(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

That's weird…

[(Anonymous)]

I've never heard of bike insurance in NYC; if there were such a thing, it might be one thing that would get me to ride.

Riding here is pretty much at-your-own-risk, and that includes all the other risks, like getting "doored" and run over by trucks (lorries.)

Re: That's weird…

[naath]

I've not previously had insurance for my bike because previous bikes have all been cheap enough that I would have been able to replace them had they been stolen or written off in a crash; this one is rather more valuable.

The risk of being hit by a someone operating a vehicle without due care and attention can not be removed by insurance of course.

Re: That's weird…

[lnr.livejournal.com]

I have theft insurance through my household insurer - which is a lot cheaper than naath's specialist insurance. I'm not sure if I'm covered for damage though - I'd have to check the policy. Bikes here get stolen often enough that it's worth it to me to insure against it - even though I'm careful about locking it.

In the UK damage from motorised vehicles would be covered by the compulsory 3rd party insurance of the driver - though of course you do need to get them to stop and give you their insurance details! That should probably be the case with a dooring too, though that is less clear.