An Insurance Question

[Fattman]

Hi All,

I have searched the forums but not sure I have the answer to this - if anyone knows a thread please just redirect me...

My wife and I are planning a week in Lanzarote with our own bikes in Feb, then I am off to Spain for a few days with the boys in April. Might look to do something further late Summer.

Our bikes are pretty natty cf jobbies, each >£3k; does anyone have any experience of/suggestions for insurance for these sorts of trips with these sorts of bikes?

I have Googled and am looking at

ETA - I have heard rumours that they can be difficult when making a claim
CycleCover (through the CTC)
E&L - seem much cheaper than the others... not sure if this is good or bad!
CycleGuard - pricey but no excess

Any thoughts/assistance would be gratefully received!

Matt

 

[the snail]

I think medical insurance is most important, if the worst happens and you need to be airlifted home the costs can be astronomical

 

[andym]

What snail says is right, but as far as insuring your bikes is concerned you may be better of adding them to your home contents policy. if your present insurer won't do this then go to one that will (it may even pay you to terminate the policy early). Try Marks and Spencer or Tesco Finest (yeas I know, but that's what they call the policy) - to name but two.

 

[headcoat]

I have just insured with ETA, so I can't comment on them apart from they came out cheapest for me. One thing that does seem starnge with them (I have just received a reply from them today about this), when my bikes are in the shed at home, they don't need to have any special locks, just need to be locked (I need to double check this though), the shed doesn't need to have a lock on it either, however when I leave my bike in work behind a locked door and under the stairs it needs to be locked to an imovable object with a specified lock, I would have thought overnight in an unlocked shed, the bike was more likely to be taked...seems strange to me.

 

[the snail]

That does sound strange, but I think common sense says you should make sure your bikes are as secure as possible. I keep mine in the house, but if it was in a shed I'd make sure it was locked to a ground anchor securely, and probably fit an alarm too. I think most decent locks are sold secure silver or gold, so not worth scrimping anyway.

 

[Fattman]

Hey all, thanks for the input.

I have in fact been looking at M&S contents, that could be the way to go to cover damage/loss of the bikes.

At your suggestion I looked further into travel/medical cover and found something that may be of interest to others. I was looking at "InsureAndGo" who seemed to have a very comprehensive travel insurance but I looked closely at their T&C... it appeared that 'Cycling' was covered for Personal Accident while 'Cycle Touring' was not. So I e-mailed them to find out what exactly the distinction was in their eyes. Good prompt reply:

Thank you for contacting Insureandgo Insurance Services Ltd. Please find your policy wording booklet attached. On the last few pages you will see the activities that are covered within your policy and those that require an extra premium. You will see listed Cycling and Cycle Touring. Full cover is provided for Cycling within the terms and conditions, however, while Cycle Touring you will not be covered for Personal Accident or Personal Liability which are explained at Sections D and H of the attached policy wording booklet.


Our Underwriters have endorsed the following description of the above activities:


"With regard to Cycling and Cycle Touring. Leisure Cycling in a tourist resort would be considered "Cycling". IE: Cycling in this context is using a bicycle to go to a shop or beach and returning to your accommodation. Cycle Touring is where you are using main traffic ways and travelling to pre-determined destinations. Our Underwriters consider the risks, in general, to be greater whilst Touring and therefore are not prepared to provide the cover for Personal Accident and Personal Liability."

​

So! Cycling is simply bumbling around, whereas anything which we might consider cycling - i.e. going from A-B on a road (!) - is 'Cycle Touring'. Not how I would have defined it, but that's why I enquired. So... watch out for those little snippets in the addenda and 'small print'.

Happy riding!

 

[dellzeqq]

for that price of bike I'd give the Halifax a go. I asked them what would happen if I took a Colnago to Beirut (I did) and wrecked it (I didn't) and they said that they would pay up. We've got about £10k's worth of bikes covered.

 

[HelenD123]

If you'll get the bikes covered on your home insurance I can recommend Mondiale Assistance for the travel insurance part. They definitely cover cycle touring and were much cheaper than others I looked into for my 6 month trip. Most importantly, I know a cycle tourist who made a claim with them after he fell off and broke his pelvis. He was flown home from the US and couldn't have asked for a better service.

 

[Fattman]

Many thanks for all your suggestions. We're off tomorrow to Lanza so are busy stuffing bikes into boxes etc.

Ended up going for:
Contents insurance with M&S, worldwide no-limit cover (£4k single item) - £320
Travel insurance with Mondial (family, worldwide, annual multi-trip) - £100

The M&S cover seems too good to be true - quotes for the bikes only with 'specialist' bike insurers was romping in between £500 and £700!

On top of all that, getting the contents away from DirectLine and haggling on the premium for Buildings only (worth doing at renewal, introductory rates can be up to 50% lower than your next year's premium!), ended up saving ~£200 over original not-very-good home/contents insurance. Hmm. 200 quid... new shoes, anyone?!

 

[Wardy]

What snail says is right, but as far as insuring your bikes is concerned you may be better of adding them to your home contents policy. if your present insurer won't do this then go to one that will (it may even pay you to terminate the policy early). Try Marks and Spencer or Tesco Finest (yeas I know, but that's what they call the policy) - to name but two.

I can vouch for M&S having used their house and contents insurance to cover my bikes away from home. What's also important is that they do not have any special requirements regarding security. None of your gold, silver or bronze level of locks. They said (and I have it in writing) "We do not have any requirements regarding the locking of these. Any form of security for these will suffice". Now where did I put that piece of string....