Locks and cycle insurance

[Julian]

If you have a valuable bike (over£1000) there's a vicious
catch-22 relating to bike locks and insurance.

In order to get insurance cover you have to undertake to
use a Sold Secure Gold rated lock, most of which weigh in
at 2 kilos+ which is totally impractical on a tour or even
a long day ride.

So is it worth insuring at all? Would a better option be to
take great care, always lock with at least one strong lock,
and to stay with the bike as much as possible and save money
on the insurance and the lock.

What experiences have people had of dealing with claims?

__o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

 

[Michael Macclan]

On 21 Apr 2004 06:28:05 -0700, Julian wrote:

> If you have a valuable bike (over£1000) there's a vicious
> catch-22 relating to bike locks and insurance.
>
> In order to get insurance cover you have to undertake to
> use a Sold Secure Gold rated lock, most of which weigh in
> at 2 kilos+ which is totally impractical on a tour or even
> a long day ride.
>
> So is it worth insuring at all? Would a better option be
> to take great care, always lock with at least one strong
> lock, and to stay with the bike as much as possible and
> save money on the insurance and the lock.
>
> What experiences have people had of dealing with claims?
>
> __o
> _`\(,_
> (_)/ (_)

??? I don't think my insurance policy says anything about
this. Who's telling you this?

--
Michael MacClancy Random putdown - "I've had a perfectly
wonderful evening. But this wasn't
it." -Groucho Marx www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

 

[Peter Clinch]

Julian wrote:
> If you have a valuable bike (over=A31000) there's a
> vicious catch-22 relating to bike locks and insurance.
>=20
> In order to get insurance cover you have to undertake to
> use a Sold Secure Gold rated lock, most of which weigh in
> at 2 kilos+ which is totally impractical on a tour or even
> a long day ride.

I don't recall any such caveats in my insurance
(Nationwide House=20 Contents with specific cover for a
bike worth over =A31500) but that's no= t=20 to say it
isn't in the small print. But it isn't in the
reasonably=20 obvious print AFAICT.

Aside from this, why is 2 Kgs "totally impractical"? Same as
a couple=20 of water bottles, a jacket and a spare
pullover...

Pete. --=20 Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382
660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44
1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Mseries]

Julian wrote:
> If you have a valuable bike (over£1000) there's a vicious
> catch-22 relating to bike locks and insurance.
>
> In order to get insurance cover you have to undertake to
> use a Sold Secure Gold rated lock, most of which weigh in
> at 2 kilos+ which is totally impractical on a tour or even
> a long day ride.
>
> So is it worth insuring at all? Would a better option be
> to take great care, always lock with at least one strong
> lock, and to stay with the bike as much as possible and
> save money on the insurance and the lock.
>
> What experiences have people had of dealing with claims?
>
> __o
> _`\(,_
> (_)/ (_)

My home contents insurance cover my bike and have no such
clause. A jolly good option whether or not you have
insurance is to take great care and to stay with the bike as
much as possible. Even with insurance you do not want to be
left with only the clothes you stand up in if your bike gets
stolen whilst you are in a shop during a tour.

2kg is not impractical, if thats what you need to make your
bike safe.

 

[Mark Thompson]

> So is it worth insuring at all? Would a better option be
> to take great care, always lock with at least one strong
> lock, and to stay with the bike as much as possible and
> save money on the insurance and the lock.

For many people that have insurance its probably not worth
it at all, 'cos they haven't properly read the small print
so when the bike gets nicked they won't be able to claim
(wrong lock, locked to the wrong thing, left outside, not in
a locked building...)

 

[Chris French]

In message <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch
<[email protected]> writes
>Julian wrote:
>> If you have a valuable bike (over£1000) there's a vicious
>> catch-22 relating to bike locks and insurance. In order
>> to get insurance cover you have to undertake to use a
>> Sold Secure Gold rated lock, most of which weigh in at 2
>> kilos+ which is totally impractical on a tour or even a
>> long day ride.
>
>I don't recall any such caveats in my insurance (Nationwide
>House Contents with specific cover for a bike worth over
>£1500) but that's not to say it isn't in the small print.
>But it isn't in the reasonably obvious print AFAICT.

I think you're right, I've got mine covered under the
Nationwide house contents policy and I don't remember any
such stipulation. Just the usual one nowadays about being
locked to an immovable object.
--
Chris French, Leeds

 

[Velvet]

Mark Thompson wrote:

>>So is it worth insuring at all? Would a better option be
>>to take great care, always lock with at least one strong
>>lock, and to stay with the bike as much as possible and
>>save money on the insurance and the lock.
>
>
> For many people that have insurance its probably not worth
> it at all, 'cos they haven't properly read the small print
> so when the bike gets nicked they won't be able to claim
> (wrong lock, locked to the wrong thing, left outside, not
> in a locked building...)

and quite a few policies seem to limit the value of said
replacement bike, too. They'll replace it with a vaguely
similar but not neccessarily same - many seem to only
cater to something of the region of about 250-300 quid
(ie, halfords-type).

Velvet