[Closed] House/bike insurance renewal time (Pedalcover no longer covering me )

Barclays

£5k max on most expensive bike, don't need to list them, either

Try Aviva - just had my renewal through but not checked it, think terms may have changed on security from another recent thread

I'm using wiggle - Covers my roadie to a value of about £6k. Only one I could find that allowed a custom build to be insured as the sum of parts rather than needing proof of purchase for the whole bike.

Cheers for Barclays shout, any idea if they have restrictions on outbuildings cover?

just spoke to aviva and there cover for outbuildings is £2500k max

Sofa, have you already got a policy with Aviva?
I spoke to them as well about my renewal quote and cover for outbuildings and after a few I'll just find out moments they said it would stay at the £5K I had on this years.

Oh don't tell me Aviva now won't cover us in outbuildings... My renewal is end of this month.

Best phone them matt and report back here if you don't mind!

The Aviva Plus site was really easy to tweak and ajust parts of the cover to suit your needs last year but it's not as good this year.

Roger.

I had to speak to them to amend my policy to cover my bike in the garage, £5k is the limit before they want it listed/declared on the policy and agreed with the underwriters.

Marks and Spencer was good for me last year when I had to move away from PedalCover.

Just saved £100 by moving from Aviva to Esure, including specifying all the bikes as the kids were also over the £500 limit

Also in the market for new insurance cover. Currently with pedal cover but the renewal has gone up by 20% ish, with nothing changing over the past year. Also their policy doesn’t seem to cover as much!

E sure is coming out cheapest on comparison sites, but I’m currently on hold as they answer questions on bikes away from home. But they only cover £2k in out buildings, excluding bikes. So not much leeway for tools and garden stuff.

It seems very difficult to insure anything away from home! Or in an outbuilding!

Hiscox might be worth a shot, 10k cover in outbuildings at the moment.

So having arranged new cover with Esure to start next week, I'm now having to make a claim against my current Aviva policy as when I got the road bike out the garage now my injuries have healed up, it turns out that crash has - at least - bent and cracked the downtube.

I'll let you know what their claims service is like in the coming weeks

Also in the market for new insurance cover. Currently with pedal cover but the renewal has gone up by 20% ish, with nothing changing over the past year. Also their policy doesn’t seem to cover as much!

Yeah, they've always been more expensive than anyone else, and they've been gradually watering down their policy. I went elsewhere this year.

Have mine with Sainsburys on the house insurance and covers out the home and accidental damage. Just listed each bike and each value and they calculated the additional premium , which wasnt much. Think I overdid it as had to drop one road bike to include the wifes new LIV electric MTB last week, but still happy with the rest of them. Most of mine are custom built , but now just insured as a value than a complete bike, if that makes sense.

Does anyone feel like pedal cover is a bit bait and switch? I have been with them for 4 years and the bike cover was amazing at the beginning, but they have progressively eroded it and we are all back to hunting through small print again..

I don't feel that it was bait and switch. I did think that it was a bit too good to be true. They were offering cover that was better than that offered by specialist bike insurers but at a fraction of the cost. My premium was about the same as my previous home insurance, but included bike cover that would have cost me £2k with a bike policy. So I'm not surprised that the gap is narrowing, because a difference of that size indicates that either CTC/British Cycling were gouging to a ridiculous degree, or someone involved in the Pedalcover insurance got their risk calculations wrong.

CTC/British Cycling were gouging to a ridiculous degree

The insurance they offer isn't theirs is it? But by the by, I think the issue with specialist bike insurance, which is incredibly expensive, is it's a lot like phone insurance in that it's open to fraud especially when offering new for old on a 10 year old peice of kit and knowing bike theft isn't likely to elicit more than a crime number for the police these days, so incredibly pricey for what it is.
People are a lot less likely to claim on their home insurance IMO (I am not an insurance underwriter) so the cost of cover is lower, its also spread over a far greater number of policies.

Nfu were the only place that I could find last renewal to cover full value in out building, had to list bikes and the premium was a fair bit higher but not as bad as some places.

The problem is, someone finds an insurer doing a good deal on bike cover, they tell all their cycling friends on places like this, so more people insure with them, then they have to make claims, the underwriters see a spike in expensive cycle claims and adjust the premiums/impose terms to tackle it. And so the cycle continues

My bikes are named items on my Lloyds Contents Insurance. Added about £30 to the annual cost for nearly £10K of bikes. All risks, new for old, accidental damage, £50 excess.

Most of mine are custom built , but now just insured as a value than a complete bike, if that makes sense.

