Valuing vintage bikes for insurance

Hi

How can you value a vintage bike for insurance purposes? I recently had all my bikes tagged by bike register for free by the transport police but had no idea how to give a value to them or my home insurance.

For example- my everyday frame is a well ridden Trevor Jarvis custom steel frame, not pretty to look at but to get a new one made would cost in the region of £1000. Does this allow me to value my frame at anywhere near this even though its 25 years old?

I've built all my bikes from the frame up and don't really have receipts for most parts that were bought on here, ebay, retrobike etc. Does the rarity of the parts have any impact on the value and how can you quantify this for insurance purposes ?

Not sure how insurance stands on vintage bikes
shop bought with receipt would have value provenance
i suspect most insurers would give minimal value if anything for parts/frames/bikes without paperwork

I had the same issue once, and the insurer told me to take my bike into a bike shop and get them to value it. Don't try to value it yourself, because if you need to make a claim and your assessment is off then it might look like fraud and then you'll likely get nothing.

It depends upon which basis your policy is written: indemnity or agreed value.

Your Household Contents policy will be one of indemnity, so in the event of a loss consequent to an insured peril, a loss adjuster or the insurer themselves will attempt to establish the value based on the cost of replacement, subject to betterment and depreciation.

Agreed Value policies are commonly available for classic cars, where their rarity and age makes establishing a market price more difficult. When the policy is effected the proposer must present evidence to support their valuation and have it agreed by the underwriter.

If you have a particularly rare or valuable bike, then it is worth asking a broker to find an underwriter prepared to cover it on an Agreed Value basis.