Anyone bother with bike specific insurance companies?

I’ve had bike covered with Sainsbury home insurance for last three years for £20 a month all in, including bike in outbuilding if desired. Just done a new confused quote tonight and can get bike and house insurance for £12 a month. including bike away from home, quote is from Hastings Direct, underwritten by AXA.

I’ve done a couple of quotes on cycleguard and the like of bike only insurance companies, and they come in at £27-£30 alone just for the bike. They have some extras like roadside rescue etc

Going with the home insurance again seems a no brainer?

As a family of five, with seven bikes, two canoes, five kayaks and a pile of outdoor gear, we have struggled for insurance at reasonable cost.

Specialist policies are good cover, but cost a fortune. Many who do bike cover won’t cover the boats. Some of the specialist insurers are rather fussy about locks, buildings and ‘get out of paying’ clauses.

Normal house insurance won’t touch boats, or pricey bikes (as they have in the past). We were with AXA, M&S and John Lewis for years as they would insure the bikes well, and we ignored the boats.

This year I decided enough was enough, especially after a neighbour disturbed someone in thier backyard in the middle of the night (theft is my concern with bikes and boats). I found that NFU Mutual, AXA Premier (through IFA only) or John Lewis Specialist (NOT normal) would provide the cover we wanted. John Lewis Specialist went out thier way to cover the boats,( I have a letter confirming cover,, despite ambiguous term in thier policy wording), and it has cost £80 more than my renewal with M&S for much, much better cover including bikes and boats and lots of cover away from home.

I’m not sure who buys specialist bike insurance given the cost, unless you really need race cover or roadside rescue the only other reason I can see is if you can’t get home contents insurance (lodger etc.). Otherwise the premiums are crazy (about 10% of the insured value last time I got a quote), that would work out 3x my current contents insurance (inc. named bikes up to £5k) just for bike cover.

I’ve currently got the bikes covered on a (way too expensive) home insurance policy but it does cover everything, in and outdoors, including some quite expensive items.

When I’ve looked into getting a cheaper home insurance product it’s been the bikes that have been the issue and a separate policy plus less expensive home insurance has been about the same price.

Specific bike cover may include a replacement if you break it riding it, my colleagues did anyway.

Specific bike cover may include a replacement if you break it riding it

So did my house contents. (When knocked off MTB by car (my fault), replaced everything that needed to be, also my carbon frame cracked after an off and was replaced)

I’m now with Hastings after a confused.com quote.

Maybe bike specific is for people who don’t own their own home. Or some seem to be worried that their house contents won’t give them enough cover. It does IME.
Other people just like to pay more money for stuff than they need to, it’s a middle class thing 😉

Good results!

Yeah my home contents cover includes new-for-old replacement on the bikes