Be careful with that, at point of claim they may not just take the value you input on the quote system as the payout they'll give. Some insurers can be a bit funny about 'upgrading' the bike you purchased and insuring that higher value, worth checking with them.

Agree with Pedalcover though, my renewal came through, the restrictions keep on coming (premium virtually the same). Just did a quote with Sainsburys and they were less than half that of Pedalcover, which with PC I don't need a lot of the 'fancy biking extras', just good solid cover with high value bikes at home or locked to the car.

Yes thats probably true, over times as the claims ramped up they realised they were being too generous..
bummer.

My Pedalcover is due for renewal soon too. Last year it was touch and go whether it was cheaper to go with them for contents and someone else for buildings (the building quote was insanely high) or get a home and contents insurance policy from someone else and a bike only policy from Laka.

The key thing for me is that my bikes are kept in an Asgard. Pedalcover included it last year but if it's not in this year I suspect Laka for the bikes and whoever for the home insurance will be cheaper.

Has anyone else had any success with other insurers for the whole lot in relation to keeping your bike in a shed?

Just as a reference, the updated cover on my quote is -

Axa have recently revised the policy wording, please find a brief list of the changes below. For further information we have attached the new policy wording and the document to highlight the comparisons between the new and previous policy wording

* Theft claims from an Outbuilding is limited to £5,000 (Garages are not considered as an outbuilding).
-Outbuildings are defined as: Sheds, Greenhouses, Summer houses, other buildings (but not caravans, mobile homes, motor homes or structures made of canvas, PVC or any other non-rigid material)which do not form part of the main building of the home.

* We will settle claims for loss or damage to pedal cycles and pedal cycle accessories which are beyond economic repair on the basis of cost as new, subject to the excess as long as:
-The pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories were purchased from new.
-The pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories are no older than 5 years old and (Bikes greater than 5 years old but purchased from new will be settled at 50% of the new cost, if items/components on the bike can be proved to be younger than 5 years they will be settled on a new for old basis)

For pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories not purchased from new we will pay the value of the item immediately prior to the loss or damage based on the age and market.

They've also added a new security endorsement, which appears that it's now a requirement to lock bikes while secured inside with a gold approved lock to an immovable object - whether that applies for garages I am yet to hear back on the clarification, I dont think it is but the endorsement is poorly worded.

For wooden sheds it's a requirement at the new policy term to upgrade the locks if they don't meet the requirements to a 5 lever mortice deadlock or 5 lever padlock. For bikes over £3k they also need to be locked to an immovable object with a gold standard lock in the shed.

The above I'm assuming will be applied to all policies going forward as it doesn't apply to me as I don't have a shed nor never declared I was ever insuring bikes in a shed.

Is ^^^^ that the Pedal Cover terms or the Sainsburys terms Larry_Lamb?

Almost all my bikes are second hand or over 5 years old 🙁

Is ^^^^ that the Pedal Cover terms or the Sainsburys terms Larry_Lamb?

Almost all my bikes are second hand or over 5 years old 🙁

Pedalcover, these are the new terms.

Pedalcover: I was checking this yesterday as have outstanding job to make sure have upto date pictures of all bikes. Was reading the AXA revised policy wording and it does seem vague to what Pedalcover said to me at the time which I summarised as (but didnt check back with them):

If bike or component is under 5 years old and have receipt will pay for replacement. Photo evidence of ownership needed
If bike or component under 5 years old but no receipt or bought 2nd hand will pay 50% of cost of replacement. Photo evidence of ownership needed
If bike or component over 5 years then will pay 50% of replacement.  Photo evidence of ownership needed.

Which isnt quite what that policy wording is. So I need to check this with Pedalcover.

Also

They’ve also added a new security endorsement, which appears that it’s now a requirement to lock bikes while secured inside with a gold approved lock to an immovable object – whether that applies for garages I am yet to hear back on the clarification, I dont think it is but the endorsement is poorly worded.

Please do post back as the bike locked in garages wasnt confirmed to me when I renewed 2 months ago.

I am in a similar situation and have moved from Pedalcover to Laka.

Laka? New one on me...

Does anyone feel like pedal cover is a bit bait and switch? I have been with them for 4 years and the bike cover was amazing at the beginning, but they have progressively eroded it and we are all back to hunting through small print again..

Nah. They were always reasonably open about policy changes. Hard to call that bait and switching.

Not sure I agree with the "too good to be true" sentiments. Sure, they offered good, comprehensive cover, but they charged for it. I think I was paying nearly double for pedalcover what I could have done elsewhere.

Now that it's less good, and less comprehensive, I'll pay less elsewhere, though.

