Bicycle Insurance

[dave123456]

I’m in a position where my home insurance doesn’t cover my bikes anymore, has anyone had good experience of insurance.

Theft
Racing
Abroad

Are the areas I’d be most interested in.

Many thanks

[SoliD]

Every year I go through this and every year i end up with home insurance with cover for each of my bikes individually listed, most of the laka, bikmo companies want 70-100 per month, yet home insurance is 600-700 total despite a £26k claim last year( before that it was 300 or so) unfortunately M&S are no longer doing insurance via Aviva who i've been with for the last 5 years or so. Home insurance covers accidetnal damage and theft, but not usually racing.

[Wardy78]

It's not the racing that becomes an issue, in my experience. It's merely riding.

I used to insure my bikes just on my household policy. Full value, theft, accidental damage, even transportation, brilliant.

But then I had an off and did £3k worth of damage. Not covered when actually riding the bike.

So I've had separate insurance ever since. I got taken down last year by another rider and did £7k of damage to my bike. His 3rd party insurance were useless so I had to claim on mine.

[Dannbodge]

I've been with Bikmo for years and they cover all that.

Since then I've moved to cycleplan, mainly because I got massive discount but it covers as much as Bikmo ever did.

On Bikmo I was paying £65pm, now I'm paying £30

[SaTTaN]

I'm using Laka - they have options for all of what you mention.

Should say it's only really as they had an offer when I got my bike via C2W and (fingers crossed) I've not had to make a claim but it's easy to setup

[Wardy78]

I'm with Laka. They were very average when I needed to claim. High issues with them and it took over 5 months to get it sorted. They admitted their failings, but for a product that was/is costing me c£120/mth it was underwhelming. I'm going to move, probably to Bikmo but will check put cycloplan as mentioned above, but their coverage was low last time I looked.

[Harpoon]

I've used a few new.

Had a year with Wiggle Insurance which was run by Gator Insurance. Last time I looked they also ran Sunday Insurance and Direct Line's specialist bike cover. Remember them being relatively high pressure to sign-up if they did you a quote.

Also had a few years with Velosure but one year I swapped from single payment back to monthly. They forgot to setup the DD so never charged me and they didn't realise until something like month 10 of the 12. At that point they wanted me to pay for the whole year there and then. They did handle my complaint well and I ended up cancelling the policy for no cost and getting £50 from them for the hassle.

Currently with Eversure which is £320 p/a for a £7500 bike and £2000 of accessories with worldwide cover.

[Dog Star]

How the heck do these companies justify these premiums for push irons - it’s ludicrous. They’re more than I’m paying for any vehicle I own and generally double what I’m paying for a 20k motorcycle. I pay £100 for a 250 enduro bike which is a total theft magnet.

I pay £40 a year for the “extra” cover for cycles on our house insurance (Aviva I think) - any number of bikes but based on the most expensive (my Canyon eMtb at 5.5k so it also covers the wife’s Canyon eMtb at 3.5k). Cover is pretty comprehensive and worldwide. TBH the major factor is theft and probably running into someone, but compared to a car or motorbike the third party risks must be pretty small.

[Wardy78]

Dog Star said:

How the heck do these companies justify these premiums for push irons - it’s ludicrous. They’re more than I’m paying for any vehicle I own and generally double what I’m paying for a 20k motorcycle. I pay £100 for a 250 enduro bike which is a total theft magnet.

I pay £40 a year for the “extra” cover for cycles on our house insurance (Aviva I think) - any number of bikes but based on the most expensive (my Canyon eMtb at 5.5k so it also covers the wife’s Canyon eMtb at 3.5k). Cover is pretty comprehensive and worldwide. TBH the major factor is theft and probably running into someone, but compared to a car or motorbike the third party risks must be pretty small.

Yeah, true....but that £120/mth is fully insuring 3 bikes (a £15k custom, £7k branded road & £4k gravel), plus accessories and clothes.

And the biggest element isn't theft, it's being covered whilst you are riding, and that is where house policies fall over. As mentioned above, I did around £7k of damage to my bike whilst riding. No house policy would have covered that.

[Dog Star]

My house policy covers riding.

[Wardy78]

Dog Star said:

My house policy covers riding.

And would cover all damage to your bike/accessories/clothing? Very unusual if so.

But if so....who are you insured with? If they'll cover my bikes I'd save £4-figure a year!!

[addey]

Pretty sure most home insurance policies will cover riding (basically accidental damage away from the home, so that would need to be specified) but won't cover racing. The specialist insurers seem to cover racing.

I've actually given up on insuring my bikes, having previously added them to my home insurance for an extra premium. At home they are in a locked shed but I can't be bothered with all the specific requirements to then lock them up whilst in there (certain standards of lock etc.) so decided if they did get nicked they wouldn't pay out anyway! I never leave my bikes unattended away from the home, and I do my best to avoid self-inflicted crashes

[Dannbodge]

Wardy78 said:

I'm with Laka. They were very average when I needed to claim. High issues with them and it took over 5 months to get it sorted. They admitted their failings, but for a product that was/is costing me c£120/mth it was underwhelming. I'm going to move, probably to Bikmo but will check put cycloplan as mentioned above, but their coverage was low last time I looked.

I have more cover with Cycloplan than I did with Bikmo (and I had the top level cover with Bikmo for racing).


In regards to the home insurance thing, all the home insurers that I have used only cover up to £1500 per bike. Not particularly helpful when your bike is worth 10x that.

[Wardy78]

addey said:

Pretty sure most home insurance policies will cover riding (basically accidental damage away from the home, so that would need to be specified) but won't cover racing. The specialist insurers seem to cover racing.

They don't. I, unfortunately, speak from experience. It's not classed as accidental damage.

Once I lost out on a £3k claim, I looked into it in depth. I didn't find a single household policy that would cover damage to the bike whilst it was being ridden.

[Wardy78]

Dannbodge said:

Wardy78 said:

I'm with Laka. They were very average when I needed to claim. High issues with them and it took over 5 months to get it sorted. They admitted their failings, but for a product that was/is costing me c£120/mth it was underwhelming. I'm going to move, probably to Bikmo but will check put cycloplan as mentioned above, but their coverage was low last time I looked.

I have more cover with Cycloplan than I did with Bikmo (and I had the top level cover with Bikmo for racing).


In regards to the home insurance thing, all the home insurers that I have used only cover up to £1500 per bike. Not particularly helpful when your bike is worth 10x that.

Just run a quote through Cycleplan, only £520 per year!!

Thanks - that's my next stop!