CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Insurance

(24 posts)
  • Started 4 years ago by unhurt
  • Latest reply from HankChief
  • This topic is not resolved

  1. unhurt
    Member

    Need to renew my home & contents and I am as usual trying to figure out the best way to cover bikes.

    In the past I've added them on as named items - but I'm very aware that in event of theft I'm likely to be informed that they'll only pay whatever depreciated value the insurer decides to apply.

    So, I thought perhaps I would instead sort separate cycle insurance from ETA as they insure you for replacement (incuding upgrades)- but it's about the same as the cost of home & contents over again, instead of an extra £20 a year with the Coop (e.g.). In fact, it's not much less that my car insurance was till I got rid of the car! That seems a lot, even to cover two quite decent bikes...

    Any advice? Looking for a decent deal - but would also like an at least reasonably ethical insurer - which really means the underwriter needs to be ethical(ish). Coop seems OK on this front - but they send you to Legal & General for insurance, soooo... ETA - say they're ethical but can't figure out if they're just brokers or no.

    No longer comfortable using the personal data harvesting Money Supermarkets of this world, and definitely don't want to give any money to Aaron Banks.

    (@Arellcat I think I saw you asking ETA Qs about cycle insurance on Twitter recently?)

    P.S. Yes I am doing insurance stuff at 22:45 on a Saturday night. In my defence I have a glass of wine and a belly full of pot roasted pheasant in me. So it's not been a totally pathetic evening.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  2. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Yes, I was interested in ETA because Kirsty Lewin was with them, and ETA's tweets have generally been pretty sound. Not had a reply yet though about max value.

    I'm currently with Pedalcover (thus AXA) for home and contents. They actually knew what a velomobile was, for one thing, although it hoikes up my premium something rotten. But on the other hand, the Pedalcover team is helpful, knowledgeable, and they actually ride bikes.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  3. wingpig
    Member

    We've just renewed to something via Money Supermarket. After "what's the cost to replace your bikes?" and "do you want them covered outside the home?" and so on the whole house plus bikes (using the rebuild value determined for previous insurance conversations) house-insurance price still turned out less than initial quote I fished out via British Cycling's associated insurer's bikes-only cost, but I don't know if it would cover them being stolen by a bear on a flight to Canada or anything complicated.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  4. sallyhinch
    Member

    I'd be inclined to use the cheaper home+contents option, but squirrel the money saved away into a new bike fund so you can effectively self insure in the event that the home insurance doesn't pay the full whack, and then you can still buy a new one a few years down the line even if your bike doesn't get stolen by a bear

    Posted 4 years ago #

  5. Greenroofer
    Member

    I have ETA cover which costs more for one bike than our car insurance does for one car fully comp (although Mrs G is the named driver and she is very low risk indeed). I am considering giving up on it.

    I've never used the insurance so can't vouch for that. I have used their bike recovery service (included with the insurance) and would recommend that.

    I've checked with them and an unsupervised bike on a train is not covered from theft.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  6. Greenroofer
    Member

    Further to this, the reasons I'm thinking of ceasing this insurance are that the conditions are quite onerous for theft protection. Essentially I have to carry a Sold Secure Gold lock if I want the bike to be insured when it's locked in public, and frankly they are too heavy for me to bother. This means that whenever it's away from home it's not insured for theft, which rather defeats the purpose of insurance.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  7. Arellcat
    Moderator

    This means that whenever it's away from home it's not insured for theft, which rather defeats the purpose

    I went with bike orientated insurance for the opposite reason. I'm less worried about theft and more worried about damage, and bad drivers. I'm picky about where I park a bike, and use locks accordingly, but I can't necessarily control random onlookers who are too free with their curiosity, and I can't necessarily control drivers (like today's at the controls of an X62) nor the ability of the LA to grit the road properly.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  8. gkgk
    Member

    I'm with AA at mo for contents insurance, with the away-from-home cover for individual items up to £1500. They require the bike to be secured to an immovable object, no mention of gold standard locks etc. Is £70 a lot, for contents insurance alone? I've no idea.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  9. Darkerside
    Member

    @Arellcat - out of interest, how do you lock the torpedo?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  10. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Motorcycle chain around the subframe inside and through a ground anchor, which is a massive faff. When out and about you can really only lock through the wheels and around a post. I park it only in certain places, partly to reduce risk but also for practicalities; #CCE10* at Summerhall is a known unknown, for example.

