We recently got the home insurance renewal through and the premium had almost doubled; it turns out that the underwriters have changed the way they value and insure bicycles – and that caused the premium hike.

Project Management doesn’t want to change insurers as the existing premium is good for the timber framed house we live in so she’s taken the bike cover off.

So… please speak to me about policies for bike cover against theft, etc., any recommendations? A couple of bikes worth up to £2k kept in a garage/workshop.

Thanks.

probably non cheaper than the bundled price…

Tell the ‘project manager’ that she/he/it is being a bit daft. Just get the cheapest quote for the buildings + contents inc bikes. If that is with your existing insurer + separate policy for the bikes then fair enough but I’ll bet you a fiver that’s not the cheapest way.

Can you get buildings contents with current insurer and contents inc bikes from somewhere else? That will be cheaper than a bikes-only policy.

I had a look at bikes-only insurance a few years ago and it was ridiculously expensive. Approximately twice as much as my current (buildings + contents) premium to insure 1/20th of the value.

The main thing I’ve found about getting the cheap deals for bikes is to get an insurer that doesn’t put too many restrictions on. I just renewed cover last week with Hastings Direct and it seemed to be the cheapest option, mainly because it didn’t require the bikes to be stipulated separately. They just come under a ‘general valuables’ heading. Fully insured in & outside the house. Winner.

Back when I had a posher bike to insure and we were renting, I foolishly chose to take out a separate policy specifically for it, needless to say it was an utter rip off, the best cover seeds to come as part of a buildings and contents deal IME.

These days I don’t have a pricey bike, just several average ones, the total value of the lot is probably way more than our insurance company realise.