Also - I don't know if it was just me, but I was never really taken with Pedalcover's idea of customer service. I only ever dealt with them for policy renewals too, I never made a claim.

In case it's useful to anyone, I just spoke to someone at PedalCover and they told me that any bike worth over £3000 kept in an outbuilding (not a garage) needs to be locked. That applies to the value when new, not the depreciated value if the bike is over 5 years old.

Just had my PedalCover renewal through, gone up by 40 quid with no claims and level of protection massively reduced, which is an arse as I've just bought an Asgard!

There really is no point to PedalCover anymore, for cyclist specific stuff.

Pleased to report excellent claims service from Aviva on my crash damaged Condor frame.

Taken two weeks to get full cash payment for an identical replacement frame and forks, plus the custom colour paint upgrade, plus the cost of getting the LBS to swap the bits over, plus the cost of the LBS report on the bike. Half that time was waiting for the LBS to fit me in to check the bike over.

I am in a similar situation and have moved from Pedalcover to Laka.

Just got my Pedalcover renewal. £394, up from £350 last year. But Laka wanted £1k, could be up to £1.5k, and I'd still have to find someone to insure my house and contents. No thanks.

Please do post back as the bike locked in garages wasnt confirmed to me when I renewed 2 months ago.

Had it confirmed that bikes in garages are still covered as normal, no requirements to lock them to anything inside the garage.

The change in policy is regarding outbuildings i.e. sheds.

In the same boat regarding shed and pedalcover now maxxing at 5K.
It was always so nice not having to name our bikes with them. Ah well.

As for being 'too good to be true'. They were definitely half the price of any alternatives 4 years ago when M&S first changed their cover. Providing you had a few bikes in an outbuilding.
Cheapest alternative I could find was £750 and pedalcover were £298 (now crept up to £310 although I seem to remember it going down one year).

The pain of filling out all the data and bike info to get quotes is just too much
I can see mentions of:
Hiscox
Barclays
NFU
Sainsburys
Laka

Has anyone moved recently with >5k bikes in shed and got anywhere near £300?

The pain of filling out all the data and bike info to get quotes is just too much
I can see mentions of:
Hiscox
Barclays
NFU
Sainsburys
Laka

Even if you go direct to any of these, you'll have to fill out all that data anyway, they're not going to just magically know what you're trying to insure.

Has anyone moved recently with >5k bikes in shed and got anywhere near £300?

🖐️ Went with Nationwide, all the bells and whistles (bar garden cover) and £12k worth of bikes between the shed and garage. A smidge over £300.

Has anyone moved recently with >5k bikes in shed and got anywhere near £300?

yes, to e-sure. i need t get quotes for the £5K max in outbuilding reason. hvae both of my bikes in an asgard bike shed outside with the combined value being significantly in excess of the £5K limit.

with e-sure they are named as specified items with new replacement values as the limit. no issues with being in outbuildings, or in / on a car (as long as locked) or away form home (again as ling as locked).

e-sure were about £100 cheaper than pedal cover as well with my buildings and contents coming in at about £230 for the year for a 3 bed semi in semi-rural area (including bikes, accidental damage etc), although i do live in a very low crime rate area with no history of flooding locally.

there are areas of cover where pedal cover still had broaer cover for the bikes )accidental damage iirc), however as theft is the key risk i want to insure them against it was no brainer

or in / on a car (as long as locked) or away form home (again as ling as locked).

Not true last week..

I ended up back at pedal cover in the end for this reason. Max cover on anything from a car is £750

Significant exclusions or limitations:
• covers You up to £1,499 for any one item, and any pedal cycle up to £500.

(higher limit for specified items (so bikes over 1500 quid) but...)

theft or attempted theft from a road vehicle, unless the item(s) was contained in a locked boot, concealed
luggage compartment or glove compartment of a locked vehicle, which was broken into by using force
and violence - the maximum amount we will pay is £750

ok - I'm getting quotes and specifics at the moment.
I'll report my findings as I go.

Hiscox
Unlimited everything for buildings and contents

Excess £350

Single bike limit £3,500

Total theft from outbuildings limit: £10,000

Theft from unattended vehicle total limit: £5,000

No requirement to lock bikes individually inside locked outbuilding

Covered away from home as long as locked to fixed object or secured through the frame by a suitable lock to a securely fixed purpose built motor vehicle roof rack or cycle rack and the vehicle itself is locked and windows closed.

