Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week?!

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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Music Guy123
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Joined: 21 Jan 2014, 5:43pm

Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week?!

Post by Music Guy123 »

Hi there,

A friend and I are planning a cycle via tandem from Dunkirk up to Amsterdam (3 day cycle) plus 3 day stay in Amsterdam. So we are looking for 1 week insurance on our tandem (worth about 2k inc paniers etc.). However, I have rung around about 5 insurers, 2 of which wouldn't insure because it was only for a week and 1 because it was a tandem. 2 of the insurers gave quotes, both just over £50 for 1 week. Which personally I think is ridiculous! The insurers that did quote were BC insurance (I think it is called cyclesure, think it is also CTC insurance). The other was Velosure, the Velosure one included medical insurance as well though. But I just want to cover the bike in case it gets stolen or damaged/vandalised etc. It will be staying with us inside every night. So where do you guys recommend I ring, really don't know what to do, £50+ for one week is a lot of money lol!

Cheers, look forward to hearing from you guys, all the best,

Music Guy
nmnm
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Joined: 14 Nov 2010, 6:03pm

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by nmnm »

£25 per person is cheap if your medical insurance is included and the bike insurance is good (meaning doesn't include a £1000 excess and all sorts of exclusions.

Do either of you have home contents insurance that you could add the tandem to?
Music Guy123
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Joined: 21 Jan 2014, 5:43pm

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by Music Guy123 »

Cheers for replying, very much appreciated!

I realise £25 is good value if it included medical cover, but I don't want the medical/travel insurance cover as I already have that. I'm just looking to get the bike covered in case the worst comes to the worst :(. £50+, for that seems a bit steep to me.

I'll look to see if I can get it covered on the house insurance, but I'm not sure! Basically, I was wondering whether you could recommend any companies that would just insure the bike and do it for less than £50 for the week?

Thank you very much once again, I really do appreciate it, all the best,

Music Guy
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toekneep
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Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by toekneep »

I would phone your existing home insurance company and ask them if they can extend your cover. It's much more in their interest to give you good value than a company that you haven't used before and may not again.
Psamathe
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Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by Psamathe »

I suspect that part of the problem with the quote might be the insurers "cost of sale". They need to employ people to answer your phone call for a quote, pay for offices, their own overheads, etc., credit card fees, sending out paperwork, etc. And those costs would be comparable for a full 1yr policy as for a 1 week policy. So the shorter policies are likely to be disproportionately expensive. That is not to say I think £50 is good value, just that I can appreciate them charging higher premiums than you might expect for a short low risk cover.

Ian
andymiller
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Joined: 8 Dec 2007, 10:26am

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by andymiller »

Psamathe wrote:I suspect that part of the problem with the quote might be the insurers "cost of sale". They need to employ people to answer your phone call for a quote, pay for offices, their own overheads, etc., credit card fees, sending out paperwork, etc. And those costs would be comparable for a full 1yr policy as for a 1 week policy. So the shorter policies are likely to be disproportionately expensive. That is not to say I think £50 is good value, just that I can appreciate them charging higher premiums than you might expect for a short low risk cover.


Your theory sounds plausible to me.

Going rate for annual insurance for just the bike is about 10 percent of the value. Putting it on your household contents insurance is the best bet.
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onehalfoftwo
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Joined: 23 Jan 2014, 2:12pm

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by onehalfoftwo »

I agree with all the other replies. I have my tandem and other the other 5 bikes on the house insurance, 3 listed individually due to the value being over the £500 threshold. Any individual bike up to the value of £500 is covered whether stolen or damaged at home or on holiday on any good respectable insurance company automatically, as its listed as "any individual item up to the value of £500". If the value is above £500 then the insurance company need to know and each individual bike would be listed separately. There was no, or at least very little difference in my premiums for the increase of a few thousand in value. :D
simonhill
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Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by simonhill »

I agree that a one week policy often seems inordinately expensive. It cost me the same to add someone to a car insurance for a year as it did for a few weeks.

However.....what do you do now? is your tandem insured in the UK? Is it so risky going over the Channel?

I don't insure my bike home or abroad, but try to take care of it. You say it will be in your room at night, so it sounds pretty safe to me.
AMC
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Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 5:53pm
Location: Y Ganolbarth (Mid Wales)

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by AMC »

I agree with all the other replies. I have my tandem and other the other 5 bikes on the house insurance, 3 listed individually due to the value being over the £500 threshold. Any individual bike up to the value of £500 is covered whether stolen or damaged at home or on holiday on any good respectable insurance company automatically, as its listed as "any individual item up to the value of £500". If the value is above £500 then the insurance company need to know and each individual bike would be listed separately. There was no, or at least very little difference in my premiums for the increase of a few thousand in value. :D
A bit of a late response, but rather than start a new insurance thread I thought I'd ask who you get your house insurance from? We've just had a horrible premium renewal hike & are shopping around (we've got a few bikes & some of them are well over the usual £2k limit) & you sound like you've got a reasonable deal!
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foxyrider
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Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by foxyrider »

try http://www.velosure.co.ukwho specialise in cycle cover.
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
AMC
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Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 5:53pm
Location: Y Ganolbarth (Mid Wales)

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by AMC »

Great - thanks for that link. I've got lots of others to go through from forum searches, but it really helps to have a direct recommendation
robing
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Joined: 7 Sep 2014, 9:11am

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by robing »

Is it actually worth getting insurance for a bicycle tour? The house insurance will cover certain things, in Europe you've got the health card. If your bike gets nicked then it's tour over anyway. Plus they may not pay out if it does get nicked?
AMC
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Location: Y Ganolbarth (Mid Wales)

Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by AMC »

It's not for a tour in this case - it's to cover the bikes in the house & garage, & out & about. There's some cover for touring in our current house insurance, it's just that Nationwide Anglia have hiked our house insurance premium up to ridiculous levels, & it doesn't even begin to cover the value of the bikes anyway. (Although I'd consider us very unlucky to have more than one nicked!)
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RickH
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Re: Can't get bicycle insurance for less than £50 for a week

Post by RickH »

When a friend wanted to add me to her car insurance, it was actually cheaper to put me on permanently (or at least until renewal), than it was to add me for a few weeks.

It may be worth checking out annual insurance, with European cover. It may be cheaper than a one-off short cover.

Rick
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
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