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Table of contents
1. UK specialist cycle insurers comparison tables:
- - who/what bikes are covered?
- - theft/locks/countries/extras
- - premiums/options/claims
- - discounts
- - triathlon/other competitions
3. UK home contents insurance - comparison websites
4. Things we consider when choosing insurance
Cycle/bicycle insurance for theft, damage, accident, liability. A review and comparisons for UK residents to find the best/cheapest.
Copyright © 2010-12 Alec and Val Scaresbrook
Fully updated tables: May 2012. NB Most policies do not change substantially, but always read the small print, as minor amendments are often made.
UK cycling
When it's insurance renewal time, we compare cover and premiums for the best and cheapest policies that include (or can be extended to cover) our bikes (push bikes, that is). First we look for a home contents insurance that has pedal cycle options to the value we need. For many years, this has worked out cheaper for us than stand-alone bicycle insurance, with the advantage that the general insurers don't impose complicated conditions, and don't usually specify a Sold Secure cycle lock (which although more expensive, may be no better than other locks).
Annual shop around
Tip: Instant online quotes are very useful, but to avoid phone calls from sales people, don't put your phone number on the form. Replace the digits with zeroes instead. You can edit the form later if you decide to buy.
We have used RIAS or SAGA, since we meet their age criterion of 50+, but they only cover bikes in the UK. This year (2011) we discovered Aviva cover was much cheaper because of their home insurance deal. Even though pedal cycle cover is an extra, not part of the free cover, the total was still half what we paid last year, including world-wide cover (they'll cover bikes of up to £2500 value each).
General insurance cover doesn't often give public liability/third party damage cover, but this is available separately (from Cycleguard and Evans Cycles - see below) and is frequently included in cycle club membership - either the national Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC ) or British Cycling (BC ), or local clubs (which are usually affiliated to one of these organisations). The London Cycling Campaign also offers these benefits to its members.
Student cover
Another option (not applicable to us though) is insurance cover for students' possessions, which include a bicycle. In addition to specialists such as Endsleigh , there are general insurance companies that offer extended cover for possessions of a family member who's away studying. So if you're a student, ask your parents to check their home cover and consider changing their insurer if necessary to cover you. We've noticed that SAGA (if the main policy holder is 50+), and Aviva do this, and probably a lot more too. Of course, as ever, you have to read the policy document carefully regarding exclusions.
Our overview of cycle cover
As we've ploughed through the policies (14+) and squinted at lots of small print to compare bike cover, we thought we'd share the information in an overview of cover in stand-alone cycle policies. All these companies give an online quote for quick comparison. Some of them also cover tandems, tricycles (trikes), recumbents, trailer bikes, and electric (battery assisted) bikes. If you can't find cover or a price to suit amongst the specialist policies, look at our full report for links to general insurers, who could well have a more appropriate deal for you.
Read more...see the complete report, free:
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The free review includes more tips and further at-a-glance comparison tables (scroll right to view all 12 policies):
| Insurance | AUA Pedal/Battery Assisted Cycle Insurance 2012 (Jun 10 policy) | Bike Insurance 2012 (Oct 11 policy) | CTC Cyclecover 2012 (Jun 11 policy) | Cycleguard 2012 (Oct 11 policy) | Cycleguard 4 Kids 2012 (Oct 11 policy) | Cyclesure 2012 (Jun 11 policy) | Ecoinsure 2012 (Jun 11 policy) | Endsleigh 2012 (2009 policy) | ILoveMyBike 2012 (checked in May 12) | Evans 2012 (Oct 11 policy) | LCC Urban Cycling 2012 (Jun 11 policy) | Protect Your Bubble 2012 (checked in Jan 12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider age/details |
18+ Ineligible if claimable incident in previous 3 years. Ineligible if a full-time student. |
Designed for British Cycling members (see discount details), but available to all, including if made 1-2 previous claims. 12+ |
Designed for Cyclists' Touring Club members. 16+ (children covered by family option) |
16+ |
12-15. Ineligible if made a prior cycle-related claim. |
16+ (children covered by family option) |
16+ (children covered by family option) |
16+ |
16+ |
10+ |
Designed for London Cycling Campaign members. 16+ (children covered by family option) |
16+ |
| Other riders? |
Family (resident with you) |
An option |
Family option |
An option |
✗ |
Family option |
Family |
✗ |
Family |
An option |
Family option |
Family (max 6) |
|
How many bikes?
