"Special Contents Insurance"

[Trailrat]

So, I'm going to admit something here. I'm not good with grown up things! Things like insurance.
I've only ever bought two types of insurance, twice in in my life. One was for when I travelled to Spain this year and the other was about 15 years ago when I got specialist cycling insurance for me and the bike.
So where is this leading, I hear you asking. Well, I'm looking to get contents insurance for the house, but now I am doing this cycle training and have two bikes in the house, I want to add the bikes as extras. This including the bikes outside of the property, whilst they're both in use and while they're secured outside of places.
Enfield at the moment seems to be going through a spate of bike thefts and I want a little security than just my high end Kryptonite bike locks.
So I need some advice, what do I do? What's the best way to get contents insurance that specialises in stuff like this? How do I value a fifteen year old bike?
Feels a little like information overload on some sites!

[perpetual dan]

I think our Nationwide insurance does that. Nothing particularly specialist, though it is worth knowing the values in advance and mentioning it when getting the quote.

[chrisbainbridge]

We have used an insurance agent for the last 20 years who sorts this for us and sends periodic reminders to revalue, etc.  They organised house insurance, travel insurance office insurance the lot and check each year that we are still with the best insurance group.

[Ham]

How do I value a fifteen year old bike?

Almost certainly higher than any commercial value you may get paid out for from an insurance company.

The option of making them secure, while not infallible, is likely to be more successful, especially if they aren't particularly bling.

The Pragmasis stuff (Docsquid, RIP, was a denizen here) appears to be as good as you can get https://securityforbikes.com/

[rafletcher]

Give Pedalcover a call. A broker that specialises in cycles as well. Really helpful.

https://pedalcover.co.uk

[drossall]

Look first to do it on household insurance. There are some policies (must check that our terms haven't changed!) that let you treat bikes as part of cover for unnamed valuables that are taken off the premises.

So, rather than itemise bikes and values, with each one adding to the total premium, you know that you can take up to £3k (or whatever) in value off the premises at a time. This works really well if you've got a number of bikes but, like most mortals, can only ride one at once. By comparison, itemising each one can quickly become prohibitive, because you're being insured to ride dozens at a time (or whatever n+1 has reached for you).

[jsabine]

Seconded for Pedalcover, at any rate on the basis of apparently sensible terms, reasonable pricing, and excellent personal service at policy inception and renewal. We hope not to test the actual claims experience. And yeah, decent locks.

[Kim]

When I looked into specialist cycle insurance, by far the best option was to divert the hefty cost of the premiums into the n+1 fund.  Expensive recumbents cost a fortune to insure, in spite of being relatively unattractive to thieves.  The bike that's most likely to be stolen (because it's normal-looking and regularly gets locked up around town) could be replaced for the cost of a couple of years insurance.

Of course, if you're after contents insurance generally, it makes sense that it to some extent covers your bikes.  Preferably in the way described by drossall, rather than with lots of arbitrary rules about what counts as an accessory, or only being able to park it for n hours using such-and-such-a-lock unless it's within 63 metres of a railway station, or whatever.

Doesn't sound like it's relevant to the OP, but it's worth reiterating because it's easily missed: Many policies contain weasel-words that exclude bikes fitted with electric assist.

[Poly Hive]

Have a chat with these people, certainly worth a call. https://www.aib-insurance.co.uk/

We have used them for years, guest house, property to let, car, motor home cycles and so on.

PH