Bike Insurance

Has anyone got personal accident, loss of earnings, and long term heath care type insurance?

I was pondering the wisdom of relying on the NHS and state support in the worst case of a really nasty accident that leaves me unable to work or walk.

Bikemo/hiscox still the go to insurer for contents+bikes?

Hiscox would not touch me because my stable totals more than 5k worth. Bikmo would quote but were very expensive. I ended up going with Aviva contents insurance and adding my bikes there. Contents insurance with bikes added seems the way to go for me, unless you're racing.

Pedalcover have been great so far for us

Bikmo would quote but were very expensive. I ended up going with Aviva contents insurance and adding my bikes there.

Bikmo are the "Rapha" option: the cover is much more comprehensive than your contents cover and priced accordingly.

If you compare the cover and cost with other bike specific insurance, you'll find it's good value.

The other thing to consider, which applies to insurance in general, is their claims service: it's only when you suffer a loss that you learn the true value of what you've bought.

When I was at Lloyd's, Hiscox (who underwrite Bikmo) had a reputation second to none.

Which isn't to say that, if the cover meets your needs, an extension to your contents cover is a poor choice.

Just looking at contents/bike insurance... am I correct that when valuing bikes you should quote the value as the cost of replacing like for like, new for old?

For instance take my TT bike... I bought the whole bike new in 2007 but have upgraded with mostly second hand bits. If I were selling it on here I'd probably value it at £1,500?? But a new P2 is >£,2000, H3 £650, Zipp disc £1,500, aerobars £500? power meter etc. All in all including other bits and bobs I'd probably be looking at >£5000.

What number should I quote for the insurers?

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That depends on the type of insurance you have. Mine replaces old with new. Some give current value regardless of what you believe it to be worth.

Ask the insurer before you take the quote. Even though I've also always had "old for new" cover, most home insurance companies just have approved bike suppliers they'll put you in touch with for a replacement. If the approved supplier doesn't have an "equivalent" replacement that you're happy with, they'll only give you the cash value you insured the bike for.

So for example, I had a canyon stolen while I had my nice wheels on it. I was offered a Ridley as a replacement, but it had poor quality components so I didn't accept their offer. Because I insured the bike for the price I paid for it 2 years prior, they just offered me that amount. Problem was that the retail price for an exact replacement had gone up in the meantime, and I hadn't insured the value of the nice wheels. So, I was left unable to actually get a true replacement with the insurance settlement I was offered.

Learnt my lesson the hard way, I now make sure every time I renew that I update the value of each bike and any accessories attached to it. Even pedals, bar tape, Garmin mounts, bottle cages, etc all add up, so make sure you include those things in the value you're insured for.

Am currently trying to get clued up on home insurance + contents that will cover my silly bikes for when we move house soon. I've never thought about how much I had spent on my stable over the years, and now that I have, am a little ashamed of myself...

Hiscox seems to offer the best deal, and they cover £10,000 per bike in the home, and £3,500 away from it as standard. They also don't deduct for wear and tear. The away from home isn't quite enough to cover the most expensive of my fleet but it isn't a million miles away.

Is there something I'm missing? Any other insurers any forumers recommend I look at?

We're with Pedalcover. They broker for AXA I think. Great cover for the price, though only 50% of new value for bikes over 10 years old or something, which is probably fair enough.

Good customer service, but thankfully we haven't had to claim yet.

Interesting, hiscox told me last month they wouldn't cover my stable as it was worth more than 5k in total...

Try HomeProtect and Aviva for comparison quotes.

HP were a great price for me last year, and I had to claim through them for stolen bikes. Pretty quick, pain free process. As stated in my posts above, though, I was unknowingly under insured, so make sure you value your bikes correctly, including accessories and upgrades.

Aviva were a great price for me this year, and seem to have pretty close to unlimited cover levels. They just need to know the value of your most expensive bike. It's therefore a great option if you're likely to change any of your bikes or components over the course of the policy. Other insurers would need you to call up to make changes to your policy, which incurs an admin fee and a potential premium increase each time. With the previous insurer I ended up having to do this twice during the year, which cost me an extra 200% of the original premium. Once to add a new bike I bought, and once to amend the policy to cover the replacement bikes they gave me following the theft.

Interesting, hiscox told me last month they wouldn't cover my stable as it was worth more than 5k in total...

Really? I just did a quote online with 13k worth of bikes and it worked. Will give them a call beforehand to confirm though.

