Contents insurance to cover MTB's.....

[miss notax]

Hello :-)

I am moving into a rented place which (thank goodness!) has space for my bikes inside - but I still want to make sure that they are insured properly. I have three mountain bikes plus one road bike. I'm not too worried about the road bike, but specifically the Orange and the Santa Cruz as they are complete custom builds. The Kona has been upgraded quite a bit but is still 'only' worth about £2k I guess, whereas the Orange and the Santa Cruz are a lot more.

I have a couple of problems, firstly I have no idea what to insure my bikes for. They are both older frames that I have rebuilt using new high-end components. Is it the price I would have to pay if I went into a bike shop and asked for a new Santa Cruz Juliana with SIDS forks, Formula brakes and full XT? Or the price that I actually paid (a lot less )?

Secondly, assuming it's the 'new' price, I have had a look at seperate bike insurance and to insure the 3 mountain bikes at their replacement value (about £8k I guess) costs a bloody fortune. Is it cheaper to name them on my home contents insurance? If so, which contents insurance is the best / most economical for adding bikes onto?

Thanks ever so much for any help :-)

[anonymous-user]

i'm becoming less and less convinced about bike insurance the more bikes I have and the more their value goes up. £200 worth of kryptonites finest would make it bloody difficult for anyone to move my bikes that far and is the same as 2 or 3 years insurance premiums. £200 gets you three D-locks and some cable. they arent going anywhere.... outside of the house, they never leave my sight.

you are best getting a statement from a shop describing the value of the bike as it and update that as you go, particularly for custom builds. if its an off the peg bike, companies wil leither replace it with something the same value or replace it with the same model regardless of spec changes. either way they will want the frame number and receipts in a claim

[chrisga]

Have a look at M&S. I know my wife specifically took out our home and contents insurance with them because they are understanding toward "expensive" bikes, when most other household insurance companies couldn't believe a bike could cost more than £250.....
Thankfully we have not had to try them out yet, but have heard very good things from people who have claimed. Bikes have been replaced no quibbles.
I'd suggest documenting each bikes spec with photos so you can prove the level of equipment if not standard should any dispute arise int he future.

[insurance_jon]

Its the full cost to replace new at todays prices.

[Rouleur]

Get a shop to price up their replacement cost, and keep it in writing! Sainbury's are great, I've got bikes at £2k and £2.5k covered and the additional premium is very little.

[andySC]

M&S...single items covered upto £4k...no need to specify what these are. They've just paid me £2k to replace a busted frame. Highly recommended & not expensive either.

[miss notax]

Thanks guys

Sadly that level of cover with M&S insurance is only with existing policies - any new policies have new (not so good) levels of cover which are on par with other companies.

So if you have the 'old' M&S policy don't ever change it!!

[cjs]

I'm with Prudential, they have a specific bike section and my named bike is covered for £2.5K, cost me additional £30 a year I think.

[Gren]

Bank of Scotland contents here. Just under £30 to insure 2 bikes worth £3k between them. Covered at home and away as named items.

Not sure but there may be a limit of £2.5k per item.