Bike insurance

[M L]

23 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

My experience was otherwise.

It appeared that they want to do their underwriting when I wanted to claim, forget the fact that I was paying premiums for ages.

Communication was poor and they had the nerve to tell me my bike value was too high, only for me point out certain specs (eg. Wheels) that RAW overlooked.

Also tried to avoid replacing my shifters as they claimed the damage was due to wear and tear and not related to the incident.

Wow. Literally had the opposite experience. 

[M L]

On 4/14/2022 at 8:57 AM, Jono said:

What did you have to do to claim for a cracked rim, how did they assess? 

Submitted the claim via the app with the story of what happened. Was contacted to let me know that they got the claim and that RAW will contact me. They contacted me and asked what happened etc. RAW then wanted photos of the wheel. Claim was approved after I sent them a quote from the manufacturer to repair the wheel. 

[Jono]

49 minutes ago, M L said:

Submitted the claim via the app with the story of what happened. Was contacted to let me know that they got the claim and that RAW will contact me. They contacted me and asked what happened etc. RAW then wanted photos of the wheel. Claim was approved after I sent them a quote from the manufacturer to repair the wheel. 

Sounds pretty straightforward. Did they replace the rim or repair the rim? 

[M L]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:51 AM, Jono said:

Sounds pretty straightforward. Did they replace the rim or repair the rim? 

Paid out for a replacement. Rim, spokes, nipples and labour. So complete rebuild of the wheel. 

Edited April 16, 2022 by M L

[Dorpie]

Do any of you insure your riding accessories (ie. Shoes, helmet, GPS ECT)?

[Thomo]

1 hour ago, Dorpie said:

Do any of you insure your riding accessories (ie. Shoes, helmet, GPS ECT)?

Crash badly enough or have all those items stolen and you could be in for a significant loss ...

[Dorpie]

53 minutes ago, Thomo said:

Crash badly enough or have all those items stolen and you could be in for a significant loss ...

This is my thinking and why I want to look into adding it to my policy.

[Kixx]

Having been in the industry for over 30 years, I agree with comments that insurance can be confusing and somewhat opaque at times. And having just transitioned into the role of insurance broker, naturally totally agree with those who recommend using one rather than going direct! But in all seriousness, that's always been my view, as generally with a broker you get personalized service and an outsiders objective opinion regarding the risks you carry, who can advise on your risk universe holistically. And going direct doesn't really save on premium as those insurers use the saving of broker commission to spend on advertising.

But since this is a bike specific topic, always insure your bike for replacement as new value under the all risks section; keep photos of your bike and invoices ideally too; include the words ...xyz bicycle AND ALL ACCESSORIES when describing the item under all risks, not forgetting to include the value of such accessories in your calculated sum insured (this can cater for everything on your bike); ensure you have an unspecified all risks item with a high enough sum insured that is 4x higher that the max value of a single item, say your Garmin watch, which will cover your Fox clothing, helmet, noting that usually some items like cellphones are specifically excluded from unspecified all risks I.e., you need to insure them specifically. 

If you do the above you'll have cover in just about every scenario, home and away, theft or accidental damage etc. Just remember to check on rave specific cover as I've seen some insurers want to exclude or charge higher premium/excess.

 

Generally better to include your bikes under home and car policy as most insurers like the spread of risk and will discount their stand-alone premiums accordingly. 

 

 

 

 

[ChrisF]

4 hours ago, Dorpie said:

Do any of you insure your riding accessories (ie. Shoes, helmet, GPS ECT)?

 

At Santam mine is insured under "Wearables".  You specify a cover amount, and this is added to your policy.

 

I can claim for my watch and clothing.

 

The Garmin on th handlebars are not covered under this approach, nor the toolbag ....

 

I am okay with this.

[gemmerbal]

Claiming accessories is exactly the problem I am having. I have been with Outsurance for several years and never have I had an issue, specifically wrt the roadside assistance which has saved me on more than one occasion.
 

However, I had a silly fall off the bike recently, slipped while collecting water from a waterfall and smashed my phone and helmet (feet slipped and fell dead on my backside, if it wasnt for my helmet I’d be in serious trouble). Ekoï doesnt have a crash replacement policy and I tried to claim through Outsurance under the Out and About section. I was informed that items such as helmets, sunglasses and anything over R1500 in value should be specified and thus I cannot claim for my helmet and sunglasses. Fortunately my phone is specified so that is being taken care of. 
 

The latest annual policy update also indicates that as of June all claims relating to loadshedding will carry an excess of R4500 which seems rather OTT. Their statement relating to this is that they are trying to minimise the effect on monthly payments. Since my TV also failed last week because of a load spike, I am now also in the process of claiming a tv before the new policy takes effect. Under the current schedule my excess is only R600 odd. 
 

