Bicycles are excellent for exercise, leisure time and travelling short distances. However, they can be expensive to replace if damaged or stolen, and might not be covered by basic home and contents insurance policies. Fortunately, there are insurance products available that may provide a financial payout if something happens to your set of wheels.
While bicycles are often excluded from basic home and contents policies, you may be able to purchase additional cover to include them. Alternatively, standalone bicycle insurance policies do exist through specialty underwrites and insurers (more on this below).
Insurance for bicycles covers your bike if it’s damaged or stolen. Some instances that can be insured by bicycle cover include:
When reviewing a policy, you can find out exactly what’s covered and up to what limit by reading the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
With a contents insurance policy, your bike can be covered to a certain amount, which can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the value of your bicycle. You might also have the option of insuring accessories and custom parts as well.
When considering how to cover for your bicycle under your contents insurance policy, you may have the option of choosing between ‘specified’ and ‘unspecified’ cover:
You can get insurance for your bicycle through your home and contents or contents only policy, or through specialty insurers. Going through your home and contents plan commonly requires you to take out a ‘personal valuables’ add-on (also known as personal effects or valuables cover). This is because regular contents insurance might not cover your bicycle as a standard inclusion.
Going through a specialty insurer can give you access to different bicycle insurance policies and products available to cover bicycles. These policies may include cover for training, racing or competitive use, which aren’t typically covered by personal valuables extensions under a home and contents policy. While you can go through the insurer directly for cover, if you’re a part of a cycling group or are a professional cyclist, you may be able to get cover through your club or employer.
With specialist policies, only your bicycle and related accessories will be insured. This makes specialist policies generally more suited to the hard-core enthusiast, professionals and competitive athletes. If you want to cover the contents of your home (including your bicycle), you could consider a contents insurance policy with a personal effects add-on.
Personal effects or Valuables cover doesn’t just provide a financial safety net for bicycles; it can also help to protect other items up to a certain limit that may not be covered under a basic policy. This can include electronic devices (mobile phones, tablets, etc.), sports equipment, musical instruments and jewellery.
When comparing home and contents insurance policies with us, you can look to see if the results have the option to add a portable, valuables or personal effects extra to your plan. You also have the option of viewing the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) of available policies to understand any limits that apply.
Bikes are highly mobile, and as a result they can easily be stolen. Generally, you won’t be covered if your bike is damaged or stolen and you didn’t lock it with a bike lock. Some contents insurance policies specify that you need to secure your bike with a specific type of lock. Be sure to check the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to see if your policy specifies a lock and which locks are approved.
Furthermore, you might not be covered if the bike is damaged or lost while being transported by a professional freight or delivery service, any custom-made parts that were added after taking your policy, and pre-existing damage.
If you do upgrade your ride, be sure to notify your insurer so your policy can be amended if you want to include any new or custom-made parts and accessories in your insurance policy.
As bicycles are typically covered under a contents or home and contents insurance policy as either a specified or unspecified personal effect you may need to pay a bit extra to cover your bicycle since it’s not typically covered under standard home and contents plans. When covering your bike by adding on a valuables or portable contents cover to your home and contents policy, the price of the premium will be determined by several factors.
These factors include:
Cover for your bicycle not only provides a financial safety net to cover repairs or replacements up to certain limits; it also offers peace of mind from knowing your pride and joy is protected.
If you need to make a claim for a damaged or stolen bicycle, you’ll need to go through a few steps:
