Why is bike insurance so insanely expensive????
Discussion
I've just been looking at cycle insurance policies for a total of three bikes worth £5,800. The cheapest I could find was around £650!!!
This is the same as my unlimited buildings and contents insurance with all sorts of add ons, and more than I was paying to ensure a 4.6 litre V8 with an insured value of just over twice that!!
How on earth are bike insurance companies justifying their premiums? To make it more annoying, all the cycling charities are in on the act at these sorts of prices as well!
This is the same as my unlimited buildings and contents insurance with all sorts of add ons, and more than I was paying to ensure a 4.6 litre V8 with an insured value of just over twice that!!
How on earth are bike insurance companies justifying their premiums? To make it more annoying, all the cycling charities are in on the act at these sorts of prices as well!
I agree, I've just bought a new bike (2nd hand granted) but it was still £2.5k, and to insure it for it's RRP - £4.5k it's over £500 a year!
Instead i've started a savings account with £50 a month going into it - hopefully I won't need to use it and after a couple of years I'll have a useful deposit for something outrageously expensive :-)
Instead i've started a savings account with £50 a month going into it - hopefully I won't need to use it and after a couple of years I'll have a useful deposit for something outrageously expensive :-)
It's because people think a bike lock from the pound shop is adequate to secure their new £1000 CTW scheme jobby.
I saw it this morning, in fact. Bloke on a Cube LTD, looked brand new, locking it up next to me, using a 3 digit combination lock that I wouldn't trust to lock my mudguards up with.
Only bike I leave at the station is a 20+ year old Merlin, worth about £100. With £100 worth of locks on it.
I saw it this morning, in fact. Bloke on a Cube LTD, looked brand new, locking it up next to me, using a 3 digit combination lock that I wouldn't trust to lock my mudguards up with.
Only bike I leave at the station is a 20+ year old Merlin, worth about £100. With £100 worth of locks on it.
HereBeMonsters said:
It's because people think a bike lock from the pound shop is adequate to secure their new £1000 CTW scheme jobby.
I saw it this morning, in fact. Bloke on a Cube LTD, looked brand new, locking it up next to me, using a 3 digit combination lock that I wouldn't trust to lock my mudguards up with.
Only bike I leave at the station is a 20+ year old Merlin, worth about £100. With £100 worth of locks on it.
That makes sense on the surface, but surely the sort of person that would take out bike insurance (whom I would imagine is in the minority of bike owners) would be the person most likely to also have decent locks...I saw it this morning, in fact. Bloke on a Cube LTD, looked brand new, locking it up next to me, using a 3 digit combination lock that I wouldn't trust to lock my mudguards up with.
Only bike I leave at the station is a 20+ year old Merlin, worth about £100. With £100 worth of locks on it.
MadDad said:
Just renewed our house insurance with eSure, £11k of bikes (x5 bikes) insured away from home put £60 on the annual premium - for the same level of cover (excluding racing) cycleguard wanted over £700......
MadDad, I'm with Esure and I'm fairly certain when I last checked with them (2 years or so ago) they would only insure up to £1500 total value. Will contact them again, thanks.ETA: Have sopken to Esure and to insure a bike worth circa £6k it put my premium up by £260pa. Not too bad considering there is no excess on listed items.
Edited by ChrisMCoupe on Wednesday 23 July 13:58
Edited by ChrisMCoupe on Wednesday 23 July 13:58
Kermit power said:
That makes sense on the surface, but surely the sort of person that would take out bike insurance (whom I would imagine is in the minority of bike owners) would be the person most likely to also have decent locks...
Hopefully. in any case, all the stand alone cycle cover that I've seen stipulate the lock quality that must be used. "Gold secure" if the bike's worth any kind of cash.Jimboka said:
Do the cheaper policies stipulate so many super dooper locks that claiming would be impossible?
The AXA home insurance policy just says it has to be locked to an immovable object or car if not in a locked building. There's nothing to say what sort of lock has to be used.From what I can see, the cycle specific insurers are just raping people!
The cycle specific ones are a joke when compared to insurers like Hiscox - and they won't insure above a certain value either.
My more expensive bikes are only insured when in the house- i.e. when I'm away at work etc, as otherwise it was too expensive.
Give Hiscox a whirl, they were quite good for me.
My more expensive bikes are only insured when in the house- i.e. when I'm away at work etc, as otherwise it was too expensive.
Give Hiscox a whirl, they were quite good for me.
ChrisMCoupe said:
MadDad said:
Just renewed our house insurance with eSure, £11k of bikes (x5 bikes) insured away from home put £60 on the annual premium - for the same level of cover (excluding racing) cycleguard wanted over £700......
MadDad, I'm with Esure and I'm fairly certain when I last checked with them (2 years or so ago) they would only insure up to £1500 total value. Will contact them again, thanks.ETA: Have sopken to Esure and to insure a bike worth circa £6k it put my premium up by £260pa. Not too bad considering there is no excess on listed items.
The other week I saw a nice young girl 20s on a bike, she cycled up to the front of a local shopping outlet and the proceeded to lock her bike to a nearby post. She successfully done this however it was only a flexi lock and the post was just a stump about waist high with nothing ontop.
She buggered off inside, bike was still there 5mins later though
She buggered off inside, bike was still there 5mins later though
The other week I saw a nice young girl 20s on a bike, she cycled up to the front of a local shopping outlet and the proceeded to lock her bike to a nearby post. She successfully done this however it was only a flexi lock and the post was just a stump about waist high with nothing ontop.
She buggered off inside, bike was still there 5mins later though
She buggered off inside, bike was still there 5mins later though
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