Bike Insurance

Do you guys insure yer pride and joy or not?

And if so with whom?

Mine's covered under my contents insurance as an item temporarily removed from home. Obviously it has to be locked to be covered - think it's with Tesco or someone.

Home contents with Hiscox. They pay cash when replacing stuff, it's insured for £2,400.

Biggest catch with home insurance is that 90% of insurers will only replace a bike with vouchers... which means having to go to Halfords or Evans for the replacement. Make sure you will get cash back in the event that you have to claim.

I've found that my house insurance company (directline) wont cover my new bike.
Anyone got any reccomendations for good standalone policies? I've had a quick google and come up with a few, but personal experience is always handy...

cheers

I'm using cycleguard, fairly cheap but have not had to deal with them yet.. sounds like it'll be a bit of a hassle, but I'd expect that with any insurance company..

stand alone policy's are expensive, getting them on household insurance is cheaper and often has less restrictions

if you have a few bikes it's worth insuring with M&S as they do items up to 2k away from home (like bikes) without any specific locks needed

if like me you are in a 5 bike houshold plus a couple of expensive guitars it's only £450 a year including the usual £20k personal effects if the items (bikes) are under 2k they do not need to be named.

a single policy for a 1k bike is £115 (was the last time i did this 5 years ago with cyclegaurd) a waste of money if you can get it on contents insurance.

that's true.. My bike was considerably cheaper so it worked out around £40 a year.. We don't have household insurance, although we're considering it.. Just haven't had enough time or patience to have a good look around. £450 a year sounds really expensive though..

Also, do you have to pay any excess in case of a claim? I found a few contents insurance policies where you'd have to pay £100/200 excess on claims.. which makes it fairly useless for the bike :|

i'm liking the look of m&s's offerings...now to escape from directline's clutches!

Mine's insured with directline house insurance and so far it has been great.

+1 m&s

Butterworths cycle insurance through LCC membership

http://www.butterworthinsurance.co.uk/

not cheap but includes coverage overseas which has been reassuring given that I've travelled a bit with my bike

I'm with Cycleguard too, not cheap and it was lock specific, but as I paid £1500 for one of my bikes, i thought it worthwhile? Not had to deal with them for a claim mind?

I've heard stories of people coming back to a stripped frame and Cycleguard not paying out because the 'whole bike' had not been taken. With a good home policy your bikes are covered wherever away from the home and for whatever happens, even if you loose it or someone just steals a wheel. They also are not lock specific or at least much less so, the standard of proof they require is much less, meaning much more likely to have a succesful claim.

Just checked the cycleguard website and dang are they expensive. To cover my bikes at the moment they want £640, which is nearly £200 more than my fully comp contents cover from M&S. I also checked their policy wording and 2.2 item 12 excludes cover for ‘Any tires, fixed accessories or REMOVABLE PARTS, unless the bicycle is stolen at the same time’. That’s a friggin’ joke!

They also specify a certain lock, which is linked to the value of your bike. That’s ok I guess, I see where they’re coming from, but then if you can’t produce the receipt and spare key, or the broken lock then they won’t pay out for that either.

With M&S they do not have any requirements as to how things must have been stolen, damaged or lost really.

Just changed my home & contents to m&s - got all the bikes covered, added emergency cover etc and still saved £50...result! thanks guys

i asked m+s about what lock to use and they didn't want to know, they will not be the cheapest rock bottom price for contents but if you have items worth less than 2k that you want to take out of the home (inc bikes) then they are a a good choice. just phone them up and ask if you have any questions i'll be surprised if they can't give you a straight answer
the contents away from home cover is extra and not part of the basic home contents cover.

Hmm all this is going to be such a pain for me when I start uni :( Loads of insurers won't want to know if you bike is kept outside overnight, even if it's got loads of locks (krypto new york 3000, fahgettaboudit chain, evo mini) in a reasonably safe area (e.g. bike sheds with CCTV on the grounds of the halls).

Tell them only what they need to hear..

eeehhhh Hmm all this is going to be such a pain for me when I start uni :( Loads of insurers won't want to know if you bike is kept outside overnight, even if it's got loads of locks (krypto new york 3000, fahgettaboudit chain, evo mini) in a reasonably safe area (e.g. bike sheds with CCTV on the grounds of the halls).

dude keep it in your halls, or your room. thats what I did, leaving outside overnight is just going to cause heartache and a constant case of the "the fear"

They don't allow it.

My plan is to wait a week or two for me to bring my bike up, to assess the whole situation. Then bike bag and sneak it in. There aren't any rules, afterall, saying "no large bags".

Yeah, I know what you mean about "the fear". Get it every day at work. Even though it's on my parent's house insurance, I still worry - simply because the amount of time I've spent sorting it all out.

ok, I've looked at the M&S insurance.. It does look good if you have very expensive bikes. The "away from home" coverage costs an extra £160 pounds on top of the £233 they quoted me for basic standard contents cover. So yeah, it definately makes sense if your bike it worth over £500, or if you need to cover your photo gear as well..

um, if it's covered by your home insurance already you could always just 'bend the truth'...

Also, my halls had an associated insurance policy which covered bikes for an extra 5 quid... try asking!

Actually saying that... losing your bike is shit even if it is insured. Smuggle it into your room. :)

could i ask who is this M&S of which everyone speaks, am looking into getting contents insurance, and with two bikes, (road and bmx) and fix in the process of being put together I'm feeling now is the right time to pull finger out and bite the proverbial bullet.

marks and spencer :)

i didnt read ALL the comments, but make sure your bike is covered OFF your property. we had ours nicked a few months back and More Than decided to tell us "oh, those bikes you asked to be added were only insured if taken from your premesis. would you like to add them now at extra cost?" fuckers