The timely discovery of this thread has been invaluable. All of this has lead me to contact a broker (friend of a friend) to see if I cannot get a better deal specifically suited to my needs. 
 

✌️

Edited April 27, 2022 by gemmerbal

[JJDT]

Question to the knowledgeable people working with insurance or just the view of Hubbers.

Can an insurance company change the basic excess on items without your knowledge?

I had a recent claim and was under the impression that my basic excess on the item claimed for was lower. Had a look at all my correspondence and did not see any communication notifying me that there was changes made to my policy.

 

[Adr!@n]

7 minutes ago, JJDT said:

Question to the knowledgeable people working with insurance or just the view of Hubbers.

Can an insurance company change the basic excess on items without your knowledge?

I had a recent claim and was under the impression that my basic excess on the item claimed for was lower. Had a look at all my correspondence and did not see any communication notifying me that there was changes made to my policy.

Are you sure about what your policy states? For bikes, my excess is based on the value of the claim - there's a minimum amount and 5% of claim, whichever is greater.

[JJDT]

7 minutes ago, Adr!@n said:

Are you sure about what your policy states? For bikes, my excess is based on the value of the claim - there's a minimum amount and 5% of claim, whichever is greater.

My Policy initially stated minimum of R500 or 5% of claim. Recently changed without my knowledge to minimum R1250 or 5% of claim.

[Adr!@n]

9 minutes ago, JJDT said:

My Policy initially stated minimum of R500 or 5% of claim. Recently changed without my knowledge to minimum R1250 or 5% of claim.

King Price. Mine is the same, interesting. I've only had one claim that was above the minimum, so I never paid attention to that. 

[Mike Dewing]

On 12/30/2021 at 10:58 AM, Dappere said:

There are quite a few reasons. Which I am sure some hubbers could dispute and mention that it could also be done on home and content, but I don’t entirely agree with that. 
 

I choose stand-alone: 

your bike is covered for theft at home and away from home. 

you are covered for accidental and malicious damage, away from home and at home. 

you are covered for outlier scenarios, like driving into your garage and forgetting your bike is on the roof of your car. This happens more than most tend to admit. 

at claims stage, you generally get more options and not just a cash settlement. As the product is specifically designed for bicycles and their usage criteria. 

you generally get discount on adding multiple bikes on a policy. 
 

Ultimately the decision remains yours, but giving the investment made on bicycles I choose the peace of mind which is given to me by a stand alone bicycle insurance product. At the end of the day, that is essentially insurance - peace of mind. 
 

happy to answer any more questions? 

When I looked into it I saw that they covered entry fees of events that get cancelled last minute as well and even your travel and hotel costs.. so that’s a good reason as well..

 

im looking right now at it and stumbled across this, hence my delayed comment🤣🤣🤣
 

also seeing on cyclesure they cover medical needs/disabilities from a crash.. household ain’t gonna do that.. anyone using cyclesure.?

Edited January 4 by Bike Dewing

[U1Nanimous]

Just an interesting side note to this topic, 

When I bought my previous MTB, 2021, King Price insurance was included for three months, and I changed it over to my Santam Household as I don't like ransomware tactics. (you have to have xyz covered for minimum xyz etc). Sure, they have a business model (KP), and I was happy to stay with them and even pay the full premium, but the marketer said it was not possible unless I moved my home/car etc over to them, so it(bike) moved to my Santam (home) policy.  

Fast forward a few years, and due to my work, I now have access/insight to very good insurance brokers. 

Before the holidays I looked into changing to one of the brokers, just seeing the service and effort they do in other fields and am impressed, so off to change we go. 

I sent my current policy to them for input and quotes etc... 

So, they turn around and tell me about the specific Santam product, certain min spec criteria to meet, but, in a nutshell.... 

Home value is on par, house content increased. 

30% of home content covers "out and roaming " so in other words, I have blanket cover for all items outside the home for X amount.  

So I got blanket cover for this amount, a new bike, accessories all items up to that amount which I do not need to specify should I suffer a loss in one incident. 

Of course, any items worth more than this ammount need to be specified, but, I can't foresee an issue there. 

(two bikes on the rack in an accident have sufficient cover)

Now for the fun part, I dropped all the previously specified items, phones, laptops, GPS, bikes etc, and now, I have full cover. And the best news is I pay slightly less because my broker worked their magic. 

Before any naysayers slaughter this, I have some other friends who turned out to have the same product and had made an involuntary contribution one evening during the holidays, with no issues with their claim. 

So go ask/shop around, ask questions, say what you want/need and look into options. Sometimes we do come out on the other side slightly better, it does not always have to be endless increases and headaches.