It’s the most wonderful time of the year – home insurance renewal time! Anyway, I wanted to understand the cover, the wording seems a bit vague.

I have questions:
1) Is my bike covered whilst locked up outside work (D-lock & in a locked bike shelter)?
2) Is my bike covered when locked to the roof of my car (Thule 591 with locks – not that I would ever really trust that for any length of time)?
3) Are there any weird exclusions?

Here’s the only applicable wording:

What we cover

Loss of or damage, including accidental damage, to pedal cycles and their accessories belonging to you or your family or for which you or your family are legally responsible.

What we don’t cover
• A motorised or motor assisted pedal cycle. (Suck it, e-Bikers of STW!)
•Theft of a pedal cycle left unattended in a public place
or communal areas when it is not securely locked to a
permanently fixed structure.
•Loss or damage to a pedal cycle when being used for racing, pace making or trials.

Where the pedal cycles are covered
•In your home, inside the boundaries of your home, and temporarily outside the boundaries of your home, including temporarily outside of the British Isles, provided the pedal cycle is in the custody and control of you or your family.
By ‘temporarily’ we mean a period of less than 60 days in a row.

I don’t really understand the temporarily outside the boundaries of your home thing.

It’s Halifax, by the way. Full T&Cs here. http://static.halifax.co.uk/assets/pdf/insurance/pdf/hx-hpa-policy-booklet-latest.pdf#page=34

Does this seem like a reasonable policy?

i assume the temporarily bit means it must normally be kept at the home address but it is covered if you go away with it.
don’t think a car roof rack would be classed as a permanently fixed structure.
not sure on the 1st one, its in a locked shelter but assume other people have access to it so might not be that secure in the insurance companys view.
i’m with the halifax, as long as you specify the bike the cover seemed ok for a home policy, never had to test it yet though.

I don’t know the answer to the above policy wording but if you are looking for insurance then I would have a look at PedalCover. I’m pretty sure my bike is insured on my roof rack.

My guess is that the 60 days means no cover for world tours etc but fine for standard holidays.

I had a bike stolen from roof of car about 6 years ago and was covered, was with Abbey. They wouldn’t cover the damaged bike carrier though as they deemed this was part of the car fittings.

They wouldn’t cover the damaged bike carrier though as they deemed this was part of the car fittings.

Yes that’s right – when I had a car accident with bike on top I had to claim for the bike under home insurance* and the rack (and roof…) from car insurance.

*with Hastings direct who were actually very accommodating and didn’t quibble about the bike.

Not even for Mark Beaumont

From my experience with coop insurance, they are pretty happy to pay out in most cases. Weirdly in my case replacing new for old even when id provided them with the details of all the bits I’d bought off the forum here so only looking to get that amount back.
The temporary part might be applicable if you always leave a bike at work or at the train station then it may not be covered. Dedicated cycle insurance worked out way more expensive and had more restrictions, i.e. Specifying what sort of lock.
Guessing the claim limit per bike will be low unless you have them listed as a specific item, often £500 for most policies when I checked. I think John Lewis and NFU mutual get listed on here as having higher cover limits but generally are more expensive.

I would think you were covered for the shelter at work, but not necessarily the roof rack.

unattended in a public place
or communal areas when it is not securely locked to a
permanently fixed structure

implies to me that it covered if it IS locked to a permanent fixed structure – and a shelter is permanent and fixed, while a vehicle might be said not to be fixed. Maybe covered if taken off the car, but not if the car was taken? Best thing is to ask the insurer – then if they say you’re covered, you’re fireproof if it does go.

Is the bike locked to a fixed stand/rack in the work shelter? If so it should be covered.

I’d have thought a car isn’t a fixed structure, otherwise it wouldn’t be much use for transport.

provided the pedal cycle is in the custody and control of you or your family

i.e. you or your family have their hands on the bike or are riding it, standing beside it or very close. Interestingly this may exclude having your friends stand guard.

It’s why my bike is generally covered away from home because I’m riding it, or otherwise it’s securely locked in a house/hotel where I’m staying if at all possible.

A lot of house insurance will exclude cover transporting with a car unless it’s locked securely inside and hidden from view. Not sure about locking to a roof rack, but the above about custody and control probably applies. i.e. park up in a car park and leave the car unattended with bike on the rack, and then it’s gone (very common bike theft), then no cover. Standing beside it with it on the rack or when driving it, then it’s okay.

