Ok this one is in conjunction with our Poll sponsor Yellow Jersey.
How are your precious bikes covered? Included in your house insurance? More specific/specialist cover? Or not insured at all?
If you have specialist cover or home cover that you think is good then let us know about it in the replies.
Well. it's specific cover with the house insurance. I guess its good....You only know they're good if you claim. One I can say for certain is NOT GOOD is Legal & General.
It's on the house. Luckily never had to test it!
Also got an add-on to the van insurance for if they're in there
I'm with Pedal Cover, in the middle of a claim now, going smoothly so far but I'd accidentally under-insured the bike (hadn't fully catered for the costs of some upgrades), given adding the entire bike didn't increase my premium it's a bit silly on my part and means I'll only get a percentage of the total claim so I'd advise double checking how much you have cover for and erring on the side of over-insuring if anything! Also if you have a fancier set of wheels you swap between bikes make sure you add their value to each bike as you won't know which one it's on if you need to make a claim (assuming they don't all get stolen or all accidentally damaged)
Pretty sure it's with the house insurance, but how much they'd pay out if nicked I don't know, pretty much all of them are custom built & old, so book value would be not a lot.
My 2 ‘good ones’ live in the house but are not insured as I feel they are safe enough and the 2 older ones live in the shed uninsured.
At one point, mine had to be insured as an art collection on the house insurance 😳
Pretty sure it's with the house insurance
Default cycle insurance with house insurance is usually limited £500 and various things like, only locked in the house. You have to list the bikes as specified items to insure expensive ones and insure them away from the home. I had a Sheila's Wheels policy previously where you just stated the highest value bike and they were all insured to that value.. that was unusual. If you're "pretty sure" does that mean you've not checked the small print??
I have two bikes as named items on my Halifax home insurance.
I had my Cube Hyde commuter stolen back in 2016 and Halifax were quick to sort a new for old replacement to the original RRP of the bike despite it being purchased used from eBay (£450 vs £1000).
Specialist cover here.
I wonder how many of the people clicking 'covered under home insurance' are actually, truly, fully aware of what they are, and are not, covered for. I am fairly confident that a lot of them are not half as well insured as they think they are.
Specialist insurance with LAKA, mine is above the max price point for our insurer.
If you're "pretty sure" does that mean you've not checked the small print??
Correct, I've no bikes of great value & therefore doubt that I'd be targeted, worst case scenario would be fire in detached garage which is a slim chance. I'm fairly happy to effectively self insure anyway, although not to the extent of a friend who's uninsured house had his roof gutted by fire*
* Friend parked campervan on drive, exhaust caught garden waste underneath whilst they were out, campervan went up, was in gear so when it shorted out it trundled forward to fence which spread to shed by house, flames licked up into eaves & destroyed roof, water damage did the rest 😕 workshop also went up & neighbours doors, windows & guttering were melted by heat a full driveway width away.
I wonder how many of the people clicking 'covered under home insurance' are actually, truly, fully aware of what they are, and are not, covered for. I am fairly confident that a lot of them are not half as well insured as they think they are.
I'm very well covered for my bikes, unspecified, in a garage, as part of my house insurance. They are also covered when I'm out and about, as long as they are secured to an unmoveable object (and a bike rack counts on a car/van counts as unmoveable).
I'm very well covered for my bikes, unspecified
Who's is that with? Actually, I think mine are unspecified on the current policy (Admiral)
how many of the people clicking 'covered under home insurance' are actually, truly, fully aware of what they are, and are not, covered for.
They just need to check with their insurer. Or switch to one that does cover them sufficiently. I'd be surprised if many actually need to pay through the nose for the specific cover a bicycle insurance company offers. I've always found suitable cover via home insurance.
wonder how many of the people clicking 'covered under home insurance' are actually, truly, fully aware of what they are, and are not, covered for. I am fairly confident that a lot of them are not half as well insured as they think they are.
Named items, specific values, in and out of home with caveats around what it must be locked with etc
Specialist home insurance with pedal cover. All the others are a minefield of insured bike value, whether it’s trumped by the garage/outbuildings limit, or if it only applies when away from home. Hard to find policies that appear to truly cover valuable bikes in all scenarios without lots of T&C reading!