    * If we don't already have a suitable hashtag, I am hereby inventing it.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  11. unhurt
    Member

    Right, thanks all - very helpful except in that I still haven't made a decision!

    Posted 4 years ago #

  12. unhurt
    Member

    #CCE10* at Summerhall is a known unknown, for example

    Bring it into the central "yard" - then you can keep an eye out through the window (and it's off the street in a well-traffic'd area)?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  13. Greenroofer
    Member

    @unhurt - I think the summary message is that if your bike is too expensive to be insured as an add-on under a contents policy, then it will cost a lot.

    Whether it's worth paying more than the cost of fully-comp insurance on a car is a question that only you can answer. It depends on your attitude to risk and exactly what you want the insurance for. If it's against theft, then beware that the conditions for theft insurance away from home are onerous and restrictive. You may not be bothered to carry a big lock around all the time. If it's against damage, then you have to consider the likely risks of that damage and whether you can afford to repair/replace from other funds.

    My insurance is ~10% of the value of the bike. How likely is it that I will have a total (insured) loss in 10 years?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  14. biketrain
    Member

    Anyone know how to find out the who is the insurance company for your own car?

    Asking for a friend.

    So far we know that it is currently insured and has valid MOT.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  15. Trixie
    Member

    My mum encountered this problem when my dad died. He did all his business online and we didn't even have the password to his laptop, far less the files contained within. In the end, after loads of online faffing, only a wink from his bank manager got us the answer. So, follow the money.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  16. Snowy
    Member

    I think you can do a Subject Access Request to the Motor Insurance Database to find out what they hold on you - it should include your current insurer?

    https://www.mib.org.uk/managing-insurance-data/requesting-your-data/

    (Edit: you might want to do the free check first, just to confirm the vehicle is on the database, but it ought to be.)

    Posted 4 years ago #

  17. biketrain
    Member

    Thanks for all the suggestions. My friend remembered that the renewal was in April. Then rang her credit card company to look for the transaction. Turns out the insurance was with her own bank! All good now.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  18. HankChief
    Member

    It is time to renew the car insurance and the lowest quote was for a company who will track my driving style by way of a GPS / accelerometer that gets put in the car.

    Seems like a sensible enough approach. No idea how the scoring works but I was interested in what it would take to get my insurance cancelled...

    "You may also be cancelled if on more than one occasion you have driven
    30 MPH above the road speed limit."

    This seems like a pretty low bar to me...

    Posted 3 years ago #

  19. Morningsider
    Member

    @Hankchief - you have once a year chance to go 150% above the posted limit on most Edinburgh streets. Seems...generous.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  20. gembo
    Member

    Usually only 17 year olds who accept the limiter box. The6 have 11pm curfews etc and their parents are looking to reduce the premium.

    A friend’s son had peer pressure exerted and did 60 in a 30 zone and that cost his dad 1500 pounds.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  21. HankChief
    Member

    Eek. I'd better behave then...

    Posted 3 years ago #

  22. acsimpson
    Member

    Is the insurance charge retrospective?

    Posted 3 years ago #

  23. gembo
    Member

    @acsimpson, there was a breaking of the conditions clause and then future insurance after that was hard to find and very costly. Nice lad actually, without peer pressure quite sensible but highly suggestible.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  24. HankChief
    Member

    Just had my first drive scored by the app.

    Pleased to report I scored 100. <phew>

    Makes me wonder just how bad it needs to be score nearer to the 30 cut off point...

    Posted 3 years ago #

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