My quote was £520 with no extras (like legal, etc)

----------------

Nationwide

Single bike limit = whatever total amount covered

Total theft from outbuildings limit: £5,000 (but could be increased by going through to their technical team with info about outbuilding and bikes)

Theft from unattended vehicle total limit: £2,000 - this couldn't be extended so this excluded it for me, so I didn't proceed any further.

----------------

Laka - just bikes
For 6 bikes totalling 10k
It said:
"You will usually pay around £41 per month. No more than £50".
Zero excess.
Which is £492 so not worth it compared to the Hiscox quote above for me. Unless accidental damage or transition areas of triathlons cover is high on your list. The sliders are really easy to play with, so YMMV

It doesn't specify outbuildings, but does specify gold locks, so might need a bit more investigation.

edit: This quote was auto-generated without requirement for postcode or claim history, so it might make more sense if you live in a high-risk area, or have recent claims. dunno.

It doesn’t specify outbuildings, but does specify gold locks, so might need a bit more investigation.

Laka was very expensive cover to add to a contents policy (though by specific bike insurance standards was actually pretty cheap) so I didn't go far with them but if I recall Aviva, esure and axa, when I waded into the details of what a suitable lock was (in practice there were other reasons I didn't take cover with them so it doesn't ring loud enough to be entirely sure) all defined it as a sold secure gold for high value bikes. Certainly none of them made finding that definition easy.

@dangeourbrain Hiscox policy wording doesn't include any specific lock requirement. Just 'locked'.
Waiting for NFU to get back to me. (local branch - direct couldn't do outbuilding theft more than 5k)

Last night Swinton turned out to be the cheapest for the cover.

10 grands worth of bikes insured at home or away for household insurance or about 420 quid, including accidental damage

NFU (local branch)
Had to specify all bikes.
Everything is covered in exactly the way I wanted (no max total, no locks required inside shed, covered from home, covered in the van as long as force was used to break in).
Nice mutual organisiation.
But the premium came out at £1020

@Scienceofficer - did that include outbuildings?

Has anyone moved recently with >5k bikes in shed and got anywhere near £300?

Theres no point in asking others on a price target like that, everyones circumstances is different - claims, location etc.

Yes, I should have said has anyone changed from Pedalcover to somewhere with >5k bikes in shed and got near their pedalcover price.
So far the best I've got is Hiscox at £520 (so 67% more)
Still to try Barclays and Sainsburys

BTW - I've asked Pedalcover to see if specifying bikes, or paying a larger premium can overcome the 5k limit. They agreed they needed to find a solution so were going to call Axa.

dangeourbrain
Full Member
or in / on a car (as long as locked) or away form home (again as ling as locked).

Not true last week..

I ended up back at pedal cover in the end for this reason. Max cover on anything from a car is £750

Significant exclusions or limitations:
• covers You up to £1,499 for any one item, and any pedal cycle up to £500.

(higher limit for specified items (so bikes over 1500 quid) but…)

theft or attempted theft from a road vehicle, unless the item(s) was contained in a locked boot, concealed
luggage compartment or glove compartment of a locked vehicle, which was broken into by using force
and violence – the maximum amount we will pay is £750

Posted 4 hours ago

that only applies to personal possessions. the bikes are insured as specified items on the policy in order to get the sufficient limit to cover them, which means they are insured up to the full limit in or on the car.

realised i'd got my premium wrong and actually pay £280 p/a of which £84 is for specified items (bikes) with a limit of £12K in total.

from all that i looked at, e-sure was materially cheaper than the rest for the cover i needed

@AlexSimon - as above, try e-sure. it was the best i found (for my circumstances at least).

include the bikes as specified items and it will give you all the theft cover you need. I've reviewed the policy wording (i'm an insurance broker by trade - all be it corporate insurance not personal lines) and i'm comfortable with the cover. YMMV and don't bring an E&O against me if it all goes wrong! 🙂

On the phone to them now sofaboy - as soon as I read your last post 🙂

Can confirm everything said about Esure and specified bikes, but unfortunately my address comes up as a flood risk so they can't insure me. One of the roads just below us has flooded a couple of times so it must be that 🙁 No risk to our actual location but algorithms be algorithms and can't be argued with.

but unfortunately my address comes up as a flood risk so they can’t insure me

that's a kick in the balls. if you're coming up high risk on the flood modelling, you may struggle a little unfortunately, insurers (at least the commercial sector) are very flood risk adverse at the moment as the property the property market continues to harden

None of the others flagged it up to me, but I don't know if it raised the premiums behind the scenes.

Neos I'm using as the application is just agree to some general assumptions like 'your live in a house with a roof' and a quick chat about bike values, easy terms. Then good cover price and security camera in the post to you.

