Bike Insurance

SH4RKY

What do people generally do in terms of insuring their bikes...?

Just stick it on the house contents insurance or take out specalised insurance to specifically cover the bike??

or not bother at all... Guess it depends on the value somewhat, but still.



:?:

Ashweee

I've got mine insured through cycleguard, I know they're pretty pricey but just before christmas I crashed my bike damaging my 2012 fox 36 talas forks and my hope brake and the insurance company are paying out for accidental damage, I'm having a new set of forks and a new brake lever & body which would've cost me over £1000 and theres no excess.

Cheers,
Ash.

Anonymous

I always look at how often and how much you will need to claim vs how much the premiums are. Once every 5 or 10 years perhaps, if that, is it worth it? Compared with just saving the money and taking the gamble that it will never happen.

Small print is vital too especially when it comes to accidental damage, competition use, etc. Insurance companies look for every and any way to get out of paying up. Surprised a crash would be counted as accidental damage if it's a crash through normal use as that may be considered your own fault through inexperience, inattention, inability. Accidental damage as in you dropped the bike or ran over it with your car, maybe. But then if the insurance is expensive enough they'll cover it.

Edit: Looked at cycleguard. Insurance is more than my car insurance! :eek:

SH4RKY

To be honest.... i hadnt thought of accidental/crash cover!

I was thinking more along the lines of theft, but yeah, i guess if you managed to destory some 1k forks, it would be nice to be covered.

For theft, I think home insurance can cover it. I know my friend added his orange to his contents for about 10 quid, but i highly doubt this covers damage during use.

I guess the crash cover would partly depend on rider level. If you are doing stuff that would portinetally lead to a lot of failures, then yeah, the insurance would be worth it.

Ashweee

deadkenny wrote:

I always look at how often and how much you will need to claim vs how much the premiums are. Once every 5 or 10 years perhaps, if that, is it worth it? Compared with just saving the money and taking the gamble that it will never happen.

Small print is vital too especially when it comes to accidental damage, competition use, etc. Insurance companies look for every and any way to get out of paying up. Surprised a crash would be counted as accidental damage if it's a crash through normal use as that may be considered your own fault through inexperience, inattention, inability. Accidental damage as in you dropped the bike or ran over it with your car, maybe. But then if the insurance is expensive enough they'll cover it.

Edit: Looked at cycleguard. Insurance is more than my car insurance! :eek:

Yeah i know what you're saying, it is alot of money but then I've got 5k worth of bikes insured and £300 a year isn't too bad really.

Tbh cycleguard have been really good processing my claim, didn't question anything or put up a fight, i had to fill in a form, take some pics and get a repair quote from a bike shop and a week later they've given it the go ahead and are sending a cheque.

Anonymous

Came out at £500 for my two bikes in value before even looking at extra options.

Their site seems a bit devoid of MTB talk, seems quite roadie, but then can't see exclusions for MTB so far and obviously they paid up in your case.

Looks like for theft you'd need a 'gold' Sold Secure lock for over £1.5k value. Not that any Sold Secure lock actually is very secure, but then even D locks can be done in seconds with the right tools. So long as they say they'll pay up, that's enough.

Ashweee

Yeah I know what you mean about it looking a bit biased towards roadies/commuters.

I totally agree about the sold secure gold locks, if a thief is determined to get your bike nothing is going stop them.

Briggo

deadkenny wrote:

I always look at how often and how much you will need to claim vs how much the premiums are. Once every 5 or 10 years perhaps, if that, is it worth it? Compared with just saving the money and taking the gamble that it will never happen.

Thats why you get covered under your house insurance, less picky on type of locks and provide the same accidental cover so long as you pick the right one.

cooldad

Decent ones live in the house, are on the top of the car, or being ridden. Have a hack for if I feel a desperate urge to ride to the shops or something, which isn't often.
So don't bother.

SH4RKY

^ I'm thinking that.

I'm not going to ride a 150mm AM bike to work... so it will live in the garage/house or ill be on it.

