Insurance for Events
a1dan
Posts: 17
Just been renewing my home insurance, which I've made sure has decent bike cover. Got cover for damage or theft while out and about, with the fairly standard exclusion of "when being used for racing, pace making or trials".
I was wondering where Sportives, Audaxes and the likes fit in with this? They are not racing, pace making or trials, so by the letter of that they should be fine, but do insurers see it that way?
As an aside I was interested to find that two different insurers both had what looked like the same conditions written down, but interpret them differently... Lloyds and Swinton both had the above clause, but when I asked them about damag while out riding recreationally or commuting, Swinton said I would not be covered due to another clause excluding damage to “sports equipment including fishing equipment whilst in the course of play or use”. Lloyds have the same clause in their policy docs, but said it does not extend to riding your bike.
I’d have thought Swinton are on shaky ground - if you crash your Brompton while commuting, I’m not sure how they could make that stick as sports equipment. But a grey area if you’re out for a nice country ride on a race oriented roadie, or smashing it down a trail on your MTB…?
I was wondering where Sportives, Audaxes and the likes fit in with this? They are not racing, pace making or trials, so by the letter of that they should be fine, but do insurers see it that way?
As an aside I was interested to find that two different insurers both had what looked like the same conditions written down, but interpret them differently... Lloyds and Swinton both had the above clause, but when I asked them about damag while out riding recreationally or commuting, Swinton said I would not be covered due to another clause excluding damage to “sports equipment including fishing equipment whilst in the course of play or use”. Lloyds have the same clause in their policy docs, but said it does not extend to riding your bike.
I’d have thought Swinton are on shaky ground - if you crash your Brompton while commuting, I’m not sure how they could make that stick as sports equipment. But a grey area if you’re out for a nice country ride on a race oriented roadie, or smashing it down a trail on your MTB…?
0
Comments
-
Isn't insurance all about the 'grey areas'? You get sucked in by the 'headline' offer, only to be shafted by the small print if ever you need it. Or am I just being cynical?
The best thing would be to take out separate cycle insurance to be on the safe side, unless you can get a reassurance from your current provider that you will be covered whilst out riding.0 -
Direct Line exclude cover whilst you're riding your bike. Also, the cost of upping the cover from the included £1,000 per bike to a sensible level made it better value to take a bike specific insurance out separately.You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.0
-
I found out the hard way last year that what you interpret the policy to cover isn't always so.
Mine stated the bike was covered inside and outside the house, and away from home, for accidental damage and theft.
Turned out it did not cover any type of damaged caused through actually riding the thing. I had a serious rtc, the bike (frame) was destroyed but they wouldn't pay out because I was riding it.
Still annoyed about it as if I had thrown it under a car or off a cliff the policy would have covered it, but because I was riding it, it did not. :evil:
Moral of this story, if you are going to actually ride your bike then don't count on home insurance to cover it.0 -
I got confirmation from Lloyds that the bike would be insured for damage while riding, other than in races etc, so have gone with them. Also, I have a friend who cracked the frame of her bike in a crash and Lloyds paid out full new-for-old replacement cost, so I think I'm good there.0
