I know this comes up every few months so appols for resurrecting it yet again. Contents insurance with bikes is the subject du jour. We’re with Pedal whatsit which is really AXA. They’ve just doubled the premium and sneaked in half cover for anything older than 5 years (it was 10 years last time around).

So:

* Who are people using for contents and bikes
* Bikes preferably new for old and not individually itemised
* Valuable items max individual value of items preferably not individually itemised
* What are people insuring the rest of their non valuable items/bikes for assuming ‘normal’ households (whatever they are…). Ie £30k,£50k,£70,£100k etc
* What are people insuring their stuff they carry around with them away from the home for ie £5k,£10k etc

I think we end up over insuring as all the valuables and all the bikes are covered all risk whilst away from home when clearly you can only ride one bike/wear one watch etc.

Just after a bit of help please not trying to pry 😊

Aviva were great with my bike claim last year.

Swapped to Esure as cheaper at renewal.

John Lewis seem good.

PedalCover have just emailed me to say AXA won’t renew our cover this year, because of the postcode, but they don’t know anymore than that.

No problem getting a quote on the AXA website

🤷🏻‍♂️

Halifax here.

Max £10,000 in shed/ outbuildings and all the expensive bikes/ stuff had to be itemized.

Had the same issue with AXA through Pedalcover. 20% increase to renew and the issue with bikes over 5years old made us look elsewhere.
Went with Esure in the end. Probably saved over 60% of the renewal quote which is massive.
Just renewed this week.
No issue with PedalCover but its AXA putting the screws on.

Interesting, I’ve been with Pedal Cover for a while, best check when my next renewal is due as all my bikes are over 5 years old now…

just gone from John Lewis (renewal up by £30 on last years price) to esure (£200 less than JL renewal)

bikes as named items covered home and away. also got free legal cover and home emergency cover

After a poor experience with a clam years ago, I took an alternative approach. £3k on making my cellar useaable, secure door and alarmed, and invisible from the street.

It also gives a secure space for power tools and everything like that, and makes accessing servicng the boiler easier (rather than a trap door in the kitchen floor)

I appreciate this might not be an option for a lot of people, but might be food for thought

@ogwen How about when you’re bikes are not in your cellar? Are you self insuring?

Today’s the day so it looks like some of it will be spent on the PC…

On a similar thread a few days ago Nationwide was mentioned. No max limit on total bike value, bikes over £1k need to be listed as separate items, no stipulations on being stored in shed & garage. You do need a main current account or savings account with them to get a decent discount though.

So to come full circle, I’ve renewed with Aviva at less than 50% of the Pedalcover/AXA cost.

I looked at AXA directly and they don’t cover bikes with values greater than £1.5k.

I looked at Esure and they don’t cover bikes in use… They also wanted me to install a safe for the specified items and cover was for UK only.

Aviva cover all cycles, all risk, new for old, worldwide. You state the maximimum bike’s value only and the others don’t need individually identifying. Specified items need, errrm, specifying but no special conditions regarding security etc. There is a key point re: bike security; they’re not covered if stolen from the car and when away from the house they need locking to something immobile. No spec for the lock though.

Bizzarely when they added my middle name to the proposal, it dropped the quote by £7 😁

Aviva were excellent when I wrote off my Condor frameset in May. Longest delay was getting a slot at the LBS to get a report to confirm the damage.

Emailed the report and photos to them. Next day got an offer for the RRP of the frameset on the Condor website. I replied with a link to the additional custom paint cost as that’s what I’d had, plus an email from the LBS to confirm the cost of swapping bits over, and they upped the offer to cover the lot, less the excess.

Aye I was with Aviva before we all got overexcited with M&S then Pedalcover hove into view. Just shows, you really do have to go through all the bullshine every year to ensure you’re getting the best deal. I spent most of the call taking about Roly’s as the call handler was a fellow ‘watch w@nkur’. He had two and worked in a call centre! 🙃

Just renewed with Aviva for half what I paid PedalCover last year. And how nice to not have to list everything.

@thegreatape It’ll be even nicerer if you’re unlucky enough to have a bike claim as Aviva don’t deduct 50% for anything over 5 years old 👍

Happy days – both of mine are over 5 😀

I’ve also got Aviva cover (via Barclays)
Mine is ridiculously cheap, pay about 0.5% PA premium for bike insurance, which is utterly revoltingly cheap.

e-sure where the winner for me this year and about 60% of the cost of pedal cover last year. moved from pedal cover as they limited total value of bikes in outbuildings to £5K, where as e-sure were happy to keep appropriate limit on each bike when in secure outbuildings

@sofaboy73 When I checked into Esure, they didn’t insure bikes when in use and wanted a safe installing in order to cover specified items…

@sofaboy73 When I checked into Esure, they didn’t insure bikes when in use and wanted a safe installing in order to cover specified items

@boblo – if you name the bikes as specified items it provides cover for loss, damage or theft while in or away form the house (including outbuildings) unless excluded elsewhere and there are no other exclusions on bikes unless they are not specified items.

in reality though, even if excluded when in use, i wouldn’t be that bothered as it’s the theft risk i’m looking to cover – if i damage my bike while riding it thats on me, and i don’t ride anywhere dodgy / think the risk of bike jacking is very minimal

It’s more accidental damage, ie damaged in an accident that’s the issue. If you have an RTC and the bike’s written off, it’s not covered. That’s an issue for me having had just such an incident last year.

