Everything you need to know when buying bicycle insurance

When buying bicycle insurance, it is vital to know all the different factors that may affect your price and cover. You need to think about the value of your bike and your accessories, where you store your bike, the location you live and much more.

Here at Cycler Insurance, we thought we’d make it easy for you and break down some of the important information you need to know when buying bicycle insurance.

Over/Under insuring 

When taking out a bicycle insurance policy, you must tell the insurance company the correct value of your bike. If you don’t tell the insurer the correct value of your bike, you could be underinsured and not covered if you need to make a claim. Equally, you don't want to be over insuring your bike, you'll pay a higher premium for doing so.

Undervaluing your bike means you’ve told your Insurer that your bike is worth less than it is.

For example, if your bike is worth £10,000, but you tell your insurer that the bike is worth £7500, when it comes to claiming, you may not be covered or you could be charged an additional premium.

If you've under insured, your Insurer will likely pay the maximum they can, the value that you entered when purchasing your policy.  

If you have any doubt about how much your bike is worth, insure your bike for the value of the receipts held or speak to your Insurer.

Location 

Depending on where you live in the country your insurance price can change. If you live in London, unfortunately, you are likely to pay a higher premium than someone from a different area of the country. This is due to the risk of theft associated with living in London.

Using the freedom of Information Act, Cycling Weekly found that a bike is stolen every 16-minutes in London. Between 2017-and 2021 162,943 bicycles were reported stolen in the capital; read their full article here. With just 1.1% of bikes being recovered after theft in London, without cover you could be left without a bike and that could be costly to replace.

Since Covid, Halfords has reported a 60% year-on-year increase in people cycling, as well as 62% of Londoners going out on their bicycles. However, this has also resulted in an increase in theft.

Home Security 

Where you keep your bike is also important when buying cycle insurance. If the bike isn’t stored in conditions that fit the insurer's terms and conditions, you may not be covered in the event of a claim.

When the bike is at home you are insured as long as your bike is under your personal supervision or in your home and any security devices such as locks and alarms are in operation. The same goes if the bike is stored within a private garage, privately accessed wooden, plastic or aluminium shed within the boundaries of the home. The cycle should be secured through the frame by an approved lock to an immovable object within the building.

An approved lock is a Sold Secure lock meeting the appropriate standard category for cycles - check which one your Insurer is requesting you use to be covered. For more information, please visit Sold Secure at www.soldsecure.com.

If you fail to update your insurer on where your bike is stored, you may not be covered if you need to make a claim.

Second-hand bike

With Cycler Insurance, you can insure second-hand bikes. You can insure any bike no matter when you bought it, however, you must be able to evidence your ownership.

If the bike was more than three years old or was not new at the time of purchase, then we will make a deduction for depreciation as per our terms and conditions.

The most vital bit of information you need when you are buying bicycle insurance is proof of ownership. This proves that the bicycle belongs to you and you, therefore, have an insurable (financial) interest in the item to make a claim.