Bicycle Insurances - Australia/ Victoria

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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Do you have bicycle insurance?

Yes, because it is MY PRECIOUS.
4
50%
No, I am self-insured.
3
38%
I have thought about it.
1
13%
 
Total votes: 8

Shonn
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 12:24 am

by Shonn

Hi all,

Looking to insure my bicycle as I will be taking part in comps and I got into a really bad crash once when I was riding on the road, bicycle survived but my face had over 110 stitches, broke a nose and lost 4 teeth.

Anyone have any good experiences with any insurer? I've read quite a lot have good experiences with Velosure, not sure about the rest.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
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ajmit3
Posts: 205
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:36 am

by ajmit3

Just got Velosure today the top level one . I paid $401 for one year insured value was $4499 . It's expensive compared to car insurance .

AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

Seems high. I was paying $350/year to insure $50K worth of collector cars. I would self insure.

What are "comps"?

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Competitions

Dalai
Posts: 1491
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:54 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

Had Velosure for a couple of years to insure one of my bikes for OS trips but have since cancelled to policy.

Would cost too much to insure all my bikes. So I race what I can afford to replace and just wore the expense when I wrote off my track bike a few years ago.

KCookie
Posts: 1963
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:40 am
Location: Pom living in Australia

by KCookie

I insure 4 bikes, 3 valued up to $10k no info needed and one itemised for $18k with Bikesure, they are awesome, paid me a high claim within 4 days.

Nefarious86
Moderator
Posts: 3669
Joined: Sun May 25, 2014 4:57 am

by Nefarious86

How much a month?
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KCookie
Posts: 1963
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:40 am
Location: Pom living in Australia

by KCookie

Nefarious86 wrote:How much a month?


I have the bikes conbined with house and contents insurance but the bikes are $60 a month, well worth it when all together are worth a little over $30k. Their a great company to deal with, and a claim was payed so quickly I couldn't actually believe it, as we all know what insurance company's are like.

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dadoflam08
Posts: 951
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:25 am
Location: Southern Great Southern Land

by dadoflam08

My bikes are covered within general house insurance. Do not need to be nominated except any over $20K. Have never had an issue with three pretty big claims over the years.
The thing that you need to beware of IMO is not the insurance company but the advent of Insurance Bikes Australia (IBA) who are now retained by some insurers to assess bike claims - the process effectively takes away owner choice of repairer. I understand they are an offshoot of Bike Bug or same parent company.
I wrote off an expensive set of wheels and got a replacement quote from the LBS in Adelaide which looks after my bike and would fit them and deal with any issues in the normal course of events. The price was in line with RRP in shops generally. IBA wanted me to get the replacement wheels from a bike shop in Brisbane instead - that was certainly attractive and helpful in terms of getting them fitted and follow-up. In the end I argued the case and got them through a local shop but had to process through IBA rather than the shop never saw a receipt for warranty purposes.
I do not have a problem with assessor oversight but to me having the right to select guys who I trust to work on my bikes day to day doing the work is important.
In short - ask what the assessment process is and ensure you get to select repairer.
'83 De Rosa+'11 Baum Corretto+'08 BMC Pro Machine >6kg+'86 Pinarello Team +'72 Cinelli SC +'58 Bianchi+'71 Cinelli SC+'78 Masi GC+'83 La Redoute Motobecane+'94 Banesto Pegoretti+'88 Bianchi X4 +'48 Super Elliott+'99 Look Kg281+'18 Pegoretti

michaelten
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2013 11:08 pm

by michaelten

I work in a bike shop and I would suggest to stay away from Velosure. Just had a crash damage bike come through last week, the owner was insured with Velosure he certainly was not happy with what he was offered to repair his bike.

grover
Posts: 1302
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:06 pm

by grover

I've got a similar arrangement to KCookie via CycleCover who I have my home and contents insurance with.

I've never had to make a claim so can't speak to how easy or difficult they are to deal with.

From what I understand however my bikes are covered for failure, damage or theft in Australia or Overseas (trips less than 3 months I think) whether being ridden or otherwise (includes race damage).

I also don't have to specifiy specific items. I merely had to state what dollar value my bikes/cycling gear was worth.

Prior to being a home owner I never insured my bikes. I never found a financially viable solution for stand alone bike insurance.

Carrots
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:04 am

by Carrots

Adding to Grover's comment - Cyclocvoer is probably the best bang for buck about. You can cover your (home &) contents including your bikes without having to specify anything under $20k in value. You just choose your overall sum insured. You're covered for full accidental damage including racing and motor pacing (this exclusion common in many policies is deleted).

I've had cover with them for a while and actually originally shifted my policy from the insurance company I work for to Cyclecover (who at the time were using a different insurer to who I work for).

My experiences come claims time and with IBA (the insurer I work for utilises them also) is that if your LBS is actually reasonable on their quoting you'll be fine. What tends to happen is we'll use IBA as a means of assessing whether or not what is being claimed is fair and reasonable. I've seen plenty of claims where people have rorted the system somethign fierce which has led to IBA being a handy tool (ie people claiming a new X level bike with Di2 and XYZ as a replacement for something with 105).

Whilst all insurance policies are different, you should generally have choice of repairer so if you want to use your LBS, ask for the claim to be cash settled. And again make sure your LBS is reasonable with their quotes (think of it this way - if you or I walked in to buy a new bike, would we pay sticker price, or do a deal?).

Hope that dribble makes sense! :D

Nefarious86
Moderator
Posts: 3669
Joined: Sun May 25, 2014 4:57 am

by Nefarious86

Be awesome if cyclecover did a stand alone policy :(
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Bogan
Posts: 301
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:47 pm
Location: Boganville, Australia

by Bogan

^^^^ This!
MAMIL? Never. O.F.I.L. yeh! (Old F**ker in Lycra)

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Carrots
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 8:04 am

by Carrots

Nefarious86 wrote:Be awesome if cyclecover did a stand alone policy :(


Given the cost of other stand alone policies, it's pretty much on par but covering far more. Take out a $40k contents sum insured (minimum premium is somewhere in this vicinity) and life's good.

To give you an example - I'm currently paying around $900 for the contents cover of my policy via Cyclecover with a sum insured of $90k. That's automatically picking up the 7 bikes we have in the household, plus all of our contents (I probably need to actually review my sum insured...eek!).

On a side note, I can't imagine you'll ever see Cyclecover come up with a standalone policy. From an insurer perspective the product has to make money and I can't see how a standalone product would make money given how cheap it needs to be for the consumer to purchase and see value in doing so.

And on another side - I think Cyclecover needs to start paying me some spruiking fees! :lol:

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