Cycle insurance - not worth it?

[Zog The Undenia]

Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would cost about £30/month extra
to add the three I have. I looked around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I live in
a very low risk location too!

I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are
justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of
about £9000!

[Tony Raven]

Zog The Undeniable wrote:
> Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would cost about £30/month
> extra to add the three I have. I looked around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I
> live in a very low risk location too!
>
> I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are
> justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of
> about £9000!

Try another insurance company or try the broker that advertises in the back of the CTC magazine. CTC
rates though are IMO ridiculous at 10% of the insured value per year when many home insurances will
cover them for a tenth of that

Tony

--
"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." Mark Twain

[Peter Connolly]

> Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are justifiable?

In a word, No!

I stopped insuring my bike over 15 years ago. It was worth about £1,000 then - so worth about £2.50
now - and I always keep it indoors. Its not a shopping bike, so it's never out of my sight. My view
is that if it gets nicked, I've now saved enough on the insurance to be able to afford a
replacement. YMMV.

My sister always took an alternative view. She lived in London, and needed transport, so she would
buy very cheap second-hand bikes (police auctions were a good source), paying as little as possible,
and putting a reasonable (but not silly) lock on them. Her return on investment was based on the
value of the bus fares she would save in the period between buying the bike and having it nicked -
and usually that was between two and four weeks commuting for payback, and the bike was nicked or
damaged after about two months; insurance was just another overhead she did without.

Regards,

Pete.

[Adrian Boliston]

"Peter Connolly" <noemailrequired@nospamrequired.com> wrote in message
news:bjtfgj$kds$1$8300dec7@news.demon.co.uk...

> My sister always took an alternative view. She lived in London, and needed transport, so she would
> buy very cheap second-hand bikes (police auctions were a good source), paying as little as
> possible, and putting a
reasonable
> (but not silly) lock on them. Her return on investment was based on the value of the bus fares she
> would save in the period between buying the
bike
> and having it nicked - and usually that was between two and four weeks commuting for payback, and
> the bike was nicked or damaged after about two months...

Seems bad luck to me. When I was in London during the 80's as a student I cycled my "muddy fox
courier" (about £400 at the time) every day to college just off Oxford St, and once tried parking it
in the student union bike shed, and the saddle got knicked the same day, so I started finding
railings next to the road *away from other bikes* and had no more trouble for the next 2 years, and
still have the bike to this day.

[Xrchris]

"Zog The Undeniable" <ggg@hhh.net> wrote in message news:bjtdcn$e83$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard,

Most household insurance policies do not cover bikes as standard outside the home.

> and it would cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have.

What insurance co. are you with and what value are the bikes? From my experience £30 a month is
expensive.

> I live in a very low risk location too!

How do you know that this is the case?

Insurance is a valid additional cost for some it is just depends on how much of a risk you
personally wish to take.

[Succorso]

Adrian Boliston wrote:
>
> ... had no more trouble for the next 2 years, and still have the bike to this day.
>
>

isn't it painful to ride it without a saddle?

[M Series]

XRchris <nospamnheretoday@nospam.com> wrote:
> "Zog The Undeniable" <ggg@hhh.net> wrote in message news:bjtdcn$e83$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
>> Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard,
>
> Most household insurance policies do not cover bikes as standard outside the home.
>
>
>> and it would cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have.
>
> What insurance co. are you with and what value are the bikes? From my experience £30 a month is
> expensive.
>
>
>> I live in a very low risk location too!
>
> How do you know that this is the case?
>
> Insurance is a valid additional cost for some it is just depends on how much of a risk you
> personally wish to take.

I have personal possesions insurance with my house insurance and it does cover my bikes anywhere in
the world to a value of £1500. Like one of the other posters, my bikes are rarely left unattended so
I percieve the value of expensive 'bike' insurance to be low.

[Simon Brooke]

Zog The Undeniable <ggg@hhh.net> writes:

> Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would cost about £30/month
> extra to add the three I have. I looked around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I
> live in a very low risk location too!
>
> I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are
> justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of
> about £9000!

When I lived in England I had three bikes stolen in two years (two road bikes and one hill bike). I
also had my house burgled once. The bikes weren't insured but the house contents were, so when the
house was burgled I claimed. I was subjected to an investigation which I found deeply stressful,
intrusive and humiliating, and eventually paid about 25% of the value of the items which were stolen
(this on a 'new for old' policy). I've no idea whether this was a 'random' investigation, or whether
they thought there was something suspicious about me (although I'd never claimed on insurance before
and am a boringly honest person with no record for anything except anti-nuclear demos).

Since I moved back to a civilised country twelve years ago I haven't had any insurance at all except
on my car (that being a legal requirement), haven't had any burglaries, and haven't had any bikes
stolen - and although I do still posess a bike lock I've long since forgotten where the key is
(although the bike shed is usually locked).

My three bikes are worth, total, maybe a little over £2,000 pounds; at replacement value maybe
£3,000. That means if all three were stolen once every ten years, at £30 a month I come out ahead
not having insurance. Furthermore, I don't put myself through the stress and misery of being treated
as a criminal if they are stolen. I'd call that win-win.

