vickster
Legendary Member
It’s £40 a year...less than £4 a month...a pint of beer if that
British Cycling Membership
- Thread starter Serge
- Start date
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swansonj
Guru
...Do you own your own house (or are buying one)? Then you need liability cover. All it takes is a momentary slip and 3 years down the line some sharp solicitor is getting a judge to put a charge on your house for the £50k damages + costs + interest they've just won their client who you accidentally knocked over. It's rare but I've seen it happen and it's devastating for otherwise upstanding people when it does.
And without going to extremes, misjudging a gap and clipping a door mirror on a parked car now can land you with a bill for £500 or more very easily
I do have liability insurance for cycling as it happens. But there are plenty of things I don't insure against because I think they are too rare to worry about. Hence my question as to what the risk actually is.
I think many cyclists see insurance in the same way as helmets or hi viz- "it's obvious, innit, 'cos cycling is risky, innit". And the philosophy of life whereby we strive to protect ourselves against every unforeseen eventuality - to insulate ourselves from the realities of life - to aspire to security above all else - is one I try to avoid (when I catch myself falling into it) rather than to embrace.
Edit: meant to add: YMMV, and good luck to you.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Liability insurance is recommended just in case. The other part of the membership is access to a cycling solicitor who are on a retainer. They know their stuff. Saves the worry about finding one.
swansonj
Guru
In the case of CTC, didn't it emerge a while ago that you get pretty much the same access to Slater and Gordon (on the same contingent fee basis) as a CTC member as not? Or did I misremember that?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Its not far different from what I can gather.
I am 6 months through a claim, which Leigh Day are handling for me, which is who British Cycling use for any legal claims. They have been fantastic throughout and, when they do get the insurance to pay out, they won’t be taking a cut from neither compensation for bike or personal injury.
The discounts are just an added bonus tbh, as I joined for the liability element, but I reckon I have saved multiple times my membership cost already this year alone.
With respect to using the code at Chain Reaction, you apply the code at the last step before paying and it gives you 10% off the price, which includes discounted items too. If a bike is discounted considerably, you can knock a further 10% off the selling price shown.
My saddle purchase arrived today, which was discounted 30%, plus the additional 10% gives 37% discount in total. It was already the cheapest place to buy it too. Result!
The discounts are just an added bonus tbh, as I joined for the liability element, but I reckon I have saved multiple times my membership cost already this year alone.
With respect to using the code at Chain Reaction, you apply the code at the last step before paying and it gives you 10% off the price, which includes discounted items too. If a bike is discounted considerably, you can knock a further 10% off the selling price shown.
My saddle purchase arrived today, which was discounted 30%, plus the additional 10% gives 37% discount in total. It was already the cheapest place to buy it too. Result!
swansonj
Guru
I'm glad your membership is working for you.
But just to be completely clear, you say you joined (primarily) for the liability aspect, but the bit you are using is the legal aid, i.e. claiming against someone else's insurance? I have no problem with that, just wanting to understand.
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
I joined Cycling UK (switched from British Cycling) last year for £24. It's normally £45 but if you're a member of an affiliate group or club you get it for £24. I wasn't, but found a local group which I could join for only £5 to get affiliate membership. Well worth it for the insurance cover.
Indeed. The claim is legal aid. I ride with various groups though, so the liability aspect was the primary reason. The rest is added bonus, which has proven very useful already.
vickster
Legendary Member
You realise you’re not covered if you have a crash with another BC member?
Ah right. Never crossed my mind, but kind of makes sense I guess. Interesting.
vickster
Legendary Member
Indeed, obvious LD can’t represent both parties
I knew where you were coming from in that respect. Cheers for pointing it out though, as hadn’t thought about that scenario.
swansonj
Guru
The Tandem Club used to include liability insurance within their £10 sub, but had to drop it last year as they couldn't continue to source it that cheaply. That suggests to me that the actual cost of liability insurance can be only a few quid a year - and therefore that the actual average value can only be less - and therefore that payouts must be very rare. The fact that some household insurance policies throw some version of liability in and some don't likewise suggests it is not a big deal.
I have no problem with people wanting to cover themselves for rare but theoretically very expensive events. But, before buying in to the prevailing culture that of course any sensible cyclist must have liability insurance (with the attendant implication that this 'ere cycling lark is so dangerous that you need to insure yourself before doing it), I'd still ideally like some proper statistics.
I have no problem with people wanting to cover themselves for rare but theoretically very expensive events. But, before buying in to the prevailing culture that of course any sensible cyclist must have liability insurance (with the attendant implication that this 'ere cycling lark is so dangerous that you need to insure yourself before doing it), I'd still ideally like some proper statistics.
