UK Insurance for bikes ?

Hi,

Advice required.

I'm looking for a UK insurance policy for my road bike
(valued at £2000). Can anyone recommend a company who will
offer a straightforward new for old replacement insurance.

My home contents does not cover bikes exceeding £500 and
even then will only replace with an offering from Halfords.

TJ

 

In article <[email protected]>, TJ <[email protected]> wrote:
> My home contents does not cover bikes exceeding £500 and
> even then will only replace with an offering from
> Halfords.

Is that the case for a named item, for which you pay a
specific premium? I've had 2100 pounds worth of Marin put
on my LloydsTSB policy, and it cost something like 2 quid a
month. It's explicitly new for old, and they were quite
happy to be sent a bundle of the invoice and a valuation
from the shop with a covering letter saying I'd had a 5%
discount, and then to put it on risk at the replacement
price. LTSB do have a relationship with one of the big
insurance replacement places --- indeed, staff can buy
bikes from them at a discount, which I must did tempt me
--- but there is no exclusion on bikes from outside that
company's agencies.

Given standalone cover appears to be about 10% of the bike's
value per annum, changing insurer to get a decent all risks
policy may be worthwhile.

ian

 

On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 16:59:41 -0000, "TJ" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Advice required.
>
>I'm looking for a UK insurance policy for my road bike
>(valued at £2000). Can anyone recommend a company who will
>offer a straightforward new for old replacement insurance.

More Than do it as an add-on to household contents
insurance.

>My home contents does not cover bikes exceeding £500 and
>even then will only replace with an offering from Halfords.

Change your contents insurance?
--
Matt K Dunedin, NZ

 

> It's explicitly new for old

My insurers recently told me that although I had a "new for
old" policy, they made allowances for depreciation on
sporting goods (e.g. bicycles), clothing but not on digital
goods and some other items...

I don't know whether this was just my dodgy policy or if
it's a general thing - I got the impression that it may have
been a general thing.

My bike would cost £160 a year to insure, but is only worth
£600 second hand...

AC

 

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 16:25:07 +0000, anonymous coward
<[email protected]> wrote in message
<[email protected]>:

>My bike would cost £160 a year to insure, but is only worth
>£600 second hand...

I pay less than that for a Several of bikes totalling about
£6,000 value through CTC.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

 

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 16:25:07 +0000, anonymous coward
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> <[email protected]>:
>
>>My bike would cost £160 a year to insure, but is only
>>worth £600 second hand...
>
> I pay less than that for a Several of bikes totalling
> about £6,000 value through CTC.

I looked into them a few years back, but not having a garage
and living at the top of a spiral staircase they wouldn't
cover me. (I could leave my bike in the hallway, but it was
shared with other people).

I only really wanted cover in case of crash damage but I
couldn't get a straight answer out of them as to whether I
would be covered in a crash given that I couldn't store the
bike on my own property overnight.

And then there's the question of rough camping where there's
nothing to lock the bike to...

Ac

 

Simon Brooke wrote:

> in message <[email protected]>, "Jon
> Senior" <jon_AT_restlesslemon.co.uk> ('') wrote:
>
>> "anonymous coward" <[email protected]>
>> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>> My bike would cost £160 a year to insure, but is only
>>> worth £600 second hand...
>>
>> Only worth? Surely at these prices it makes sense.
>
> Only if your bike is stolen on average once every four
> years. I haven't had a bike stolen in fourteen years, so
> I'm currently winning out 'carrying my own risk', as I
> believe the insurance johnnies put
> it. And seeing I have on average had two bikes over that
> time, that's actually 28 bike-years, or £4,480 saving.
> You could buy a very nice bike with that.

My thoughts exactly. Even if though I live in a high risk
area this is my choice for the future - after all,
insurance premiums reflect the cost of replacing your bike;
the cost of paying off fraudsters; and no small
administration costs. If my bike gets stolen once every 4
years, I'll still be ahead. If it gets stolen more
frequently than that then I doubt the insurers will pay up
anyway - why lose the money twice.

Insurance only makes sense for risks you can't afford to
cover or that are relatively unlikely - e.g. my house
burning down; knock for knock with a Ferrari; braindamaging
a pedestrian and needing to provide them with nursing care.

I'll come clean - my bike got nicked recently and it grates
that the insurance people spent a good deal longer
investigating _me_ than the police spent investigating the
theft. Apparently the police in this area recover £100,000s
worth of stolen bikes each year but can't return them to
their owners because there's no national database of stolen
property. Contrast and compare the number of different
databases the insurance companies have up & running...

Screwed up priorities, in my view,

AC

 

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 13:04:57 +0000, anonymous coward
<[email protected]> wrote:

Insurance only makes sense for risks you can't afford to
:cover or that are )relatively unlikely - e.g. my house
:burning down; knock for knock with a )Ferrari;
:braindamaging a pedestrian and needing to provide them with
nursing care.

Knock-for-knock - you pay only for the damage to your own !

)I'll come clean - my bike got nicked recently and it
:grates that the )insurance people spent a good deal longer
:investigating _me_ than the )police spent investigating the
:theft. Apparently the police in this area )recover
:£100,000s worth of stolen bikes each year but can't return
:them to )their owners because there's no national database
f stolen property. )Contrast and compare the number of
:different databases the insurance )companies have up &
:running...

See whether Plod'll give you one of their collected ones.
--
Comm again, Mike.

 

Most insurance companies that I have contacted have indicated that a garage is a pre-requisite for "enjoying" their cover. There is another thread on this forum where a guy was looking at investing in a steel shed that you can bolt to the side of your house, but I doubt that the insurance companies would accept even this.

My bikes are all based on old frames (531c and 631c) but they have some nice gear on (Shimano Ultegra 2003 version) but since I have built them all up myself I'd be really pissed if some sweaty little toe-rag scally nicked them. Monetarily they probably total no more than £3k, but in terms of lost enjoyment they're near priceless.

I'm saving up for a garage with secure cycle hanging facilities inside (I'll specify that the garage should be longer than average to give me a bike working / training area as well).

 

pmailkeey wrote:

> On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 13:04:57 +0000, anonymous coward
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Insurance only makes sense for risks you can't afford to
> :cover or that
> :are )relatively unlikely - e.g. my house burning
> down; knock for knock :with a )Ferrari; braindamaging
> a pedestrian and needing to provide them :with
> )nursing care.
>
> Knock-for-knock - you pay only for the damage to
> your own !
>
> )I'll come clean - my bike got nicked recently and it
> :grates that the )insurance people spent a good deal
> :longer investigating _me_ than the )police spent
> :investigating the theft. Apparently the police in this
> :area )recover £100,000s worth of stolen bikes each year
> :but can't return them
> :to )their owners because there's no national database of
> stolen property.
> Contrast and compare the number of different databases
> :the insurance )companies have up & running...
>
> See whether Plod'll give you one of their collected ones.

It's a nice thought - but they sell them off cheap at
auction.

Local plod round here have just started giving away free
RFID microchips and sticky security labels for computers -
which seems a step in the right direction to me.

AC

 

> I'm saving up for a garage with secure cycle hanging
> facilities inside (I'll specify that the garage should be
> longer than average to give me a bike working / training
> area as well).

Wouldn't bother with the longer garage - do what I do and
leave the car outside! After all thats what you pay
thousands for with VW anti corrosion blurb. That way you get
more room for the trainer and the acoustics are better on
the stereo! Its just a matter of priority.