WhichWay

As I'm spending more time on the bike than in the car, I started worrying about insurance when I'm riding my bike, so I had a nice conversation with my agent.

My agent said that liability is covered by my home owner's insurance. I believe she said my personal medical would be covered by my home owners also. If I'm hit by someone without insurance, my auto uninsured motorist would cover it.

Best of all she changed my insurance to pleasure use with one day a week commute, saving $60 per month!

MNBikeguy

An excellent reminder!
There seems to be a growing number of vehicles sitting dormant in garages now. When gas hits 4-5 gallon, who knows how many more! Great reminder for commuters to have their agent re-classify their auto usage on their policy.

Machka 

Did she remember to tell you that your bicycle will be covered to $1000 by your homeowners insurance, but that you'll have to pay a $500 deductable, and that if you want more coverage, and less deductable, you'll have to get an extra rider(?) on your homeowners insurance?

Tabor

Not everyone lives in Canada, not everyone has the same insurance company.

MNBikeguy

Coverage varies widely between insurance companies. It's worth asking your agent about. Here, most companies do not have limitations on settlement values for bicycles like they do on other types of property (furs, silverware, etc.) Your bicycle is considered personal property. It's covered for the full replacement value anywhere in the world.

Machka 

Here, you get the extra rider like you would for furs, the grand piano, or your Picasso ... and it's for the price you paid for the bicycle. I had to give the insurance company a copy of my receipt, complete with my serial number for their files and forms.

If your bicycle is worth less than $500, however, it's not worth getting the extra rider because basic homeowners insurance will cover the bicycle.

mesasone

Maybe not, but that sounds about right. I haven't looked into insuring my bike, however when investigating insuring my photography equipment it was about the same. Honestly, I don't have any insurance beyond medical/life etc from work (well, and car), however renters insurance is on the list of things to do. I just keep putting it off.

Machka 

Not everyone who lives in Canada has the same insurance company either. In fact, when I first decided to insure my bicycle, I called around to about 15 companies, and I went with the one that didn't laugh at me for wanting to insure a "toy". It also happened to be the least expensive company with the best policy.

Tabor

I am most familiar with State Farm in OR, and the deductible was $1000 and the max pay out was more than my bike was worth.

My apologies, I am more familiar with Canadian car insurance than homeowners insurance. I know that in some provinces there is one government owned insurance company (for automobiles).

Machka 

Yes, in some provinces (such as Manitoba where I used to live) there is one government owned insurance company for automobiles ... but just for automobiles. But in other provinces (such as Alberta where I now live), automobile insurance is private like homeowners insurance.

coldfeet

Which one was that?

n4zou

It's worse here in the USA. Trying to insure your bike using a homeowners policy is a sick joke. Worse is the fact that it's the only option. If you've ever tried to collect on a bicycle you know the first appraisal is the medium price bicycle from your local X-mart. If you manage to get enough money to replace the bike with a comparable bike minus deductible you quickly find your rate increases so you've done nothing more than have the insurance company partially finance the purchase of your replacement bike. Considering we are at the start of another bike boom comparable to the bike boom in the 1970's this would be a good time for an enterprising person to start a real bicycle insurance company.

d2create

My Homeowner's insurance deductible is 1% of the value of my home so uhh.... that won't work.
I took out a personal articles policy for my bike and my camera equipment so if anything gets stolen, or I drop it or whatever, it gets replaced... no deductible. And the annual fee is next to nothing.

HOV

Yep. My beloved Cannondale F600 (disc) along with my ex-wife's Specialized Allez were stolen a while back, and my homeowner's deductible was $1000. I didn't get much for payout, and just getting the police report was incredibly difficult.

bluoet03

Here in IL, I insured my new Trek 7.3 FX through Country (where we have home, auto, and life). Its a $18 per year policy, and my auto dropped $45 per year since its now pleasure only! The bike and components (I had to list everything with purchase price - racks, fenders, lights, trunk-bag ... even the lock) is insured with no deductible. It doesn't matter if its stolen or if I wreck it, its covered for $800.

It would have been covered under the home-owners, but then the $500 deductible applies - and for the price of the policy (especially the net price since the car went down - negative cost! woohoo!) it seemed kind of silly NOT to do it.

Good luck!

SonataInFSharp

When my bike was stolen, the adjsuter WAY over-priced my bike. I had to tell her what it was worth and I got an amount that was more appropriate and was much less than what she originally was going to give me (accepting more than you should raises everyone's rates, so I wasn't going to take advantage). I only had a $50 deductable.

ericthered

I was more worried about the liability end if I screwed up while commuting. Interestingly enough, my USAA auto insurance covers me as long as the accident occurs while within 100 feet of a automobile. If I hit a tree, fence, building, etc on an empty road no dice. There was no extra listings or anything. I could not find a seperate liability policy for a bicycle.
Eric

ginsoakedboy

Isn't insurance great. You pay and pay on these policies thinking that you're buying some protection, and then when something does happen, you find out that they have somehow managed to exclude coverage for every type of loss that would actually occur in real life. Like the people whose houses are destroyed by hurricanes or floods who find out that "acts of god" aren't covered.

So, where does one find one of these "personal articles" policies?

Machka 

CAA

WhichWay

So if you are in a field and someone has an abandon car 99 feet away from you, you are covered, but if you are on a road and no cars around you aren't? Strange policy.

Russ

Every property insurance policy I've had, whether renters or homeowners, offered "personal property riders" as an option. They're commonly used for high dollar, easily lost/stolen/damaged items such as jewelry, weapons, or artwork. (Several years ago, I even had a rider for my computer equipment, long before such things were considered disposable). The riders generally have a lower deductible, but a higher loss limit than the basic policy (for example, my basic homeowners policy has a $500 deductible, but only covers jewelry losses up to $2,000).

Not sure how a bicycle loss would be covered, but if I had one of the high dollar rides that some of you have, I'd certainly look into it.

crue0001

I also have USAA and was not aware that I was covered under my car insurance. Good to know. Also, my bike is covered via USAA renters insurance in case it is stolen. It doesn't have to be on my property either, the agent said that if it was stolen when I parked it at work, it would still be covered. Now that is piece of mind!

LouD-Reno

Several years ago I had a Santana tandem ripped off out of my van while feasting on Pizza at Zachary's in Berkeley, Ca. The bike was 3 years old at the time, and was bought (new) for $3K..... My homeowners policy covered the bike for new replacement cost, which by then was over $4k (incl. tax), less the deductible. Adjuster dealt with the bikeshop where I bought the bike originally, and I was paid in cash, for basically what I bought the bike for. I had no special riders or endorsement for the bike (but I did have replacement cost guarantee on personal property). I used the $$ to buy a slightly used replacement. All in all I was elated..... Move the clock forward 6 months and I get a call from an area bike shop asking if I had a bike ripped off... (I had alerted all the area shops that dealt with tandems at the time of the theft, incl. Serial #) Yep, they had my bike.... I notified the Insurance Co., and offered to buy the bike back at salvage.... no dice, if I wanted it back, I had to give them the settlement $$ back.... since I already had the replacement I declined.... no problem, fair is fair..... I still have the replacement that I ride with my kids now.... someone else has the original...