Do you insure your bikes?

[Globalti]

We've suddenly woken up to the fact that we've got around £6000 worth of bikes in our garage so perhaps we ought to insure them. I've got my titanium MTB on the house insurance but the premium is around £100 extra. So I rang CTC and a couple of others and got quotes ranging from £645 (CTC) to £400 (More Than) but the excesses are heavy and CTC said that a part of the conditions was that the bikes had to be locked to a wall anchor inside the garage.

"Sod it!" I though. "Might as well go out and spend £50 on a wall anchor and decent lock and a few quid on beefing up the garage door." Which is exactly what I plan to do. The bikes are NEVER left unattended and when they're not under our bums or in our sight they are in a locked, alarmed garage that's part of the house. We live in a decent neighbourhood. I plan to strengthen the door locking mechanism and fit a wall bolt where I hang the bikes then pass a cable through the two most valuable bikes. Oh, and hide the angle grinder! If a thief can get the very strong door open in full view of the street and neighbours then get in without setting off the alarm and cut the cable without alerting anybody, what more can I do?

 

[betty swollocks]

Yes. They are all named items on my household policy.
Perhaps I shouldn't say this next bit:
never had to claim though!

 

[zimzum42]

Nope, but then there's little chance of them being nicked in Singapore....

 

[Panter]

All our bikes are insured

 

[asterix]

No, except the house contents insurance may do.

This bit of France is like Singapore. I've no idea what the Gendarmes find to do all day and there's nothing that happens for miles around my neighbour won't know about.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

None of them are insured and never have been over the last 30 years, even when touring. Ten percent annual insurance premiums (CTC) means you can afford to have EACH one knicked every ten years. Having not had any of the nine in the household stolen in 30 years, we are well ahead of the curve.

 

[Globalti]

I'm sure cycle theft rates are linked to lifestyle more than any other crime. For example if you leave your valuable commuter locked in a public place every day then theft is almost inevitable. If you are young, feckless, own a valuable DH mountain bike and live in halls of residence, equally inevitable. But does the insurance risk assessor take account of the fact that I'm, er, older, live in a decent neighbourhood, never leave the bike unattended and keep it in a locked alarmed garage? No - I have to pay the same premium as that feckless yoof. Postcode doesn't seem to be taken into account much - I tried changing my postcode on the More Than site to a Manchester code and it made only a few quid difference to the premium that came up.

 

[Kirstie]

Yes - all of ours are insured with M&S home and contents in surance. They have a single item all risks limit of £4000 which is perfect for the bikes we have. We also live in a very low crime (rural) area, but they're locked to the wall.

 

[johnnyh]

contacted Direct Line to ask about adding them to the insurance and was told they are all covered by the existing contents policy providing they are locked in the garage.

as for being out and about on one, if I am out on a bike I am riding it, so no problem there.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Nope, but then there's little chance of them being nicked in Singapore....

That's interesting, how come bike theft is rare in Singapore?



I looked into insuring my bikes but it's very expensive so I have them locked to items in the garage (where they are covered by household) that can't be moved. I'd lock my old bike up when out and about but I wouldn't leave my best bikes unattended.

 

[Globalti]

Don't they flog bike thieves?

 

[zimzum42]

Crime in general is very low.

Most police are plain clothes. Sentencing is very severe, sentences are served, and they have the death penalty as well as the rattan cane.

You don't want to get into trouble here.

The police once stopped me in London with a few grams of weed. They gave me a ticking off and sent me on my way sans weed.

I would have probably done between 10 and 15 years here.

Get caught stealing a bike and you'll get a few lashes and maybe something like 8 years in prison.

It does happen, but at nothing like the rate it does in the UK

Just down the road from the office today is one of those police signs appealing for witnesses. The last time I saw one in the UK it was for an axe murder. The one I saw here today was for a car theft....

 

[Paul Narramore]

A few words of advice from a former Crime Scene Attender of the local Plod. In general people are very lax about security particularly with sheds and garages, and the chances of the offenders being caught and the valuable property being returned are almost nil. In my two year stint in that job I attended 2000 offences and I believe there was only one 'Detected'. That sounds appalling but it really wasn't through lack of trying. No witnesses, no forensic evidence and poor security mean't that the offenders always had us and their victims at a great disadvantage.

Sheds and garages. Time and time again We found the shed or garage fitted with a £2.50 mickey mouse padlock even though the property inside was worth thousands. Lawnmowers, stainless steel garden tools, power tools and titanium mountain bikes, all protected by cheap junk. Buy a really good quality padlock.

Hinges. How many people fit carriage bolts to their hinges? Hinges are almost attached with Posidrive screws and offenders often unscrew them and lift the door away from the frame rendering the padlock useless. Carriage bolts have round heads and cannot be undone from outside. When screwing into thin timber, add a decent piece of timber for the screw to screw into. My garage has sections of 4x2 glued in place, to allow the long screws something decent to screw into.

Bikes. Have you considered having your bike postcode stamped? As a local Bobby, I regularly used to do it. I'd stamp the owners postcode and house number into the frame and under the bottom bracket, so that should the bike be stolen, we'd have a fighting chance of returning the bike to the rightful owner. Obviously the stamping chips the paintwork but I used to go over the postcode with nail varnish thereby preventing rust. And when a yoblet is stopped on the bike and the bottom bracket checked, how will he explain the postcode he knew nothing about?

Shed/garage alarms. These battery-powered devices are as cheap as chips and at one time our local Police Station sold them to the general public. They don't cost much more than £20 or so which is peanuts when you consider the value of the objects at risk.

Just something to think about, Ladies and Gents.

 

[Auntie Helen]

Our local police had a special day on bike security at the local railway station where they provided, free of charge, a little widget (like a grain of rice) that was stuck somewhere in the frame. I suppose this is the same as the microchip my dog's got in her withers. Anyway, we then registered our chips on the internet and hopefully if the bike gets stolen and recovered, the chip is read. Although I hope the bikes aren't stolen!

They're not insured as we couldn't get cover for 'em. We are very careful instead, and we do live in a very low crime area with excellent neighbours.

 

[Davidc]

All of ours are covered by the house policy, if any was worth over £1500 it would have to be a named item and £20 a year extra. Cover is for anywhere in the UK, provided that if unattended it's locked by the frame to something fixed. I was told they like to see a receipt for a certified lock.

Also covered for bikejacking, 3rd party cover including while riding, and all accessories.

The only thing it doesn't include is own damage road risks. (You need a bike comprehensive policy for that - checked on it following another CC thread)

I'd suggest that anyone who lives somewhere where a contents policy is in force checks that before paying out for separate bike insurance.