Cycle insurance - not worth it?

Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would
cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have. I looked around and
the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I live in a very low risk
location too!

I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle
insurance premiums are justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a
(slightly boy racer) car with a market value of about £9000!

Zog The Undeniable wrote:
Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it
would cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have. I looked
around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I live in a
very low risk location too!

I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle
insurance premiums are justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for
a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of about £9000!

Try another insurance company or try the broker that advertises in the back
of the CTC magazine. CTC rates though are IMO ridiculous at 10% of the
insured value per year when many home insurances will cover them for a tenth
of that

Tony

--
"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
Mark Twain

Does anyone think cycle insurance premiums are justifiable?

In a word, No!

I stopped insuring my bike over 15 years ago. It was worth about £1,000
then - so worth about £2.50 now - and I always keep it indoors. Its not a
shopping bike, so it's never out of my sight. My view is that if it gets
nicked, I've now saved enough on the insurance to be able to afford a
replacement. YMMV.

My sister always took an alternative view. She lived in London, and needed
transport, so she would buy very cheap second-hand bikes (police auctions
were a good source), paying as little as possible, and putting a reasonable
(but not silly) lock on them. Her return on investment was based on the
value of the bus fares she would save in the period between buying the bike
and having it nicked - and usually that was between two and four weeks
commuting for payback, and the bike was nicked or damaged after about two
months; insurance was just another overhead she did without.

Regards,

Pete.

"Zog The Undeniable" wrote in message
...
Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard,

Most household insurance policies do not cover bikes as standard outside the
home.


and it would cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have.

What insurance co. are you with and what value are the bikes? From my
experience £30 a month is expensive.


I live in a very low risk location too!

How do you know that this is the case?

Insurance is a valid additional cost for some it is just depends on how much
of a risk you personally wish to take.

Adrian Boliston wrote:

... had no more trouble for the
next 2 years, and still have the bike to this day.



isn't it painful to ride it without a saddle?

XRchris wrote:
"Zog The Undeniable" wrote in message
...
Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard,

Most household insurance policies do not cover bikes as standard
outside the home.


and it would cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have.

What insurance co. are you with and what value are the bikes? From my
experience £30 a month is expensive.


I live in a very low risk location too!

How do you know that this is the case?

Insurance is a valid additional cost for some it is just depends on
how much of a risk you personally wish to take.

I have personal possesions insurance with my house insurance and it does
cover my bikes anywhere in the world to a value of £1500. Like one of the
other posters, my bikes are rarely left unattended so I percieve the value
of expensive 'bike' insurance to be low.

Zog The Undeniable writes:

Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it
would cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have. I looked
around and the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I live in a
very low risk location too!

I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle
insurance premiums are justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for
a (slightly boy racer) car with a market value of about £9000!

When I lived in England I had three bikes stolen in two years (two
road bikes and one hill bike). I also had my house burgled once. The
bikes weren't insured but the house contents were, so when the house
was burgled I claimed. I was subjected to an investigation which I
found deeply stressful, intrusive and humiliating, and eventually paid
about 25% of the value of the items which were stolen (this on a 'new
for old' policy). I've no idea whether this was a 'random'
investigation, or whether they thought there was something suspicious
about me (although I'd never claimed on insurance before and am a
boringly honest person with no record for anything except anti-nuclear
demos).

Since I moved back to a civilised country twelve years ago I haven't
had any insurance at all except on my car (that being a legal
requirement), haven't had any burglaries, and haven't had any bikes
stolen - and although I do still posess a bike lock I've long since
forgotten where the key is (although the bike shed is usually locked).

My three bikes are worth, total, maybe a little over £2,000 pounds; at
replacement value maybe £3,000. That means if all three were stolen
once every ten years, at £30 a month I come out ahead not having
insurance. Furthermore, I don't put myself through the stress and
misery of being treated as a criminal if they are stolen. I'd call
that win-win.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 99% of browsers can't run ActiveX controls. Unfortunately
;; 99% of users are using the 1% of browsers that can...
[seen on /. 08:04:02]

Don't forget some insurance companies will cover bikes. Halifax my
insurers cover bicycles up to the value £500 as part of a standard
policy...and when I added my new bike at a value of £1000, they marked
it as a specified item and only increased the premiums by £4 a
month..very reasonable when you consider my bike lives in the shed
outside the house for some of the year

og The Undeniable wrote in message ...
Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would
cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have. I looked around and
the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I live in a very low risk
location too!

I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle
insurance premiums are justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a
(slightly boy racer) car with a market value of about £9000!

"M Series" wrote in message ...
XRchris wrote:
"Zog The Undeniable" wrote in message
...
Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard,

Most household insurance policies do not cover bikes as standard
outside the home.



Thanks for the posting (goes off to read new Household Contents Policy
which dropped through the door and promptly got filed under pile of
papers, kids dragon pictures etc to see if bikes still covered)

Depends upon the value of your bike of course, but the cost of the
insurance banded about seems too high. I paid £25 extra on top of a
standard home insurance with AXA for a trek 5200 bike. And very
thankful i was too, a car crashed into me three weeks later leaving no
details.

(NIGEL) wrote in message . com...
Don't forget some insurance companies will cover bikes. Halifax my
insurers cover bicycles up to the value £500 as part of a standard
policy...and when I added my new bike at a value of £1000, they marked
it as a specified item and only increased the premiums by £4 a
month..very reasonable when you consider my bike lives in the shed
outside the house for some of the year

og The Undeniable wrote in message ...
Well, my home insurance no longer covers bikes as standard, and it would
cost about £30/month extra to add the three I have. I looked around and
the CTC would want a similar £350 per year - I live in a very low risk
location too!

I'm just going to buy the best D-lock I can. Does anyone think cycle
insurance premiums are justifiable? I only pay about £200 a year for a
(slightly boy racer) car with a market value of about £9000!