Insurance against cycle theft

[DBrown67]

I've been looking at getting some insurance for my bikes. (Theft only not public liability). They aren't expensive really... though to me they were. I have a CUBE Aim Race MTB and just bought a Brompton B75. So the most expensive is £750. This is just for me, so only one will be out of the house at any one time.

I looked at general contents insurance but they seem to have large excesses on bikes which need to be listed separately and some have maximum value of £500. Pretty useless really. The best I've found so far is TSB for £28 a year. Covers bikes both inside and outside the house with just £50 excess and full value covered.

What have you peeps used?

 

[Sharky]

Never bothered with specific cycle insurance, but is an extremely rare occasion that I ever leave my bike unattended when I am out. When I commuted, there was always safe parking somewhere.
The only time I ever had a bike stolen, was when I was 10 and my first real bike (a Hill Special), I left outside Woolworths in Prescot, unlocked, but I was a very trusting boy then.
If we get a break in at home, I probably have some cover on my contents policy.
I am a CTC member, so have their insurance for help in an accident etc - which I have used and got some compensation for my mangled bike.

 

[Globalti]

We cover ours on our household policy and we make sure the insurers know the values so they can't pretend they didn't know.

 

[vickster]

Mine are on household policy. Aviva Plus, only bikes over £1500 need to be named. I pay around £250 a year for unlimited building and contents (covers away from home, 2 or maybe 3 bikes named due to value). I can’t recall the excess, £150 maybe?

British Cycling member for the other stuff

It would cost me many hundreds (£700+) (around 10% annually of bike values) to insure via an excess free bike policy. It’s a no brainer therefore to go via household as the bikes add a few quid only to the cost.
I do leave my bikes unattended for potentially a few hours in town centres etc but only ever with a good D lock and a cable too in C London

 

[Globalti]

Mine never get left anywhere except in my sight at cafés or pubs or hidden in the boot of the car or locked inside my alarmed garage.

 

[vickster]

Mine never get left anywhere except in my sight at cafés or pubs or hidden in the boot of the car or locked inside my alarmed garage.

That’s not a realistic proposition for most utility or commuting cyclists however

 

[Globalti]

No. Having their bike stolen is almost a certainty.

 

[rivers]

My bikes are insured through Bikmo with British Cycling. I pay something like £14/month. My wife's is insured on our home insurance. As it's an ebike and over £500, it did need to be named

 

[vickster]

No. Having their bike stolen is almost a certainty.

That’s not actually true. I’ve had one bike stolen in 10 years due to stupidly using only a cable in C London.
I’ve since left bikes locked up for umpteen hours including whole days and evenings in London / at stations etc (and these are £500+ not £20 bikes)
These are insured and replaceable. If I want to cycle, I have to lock my bikes up with decent locks and I try to use well lit high traffic areas.

Even if I’m not commuting, I like to cycle to meet friends (we may move around, may not all have a bike), walk around, go shopping. Not all of us are simply club riders, weekend warriors who never leave our bikes (indeed I’d say that’s a minority of cyclists at least in London). This goes equally for my £300 bike as my £2.5k bikes (not commuting but socialising, shopping, wandering etc)

 

[Globalti]

Well yes but you take care and use quality locks. For someone who doesn't, theft is almost certain.

 

[vickster]

Well yes but you take care and use quality locks. For someone who doesn't, theft is almost certain.

I never mentioned locks. I said not leaving a bike isn’t realistic for commuters /utility cyclists

The thread is around insurance. Most policies will have some small print about which locks must be used and how secured (I use Sheffield stands 95% of the time, very rarely a lamppost or railing)

 

[lane]

If you have specific cycle insurance you will need a sold secure standard lock probably gold which will be very heavy. Better to find suitable household insurance which comes with fewer requirements. Shop around you can find a suitable household policy

 

[wajc]

Mine are on household policy. Aviva Plus, only bikes over £1500 need to be named. I pay around £250 a year for unlimited building and contents (covers away from home, 2 or maybe 3 bikes named due to value). I can’t recall the excess, £150 maybe?

I'm with Aviva Plus as well, I have Regular Tier cover for buildings and contents (between Basic and Premium Tiers) and added 'Contents away from home' to this as well up to £5K limit (more than the standard). Total annual premium a little under £150

I was a little worried when you stated that bikes over £1500 had to be named as I called them specifically to ask the following questions.

Is there a limit to the no. of bikes, - (Answer - No)
Is there a limit to an individual bike value - (Answer - No)
Is there a limit to the total value - (Answer No - just the total sum assured £100K as per standard policy details)

Just found this from their FAQs which has reassured me again - not sure why yours is different.

On Aviva Plus we call this cover "Accidents and Thefts away from the home". This cover will cover all items defined above with no single article limit. Meaning no items need to be specified on Aviva Plus. This optional cover is included as standard on the Premium Tier and is an optional cover on the Regular Tier. Please note this cover is not available on the Basic Tier.

We cover ours on our household policy and we make sure the insurers know the values so they can't pretend they didn't know.

However this still seems a good idea !

I also asked them the following

Do the bikes have to be locked to an immovable object (Answer - No, only if left in the garden - no need for locking within shed or garage at the home address)
Does the garage/shed have to have locks of a specified standard (Answer - No)

As others have done I looked in to stand alone bike insurance - the answers to all my questions would have been 'Yes' and it would have been impractical and expensive.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Pedal Cover for the house and bikes. Similar cost and comprehensive cover as Bikmo.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I looked at cycle specialist insurance..
Nearl 4xwhat I pay for a 28k car..70- 80 quid pcm!!
Our Barclays home insurance pays upto 2.5k per bike which is 2k light on 2 of them.