This is a timely thread, my AA Home Contents renewal just came in.

The underwriter AXA (spot a theme here) have declined to offer cover this year, it was £151 last year for pretty comprehensive cover for bikes.

The new underwriter is Royal & Sun Alliance, a mere 250% increase to £384 and the excess has gone up £100.

It was the posh version with away from home cover, accidental damage, and insured bikes if locked in a van or covered boot.

I had a look at Laka but the price puts it on a par with the AA when added to a normal contents policy, and I’d have to ‘downgrade’ all my locks to Sold Secure stuff which would cost hundreds.

Off to get some quotes, I hate shopping for insurance 🙁

I just tried Aviva…cheap at £215…but pedal cover is subject to policy limits…which is £2500 max for garages and outbuildings. To test this, I increased the value of my most expensive bike to £3000, and the garage and outbuildings limit remained at £2500. So if it got nicked whilst locked to a railing, its covered in full, but if it gets nicked from my garage along with a few others, the payout is capped to £2500 which is rubbish.

Nationwide is a bit pricier but looks like it has suitable cover for me…£340 with a discount for existing customers.

PS this is buildings and contents, whereas my AA renewal was £385+£150 for buildings, total £535!

Off to get some quotes, I hate shopping for insurance 🙁

The Aviva quote process is really quick. I did that, was happy with the price and called it a day 😀

Got my motorbike insured for £85 fully comp as well today. Hastings renewal quote £180, Hastings quote on gocompare £110, Hastings quote when I phoned them to tell them so – £85. It’s a **** mystery to me.

Anyone insured with covea? I’m insured with them via sainsburys and the policy documents don’t reflect the cover agreed at all on the phone. Rang them up to check and they said yeah the covers all correct the system just doesn’t let us update the paperwork!

Ended up making a note of the time / date so I can refer them back to it if anything goes awry.

Hard to get a feel for insurance companies as their reviews are all terrible

Thegreatape – The quote process is pretty slick, but with bicycle cover you have to read the policy documents in detail which takes longer than getting the quote. Presumably you are happy with a 2.5k limit for garages over-riding the bicycle cover limit?

So if it got nicked whilst locked to a railing, its covered in full, but if it gets nicked from my garage along with a few others, the payout is capped to £2500 which is rubbish.

Nationwide is a bit pricier but looks like it has suitable cover for me…£340 with a discount for existing customers.

We ended up with nationwide this year for this reason. They also cover bikes when they’re locked inside a car or locked to a bike rack. No need for them to be fully out of sight in the boot like most other policies.

I’m insured with them via sainsburys and the policy documents don’t reflect the cover agreed at all on the phone. Rang them up to check and they said yeah the covers all correct the system just doesn’t let us update the paperwork!

depending on what the disparities are, i wouldn’t accept that if i were you. your policy schedule and wording are the basis of your contract of insurance and it will be these that determine cover is in force should you have a loss. if they can’t provide you a schedule & wording with the correct sums insured, sub limits, cover sections, warranties, conditions and exclusions i’d move to a different insurer because you’ll be guaranteed to have issues later down the line when you make a claim

Thegreatape – The quote process is pretty slick, but with bicycle cover you have to read the policy documents in detail which takes longer than getting the quote. Presumably you are happy with a 2.5k limit for garages over-riding the bicycle cover limit?

I better read it today then!

@SPOOKY_B329 Are you saying Aviva’s cover is limited to £2.5k or AXA’s? Aviva asked me what my most valuable bike was and that’s all. No list of bikes, no ages nothing else. I haven’t scoured their docs but when on the phone they told me all risk, new for old, worldwide up to the max value I’d declared except if left in a vehicle.

Aviva asked me what my most valuable bike was and that’s all

Bit of a resurrection as I’m going through this today (though only a week or so)…

Avia’s total claim cap for theft is 2.5k from the garage or outbuildings on the documents today.

They also won’t cover me for the bikes because of the declared high value of one and I’m not exactly in a high risk area.

With Aviva at the mo, will check some others mentioned here to compare at renewal.