Yellow Jersey were stupidly expensive when I looked at covering my £8k ebike
We couldn’t find any house insurance that would cover the ebike and 2 road bikes ata reasonable price so went for a separate policy underwritten by Axa
As said above though, unfortunately until you claim you have no idea how good or bad the process will be
There seems to be an annual thread here about bikes on house insurance. Maybe Yellow Jersey could use the search function.
Typically it's been M and S or Pedal Cover. Pedal Cover priced themselves out for a while. Either they've come back, or M and S caught up.
Either way, whenever I check the specialist prices it's just silly money. When building contents and bikes however you do it reach a four figure total it's getting too expensive.
I wonder how many of the people clicking 'covered under home insurance' are actually, truly, fully aware of what they are, and are not, covered for. I am fairly confident that a lot of them are not half as well insured as they think they are.
I'm very well covered thanks with a home insurance policy that also covers me and accessories out and about but does not require me to carry around a 7Kg lock on a 7Kg bike.
We also have a policy underwritten by AXA. We actually still use a broker as we've had really good service from them over the years and our house policy also covers a chunk of what would normally be holiday specific insurance (although not specifically for riding)
Similar to @scotroutes, the bikes in the big shed are insured as long as that shed is locked. No additional security needed (although we have it), same for on the car / trailer, UK and abroad if locked to something, damage from being transported including airlines, etc. I can't remember the whole policy but it's comprehensive. And expensive but we have 9 bikes in the shed, and all I do every year is send an updated spreadsheet of the bikes/parts/serial numbers.
We did look at a separate policy but we couldn't get that kind of coverage. And the costs looked more as well.
2 are on the house insurance, the rest aren't but should be
M&S home insurance, underwritten by Aviva. Added specific bike cover.
Chose this not just because they were competitively priced, but also I only had to 'declare' the highest value bike (& then all would be covered) but biggest plus is they do not require any Gold/certified locks or security. Spoke to them to make sure but they are happy if I have them behind a locked door or secured to an immovable object with any type of lock
Was exactly the same with my previous Barclays policy which was also underwritten by Aviva.
Mine are insured as specific named items on the house insurance through Esure. Seems a reasonable deal and comes in significantly cheaper than insuring them through a dedicated cycle insurer - I have checked several and the premiums came in so high I could have bought better new bikes after about 3 years of paying the insurance.
This was very disappointing considering I live in a low crime area and they are securely locked away. Perhaps it's because I live in a relatively well-off area the bike insurance companies are using some sort of wealth premium?
Only house insurance, and I couldn't even tell you the details. My bikes are old tourers and a 90s MTB. There has been no shed or garage done in my street in the 35 years I have lived here.
Crime ranking for post code is 6773 of 6976 zones in Scotland. Which is not bad for a street within 7 miles of Glasgow city centre. I still have a very secure shed though, no point making it easy. Hard enough they go somewhere else and the dogs would alert us if anyone was trying.
No insurance for bikes away from the house but as I have never had one stolen I guess self insurance works for me. I could replace my best tourer for maybe £1500 and have saved far more than that over the years.
I will never consider insurance for bikes on home insurance again.
1 year old heavily upgraded carbon enduro bike and few month old full suss trail bike stolen from our garage ( attached to house).
The Enduro bike was detailed on policy. The trail bike apparently covered by the ‘normal’ part of the insurance.
An initial settlement by £1500 Halfords voucher was argued. We finally got £3200.
Both bikes would have cost best part of £9 k to replace properly and , at the time I could ill afford to stump up the difference.
I ‘replaced’ my hard earned, costly and carefully upgraded bike with a bottom of the pile gravel bike, my Mrs replaced hers with a hard tail.
Zero faith in the world of insurance.
Disappointed and utterly disillusioned.
Policy, small print, customer services. Spoken and written words not worth a jot.
it now takes best part of 15mins to get a bike out to ride now, owing to hugely beefed up security.
Ours is up for renewal. Just got the letter from m and s saying they are no longer doing it
They have passed our info to Aviva but the quote from Aviva on a like for like doesn't cover any bikes and bears no resemblance to our old one.
