RE: Cycling
Insurance
I just recently changed my home insurance and I was specifically conscious of getting my bike covered just in case. I found a few things which I thought worth sharing as it may help others.
On my basic Contents policy, my bike is covered whilst at home, either indoors, or in a shed etc (there may be caveats, read on!).
However, I have an excess, an amount I must pay if something is stolen/damaged before the insurance will pay out anything. I can change the excess, but the lower it is, the higher the premiums become. I have it set at 250, which seemed a reasonable compromise between overall cost of the policy and what I would need to pay out.
Thing is, my bike only cost 250, so in reality I have no cover!
OK, fair enough, I can live with that, it isn't worth reducing my excess and having higher premiums to get a little bit of insurance cover.
So, I took out an optional cover for 'personal possessions'. This covers items away from the home. This was specifically to cover my bike. It wasn't until the policy document arrived that I realised this was also covered by the 250 excess, so again, in reality, I had no cover.
End result, I cancelled the personal possessions cover as it is useless to me, saving about 3 bucks a month on the cost, and I will put a tenner (maybe a bit more) into a savings account to build an emergency fund instead.
I then wondered about separate bike insurance and had a look round. There are a number of places offering this, but most are simply offering the same policy repackaged with their little percentage added to the cost.
One common thing with these policies is that they require you to use an 'approved' lock and chain or else you are not covered. Approval is granted by what appears to be one of these self-appointed quangos. They have a website which is pretty awful and doesn't inspire confidence, I forget the address. As far as I can tell, the lock makers are required to submit their products, along with a fee, to get them tested and appear on the approved list. Needless to say, many manufacturers don't bother.
I recently spent the best part of 50 bucks on locks and chains. The kit I am using is good quality, better than most of the bike stuff out there (I have a mix of motorcycle quality stuff, and industrial strength padlocks). None of it appears on the approved list however, so to get this insurance cover, I would need to spend another 50 bucks on inferior quality locks and chains to validate it! Nonsense.
The moral is, if you think your bike is covered by insurance, check the policy. It may be that the excess means you really have no cover, or there may be some small print about the types of locks required to make the insurance valid. Also, if you do buy the 'approved' locks, be sure to keep the receipts to prove that you had them.
As I said, I'll be putting a little away each month to build an emergency fund instead, hopefully no disasters will occur before that gets to a reasonable amount!
"I'm a featherless bird ... in a sky so absurd"
Sophia - Becky - Mica - Camilla - Ella
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