Insuring the precious things...

[Croydian]

With the garage bulging at the seams I'm starting to worry about a break in. I do lock the bikes to an old D'lock I've glued into the well with chemical metal but a pair of decent bolt croppers and the tandem, XC MTB and three retro rides and dutch shopper could easily disappear!

Does anyone know a reasonable insurer for bikes? The missus reckons putting them all on the contents house insurance would cost a small fortune and they limit how many bikes they'll cover. Any suggestions much appreciated. [/b]

 

[tintin40]

I looked in to this. And the cost was 10% of the total price of the value of the bike(s)
So could get very very £££
Sorry can't remember the name of the company. 'WuTangled' knows them.

 

[cchris2lou]

I have heard M & S insurance is the one of the best for bikes .

 

[neilll]

Unless you've got receipts for all the components you've bought there's a good chance you'll never get payout if some scrote did nick it anyway I would guess.

My Pace cost me around £3500 to build and it's been on my house insurance as a 'specific' for donkey's years at a value of £2500.

Obviously it's not worth £2500 as I could go buy another complete bike here or on fleabay for £700-800 but I could never prove I actually spent £3500 on it.

Same with the Retro projects I would guess...how is a run of the mill insurance assessor gonna react when you show him a photo of your stolen, 18 year old Offroad Toad that cost you an arm and a leg and five years to build and your asking him to settle a four figure claim?

This is all speculation but I would guess it would be hard to make a claim :? :?

 

[OrangeRetro]

I'm insured with esure and they operate a new for old policy, where you have to prove that you owned the bike, original reciepts and pictures to show the specification, but they were more then happy to pay out when my Orange Sub5 got nicked.

I insured it for £2100, provided them with the original reciept (for £1300), and a full spec and photos, and got a brand new Orange 5 worth £2600 as a replacement.. :shock: ..

I've got my 5 and inbred on the policy, now totaling £3300 worth of cover and its costing around £100 per year. My P7 isn't specified but is covered upto the value of £500 as standard on the policy. I could list it, say for £1500, as new for old, thats what its worth and I'm sure they would pay out for it... Its just the extra cost of adding it on.

They did provided the replacement though, so you could end up with a modern ride that you would need to sell on to re-build your retro ride?

Either way, I'm glad I paid out to insure my modern bikes!

 

[Corduroyboy]

I'm insured with CIS and they have a specific add-on for bikes (costing little or nothing!). It may have changed but it used to cover accidental damage as well as loss through theft. There was a maximum of £1000 (per bike) worth of cover if the bike was away from your property but unlimited cover whilst the bike was secured on your property (read locked in the house, garage or boot of car!). When my Proflex got knicked from inside the house, along with another generic aluminium thing I had built up with decent kit, I put in a claim of £1000 (what I thought was the max) for the Proflex and around £700 for the other. I documented (without receipts) the prices of the individual parts using magazine cut-outs and showed them a total of over £3500. When the rep came round, he asked why I wasn't claiming the full value. When I told him that I believed the maximum for each bike was £1000, he informed me that I was entitled to claim for the full value. :shock:
So I ended up making a claim for the full value, which they negotiated downwards for cash (I could have taken the option of a £3500 spending spree in the bike shop of my choosing!)
Long story, I know, but I cannot recommend these guys enough. Bear in mind, though, that this was a few years ago. I am still with CIS and have no reason to believe that they have changed their policy but it is worth checking (I should do myself, given my bike spending of late!). You would also need to have your house contents insured with them.