Got a quote from pedal cover too that is only a little more than hiscox so need to compare terms properly and decide. Will look at aviva too, I don't think they were part of the search engine quote thing I did. Thanks for the info

Yeah sorry I wasn't implying your quote isn't valid, more that I'm peeved they would even give me a quote! I've heard from others on here that they're good. I had no years no claims due to a bike theft claim that cost ~6k to settle last year, so they may have given me special conditions due to that.

Going between pedalsure, bikmo and pedalcover and can't work out what's best. I'm only looking at insurance as I've just stuck a Quarq dZero on my mostly second hand 'Dale, which adds £600 to the price. Spec is System Six, Force 22, Stayer carbonz which to replace new (with a supersix/caad 12) would run to the region of £3000. Now obviously, I didn't pay that; I paid about £250 for the frame, £200 for the group, £600 for the wheels, making the total value 'to replace' at around £1800, as I wouldn't buy new.

As someone asked above, if I only get £2000 worth of insurance, which is what I deem it would cost me to build a similar bike now, am I going to get rinsed by the insurers? I asked Bikmo about the possibility of insuring just the powermeter and wheels but they'll only do complete bikes.

I really don't want to spend £250 a year on insurance for a bike which I only really take out on Sundays, but I know I'd be gutted if I didn't and I killed it in a crash, although if a driver is at fault do they pay out anyway?

In fact, maybe I don't need insurance at all! We've never had home insurance and I'm loathe to pay it as I don't think I'd ever claim it and end up paying more in premiums; the only thing I have insured is my phone as breaking that is likely/inevitable.

Bikmo is an "agreed value" policy, so you should insure your bike for the replacement cost, not what you originally paid for it. If you were to build the same bike, to the same standard (ie using second hand parts, if that's what you originally bought) today, how much would that cost you? That's what you should be insuring for.

If your bike was totalled by a motorist, then the Third Party liability aspect of their insurance would cover you, but on an "indemnity" basis. Which means that they would try to establish a market value for your bike and pay you that. This means you'll receive less than what it cost you to buy in the first place, because of wear & tear.

Whether or not you need insurance depends on your attitude to risk and how you would manage if the worst happened. If you've got a couple of grand spare, then you could stick it in a deposit account, rake in the interest (lol) and be content that you are "self-insured".

NB It's a long time since insurance was my day job and I never dealt with this sort of thing, so do seek advice from someone who does.

I just had an excellent experience with Bikmo. No quibbles, money to replace stolen cockpit in account within four days of theft. All nice people as well. Didn’t realise insurance could be so easy.

#notanad

i have recently hit a pothole, and thought nothing of it. and today i was checking the bike over and discovered a crack in the drive side chain stay. would my insurance be valid?

Should be if accidental damage / wear and tear is covered. Double check your policy or call your insurer to ask

Me and the Mrs are thinking of getting E-Bromptons.
We are never really planning to lock them up and leave them, but as we know sometimes you have to with any bike.
Given the way they fold up it looks like an ABUS Bordo is the most convenient option (also folds down really compact which is good for attaching it to the frame) as you can get it through both wheels and frame when folded.
Now for the value of the bikes, the insurer's approved lock level would be the Bordo 6000; this lock however is much more vulnerable than the bigger (and much heavier) Bordo 6500.

If they're going to be insured (new for old) then I'm tempted to just buy the smaller/cheaper/lighter 6000 as they have approved it anyway, so we'd still be getting full coverage.

Or does that seem daft?

The idea of paying to insure your bike and then going overboard with security (beyond the insurers requirements) seems like a bit of a waste to me, just curious as to what others think.

Would your bike getting nicked inconvenience you? What's the policy excess? Are there other conditions relating to theft claims? If nothing else, your premium will rise following a theft claim.

The suggested lock is a minimum requirement and there's nothing to stop you increasing the security. It doesn't apply to you (as you would be meeting the underwriter's terms), but in law the insured is required to behave as a prudent person without insurance would do.

Good points, Would probably also have to factor in the fact that if one got nicked they other would too (as they'll be together most of the time) so that makes the premium and excess a bit more of an issue.

It's probably gonna have to be the bulky versions of the lock I reckon.
I've got a fair few kg's to lose myself, so can counteract the extra lock weight with that!

Are the excesses per bike or per claim? I thought they were usually per claim.

Good point, i'll check that on the quote, I've never had to claim insurance on anything so it's all a bit alien to me.

Yeah I reckon it should be per claim. If your house gets burgled, you shouldn't pay an excess on every item. Don't see why it should be any different with your bikes