A few weeks ago my son’s bike was stolen from school. His was not the only one, the school has their faces on cctv, but I think we’re not going to see his bike again.

It wasn’t the greatest bike ever, a bottom of the range Giant, but it was ok. I bought it for about £450 around two years ago.

Is it worth claiming on the insurance for it, or will my premiums go up enough that it would be better to just suck it up and get a second-hand ten year old raleigh/peugeot/etc on fleabay?

P.S. if you are locking up your bike at school, don’t try to save thirty seconds by only using your crappy cable lock rather than the nice D-lock your crazy old dad bought for you.

After the excess and what you will pay in increased premiums over the next 3-5 years I’d not bother.

If the insurer your with have an online quite portal do a quick quote without the claim/ with your no claims bonus and then with the claim/without contents no claims bonus (possibly 3 quotes saying was this year, 2013 and. 2012) and that will give you a rough idea of the increase.

I claimed £500 for a mobile phone, no excess, premium went up about £30. Worth it for me.