I don’t personally have it, but i do know of people with Pedal Power (another bicycle insurance) and some of them prefer it because their property insurance premiums aren’t affected by claims. I’m not positive, but it seems cheaper to make a bicycle insurance claim than a property insurance claim in a lot of cases.

This general topic came up recently on a thread talking about ebikes. I’m glad to see some options because in that thread it sounded like folks would only get about US$1000 for a stolen fairly new bike when using homeowner’s.

Anybody have and use bike insurance? What did/do you use and how’d it go?

What I understand if the policy is that it only covers theft when a bike is taken from home or your secured commute location. In my case, those are the only two locations I’m not concerned about losing it, and part of the reason I shifted to cycling was to go to unusual places.

I imagine as long as the risk of theft in open areas remains high, that kind of insurance will just never be worth it.

I feel this is a mixed bag, since while it’s good to see insurers treat the growing bicycling/ebike crowd as the customer base that it is, insurance as product isn’t always suitable for everyone in every circumstance.

From an American perspective, it certainly can be forgiven that most people think they always want more insurance than less, on account of – anecdotally speaking, citation needed – most people are underinsured, be it health, life, auto, home, etc…

But so long as insurance remains a profit-centered business, there are really only three reasons why anything should be insured. 1) the insurance company has substantially underestimated the risk, or alternatively, the insured is more risky than expected. Example: li-ion battery enthusiast at home. 2) an insurance policy is contractually mandatory. Example: auto loans and home mortgages. 3) if the loss occurs, it would be financially catastrophic. Example: many people’s net worth is tied to their house, as in the structure, which could burn to the ground. Also, health insurance, if hit by a bus and results in $250k of surgery, for example. As well as loss time at work due to being unable to show up.

Under this analysis, bicycle/ebike insurance is likely to overestimate risks, at least initially, while the market continues to grow and before competition sets in. As for required insurance, no US state – I think – is requiring either third-party liability or first-party coverage for damage or “comprehensive” loss. Nor am I aware of any consumer financing of bikes/ebikes that demands an insurance policy.

So that leaves just #3: would the loss of an expensive bicycle or ebike be catastrophic? I think this depends: if it’s used recreationally, the answer is almost certainly no, unless said bike somehow commands a double-digit percentage of one’s net worth. But that’s a very special scenario or level of personal financial mismanagement. If used for commuting, it would be bad to miss work, but surely there are other ways to get there.

Self-insurance is to pay for losses if and when they occur, and is appropriate exactly when insurance is not warranted per the three-part criteria earlier. For example, who would want insurance to cover a new tube due to having a puncture? The tube itself is so cheap that insurance overhead makes it almost unmarketable. This is the same idea of “never being without a car payment”, since a paid-off automobile will eventually have to be replaced, so best to save money towards the next one.

The point I’m rambling toward is that while bicycle insurance might – and should – get cheaper, not everyone should jump at the opportunity if they can instead self-insure. Reasonable people buying reasonable bikes to meet their reasonable needs are excellent candidates for self insuring.