E Bike insurance recommendations

[eddieo]

I cant get the new bikes covered on my Tesco home policy as they are to expensive (£2100 and £1850)

So need to find a stand alone policy I guess...anyone have a recommendation please

edit:

ETA are £375 for the year! and cycleguard a staggering £585

household insurance up this month anyway, so does anyone know of any home insurers that insure e bikes at approx £2000each?

 

[eddieo]

well I have spent the day on this...and no luck finding reasonable cover. As house insurance due...If any one knows a household/building cover policy that covers bikes with a value of up to £2000 each I would much appreciate it.

M&S cover pedal cycles up to £4000 each! but not electric......

 

[tillson]

If you are a member of Unison ( You might not need to be, check), UIA house contents insurance provides cover up to £1500 for bikes / electric bikes on the standard policy.

You would obviously have the remainder as an uninsured risk. But at those policy prices you have quoted, you would be paying nearly that amount for a stand alone bike policy anyway. Just bank the stand alone policy premium and you have nearly covered to uninsured risk.

 

[carpetbagger]

My insurance is with the AA and during the quote i specified my ebike and it didn't affect the quote. It actually went down this year. Nationwides insurance added £85 about 2 years ago. I would get house insurance via the comparison sites then mention the ebike when you start getting the barrage of calls wanting you to take it out.

 

[eddieo]

If you are a member of Unison ( You might not need to be, check), UIA house contents insurance provides cover up to £1500 for bikes / electric bikes on the standard policy.

You would obviously have the remainder as an uninsured risk. But at those policy prices you have quoted, you would be paying nearly that amount for a stand alone bike policy anyway. Just bank the stand alone policy premium and you have nearly covered to uninsured risk.

problem with that is, as bike value greater value then £1500 you wil have under insured bikes, so probably not covered? also not members of Unison (wife in lecturers union)

Tried the AA and they said no to e bike insurance!

have just filled in form at money supermarket.....

Yes Andy, I tried the main e bike firms they just say ETA or cycleguard

 

[andyh2]

Have you tried any of the dealers who sell the higher cost (with quality to match of course!) bikes, maybe Wisper / Onbike / 50Cycles.

 

[HarryB]

Where are you worried that it will get stolen? Off the camper? I don't bother with insurance, just a decent padlock (two actually) and follow the usual rule like never leave it in the same place twice etc.

 

[hoppy]

Try NFU Direct. Mine covers ebikes up to 5000 in contents up to 50000 for under 10 per month.

 

[eddieo]

Harry I guess I am risk adverse and have always had european cover......will carry predator chain as well as Abus!

hoppy, NFU dont like London post codes in my experience..... but thanks will give them a try (tommorow as pretty fed up now) is that an extension on a household policy or stand alone bike insurance please?

 

[tillson]

problem with that is, as bike value greater value then £1500 you wil have under insured bikes, so probably not covered? also not members of Unison (wife in lecturers union)

Tried the AA and they said no to e bike insurance!

have just filled in form at money supermarket.....

Yes Andy, I tried the main e bike firms they just say ETA or cycleguard

You would be ok. The policy states that they will pay a maximum of £1500 per bike. You just have to be prepared for the uninsured differential between the value of the bike and £1500. That differential is decreasing all the time as the bike reduces in value.

You should give it serious consideration. My view is that the only things worth insuring are my health, my house and my car, in that order. If it wasn't for the fact that the bike insurance is a by-product of the house insurance, I wouldn't bother. It's a bit of a rip-off

 

[hoppy]

I think it's NFU's standard contents policy. Covers contents of outbuildings including ebikes up to 5000. Also legal expenres up to 50000 and third party liability up to 2500000.

 

[eddieo]

You would be ok. The policy states that they will pay a maximum of £1500 per bike. You just have to be prepared for the uninsured differential between the value of the bike and £1500. That differential is decreasing all the time as the bike reduces in value.

You should give it serious consideration. My view is that the only things worth insuring are my health, my house and my car, in that order. If it wasn't for the fact that the bike insurance is a by-product of the house insurance, I wouldn't bother. It's a bit of a rip-off

No that would be fine, if that is the case! dont mind being under insured as long as covered and get most of the money back. Will try them and NFU tommorow...

 

[tillson]

The NFU policy sounds the better one in terms of bike cover.

 

[eddieo]

The NFU policy sounds the better one in terms of bike cover.

one thing offering £5000 cover in a garage, another if covered out and about and abroad...we will see!

 

[PennyFarthing]

I added mine to my existing house insurance with Swinton -numerous phone calls back and forth to define if it was a bicycle with a battery/motor or a an electric moped thing - they couldn't get their head around it and kept questionning and questionning, but the defining moment seemed to be that there was no throttle and it only works when I pedal (being a crank driven bike). If it hadn't been for that it was going to be difficult. Can't remember amount now but it was around £25-35 - included being insured away from home so long as locked to secure bike rack etc. I can't remember the excess but it wasn't much.

 

[eddieo]

Well it looks like Tillsons recommendation of UIA are the best bet. UIA is part of the Unison union, my wife is in the lecturers union so that was OK...

Contents and building + It includes 4 bikes and seems? the same level of cover as NFU but cheaper....Bikes covered here and abroad (max 30 days) Tillson why did you say NFU was better cover as I cant see awhat it is.....

 

[tillson]

Well it looks like Tillsons recommendation of UIA are the best bet. UIA is part of the Unison union, my wife is in the lecturers union so that was OK...

Contents and building + It includes 4 bikes and seems? the same level of cover as NFU but cheaper....Bikes covered here and abroad (max 30 days) Tillson why did you say NFU was better cover as I cant see awhat it is.....

I thought that the NFU policy gave 5K of cover if the bikes were away from the house. Now I know that cover is only for bikes at the home address, it's not so good.

Pleased that UIA are able to provide the level of cover you were looking for. Ive been with them for a few years now and not had any problems.

 

[halfer]

I just rang Co-operative insurance (in the UK) and asked them to clarify whether electric bikes would be covered. I explained that to all intents and purposes they are effectively just pedal bikes, and that the only reason it can be a bit harder to insure them is that the insurance companies are not well aware of them. It was checked with a manager, and the answer came back that they are covered, so long as they are valued at under £1000 and the personal possessions cover is taken out (ordinary home contents does not cover bikes of any kind even when in the house).

My guess is that electric bikes over the £1000 value would be covered, but would have to be declared as a "specific possession" in the same way as a non-electric bike of the same value. This is good news, as it seems they are treating electric bikes the same way as non-powered ones, just as they ought to.