Very surprised to see no value limit against “pedal cycles” on what you’ve quoted.
I’ve just renewed with Halifax and my “pedal cycles” all had to be specified items due to their value being over (I think) £500.

[edit]just looked through the policy and value isn’t mentioned! Still surprised, I’d check with them.

Policy document may not set values but the schedule may, which can vary per person / deal.

In my case (Nationwide, which is now underwritten by UK Insurance, so effectively Direct Line) there’s a per bike limit of £1k and maybe two or three bikes and it all comes within the total for personal possessions as well which is £5k. All of this is mentioned in my schedule, not in the policy document.

That’s away from home though. Inside the house and I believe it comes under the rest of the contents.

I think the limits of 1,2,5k etc usually apply away from home.
Within the home it’ll be included in the contents insured so the max will be 50k, 100k, 500k or whatever.

I quite like the abroad cover being specifically mentioned by the halifax its often vague.

In my case (Nationwide, which is now underwritten by UK Insurance, so effectively Direct Line) there’s a per bike limit of £1k and maybe two or three bikes and it all comes within the total for personal possessions as well which is £5k.

Interesting Nationwide are still underwritten by UKI, RSA (parent company of Moreth>n and also underwriter of John Lewis) won the contract in December 2015, that was meant to take over in spring. That’s a bit of a moot point though, large affinity brands like Nationwide, John Lewis, M&S etc will specify what they want the product to include though, it’s not ‘one size fits all’, never assume that because one company underwrites multiple policies they’ll have the same, or even similar, features.

•In your home, inside the boundaries of your home, and temporarily outside the boundaries of your home, including temporarily outside of the British Isles, provided the pedal cycle is in the custody and control of you or your family.

I take this to mean you can’t lend it to someone else. If you take it on holiday or ride it to work and lock it up it’s fine. If you lend to to a mate it isn’t.

Theft of a pedal cycle left unattended in a public place or communal areas when it is not securely locked to a
permanently fixed structure.

You need to lock it to a solid, permanently fixed structure when it’s not inside the private parts of your house. Fine at work

snigger. he said private parts

njee20 – Member 
That’s a bit of a moot point though, large affinity brands like Nationwide, John Lewis, M&S etc will specify what they want the product to include though, it’s not ‘one size fits all’, never assume that because one company underwrites multiple policies they’ll have the same, or even similar, features.

Yeah, my policy still has things related to the deal it was from way back before it was UKI, although since they took it on I gained the pedal cycles bits (not that the cover is great) and also unlimited rebuild cost for the house whereas originally Nationwide had someone come round to do a rebuild valuation and it was insured for that. They also haven’t gone with the restrictions Direct Line had in regards to flats and being next to a road that floods. Nationwide was one of the few that would actually insure me, at least without going to a specialist.

I had cover this Bank of Scotland last year, which is the same as Halifax’s policy.

I spoke to them and they would not cover the bike locked to a rack on a car, or locked inside the car. I moved on to Pedal Cover once I knew this.

That is pretty normal – roof rack is not an immovable object, inside the car you need to claim on your car insurance, which will likely not pay out many thousands for a bike.

Not universally the case obviously, but many people won’t be insured when transporting their bike.

Thanks for the advice everyone 🙂

Very surprised to see no value limit against “pedal cycles” on what you’ve quoted.

I had to specify all bikes over a certain value – I think £500 as you say.

That is pretty normal – roof rack is not an immovable object

I thought I’d heard that the Ombudsman had taken a position that bikes locked to roof racks were actually locked to an immobile object (as long as car securely locked, etc). On the very few occasions ours are in this position I put a cable lock through the roof bars of the car rather than relying on the rack locks.
Think about it this way, your car is clamped (thus immobilised) with the bike on it. Does that suddenly make the cover valid? I doubt it.
I can’t find it referred to in the fos site so I’ll ask some people in claims next time I’m training them.
It might be that nfu have taken that position as I do have random conflabs with people there still – I’ll check.

inside the car you need to claim on your car insurance, which will likely not pay out many thousands for a bike.

You’re right that it won’t pay much if at all, but you should claim from your household policy anyway. Often they have cover inside locked compartments of cars, whether you need to lock it inside the boot and then lock the car is a bit of a moot point. I’ll ask around.

In the spirit of Mr Bontrager, pick any two:
Good cover.
Cheap price.
Claim paid.