorious for it apparently. Disgrace if you ask me but somehow it is legal.

If you think your bike is worth X then it is probably worth keeping hold of the receipts etc you accumulated along the way and/or knowing the market for a similar spec.

Pokerface

I wouldn't insure it at all.

Unless you live in a crack house and/or your place has been broken into more than once in the last 5 years.

Or if you EVER leave it locked up outside - then it might be worth insuring. But that's just me.

cooldad

jawooga wrote:

stigofthedump wrote:

BTW if you undervalue items to get a reduced premium you get paid out proportionally less as well. They have you over a barrel either way

Yes, worth reading small print in the insurance docs, but if you under-insured they may say:

Bike worth £1160
You have insured for say £750 to get cheap premium
You are only insured therefore for 65%
So we'll pay you £750 x 65% = £488

Someone correct me if this is wrong, but I think this is the way they work and house contents insurers are notorious for it apparently. Disgrace if you ask me but somehow it is legal.

If you think your bike is worth X then it is probably worth keeping hold of the receipts etc you accumulated along the way and/or knowing the market for a similar spec.

Wrong, you would get 65% of the loss, which is £870, limited by the sum insured, so £750.
A better example is if your contents are worth £100 000, insured for £50 000 and you have a burglary for £10 000. You would get 50% of the loss - £5 000.
What's wrong with that?

cooldad

stigofthedump wrote:

You can't 'overinsure' items, it is against the insurance company rules. They would value it, based on your recipts, or possibly the list price of the parts you bought, and pay you something less anyway.
You might be committing fraud if you overvalue the bike, and your premium would be greater for the same eventual payout. You might as well be honest.
BTW if you undervalue items to get a reduced premium you get paid out proportionally less as well. They have you over a barrel either way

Also wrong - setting a value too high is not fraud, you will simply be paid out the market or replacement value, depending on the basis of settlement.

snailracer

Pokerface wrote:

I wouldn't insure it at all.

Unless you live in a crack house and/or your place has been broken into more than once in the last 5 years.

Or if you EVER leave it locked up outside - then it might be worth insuring. But that's just me.

+1

It is not worth insuring things that can affordably be replaced. It IS worth insuring against costs that are not affordable, such as being sued for £5M medical costs after an accident. The OP should read carefully what the bike insurance actually covers.

Insuring a bike won't reduce the chances of it being stolen, and somehow the insurance company can still run a profitable business by selling insurance. This being the case, the OP may just as well put his insurance "premiums" into a piggy, that way he gets to keep the profits if his bike doesn't get stolen, and has enough to cover replacement if it does.

Andy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JynfNXoW1A

Yossie

Its probably covered under your household insurance anyway - the four bikes worth under a grand sitting in my garage are, the good bike has a specified value for which I had to supply an itemised list of what it is made up of with current values on shop headed paper, but the insurance didn't charge anything extra for this.

Check your policy - most things like jewellry, bikes etc are all automatically covered for a certain amount, but this will vary policy to policy (as above, mine says automatically a grand, other policies have been £1,500).

By the way, I have no idea how they work out what to pay you. I think they just have a bingo machine kicking around and select numbers at random. Then deduct an extra 10% just to piss you off.

apreading

I think most just ask Wheelies to provide a price for what they consider an equivalent bike. Many also then try to tell you that you can only have the bike from wheelies but if you push you can usually go to another bike shop or often take the cash. They may offer a reduced settlement for cash, if they agree to pay cash at all.

I got a cheque made out to my LBS for the cost wheelies had estimated to spend as I liked. Not all LBS accept cheques though...