Need to ring them and see whats on offer
I'm with Aviva but it's the AvivaPlus policy which, IIRC, is not available to new customers.
I'm in the same position as you Tracey, our m&s policy expires in a couple of months. Unsure who we will switch to yet but I doubt it'll be as good as the m&s cover.
I also have a 3rd party accident policy with Laka for just £18/year!
Need to ring them and see whats on offer
Good luck. I was in the same boat a few months ago and ended up with AA insurance which is very similar to the M&S in terms of bikes but no fences blown over in a storm cover (which is the only real difference). Bit pricier too but no need for ridiculous security measures.
Swapped from years of pedal cover - goes up £100 a year. Now £900.
Swapped to Sheila's Wheels which was pretty much the same cover with bikes as specified amounts. 6 of them all 4k plus.
And was half the price.
I am fairly confident that a lot of them are not half as well insured as they think they are.
Mine are individually listed as items and I make sure each renewal that they're covered for where they're stored and likewise when they're away from the house. I'm confident I'm as insured as I need to be.
Update for those with M and S policies
After a long chat with Aviva this morning about like for like and covering all our bikes same as they were with M and S they only needed the make and model of the most expensive bike, S Works Turbo Levo, and how many we have. They had a quick check with the underwriter and we have the same level of cover with a big saving on last year
Oof, £900, is that including building and general contents or just bikes?! Mine's just over £500 with Pedalcover and covers over £20k of named bikes (+ buildings and general contents),
Nope, I’ve never bothered with house/content insurance either
As Spannermonkey above, however we've just had a letter saying that the policy is due to expire in April & will not be re offered. The letter suggested we went to Aviva direct. Which I will be doing shortly.
A shame really, after years of struggling M&S were great, only the most expensive bike had to be named/valued, over away from home world wide, Premium on everything else, & it was very reasonable cost.
And now just read the rest of the thread - thanks Tracy - will ring Aviva.
I'm with QuotemeHappy, I think the bikes are unspecified. I didn't pay much attention but was a recommendation from a neighbour who is fastidious with this kind of detail and has more bikes than me.
Specialist cover for my cargo bike. The rest on the house.
Via the house insurance. I replied to the other thread on this as well. Insured through lemonade, they were one of the few companies who would meet all the requirements put out by our mortgage lender and were flexible on the cover. Ie I could tweak and tailor our cover exactly to what we needed. Cost more than the alternatives but having gone through their t's and c's im comfortable relying on them, atleast until the time comes to use them and see how that goes.
Added my bike the policy the other week which cost an extra £5.10 a month, my other bike is 10 year old specialized enduro so covered under normal contents coverage due it now probably worth about 500 quid, though with excess at 250 quid it's probably not worth claiming if that one gets pinched.
Got my new bike down for 7100 in value, paid 5250 due to deals and sales but if it all had to be purchased at rrp 7100 would be replacement cost. Secured in a locking roller doored garage with a gold secure rated lock and chain, fitted to a epoxy cemented ground anchor. I don't lock my older bike up, my idea is if someone manages to get past the garage door then they've got an expensive ebike with battery removed and locked up that they will need a couple of angle grinders for a still decent looking analogue enduro bike that they can grab and roll out with 😂
With my house insurance, and have been forever. Worrying to read about contents by Aviva not possibly covering in future.
The one time I went with a specialist company they were utterly sh*te, lied to me and cost more....so never again.
I have the M&S insurance and its not going to be renewed as others have said. I was going to change anyway as it had become stupidly expensive. However one thing that puzzles me - how do you know the rebuild cost for your property that insurers want to know? In the past I have just said twice the actual value to make sure I am not under insured but that seems rather inexact.
any clues?
Aviva have based ours on a bedrooms. Think it's up to 5 even though we dont have five.
Worked out at a big saving over what we paid M and S last year. So much so I thought they hadn't added on the bikes.
Yeah... Bikes covered as extra/individual items extra to the main policy. But.... After my last bikes were nicked, the valuer estimated the bikes to be worth way more than I'd insured them for. Consequently because the bikes were stolen from my home, not off site, they were actually covered entirely by my home policy and in less than a week they paid out $15k, which was nice. I didn't ask too many questions, and I've not had any issues since.