Cycle insurance

ultrarunnerlee

Hi guys just picked up my shiny new (to me) bike. Its not worth thousands like other bikes etc but its worth a few hundred and if something happened to it, I couldn't afford to replace it. Any way does anybody else insure their bike? Is it worth it, what gets paid out etc? Because if I get hit by a driver do they get away with it if i'm not insured etc?
Evans do insurance and for the sake of a few quid a month it seems to make sense. But I was wondering other peoples thoughts?

navrig2

What type of insurance do you want:

1. 3rd party where you are covered for accidents you cause,
2. theft from the house or outside
3. accidental damage to you or the bike.

1 can be obtained on it's own by joining British Cycling.

2 and/or 3 can be obtained by purchasing a bike specific policy or by adding the bikes to your household insurance. Costs will vary with the usual things such as location, age, previous claims and how many policies they have sold that month.

I added mine to the household policy but at the time of renewal otherwise I suspect it would have been very expensive.

Chogger

I have both my bikes (one shiny new road and one battered old Hybrid) insured through my home insurance but that only covers theft from the home or away from the home provided its locked to something solid i.e. a lampost. It was a fairly reasonable price as well

guinea

Bike insurance is a huge con for expensive bikes. It's simply not worth it.

I have three bikes, a Colango C59 worth £7k+, a custom titanium commuter that cost me £4.6k and a Wilier Mortirolo that was £2.6k when I bought it.

The cheapest quote I've seen to cover those bikes is £750+.

My brand new Land Rover only costs £311 quid a year for a fully comprehensive policy.

Not only that, but the policy is way worse than the car policy. I can't leave the bike outside at specific times, can't leave it locked in the car, cosmetic damage not covered and worst of all if components are stolen and the bike is scratched nothing is covered unless the frame is also stolen or broken.

The price and the small print scream scam to me.

ultrarunnerlee

Cheers guys,
House insurance it is then :-)

drlodge

guinea wrote:

Bike insurance is a huge con for expensive bikes. It's simply not worth it.

I have three bikes, a Colango C59 worth £7k+, a custom titanium commuter that cost me £4.6k and a Wilier Mortirolo that was £2.6k when I bought it.

The cheapest quote I've seen to cover those bikes is £750+.

My brand new Land Rover only costs £311 quid a year for a fully comprehensive policy.

Not only that, but the policy is way worse than the car policy. I can't leave the bike outside at specific times, can't leave it locked in the car, cosmetic damage not covered and worst of all if components are stolen and the bike is scratched nothing is covered unless the frame is also stolen or broken.

The price and the small print scream scam to me.

That's pretty much the conclusion I came to. Premiums for bike insurance seem to be around 8-10% the value of the bike, and my Rourke is either in the flat or under my ar$s. Just got 3rd party insurance by joining BC.

marcusjb

Sadly true - bikes over a couple of grand are really too expensive to insure. Use the money you might spend in one year of insurance and talk with someone like Pragmasis:

http://securityforbikes.com/

Get some anchors and heavy duty chains and work on your self-insurance.

It's all a con - whilst a cheaper bike might be possible to insure via your home insurance, if my commuter bike worth a few hundred pound got nicked, it would hardly be worth claiming by the time I have paid the excess and the increased premiums next year and forevermore.

ultrarunnerlee

On a different note. Where do you stand in a car crash :-s
Just that the other day a cyclist got knocked off in front of me and I went and scraped him up. It was his fault without a doubt and he dinged a spanking new Skoda (causing numerous pounds worth of improvements;-) Anyway, did the driver then have to fix it himself and pay out of his own pocket?
Alternatively if knocked off your bike and damaging it, will the car insurance pay for a replacement bike or equivalent? Because they won't be dealing insurer to insurer, thats about as clear as mud.....

ForumNewbie

guinea wrote:

My brand new Land Rover only costs £311 quid a year for a fully comprehensive policy.

Blooming heck, that's cheap. I pay more than that for my Astra!

Grill

I have a fully custom policy covering my home contents as well as my bikes (including race and worldwide travel). My bike are insured for RRP which is more than double what I could get any specialist bike insurer to cover and my policy is actually less than it was last year (even with a claim for a new frame). Fellow BR member IamnotWiggins put it together for me and I couldn't be happier.

StillGoing

I have a few bikes but am interested in insuring the two in my signature line only simply for 3rd party liability and accidental damage as they're already insured for theft via the house insurance. Quotes I've had are ridiculous though. I can insure my new VW Touareg worth £50k for under £300 FC yet to insure two bikes worth a total of around £5k is over £400.

CiB

ultrarunnerlee wrote:

On a different note. Where do you stand in a car crash :-s
Just that the other day a cyclist got knocked off in front of me and I went and scraped him up. It was his fault without a doubt and he dinged a spanking new Skoda (causing numerous pounds worth of improvements;-) Anyway, did the driver then have to fix it himself and pay out of his own pocket?

There's nothing to stop the Skoda owner claiming the cost of the damage directly from the cyclist. Insurance provides a means of covering costs of this nature, but it's not the exclusive means of compensation.

It should be more widely publicised that people who cause damage have no get-out-of-jail card just by not having insurance cover. That might stop some of the more brainless comments in the comments under DM / Telegraph cycling articles that bang on about how cyclists should be forced to carry 3rd party ins as a minimum - cause the damage, stump up the cost to repair it.

ultrarunnerlee

Interesting... So third party would be worth it? I just couldn't see the need for it. Also would be the case if I took out another rider and badly injured them?? Not that I am planning too but I presume the same kind of thing?

