(no subject)

[naath]

Bicycle Insurance:

I have my shinyshiny bike insured with cyclecover (http://www.cyclecover.org.uk/) when I recently hit a wall at speed evading a car and thoroughly trashed the frame I claimed on this insurance in a hopeful sort of way. I sent a few emails, filled in a short form (name, policy number, how much are you claiming? why are you claiming it?), photocopied some bank statements, printed some photos & posted all that stuff off and today I have 800 quid in my bank account from them (and I haven't had to pay out for the repair yet; and I got to pick my preferred repair people).

I recommend these insurers as being insurers who actually pay out money in settlement of claims rather than arguing with you about whether they actually agreed to ever pay you any money and as being competent with email communication (I didn't have to phone them). Unfortunately I can't recommend them as being cheap; my insurance policy costs 10% of the cost of the bike annually although I expect this is mostly to do with the high risk of bike thievery in Cambridge.

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

Yes; being prepared to pay costs yourself to fix problems as-and-when. It's obviously cheaper-on-average because insurance companies make a prophet and pay staff and stuff. But if the costs are too high then maybe the risk is too big.

The other other option is to say "well, I don't really need this so if it breaks I won't have one anymore" but I can't do that for my main transport solution.