So, here’s a question we’re often asked. Is it better, or even possible, to cover your pedal cycle under a home insurance or should you take out a dedicated pedal cycle policy?
We’ll help you decide what’s best for you with a few facts.
Specialist pedal cycle insurance
As well as providing cover for the basics you’d expect like theft and damage, many pedal cycle policies can also include cover for:
- Personal accidents and collisions.
- Replacement bike hire.
- Replacement of parts, clothing, helmets and other essential bike accessories.
- Third party liability – in the event you injure another person or damage their property while you’re out riding your bike.
- Commuting to and from a place of work.
- Commercial use. If you deliver items like documents or food for example you may be covered if you speak to your Insurer. Always check on this as some occupations would be excluded and this could invalidate your claims.
- Cover for other riders in your family and their pedal cycles (often referred to as multi-bike cover).
Home insurance
Whilst most home contents insurance policies offer basic cover for bicycles, such as theft and malicious damage, most have a policy term or condition that says your contents insurance only covers your pedal cycle when it’s in your home or locked away in a garage or secure outbuilding. In addition, you might also need to pay extra to cover your pedal cycle when it’s away from home (on a road trip outside of your home country for example).
If your pedal cycle is an expensive one, we’d advise you to check carefully the policy limits: especially what’s known as the single article limit. Put simply, this is the maximum amount that your insurer will pay for any one item in the event of a claim. Let’s explain this a little better with an example. You take out a policy with a single article limit of AED4000 and have an accident where both your pedal cycle and the helmet you’re wearing are damaged beyond repair. Your pedal cycle is worth AED5000 and the helmet AED1000. In settling your claim you’ll receive the full amount for the helmet (as it’s less than AED4000 but only AED4000 for the pedal cycle and not AED5000 as the single article limit has been exceeded. You’ll therefore need to pay the shortfall of AED1000, plus any policy excess/deductible applicable of course.
