Accident / Damage Insurance for Commuting?

defever

Hello fellow commuters,

Perhaps this has been covered numerous times, but it only struck me (after noticing a continuous flow of "inruance / accident / legal advice" type posts on here by fellow cyclists) that I really should get some sort of insurance cover for my daily cycle commute, just in case I have an unwanted encounter with other road users.

My scenario

• I commute by bike around 70-100miles a week.
• I don't intend to enter bike racing or join a club for leisure group cycle
• I ride a retro bike that has no value (only sentimental value)
• I'm not interested in getting the bike insured for theft (I highly doubt it attracts opportunists)
• I'm looking for an insurance which covers liability and legal support in case of accident / incident on road

I've just looked at British Cycling Membership web page and it seems that the Ride Membership suits my need quite nicely.

Is there any other insurance / cover I should be looking at before I decide to go ahead with British Cycling?

Thanks very much as always and happy cycling!

slowbike

CyclingUK is the other body that provide 3rd party insurance & legal cover for members.

Personally - I just remain a member of BC through convenience really.

graeme_s-2

Last time I checked, British Cycling was cheaper that CyclingUK for individual membership. I think it might have been the other way around for family membership.

cooldad

Chances are, if you have household insurance, you already have personal liability cover, which would include riding a bike (all non motorised transport).
You can often include legal expenses cover, but I'm not convinced that most are worth the cyber paper they're written on these days.

Saying that the BC membership is cheap and the legal expenses cover at least will probably be better.

pblakeney

cooldad wrote:

Chances are, if you have household insurance, you already have personal liability cover, which would include riding a bike (all non motorised transport).
You can often include legal expenses cover, but I'm not convinced that most are worth the cyber paper they're written on these days.

Saying that the BC membership is cheap and the legal expenses cover at least will probably be better.

Plus, if you shop enough at the ones with BC discounts it can effectively be free. 8)

defever

Excellent, thanks everyone.

CyclingUK - I never heard of them (or any cycling organisation other than BC, I'm not really familiar with the "scene"...) so thank you Slowbike for mentioning. I looked at their memberhsip Join Cycling UK Today and it seems that you get very simlar third-party cover and Incident Line (i.e. legal advice, I believe). Adult membership is £45; so not that much different from BC.

Household Insurance - very good point cooldad, thank you. Just checked our cover but it's only a liability hosehold insurance so no personal damage cover outside the premises. Our car insurance covers only personal damage caused during driving / being apassenger so that's not relevant either.

BC Discounts - Also good point PBlakeney. I think I spent about £110 this year on Halfords and Chain Reaction Cycle for bike and car related items. I just noticed there are alot more discount offers like Muck-Off and OS maps. It'll soon add up I guess.

Thanks everyone!

graeme_s-2

CyclingUK were known as the CTC (Cyclists' Touring Club) for the first 138 years of its existence.

prawny

I went with BC, I bought a new MTB a week or so afterwards and that paid for it and more. I was happy to have the risk of a TP claim transferred off my home insurance too, if someone claims off my BC membership it won’t go up, but could potentially hammer my home insurance.