Bicycle insurance story

fergalr

Hi all,

Recently, I had my Specialized Langster road bike stolen from my back garden. It was rust red, had shimano ultegra brake upgrades, and a distinctive silver and black crankset. The size was 61 - I'm quite tall. It was about a year old. (If anyone sees such a bike around...)


It was very annoying to have it stolen. Its annoying because you spend a lot of time doing little custom things to the bike to kit it out properly. I had nice tyres on it, better pedals, a mudguard, a mount for my front light. Things like that take money, and more importantly, effort to replace.
Its also crap to have something taken from where you live; not a good feeling to have someone lurking around your living area.


Anyway, I had the bike insured with 123.ie insurance as a named item.
I've insured my bikes with them as part of a contents policy for many years, but this was the first time I had to claim anything.

This is the main point of my post, because every now and then I meet someone who tells me there isn't anyone who'll insure bikes in Ireland for renters.


When I had to make a claim, they were very good about it, and have given me sufficient compensation to (just about) replace the bike. Obviously, I'll lose out on some of the upgrades and effort, but its a lot better than having to shell out from scratch.


From going through the claims procedure, I'd say the following:
* Take a photograph of your bike. Photo any upgrades you do. Try keep your photographs up to date.
* Keep the receipt of your bike. If you don't have the receipt, get a quote from a bike shop, ideally before its stolen, for the worth of the bike.
* Keep receipts for any and all upgrades you do.
* If it does get stolen, report the theft to the guards (within 24 hours) and phone the insurance company.

It takes a bit of work to make the claim. I got a long way with the insurance company by being open and transparent with them. You hear stories that its very hard to claim for things, or that insurance companies try anything they can to wriggle out of paying, but the claims process was straightforward once I provided documentation.

From my experience, I'm obviously very glad I had the bike insured, and would keep my bikes insured in future.

I wanted to post about it here for two reasons:
1) Make it clear you can insure your bikes, and what you should do to keep the claims procedure straightforward.
2) Share a story about an insurance company that were good to deal with, when it came time to claim.

wersal gummage

i tried to add my bikes to my contents insurance but they (not 123) wanted like 300 quid a year.... i figured it wasn't worth it:(

Crocked

I got mine covered by FBD with my house insurance, only insured it for €500 (other half can be covered by bike to work) only cost €30 quid or something like that.

slickmcvic

thanks,was looking for a name of a bike insurer!

goods

could you still claim if said bike was stolen from town ? or does it have to actually be taken from the house ?

CramCycle

If you rent, the Ulster Bank isurance for house contents for 11euro a month covers bikes, just give them a receipt when you get the insurance. Never used but it sounds good.

It covers your bike wherever it is, so long as it was locked up and you have a Garda report stating that.

onimpulse

goods wrote: »

could you still claim if said bike was stolen from town ? or does it have to actually be taken from the house ?

Depends on if you have "all risks" cover. If so then I think it's covered no matter where it's stolen from ( obviously you'd have to have it locked etc).

Be careful though there is usually a limit to single item value on unspecified all risks - on my policy it's €1,000. If you bike is worth more than that then you need to specify it & then it increases the cost of your policy. In my case only b approx €30 though.

adodsk

I recently tried to get my bike put on the house insurance - only AXA would quote and it was ridiculously excessive. The other companies' limits on bike value are too low unfortunately.

Maybe I should stick it in a bank vault and never ride it?

funkyjebus

onimpulse wrote: »

Depends on if you have "all risks" cover. If so then I think it's covered no matter where it's stolen from ( obviously you'd have to have it locked etc).

Be careful though there is usually a limit to single item value on unspecified all risks - on my policy it's €1,000. If you bike is worth more than that then you need to specify it & then it increases the cost of your policy. In my case only b approx €30 though.

everyone has all risks over now adays. no body writes s peril based for house & contents any more. bikes would nomally be covered anywhere subject to possibly a few occasions. ie holidays, etc

Sniipe

did your insurance go up as a result of the claim?

Caroline_ie

what new bike did you get then?

fergalr

goods wrote: »

could you still claim if said bike was stolen from town ? or does it have to actually be taken from the house ?

My bikes are insured for all risks cover, so they should be covered if stolen from town, presuming they were sufficiently locked up, reasonable care was taken, etc.

fergalr

Sniipe wrote: »

did your insurance go up as a result of the claim?

It hasn't gone up yet in any way. I'm not sure if they'll quote me a higher figure when it comes time to renew - I hope not, but I'll have to wait and see.

fergalr

Caroline_ie wrote: »

what new bike did you get then?

I went for a Specialized Langster again, 2010 model.

Before you accuse me of being boring, let me explain my reasoning...

I didn't want something too pricey, as its for cycling on the city roads. I don't like buying a geared bike around that pricepoint - just don't really like the Sora level kit, and don't need more than a single speed in the city.

I considered a fuji track, which is cheaper again, but after shipping, and adding brakes, its not that much cheaper, and I like the finishing kit on the specialized bikes. The saddles, especially, tend to be good, and a good saddle is worth having!

Considered buying one of the Focus Variado 105 spec from wiggle, that are on sale at the moment, great deal around that price range, but its just a bit too far out of the budget. Also, single speed is /very/ easy to maintain in the winter grime.

I called up the Cycle Inn (who, along with Joe Daly's, are one of very few dublin bike shops I have time for), a few days ago, who I had bought the previous langster from, and they did me a bit of a deal on an outgoing 2010, and that clinched it for me.

The langster is not a very exciting bike, but its very solid, does the job, and its meant to be my working bike - its how I get around the city, gets locked up in town, etc - lack of bling is good.

Now, I just need to try find a pair of ultegra brakes from somewhere, buy rear mudguard, light mount etc.