--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 99% of browsers can't run ActiveX controls. Unfortunately ;; 99% of users are using the
1% of browsers that can... [seen on /. 08:04:02]

[Congokid]

In article <bjth4p$nh6pv$1@ID-111900.news.uni-berlin.de>, Adrian Boliston
<adrian@boliston.co.uk> writes

>Seems bad luck to me. When I was in London during the 80's as a student I cycled my "muddy fox
>courier" (about £400 at the time) every day to college just off Oxford St, and once tried parking
>it in the student union bike shed, and the saddle got knicked the same day, so I started finding
>railings next to the road *away from other bikes* and had no more trouble for the next 2 years, and
>still have the bike to this day.

I got my saddle and seat post nicked several years back. I used to leave the bike in Poland Street
car park's bike section on the ground floor not far from the kiosk. The staff hadn't noticed anyone
doing anything suspicious, although it's probably not a very suspicious looking activity, and the
CCTVs are pointed at the cars but not the bikes.

After that for a short while I used railings outside my office in Sheraton Street in Soho - but I
got so nervous about the bike getting nicked that I began to park it in the goods entrance behind
the office.

When the security people complained about it blocking access, I started bringing it inside.

First I secured it to a drainpipe in the back alley, then ran round to the main entrance, took the
lift to where I worked, went to the back of the of the building and then down the back stairs where
I opened the back door in the basement, took the bike in and lugged it up three flights of stairs.

In the back stairwell on the second floor there was an unused and undecorated corridor that led
nowhere in particular and had a door I could stow the bike behind.

Then I actually started bringing it into the office, but left it down at the end of the back
corridor beside a fire exit. This gave me most peace of mind.

These days, more and more railings seem to have notices that say that bikes attached to them will
be removed.

--
congokid Eating out in London? Read my tips... http://congokid.com (http://congokid.com/)

[Nigel]

Don't forget some insurance companies will cover bikes. Halifax my insurers cover bicycles up to the
value £500 as part of a standard policy...and when I added my new bike at a value of £1000, they
marked it as a specified item and only increased the premiums by £4 a month..very reasonable when
you consider my bike lives in the shed outside the house for some of the year

og The Undeniable <ggg@hhh.net> wrote in message news:<bjtdcn$e83$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk>...
> Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would cost about £30/month
> extra to add the three I have. I looked around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I
> live in a very low risk location too!
>
> I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are
> justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of
> about £9000!

[Martin]

"M Series" <spamyou@127.0.0.1> wrote in message news:<bjujmv$fff$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>...
> XRchris <nospamnheretoday@nospam.com> wrote:
> > "Zog The Undeniable" <ggg@hhh.net> wrote in message news:bjtdcn$e83$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
> >> Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard,
> >
> > Most household insurance policies do not cover bikes as standard outside the home.
> >
> >

Thanks for the posting (goes off to read new Household Contents Policy which dropped through
the door and promptly got filed under pile of papers, kids dragon pictures etc to see if bikes
still covered)

[Andy B]

Depends upon the value of your bike of course, but the cost of the insurance banded about seems too
high. I paid £25 extra on top of a standard home insurance with AXA for a trek 5200 bike. And very
thankful i was too, a car crashed into me three weeks later leaving no details.

NV_DC@HOTMAIL.COM (NIGEL) wrote in message news:<224308ed.0309160617.33e791e1@posting.google.com>...
> Don't forget some insurance companies will cover bikes. Halifax my insurers cover bicycles up to
> the value £500 as part of a standard policy...and when I added my new bike at a value of £1000,
> they marked it as a specified item and only increased the premiums by £4 a month..very reasonable
> when you consider my bike lives in the shed outside the house for some of the year
>
> og The Undeniable <ggg@hhh.net> wrote in message news:<bjtdcn$e83$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk>...
> > Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would cost about £30/month
> > extra to add the three I have. I looked around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year -
> > I live in a very low risk location too!
> >
> > I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are
> > justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of
> > about £9000!

[James Hodson]

On 16 Sep 2003 07:17:03 -0700, NV_DC@HOTMAIL.COM (NIGEL) wrote:

>Don't forget some insurance companies will cover bikes. Halifax my insurers cover bicycles up to
>the value £500 as part of a standard policy...and when I added my new bike at a value of £1000,
>they marked it as a specified item and only increased the premiums by £4 a month..very reasonable
>when you consider my bike lives in the shed outside the house for some of the year
>

Nigel

That does sound reasonable. However, it is worth checking whether on not your more expensive
bike would still be coverered if you were to be covered if it was nicked from outside your home
... or shed.

Several years ago I had a bike stolen from outside a pub. The bike was locked with a D-lock to a pub
bench. The insurance company stated that a pub bench was not an "immovable object". Although I would
agree with them I did feel that the thieves use of an electric drill negated their point. After all,
who could actually lug a pub bench along the road?

James

--
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you" is not a satisfactory excuse.