Think ill still get it added to home contents though.


I wonder if any insurance cover for 'mugging' type theft. unlikely on trails etc, but perhaps not completely unheard of?

oodboo

I have my bikes named on the home contents (Barclays home insurance), they didn't ask for any additional premium and naming them wasn't required either but their policy limit is £1500 per bike which covers two of my bikes but falls short in covering the third. They paid up quickly after a bike was stolen from the shed (lesson learned) a couple of years ago and even covered the upgrades on the bike. I have looked into separate cover for the third bike but can't justify the cost when I could get £1500 towards its replacement.

timpop

Mine is covered within the contents insurance. M&S have a good policy. You'll need to specify bikes over £1000 but that covers theft and damage with a few obvious restrictions.

dhutch

Ive got cover from butterworth still (AFAIK) which i mainly took out while at uni due the the obvious risks of shared halls and houses. £50 for the first bike (£600 rockhopper) and then half price for the old hardrock pro which I used to get to campus on, if nothing else it gave peice of mine.
- The hardrock was then nicked in my last year (damit) and although i got 20% age reduction or something, got enough money to replace it with a new hardrock sport disk which at the time i was very greatfull for.

Now got my own house and insurenance i might move it over, but tbh, i dont mind the extra cover and keeping it seperate.

Daniel

Anonymous

timpop wrote:

Mine is covered within the contents insurance. M&S have a good policy. You'll need to specify bikes over £1000 but that covers theft and damage with a few obvious restrictions.

I've heard the M&S policy isn't good any more.

Mojo_666

deadkenny wrote:

timpop wrote:

Mine is covered within the contents insurance. M&S have a good policy. You'll need to specify bikes over £1000 but that covers theft and damage with a few obvious restrictions.

I've heard the M&S policy isn't good any more.

Any item up to 4k does to require any specific mention afaik and still applies, was that not what made it a good policy?

timpop

deadkenny wrote:

timpop wrote:

Mine is covered within the contents insurance. M&S have a good policy. You'll need to specify bikes over £1000 but that covers theft and damage with a few obvious restrictions.

I've heard the M&S policy isn't good any more.

Maybe they've recently changed the terms of a new policy but I'm happy with my current one.

Anonymous

Think they're honouring existing policies but new ones you have to specify anything over £1k, there's a limit somewhere per item, and the price is through the roof compared to what it was.

Or that's the impression I got.

M&S were no good for me anyway as I'm vaguely near a flood plain.

Briggo

deadkenny wrote:

Think they're honouring existing policies but new ones you have to specify anything over £1k, there's a limit somewhere per item, and the price is through the roof compared to what it was.

Or that's the impression I got.

M&S were no good for me anyway as I'm vaguely near a flood plain.

Yup, correct they have changed it and got me real worried but they're honoring the old policies and didn't change any T&Cs. I'm on the old M&S policy with the £4k limit and cheaper premiums.

I did a new equivalent quote, obviously naming bikes as now its £1k per item and the cost was over £175 extra to what I'm paying at the moment.

For me the nearest anyone could get to matching my current M&S cover was Budget, but as I got zilch excess (compared to the £150 for budget) and it was only £10 cheaper I'm staying with M&S.

allen.coulson

I've got cycleguard and they seem to have a comprehensive policy but it is dear and you have to comply with the lock business. My Tesco house insurance covers me for £1000 on an un-named bike and they uoted about £5 extra per annum for a £1500 bike but do not know the details of the cover.

What do people do if you take the bike abroad on hols?

Anonymous

Away from home cover often will cover abroad also, but need to check the fine print.

Can add it to personal possessions on travel insurance but that's often expensive and limited (especially individual item limit).

But then you might be doing things like competitive events, and you'll likely need dedicated insurance for that. Home and travel insurances will pay out for theft, but breaking your bike on the Mega, unlikely. Some may not cover at all for breakages during riding as they don't consider that accidental damage in the same way as just dropping it.