StillGoing

There is always the option to pursue you through the courts for costs irrespective of whether you have insurance or not. Unless you are in total poverty, the bailiffs can be sent to recover articles they can sell to recoup the costs. The articles that can be seized don't have to be of similar value to the costs either, they only have to be able to sell the article to recoup the cost. Therefore anything in the name of the person can be seized such as TVs,bikes, furniture and even vehicles.

drlodge

philthy3 wrote:

There is always the option to pursue you through the courts for costs irrespective of whether you have insurance or not. Unless you are in total poverty, the bailiffs can be sent to recover articles they can sell to recoup the costs. The articles that can be seized don't have to be of similar value to the costs either, they only have to be able to sell the article to recoup the cost. Therefore anything in the name of the person can be seized such as TVs,bikes, furniture and even vehicles.

Don't pay, won't pay? We take it away

alex222

Through my L&G home insurance I am covered for theft, accidental damage and 3rd party liability. Coverage includes commuting to work, but excludes racing. I didn't realise the coverage was so comprehensive until I rang them up and discussed it as it wasn't that clear in the documentation.

Chogger

I'll have to check my L&G policy docs to see if that's the case for me as well as if it is it's more than i expected and makes it an even better deal than i thought. As I only thought it covered Theft

StillGoing

Alex222 wrote:

Through my L&G home insurance I am covered for theft, accidental damage and 3rd party liability. Coverage includes commuting to work, but excludes racing. I didn't realise the coverage was so comprehensive until I rang them up and discussed it as it wasn't that clear in the documentation.

Thank God sportives aren't races.

Ringpeace

guinea wrote:

Bike insurance is a huge con for expensive bikes. It's simply not worth it.

I have three bikes, a Colango C59 worth £7k+, a custom titanium commuter that cost me £4.6k and a Wilier Mortirolo that was £2.6k when I bought it.

The cheapest quote I've seen to cover those bikes is £750+.

My brand new Land Rover only costs £311 quid a year for a fully comprehensive policy.

Not only that, but the policy is way worse than the car policy. I can't leave the bike outside at specific times, can't leave it locked in the car, cosmetic damage not covered and worst of all if components are stolen and the bike is scratched nothing is covered unless the frame is also stolen or broken.

The price and the small print scream scam to me.

Is this reply a p take? LOL

I dunno how much you spent but you are telling us something near on £15,000 for 3 bikes. Couldn't be bothered to tot it up.

Your CHEAPEST bike - lol - is £2.6K. What kind of idiot would leave a bike like that outside, at all? Cosmetic damage & scratches - you sure your £311 yearly on your BRAND NEW Land Rover covers that without any excess?

My full carbon cost me about £1200 all in. I'd never leave that anywhere unattended or even lock it up. Too many idiots around.

I have 3rd party insurance in case I have an accident - then the bike is at home locked in a garage that resembles Fort Knox - and is therefore covered by my house insurance.

I wouldn't be able to relax if I had £15Ks worth of bikes to worry about. I have already given up lunacy in corners just so I don't over cook it and damage my £1.2K bike - lol!

Not sure I'd enjoy riding things over twice as expensive....

Grill

Ringpeace wrote:

guinea wrote:

Bike insurance is a huge con for expensive bikes. It's simply not worth it.

I have three bikes, a Colango C59 worth £7k+, a custom titanium commuter that cost me £4.6k and a Wilier Mortirolo that was £2.6k when I bought it.

The cheapest quote I've seen to cover those bikes is £750+.

My brand new Land Rover only costs £311 quid a year for a fully comprehensive policy.

Not only that, but the policy is way worse than the car policy. I can't leave the bike outside at specific times, can't leave it locked in the car, cosmetic damage not covered and worst of all if components are stolen and the bike is scratched nothing is covered unless the frame is also stolen or broken.

The price and the small print scream scam to me.

Is this reply a p take? LOL

I dunno how much you spent but you are telling us something near on £15,000 for 3 bikes. Couldn't be bothered to tot it up.

Your CHEAPEST bike - lol - is £2.6K. What kind of idiot would leave a bike like that outside, at all? Cosmetic damage & scratches - you sure your £311 yearly on your BRAND NEW Land Rover covers that without any excess?

My full carbon cost me about £1200 all in. I'd never leave that anywhere unattended or even lock it up. Too many idiots around.

I have 3rd party insurance in case I have an accident - then the bike is at home locked in a garage that resembles Fort Knox - and is therefore covered by my house insurance.

I wouldn't be able to relax if I had £15Ks worth of bikes to worry about. I have already given up lunacy in corners just so I don't over cook it and damage my £1.2K bike - lol!

Not sure I'd enjoy riding things over twice as expensive....

It's not, as my renewal quote from BC was almost £900 for just 2 bikes without travel cover. I now have all £23k of my bikes covered (keep in mind that insurance cover is based upon RRP and not necessarily what was paid) for far less including worldwide travel.

BrandonA

ultrarunnerlee wrote:

On a different note. Where do you stand in a car crash :-s

The first person to post a response answered this question.

I didn't do it last year but I will this year as I don't want to face a large bill should i hit a car. Joining British Cycling is cheap so its almost a no brainer.

As for insuring bikes. I had the same experience as others, for my S-Works I was quoted £700 (about 10%). I double checked my household insurance though and any bike in my garage is covered up to £1,000 (covers the MTB and enough of the Tarmac Pro to not be an issue). Any item inside my house is insured no matter what the value, I therefore keep the S-Works indoors so its covered should it get robbed.

My issue is should I have a crash I will not get any money back. Hopefully this will not happen and if it does hopefully it will not result in every component being damaged so I could probably replace specific parts.