Who to insure an ex...
 

[Closed] Who to insure an expensive bike with?

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Mrs Beener has won herself a custom ti framed bike that is specced pretty highly with CK and Enve and DA di2 hydraulic.

Needless to say its worth more than her car and she wants to insure it against theft and it being damaged in moments of stupidity.

Is it best to approach our house insurer? Or a bespoke bike insurer. It appears to be worth about 8k to replace.......


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:02 am
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My bike/s are covered for a reasonably small premium with More Than on our house insurance, but only to £5k. Not sure if they go to £8k or not.

I can leave it leant up outside the shop and it's still covered iirc

Nationwide wouldn't give me cover


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 9:10 am
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Pedalcover here. Speak to your home insurers and see what it would cost to add it as a specified item though.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 9:12 am
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Pedalcover. Can't recommend them highly enough.
Have several bikes on my home contents insurance through them, max value per bike is £10k, no need to list them all and no limit on the number of bikes.
And you get to speak to a real (and very pleasant) person.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 9:20 am
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Mrs Beener has won herself a custom ti framed bike

😀

And you believe this.......


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 10:26 am
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I can leave it leant up outside the shop and it's still covered iirc

are you sure? I would have thought any insurance company would refuse to pay out based on not taking reasonable precautions.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 10:28 am
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Pretty much what I was told when I took the cover out.

Not that I'd leave it unlocked outside the shops


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 10:31 am
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And you believe this.......

Perhaps it's an On-One?


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 10:32 am
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The AA cover up to at least that amount if you declare it


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 10:37 am
 irc
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Pretty much what I was told when I took the cover out.

I'd go by what is in writing rather than a verbal assurance.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 10:59 am
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Bikes are usually covered under the unspecified possessions part of your household insurance. I wonder how many people are paying for a separate bike policy because they don't realise this?

We always check that our house insurer knows and has noted that we have valuable bikes in the locked adjoining garage. The only condition is that they must be in our sight when we are out of the house, which isn't a problem.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 11:11 am
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RSA cover our bikes on our house insurance. We pay through the nose, but they have paid out many £K for stolen and broken bikes over the past five years.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 11:22 am
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Don't assume bikes or anything else are covered just because they "usually" are. If they are, there's often a limit on the value of each unspecified item (£1000 for some). That is below the value of many bikes.

If your bike does get nicked and is covered, then great. But many insurers won't let you replace like for like from whichever shop you want etc etc.

Pedalcover for me. A lot cheaper than the competition when I switched last year, similar price this year.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 11:36 am
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Bikes are usually covered under the unspecified possessions part of your household insurance. I wonder how many people are paying for a separate bike policy because they don't realise this?

Very rare actually, there's nearly always an exclusion for "pedal cycles" with a limit, typically of £500 or £1000 unless otherwise named. M&S famously used to cover them regardless. I recall that Hastings Direct did on a 'premium' policy too, but it's far from common.

Even if you're naming it an £8k bike will likely be over what many companies will want to underwrite, or they'll make it very unappealing. RSA (who are Moreth>n and underwrite John Lewis and now Nationwide) wouldn't previously insure a single bike of that amount, haven't tried for a while admittedly.

Pedal Cover are the obvious one, their premiums are excellent, cover is good, the only thing which makes me slightly twitchy is that no one seems to have ever claimed with them, and that's about the only time I really care what sort of service I get from my insurer!

Even £8k could be an underestimation too FWIW, Enves are £3k, groupset is £2.5k, guessing the frame is probably £2k+, I wouldn't be surprised if it was nearer £10k. Unless it's a Planet X


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 11:41 am
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Bikemo sorted me out in hours. Couldn't recommend them highly enough


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:08 pm
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I'm bafffled as to how people are getting these cheap policies. Pedalcover want something like £30 a month to cover my 5k MTB. House insurance policies were something like £300 extra a year with it included. My House policy is less than £200 for the insurance (contents and buildings)...


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:10 pm
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I wouldn't say it is cheap. But it's the best solution I'm aware of.

I think I'm paying £390 with Pedal Cover all in for buildings and contents insurance.

In Pedal Cover's policies of that type, bikes are unspecified items, for which there is £9000 cover worldwide (I don't tell them what bikes I've got). Which I think is a different approach to other companies who stick it on as a named item.

Equally important for me is I pick who does the repairs/replacements i.e. LBS, not Wheelies or whoever. This is a clear point in the policy.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:30 pm
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Pedalcover.

Way better cover than anyone else and noticeably cheaper than my previous house+contents NFU policy (and that's with adding an extra £8k of bikes when I switched to Pedalcover).


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:46 pm
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I'm bafffled as to how people are getting these cheap policies. Pedalcover want something like £30 a month to cover my 5k MTB.

Pedalcover [i]is [/i]home insurance...? And you don't need to name your bikes, so the value is irrelevant...


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:46 pm
 a11y
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Pedal Cover... the only thing which makes me slightly twitchy is that no one seems to have ever claimed with them

Yep, that was the only thing that made me nervous going with them this year after poor service from QuoteMeHappy last year. So far can’t fault process of getting quote and taking out policy.

Good advice/chat on the phone (Elliot). Best quote when bikes taken into account. Unlimited contents cover, £15k unspecified worldwide away from home cover inc the bikes, no need to name any of the bikes. And as said above not limited to Wheelies, etc for replacements. Bike just have to be locked to something which can’t be moved.