NB more are often possible - ask |
1 |
1-3 |
1-10 |
1-3 |
1-3 |
1-10 |
1-10 |
1 |
4 for 5+, ask |
1-3 |
1-10 |
Unlimited |
|
Maximum value inclusive of accessories and lock. NB often possible to arrange higher value cover |
£2,500 |
Total £10,000 Higher values may be possible |
£7,500 (1 bike); total £12,500 |
Total £10,000 |
Total £2,000 |
£7,500 (1 bike); total £10,000 |
Total £5,000 |
£1,500 |
£4,000 per bike |
Total £10,000 |
£7,500 (1 bike); total £10,000 |
£10,000 each (max £150 accessories cover) |
|
New for old cover
|
✓ |
✓ if under 3 years old |
✓ |
✓ if under 3 years old |
✓ if under 3 years old |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ if under 3 years old |
✓ |
✓ if under 3 years old |
✓ |
✓ if under 3 years old |
| Competitive use? |
✗ |
An option |
✓ time trials. Other - an option |
An option |
✗ |
✓ time trials. Other - an option. |
✓ time trials. Other - an option. |
✓ time trials |
An option - excl. liability cover |
An option (choose Active) |
✓ time trials. Other - an option. |
✓ time trials. Other - request quote. |
Scroll right to view all 12 policies.
The free review includes more tips and further at-a-glance comparison tables.
Read more...see the complete report, free.
Obtain free access to our complete bicycle insurance review
You can unsubscribe at any time.
Privacy statement: We do not pass on your e-mail address to anyone else.
Help fund the Cheshire Cycleway website
The links in this article are those we've found useful in our research, and some companies pay us a small commission on sales. So if you visit any of the websites mentioned in this review, we'd appreciate it if you clicked through to them from our pages. Then, if you do decide to buy anything, we might get a fee to help cover our time sharing the results of our research.
The bike insurance review has links to insurance web sites (Aviva, Beat that Quote, Columbus, Compare the Market, Confused, Direct Line, Direct Travel, eTravel, Flexicover, Go Travel, Gotravel, Insurefor, Go Compare, Money Supermarket, Only, Principality Building Society,Yes, RIAS, Tesco, USwitch, Saga, World Nomads), cycle insurance websites for cyclists, cycling, competition and triathlon cover for theft, damage, liability, accident (AUA pedal/battery assisted, AUA triathlete cycle, British Cycling Federation, Cyclecover, Butterworth, Cycleguard, Cycleguard 4 Kids, Cyclesure, Evans Cycles insurance, ETA, Endsleigh, iLoveMyBike.co.uk, Urban Cycling, Ecoinsure, BTF triCycle, Cycleguard Triathlon, Cycleguard Roadcare, Evans Roadcare, Cycleguard Road Rescue, ETA Cycle Rescue, BTF triCycle, ETA) and Argos, eBay, Amazon, Halfords, Freecycle, and travel by Eurostar, Europan Bike Express, Eurostar, Eurotunnel, P & O Ferries, DFDS Seaways Ferries, Norfolk Line (now part of DFDS), Sea France, Brittany Ferries.
Comments
1 Adrian 05 Jun 2010 20.30.18
2 Alec and Val 06 Jun 2010 13.01.06
It's rare to find an insurance policy that covers STORAGE of bikes outside - usually you are OK to leave a bike outside (locked, of course) for a time when you are shopping or commuting etc. Your comment just shows how important it is to read all the small print!
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Thanks for providing all this info. I just wish I'd seen this page first as it would have saved me about 5 hours' work, but unfortunately it only came up on the 2nd page on google.
I have a small but important addendum for you though: the Endsleigh policy does allow you to leave the bike locked outside for more than 12 hours, but this is only extended to 24 hours. You are still not allowed to actually store the bike outside. Also you have to remove the saddle or wheel after 11pm even if it's only for 5 minutes during a late night trip to the 24hr shop.
Since I can't park my bike inside, it turns out that insurance simply isn't possible at all, and I just have to buy good locks and cross my fingers.