Bike insurance with (just) lock cover 29 October 2022 at 8:28PM in Insurance & life assurance 12 replies 154 views

vlopes

Hi,

I'm trying to find a bike insurer that would cover damage to the lock in case of attempted theft - is there any?

I've recently purchased a new (expensive) anti-grinder lock(Litelok x1) which will most likely stop a common bike theft in London. The problem is that all bike insurers only cover lock damage/loss with a bike claim - meaning I'm better off if having a cheaper lock and someone steals my bike 

Litelok also don't have any type of replacement policy for damaged locks

Seems to me that something needs to change with these new locks coming in to the market, as the above makes little sense to me 

[Deleted User]

Are you sure they aren't covered under the accessories? Did you ask any of them?

Bike insurance excess could be more than the bike lock is worth too or at least a huge chunk of it

Smithcom

vlopes said:

Hi,

I'm trying to find a bike insurer that would cover damage to the lock in case of attempted theft - is there any?

I've recently purchased a new (expensive) anti-grinder lock(Litelok x1) which will most likely stop a common bike theft in London. The problem is that all bike insurers only cover lock damage/loss with a bike claim - meaning I'm better off if having a cheaper lock and someone steals my bike 

Litelok also don't have any type of replacement policy for damaged locks

Seems to me that something needs to change with these new locks coming in to the market, as the above makes little sense to me 

What is the value of the bike and lock?

Just glancing at the internet, value of lock is £150.00.   If it was just the lock that was damaged, would it be worthwhile making a claim for the £150, bearing in mind probable subsequent premium increases?  If not, your question is surely superfluous.

I'm not sure that your theory of having a cheaper (poorer-standard lock) in order to allow easier theft of your vehicle, in return for a claim for both bike/lock, is one that I would suggest is good solution.

All risks (Personal Possessions) cover under a household policy may well cover a damaged lock with/without theft if cycle.  However, I again pose the question, would it be worthwhile making a claim for the £150, bearing in mind probable subsequent premium increases?


SC

Aretnap

Are you sure that they will only cover a lock if the bike itself is stolen? Looking at one example, cycleguard, the policy covers both the bicycle and accessories, locked are counted as accessories, and I cannot see anything in the policy that would exclude a claim for accessories unless there was also a claim for the bicycle as well.

That said when I went through the quote prices the quote was a rather eye-watering £130, which is nearly the time what I pay to add my £1500 bike to my home and contents policy. I've never been convinced that a stand alone cycle policy is a worthwhile investment, and nothing I've discovered today had changed my mind...

Aretnap

Smithcom said:

vlopes said:

Hi,

I'm trying to find a bike insurer that would cover damage to the lock in case of attempted theft - is there any?

I've recently purchased a new (expensive) anti-grinder lock(Litelok x1) which will most likely stop a common bike theft in London. The problem is that all bike insurers only cover lock damage/loss with a bike claim - meaning I'm better off if having a cheaper lock and someone steals my bike 

Litelok also don't have any type of replacement policy for damaged locks

Seems to me that something needs to change with these new locks coming in to the market, as the above makes little sense to me 

What is the value of the bike and lock?

Just glancing at the internet, value of lock is £150.00.   If it was just the lock that was damaged, would it be worthwhile making a claim for the £150, bearing in mind probable subsequent premium increases?  If not, your question is surely superfluous.

I'm not sure that your theory of having a cheaper (poorer-standard lock) in order to allow easier theft of your vehicle, in return for a claim for both bike/lock, is one that I would suggest is good solution.

All risks (Personal Possessions) cover under a household policy may well cover a damaged lock with/without theft if cycle.  However, I again pose the question, would it be worthwhile making a claim for the £150, bearing in mind probable subsequent premium increases?


SC

Most (OK, based on an n of 1) cycle policies don't ask about previous claims, or just ask you to tick a box to say you haven't had more than (say) two claims in the last 3 years. So there would be no premium increase for a single claim.

That said the price of the policy I looked at was nearly as much as the lock, so if you're mainly worried about the lock it would only be a good investment if you think the lock is pretty much certain to be damaged in the next year...

Smithcom

Aretnap said:

Smithcom said:

vlopes said:

Hi,

I'm trying to find a bike insurer that would cover damage to the lock in case of attempted theft - is there any?

I've recently purchased a new (expensive) anti-grinder lock(Litelok x1) which will most likely stop a common bike theft in London. The problem is that all bike insurers only cover lock damage/loss with a bike claim - meaning I'm better off if having a cheaper lock and someone steals my bike 

Litelok also don't have any type of replacement policy for damaged locks

Seems to me that something needs to change with these new locks coming in to the market, as the above makes little sense to me 

What is the value of the bike and lock?

Just glancing at the internet, value of lock is £150.00.   If it was just the lock that was damaged, would it be worthwhile making a claim for the £150, bearing in mind probable subsequent premium increases?  If not, your question is surely superfluous.

I'm not sure that your theory of having a cheaper (poorer-standard lock) in order to allow easier theft of your vehicle, in return for a claim for both bike/lock, is one that I would suggest is good solution.

