My bike’s singled out on the policy, but I don’t know if it just covers theft.

Anyone ever claimed a cracked frame on accidental damage and been successful? I haven’t done anything with the bike it wasn’t designed for.

I know it’s a remote chance but worth asking the question

claim they can only say no, whats the risk?

Knew of a chap I spoke to at the LBS , who had a carbon Cube road bike. The frame had cracked and the importer wouldn’t warranty it. He weight 6 stone wet through and I can say it very much looked like a defect frame. He therefore was having to go through accidental damage on his house insurance as the only way round Cubes lack of help. Put me off Cubes and him, as he was at the local Specialized store.

I had a big off, wrote off a DH bike (Cracked), got that replaced with the accidental damage on my bike insurance. I did submit a copy of my hospital report with the claim though…

I also snapped a shock in half and claimed for a new one I bought whilst on holiday.

These were both specialist bike insurance though.

I have a mate who successfully claimed for a broken frame on his house insurance.

I think its doable, just claim for a sensible amount, i.e. like for like would probably be about 1.75k but a end of season 1k bike will be better as yours is made of parts all around 4 or more years old.

Therefore just claim the 1k and make sure you have everything they ask for or suitable alternatives such as a valuation if you don’t have receipts.

yup my mate smashed his carbon ‘dale flash on some rocks in the lakes and successfully claimed accidental damage on household insurance. They let him keep the frame too and didn’t ask for any evidence!!

Just remember that if you make a claim your premium will go up and you will not be able to swap to a different insurer for 5 years.

After our burglary it was the largest cost as no other insurer would take us on as new business until we had 5 clear claim free years. Current insurer knew they could up the premium and nothing we could really do about it.

woody74 – Just remember that if you make a claim your premium will go up and you will not be able to swap to a different insurer for 5 years.

Whats the point in having insurance if you are too frightened to claim because your policy will go up? and I’ve made claims and swapped insurer every year without any problem

RSA paid out for my recently broken (road) race bike in an RTA. I have no doubt that they would pay out again if I did the same in a race. It was more than a crack 😉

Current insurer knew they could up the premium and nothing we could really do about it.

RSA were the only one who provided the cover for our bikes (through a tandem club broker). They paid out for a large burglary before the above claim. It’s what insurance is for.

Just realised a little nuance. Our current insurance expires in November and we’ve already arranged the next year’s cover.

Just remember that if you make a claim your premium will go up and you will not be able to swap to a different insurer for 5 years.

Well that’s a sweeping statement. I moved to a different and cheaper insurer after an accidental claim (£1.3K) 3 years ago.

I’ve done it – they only covered damage sustained in a specific incident though so if your bike cracked after a jump or a crash and you could say “it happened like this on this day” then you’re laughing.

If you just have an out of warranty wear and tear crack etc then they wouldn’t touch it.

Just realised a little nuance. Our current insurance expires in November and we’ve already arranged the next year’s cover.

I had a similar with my car insurance (claim after having had renewal notice for the coming year). Got a letter from them saying “due to your claim you now haven’t earned a NCB for this year so your premium for next year has increased”. Was about £30 more.

I’ve claimed after arranging the new stuff, I think I only had a week left, rang them and they said they’d cancel it and I could reapply, I think it cost me abut 40 quid.

Cracked frame? Twice, and successful both times. The only hassle was they didn’t want the old frames so I had to skip them. On the scale of hassle on a 1 to 10 basis, that didn’t even register.

FWIW I now insure with NFU. They have amended their policy wording (accidental damage)with relation to damage to bikes covered under the policy. The new wording excludes damage while racing if done so by a ‘professional’ racer and the same applies to liability. Otherwise, you pretty much have blanket cover for normal risks.

I guess the ‘professional’ aspect pretty much excludes all of us then. 🙂

of those who have had success, who has it been with?

Im not saying don’t claim but it is worth thinking about the long term cost of you insurance compared to the cost of the fame. Strange that others were able to move after making claims. After we were burgled every year I tried to get cheaper quotes from other insurance companies and every time they would not take us on as we didn’t have 5 clear years claim free. That was going to the main players and not with a broker so I wonder if that made a difference. Bloody annoying as I totally agree thats what insurance is for.

I’ve just used a comparison site every time & listed my claims, never had a problem or been asked for a minimum number of years NCD.

Cracked frame paid for by M&S household insurance here – they paid the amount the LBS quoted me for a replacement (without ever inspecting the frame).

Unless of course you tell them “it happened like this on this day” 😉

I crashed my ASR5c. The frame was creaking afterwards so claimed on accidental damage. Paid out without any problems. That was M&S

Quick poll of the guys in the office, all those that have claimed have never had to an issue with changing the year after and the rough average policy increase seems to be about 40 quid.

It’d just ring up and ask them

I’d also probably be looking to claim for a whole new bike as you don’t know what additional stresses have been caused by the crack on other components

Depends on how sharp the claims people are and what caused the crack, if it’s due to fatigue it shouldn’t be covered but if it was a crash then it should. On the not being able to move insurers thing that would likely to have been because it was a burglary claim, and I expect a big one. With some types of claims (burglary, flood and subsidence mainly) there’s less chance and insurance company are likely to take a punt on it, as there’s often an recurrence shortly afterwards.

If it’s an expensive claim, have a go why not, you can always speak to your insurer and see what difference it makes to your premium, and if you do claim and it’s not worth it, you can always pay the claim back.

Well I’ve rung them and been entirely open. They were very good about it all and are sending someone to take a look.

Update: not covered. Wear and tear. If there had been “some visible signs of impact” then it would have been covered. the fact that the frame overall has clearly taken a smack and that’s where the stress has manifested seems immaterial.

Gutted.

Sorry to hear that – mine was very obviously crash damage, though the insurance company never inspected it.

My house insurance is covering my incredibly stupid decision to forget about a 2m barrier with my bike on the roof…

If there had been “some visible signs of impact” then it would have been covered

so next time make sure that there are visible signs of impact before you make a claim…

Am I missing a trick by not adding accidental cover on my home insurance?

I can’t remember what cost this feature was to add onto the policy