Contents Insurance including bicycles

In this article, we’ll take you through Contents Insurance including bicycle cover.

Does Contents Insurance include bicycle cover?

It depends on the insurer, but typically, it won’t be a standard inclusion. Instead, you may need to purchase additional cover to include them in your Contents Insurance policy.

How can I get cover for my bike?

Typically, you’re able to get insurance for your bike through your Home and Contents or Contents Insurance policies. Otherwise, you could also consider specialty insurers, because standard Contents Insurance policies do not always include bikes in their policies.

If you decide to go through your Home and Contents policy, then you may need to take out a personal effects add-on, which is also known as portable effects, personal valuables or valuables cover.

How can I include bicycle cover in my policy?

Under many Content Insurance policies, bikes can be covered up to a certain value, but it all depends on each bike. If you’re thinking about how you can include your bike in your Contents policy, you could be able to choose between two options:

• Specified personal effects
  
  • Also known as specified portable contents, this means that you can tell your insurer about how much your bike is worth, and whether or not it has any custom made parts or accessories.
  • You can provide details such as the make, model, and price of the bike.
  • Your specified bike and its amount insured is then visible on your policy certificate.
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>b?Unspecified personal effects

• Also known as unspecified portable contents, this means that you can advise your insurer of a set value for which you wish to have cover.
• Be careful though, because if your unspecified personal effects cover doesn’t meet the full cost of replacing or repairing your bike, you’d then need to pay for the rest yourself. .

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How much should I insure my bike for?

If you choose specified personal effects as an add-on to your Contents Insurance policy, then you’ll need to figure out how much your bike would cost in the event you’d need to make a claim for its replacement or repair. This is known as the ‘sum insured’ among many providers.

The sum insured is the maximum amount providers pay, so make sure you’re happy with the amount you choose.

What if I don’t know the value of my bike?

If you don’t know your bike’s replacement or repair value, it could be worth tracking down your receipts, or revisiting the store where you purchased your bike to attain the correct value.

However, the total sums insured in your policy can increase with each insurance period to keep up with increasing costs. This means that it could also be worth regularly reviewing your policy to make sure that the value of your bike is covered under your personal effects add-on.

This can vary between insurers, so read through your Product Disclosure Statement to clarify.

What’s generally included for bicycle cover?

If your bike is damaged or stolen, then you can probably make a claim with your insurer through your existing contents policy (assuming you have specified your bike in your initial application process).

Here are some examples and situations where insurance could help you with your bike (again, assuming you have specified your bike in your initial application process).

• Theft
• Accidental damage (this could exclude professional or business use, off-road cycling and competitive events)
• Storm and fire damage
• Vandalism and malicious damage
• Accessories
• Legal liability

If you’re unsure about what is and isn’t covered, read through your insurer’s Product Disclosure Statement.

What isn’t typically included?

You typically won’t be covered if your bike:

• Is damaged or stolen as a result of not locking it with a bike lock.
• Isn’t locked with a specific type of bike lock.
• Is damaged or stolen in transit with a freight or delivery service.
• Has any custom-made parts that were added after you applied for an insurance policy.
• Has any pre-existing damage.

If you want to upgrade your bike, then you may need to ask your insurer whether or not your policy can be amended to include any new custom-made parts in your policy.

Is it worth going to a specialty insurer?

Specialty insurers could give you different bicycle insurance policies and products that aren’t always available in mainstream Contents Insurance policies.

Specialty insurers may offer cover for items and situations such as training, racing, and competitive use, which are quite niche and suited for competitive and professional cyclists. But if you are a professional cyclist, then you may be able to also ask your club or employer for insurance cover.

Keep in mind that specialist policies typically insure only your bike and its accessories, which means that if you’re not a professional or competitive cyclist, then you should consider if a specialist policy is for you.

Where can I compare policies?

Easy! You can compare a range of policies with us at iSelect. Just call 13 19 20 and someone from our team will help you compare policies from our range of providers*.