All risks (Personal Possessions) cover under a household policy may well cover a damaged lock with/without theft if cycle.  However, I again pose the question, would it be worthwhile making a claim for the £150, bearing in mind probable subsequent premium increases?


SC

Most (OK, based on an n of 1) cycle policies don't ask about previous claims, or just ask you to tick a box to say you haven't had more than (say) two claims in the last 3 years. So there would be no premium increase for a single claim.

That said the price of the policy I looked at was nearly as much as the lock, so if you're mainly worried about the lock it would only be a good investment if you think the lock is pretty much certain to be damaged in the next year...

Well, the first two that I have looked at either asked:

1. How many cycle claims in past 5 years
2.  How many years since last claim

The policies also carried an excess of at least £50

We could have a decent debate about the value of making a claim for a £150 lock, when there is (potentially) a policy excess, and possibly an increased premium.

I would make a further point regarding potential disclosure requirements on a policyholder's home insurance policy, if a claim/loss is made under a separate cycle policy.   Something to be very careful/aware of.

SC

[Deleted User]

£50 excess is fine, if you're replacing a £150 lock depending on what it might do to premiums (and you can always shop around anyway). If you have a lock of that cost (required for bikes above a certain value) and it gets attacked, you have to buy a replacement as they'll refuse to payout if you reused a lock that was damaged. If you ride a bike that is worth say £5-10k, you want the best of the best security if leaving it anywhere to avoid the insurer refusing to pay out so you are pretty much forced to buy a replacement.

Smithcom

Deleted_User said:

£50 excess is fine, if you're replacing a £150 lock depending on what it might do to premiums (and you can always shop around anyway). If you have a lock of that cost (required for bikes above a certain value) and it gets attacked, you have to buy a replacement as they'll refuse to payout if you reused a lock that was damaged. If you ride a bike that is worth say £5-10k, you want the best of the best security if leaving it anywhere to avoid the insurer refusing to pay out so you are pretty much forced to buy a replacement.

 Seriously?   If the bike is of any value (i.e £5,000/£10,000 or whatever), do you think that it's worth making a claim for £100 (£150 Lock less £50 Excess), bearing in mind premium may well increase, regardless of ability to shop around.

In my view, for what it's worth, by all means claim for the lock if the bike is also stolen/damaged, but I would personally not be claiming for £100 if all that was damaged was the lock.  I would suggest that is probably an unwise route to take, unless of course you are 100% certain that it will never happen again.    How many claims would you want against your record? 

SC

[Deleted User]

Smithcom said:

Deleted_User said:

£50 excess is fine, if you're replacing a £150 lock depending on what it might do to premiums (and you can always shop around anyway). If you have a lock of that cost (required for bikes above a certain value) and it gets attacked, you have to buy a replacement as they'll refuse to payout if you reused a lock that was damaged. If you ride a bike that is worth say £5-10k, you want the best of the best security if leaving it anywhere to avoid the insurer refusing to pay out so you are pretty much forced to buy a replacement.

 Seriously?   If the bike is of any value (i.e £5,000/£10,000 or whatever), do you think that it's worth making a claim for £100 (£150 Lock less £50 Excess), bearing in mind premium may well increase, regardless of ability to shop around.

In my view, for what it's worth, by all means claim for the lock if the bike is also stolen/damaged, but I would personally not be claiming for £100 if all that was damaged was the lock.  I would suggest that is probably an unwise route to take, unless of course you are 100% certain that it will never happen again.    How many claims would you want against your record? 

SC

You don't know the premium will increase and not all bike insurers will ask it. Spending £150 a pop to replace the lock isn't cheap. I pay around £400 for £10k of cover with £0 excess on accessories. In my circumstances it might not actually be worth a claim simply because there aren't many insurers who will cover that high but for for my other bikes, I pay about £200 and there, even a 25% increase is still worth claiming on the policy

vlopes

Many thanks for all the replies.

I have assumed that there won't be a premium increase. Some insurers ask for previous claims, but from my search ~50% don't - so it would be easy to just change providers. Also had a friend with a Velosure policy who made a claim (stolen bike) and his premium did not increase (this was a couple of years ago, don't know if this still stands) 

I think that for now I will keep my standard gold lock, get insurance, and hope for the best. Currently there isn't a real incentive in my view to being more secure - neither from any insurer, nor from the manufacturer(s).

Smithcom

vlopes said:

Many thanks for all the replies.

I have assumed that there won't be a premium increase. Some insurers ask for previous claims, but from my search ~50% don't - so it would be easy to just change providers. Also had a friend with a Velosure policy who made a claim (stolen bike) and his premium did not increase (this was a couple of years ago, don't know if this still stands) 

I think that for now I will keep my standard gold lock, get insurance, and hope for the best. Currently there isn't a real incentive in my view to being more secure - neither from any insurer, nor from the manufacturer(s).

Velosure ask about 'any claims/losses/incidents' in past 5 years.  I wonder why they do that?

Also, may I ask, should a claim (or loss) on a cycle policy also be disclosed to a Household insurer?

To the experts who are advocating claiming for (relatively) small amounts with gay abandon, I would suggest caution.

SC