Contents insurance valuable item mandatory?

lf93

Hi, looking for a bit of advice. 

In a bit of a catch 22 with home insurance. I contacted them to ask about the cost of adding a racing bicycle to our existing policy. I already have another bicycle with its own separate bike insurance but thought I’d see how much it’d be with the home insurance. Their cover didn’t meet my needs (I want crash and racing cover and more specific bike stuff) so I said thanks but no thanks, and insured it with the same bike insurer I’ve already used. I thought that was the end of it. 

The insurance company are now saying that I must declare this bike and if I don’t insure it, I need to cancel the whole home insurance policy as ‘Failing to do so would mean the risk at the property is not being accurately represented’. I’m not certain of the cost of this yet but I’ve already paid to insure it separately.

I’ve never heard of this before - I understand if I have an uninsured high value item that it isn’t covered. When I search a quote for example, it asks if I have items >£1500 that I wish to insure (and not whether I own any at all). But to suggest it being uninsured invalidates the whole policy seems absurd! The irony is they don’t know about my other bike because I didn’t ask them - is the consensus that you disclose all high value items even if you don’t want them included in the policy? The policy wording doesn’t exactly say other than saying I need to be honest about the contents etc. it specifically says they won’t pay out for items >£1500 as these haven’t been nominated - which I thought was fine. 

Ultimately it seems I now have to double pay to insure the bicycle even though the cover provided by the home insurance isn’t really what I want as it isn’t specific enough. 

Anyone encountered this before?

flaneurs_lobster

lf93 said:

Anyone encountered this before?

Is the argument that you might be burgled to steal the expensive bike (not insured) but there might well be damage or additional theft that you would be covered for?

I wonder if it's the nature of bikes as insurable risks, their theft does seem to be very common. Expensive, easy to nick, easy to escape on, easy to break down for parts.

Makes sense to me that looking at the overall risk (in the insurance sense) would include the nature and worth of a property's contents even if those contents were explicitly not covered.

luci

flaneurs_lobster said:

lf93 said:

Anyone encountered this before?

Is the argument that you might be burgled to steal the expensive bike (not insured) but there might well be damage or additional theft that you would be covered for?

I wonder if it's the nature of bikes as insurable risks, their theft does seem to be very common. Expensive, easy to nick, easy to escape on, easy to break down for parts.

Makes sense to me that looking at the overall risk (in the insurance sense) would include the nature and worth of a property's contents even if those contents were explicitly not covered.

This was my first thought, that it makes your property more attractive to thieves if it contains a high value, commonly stolen item.

That said, I agree that you shouldn't need to declare an item that you don't want the insurer to cover.

flaneurs_lobster

luci said:

That said, I agree that you shouldn't need to declare an item that you don't want the insurer to cover.

Even when that item is a £10k road racing bike, kept in the living room with the curtains open?

Next to the pile of gold bars and the Rembrandt.

luci

flaneurs_lobster said:

luci said:

That said, I agree that you shouldn't need to declare an item that you don't want the insurer to cover.

Even when that item is a £10k road racing bike, kept in the living room with the curtains open?

Next to the pile of gold bars and the Rembrandt.

I would expect any reasonable person to take the same care and due diligence with any valuable item. Anyone who leaves an expensive bicycle unlocked outside their front door deserves everything they get.

YBR

I've had a similar tussle with some household insurers over a violin that I insure on a specialist policy. The most recent I persuaded them that a violin is not on their list of high risk items (jewellery etc) and does not increase the risk to other contents, which may not apply to high value bikes.

sheramber

Where is the bike kept?
 

If in the house or garage then there could be damage to / theft of other  property to gain access and steal it. 

lf93

Thanks for all the insight. 

The bike is kept in a garage, attached to the house, with an electric remote controlled garage door. (And usually bolted to a turbo trainer!)
I agree with the overall risk assessment. I just wish there were an option to add it to the overall risk calculation but not as an insured high value item - it seems at least with my insurer this isn’t an option.