I've probably got a referral thing if I can be bothered to find it.

None of the others flagged it up to me, but I don’t know if it raised the premiums behind the scenes.

different insurers use different flood modelling, so it may be that theirs is more sensitive, it could also be that e-sure have a far more restricted flood risk appetite, or as you say, it behind the scenes in some of the higher premiums you've seen

@timber Neos seem to be saying that they are no longer issuing new insurance quotes

We moved to nationwide a month or so ago. A bit more expensive than a competitor (can't remember which) but they covered bikes in the car without any mention of having to be out of sight in the boot.

@bails Just note the £2000 total limit that I was told about.
It's not enough if I'm in my campervan with 4 bikes.

@Scienceofficer – did that include outbuildings?

No idea. I dont keep my bikes in a shed and never would.

We've been with Hiscox for years, apart from a break during the M&S wonder years- don't forget to factor in that their contents policy is new for old.

that only applies to personal possessions

Happy to be wrong, and barring that one clause their quote and cover was better.

I called to cancel and explained that was why the chap on the phone was very quick - not enough time to look it up etc - to say 750 was the limit for theft from a car on anything but they'd be covered outside locked up overnight, did that help. It didn't.

I am not an insurance person mind so I'm stuck work the reading of an amateur and the bloke in the call centre.

(and if I am, please let me know as I'm still in the 14 days cooling off for pedal cover)

Try esure. Our contents renewal is £160 with £17k of  individually listed bikes

I have about £22k worth of bikes. While on comparethemarket, the maximum value i can insure a single bike for is £5k but my road bike for example would have to be insured at about £8k.

most providers seem to say that it would be a new for old replacemnet but at the current market value of the bike. Is there a provider that would replace new for old but at the purchase price? and who can insure an individual bike above 5k?

Pedalcover have come back to say "Sadly even if we were to specify any of your bikes on the policy, in the event of a claim, the value is still limited to the £5,000 limit in an outbuilding/shed. This is because specified items on the policy are specified under personal possessions which is away from home cover."

So this is at odds with what a few other insurance companies have told me in that they didn't specify that declared personal possessions were only insured 'away from home'.

hmmm

Left Pedalcover last year after 4-5 years, think I was one of their customers in their first few months of becoming established
My premium had stayed similar but I noticed the cover reducing and I figured I didn’t need a lot of the extra stuff they cover for (triathalon holding areas etc)
Went with Halifax, they offered me the level of cover I actually felt I needed including cover inside the car (which is about the only time my bike is left anywhere), and where about £150 cheaper than Pedalcover renewal (this was with a 20% off offer)
Bikes are kept locked to a ground anchor in a garage that is attached to and assessable from the house.
Seeing how easy it is to force a standard garage door (not mine it has extra ground bolt locks etc) I’d suggest most people’s sheds and outbuildings are more secure than an average garage, shame insurers don’t see it this way
I was probably over insured with Pedalcover

@iain1775 Wow - thanks for that.
I've just insured with Halifax for a measly £180 compared with Hiscox who I was about to go with for £520!

Spent over an hour on the phone to them!

I can confirm that bikes are insured up to total 10,000 when named. Having bikes worth over 10k doesn't exclude them from the insurance - just that it's capped.
They are also insured in a locked car and when locked to a rack which is securely fixed to the car.
The bikes are also separated from the rest of the outbuildings cover (capped at £5000)

I have a mortgage with them, but I don't think it made any difference. Apparently it was a 'new customer' deal so will go up next year, but I can only imagine it being 20% max and they did say if you ring up you can negotiate.

Absolute winner! Thank you.
Can I buy you a virtual pint?

Seeing how easy it is to force a standard garage door (not mine it has extra ground bolt locks etc) I’d suggest most people’s sheds and outbuildings are more secure than an average garage, shame insurers don’t see it this way

If I recall this is less to do with ease than risk to the perpetrator. A [locked] garage (especially attached to a home) attracts a much more serious charge if caught (burglary I think, so 14 years max, much higher minimum and, if it tips into robbery or aggravated burglary upto life*) than from an outbuilding or shed (theft, max 7 years). As a result the chances of being burgled from an insecure garage are significantly lower than theft from a secure bunker.

*it is a serious offence in legal terms so carries the three strikes risk etc.

Alexsimon
Just note the £2000 total limit that I was told about.
It’s not enough if I’m in my campervan with 4 bikes.

I haven't got that limit on my policy schedule. The only mention of £2000 is as a single item limit for watches and jewellery.

Bikes over £1k are specified and covered as long as they're locked in or to a car.