If anyone ever has to claim from them then feedback would be helpful.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 12:49 pm
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+1 for Bikemo.....

Great service if things go wrong and reasonably priced too.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 1:26 pm
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+1 for Bikemo.....

Great service if things go wrong and reasonably priced too.

You're kidding...? I just just a quote for an £8k bike at my home address and the quote is 3 times what I paid for Pedalcover home insurance, which covers all my bikes.

To get Bikmo cover would cost £1300 for all my (comparatively modest) fleet of bikes. I've never seen a standalone policy that I'd describe as anything but extortionate!


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 1:51 pm
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I can't believe we've got to 23 posts and no one has complained that the thread title ends with a preposition yet.

Yeah, it's a slow day at work.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 2:23 pm
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Best insurance I have found is the most badass motorbike chain you can get your hands on and an equivalent badass ground anchor.

Spend about 3 months worth of insurance premium savings and then sleep happy


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 2:38 pm
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Except if someone wants to nick your bike, then they'll nick it. Regardless of how badass your chain or ground anchor is. Or they'll just take an allen key to it and strip all the bits off.

What if you bike gets damaged in transit during your holiday? etc etc.

Or what if you've got multiple bikes? Do you need multiple ground anchors? Multiple chains?

For some people their situation means a single insurance policy is easier, and for the reasons above it makes more sense to me.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 2:53 pm
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Dear wife I 'won' all my bikes


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 2:56 pm
 Rik
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Direct Line 'Select' for us - no cover away from home but at home you just specify total £ cover (e.g. £100k) you want for your entire contents insurance and bikes are included un-named to any amount within your total cover.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 2:57 pm
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[img] [/img]

13 kilos of chain...


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 2:58 pm
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Another one for Pedalcover. In fact just renewed today.

One thing is the accidental damage cover ... so if I stack it while out riding and write off my frame I believe I'm covered. In my opinion that's more likely to happen than the bike getting stolen.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 3:08 pm
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Or they'll just take an allen key to it and strip all the bits off.

And this is what happened to me with a chain and ground anchor for each bike (4 in total)

I'll check out pedal cover when the renewal is due.. with Adrian flux at the mo and I think they are a bit pricey.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 4:49 pm
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Or what if you've got multiple bikes? Do you need multiple ground anchors? Multiple chains?

eeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yes
I have 3

Or they'll just take an allen key to it and strip all the bits off.

So you buy new bits - once again using the huge pot of money you have saved from not paying expensive premiums on multiple bikes for multiple years


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 4:55 pm
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So you buy new bits - once again using the huge pot of money you have saved from not paying expensive premiums on multiple bikes for multiple years

Doesn't work so well when they lop through the frame and run off with all the bits.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 6:31 pm
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Another vote for pedalcover here.

Buildings, contents and bikes all covered for half what I was paying before


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 7:08 pm
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So you buy new bits - once again using the huge pot of money you have saved from not paying expensive premiums on multiple bikes for multiple years

Self insuring sometimes makes sense. IMO this is not one of those times. You crack on though!


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 8:07 pm
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Pedalcover want something like £30 a month to cover my 5k MTB.

£240 a year with pedalcover for home contents plus 4 bikes with 2 of them over £5k. I can't believe they would want £30 a month to insure 1 bike?


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 9:00 pm
 DT78
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Definitely try pedalcover, nice guys, was insured with them, great price, was burgled, for jewellery and electrics, bikes were left. Moved house one month from end of policy and axa wanted frankly a piss taking amount of money on top of the original premium. Was over an extra £1000. Insured with admiral at the moment and named bikes. Will be trying pedalcover again on renewal but don't hold much hope.


 
Posted : 24/05/2017 9:22 pm
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I was with pedal cover for three years but the premium kept creeping despite no claims. So i tried my luck with Hiscox. The premium for home and contents was about 150 cheaper (1200 - listed house etc) and Hiscox have a good rep.


 
Posted : 25/05/2017 9:28 pm
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Just had my ESure renewal for house and contents - £350 including 4 bikes specified for £6k total. Need to add daughter's new bike.


 
Posted : 25/05/2017 10:00 pm
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OK, prompted by this thread I asked Pedalcover for a quotation. They've given me a number which is less than I currently pay for buildings and contents alone, with the same insurer, but which will apparently cover me for a substantial number of quite expensive bicycles both in the garage and away from home - and incidentally offers a higher level of cover for the buildings and contents too. It really does seem too good to be true - so has anyone successfully made a claim for bike theft or damage under a Pedalcover policy?


 
Posted : 26/05/2017 12:04 pm
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Yeah... that was my exact concern too! If it's a scam it's a very good one.

The logic was that the sort of people using PC are probably those with nice bikes who are taking suitable precautions such that the frequency of thefts is much lower. I literally couldn't find anyone to have claimed, but Axa are reputable, and I went through the policy docs and it all seems totally above board.


 
Posted : 26/05/2017 12:15 pm
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I've not claimed with Pedal Cover but am covered by them for a second year now.

Part of the reason they are competitive is that the main policy has a very high excess to get the premium down and they then bundle an excess protection policy to cover the high excess.


 
Posted : 26/05/2017 1:32 pm