Insurance - Is it worth it?

"Simon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:93Qqc.233$M_4.213@newsfe1-win...

Quoted message said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what they
are.

Open a savings account and set up a standing order into it for what you
would have paid as a monthly insurance sub.

Insurance companies make money by making sure that the avarage claim is
*less* than the average sub, so this works to your advantage with my plan,
as your savings account will, on average, collect *more* than the cost of
replacing your bike by the time it will statistically get nicked or trashed.

You have the benefit of earning interest at over 4% which could pay for a
better groupset should the worst happen.

Should you draw the short straw and get your biked trashed or nicked after
only a few months then you could always go for one of the many 0% credit
card deals to tide you over.

Simon said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what they
are.

IMO no, it's not worth it. For three bikes with replacement values over
£1000 each my quote was about £30 a month. They're insured at home by
the household policy, but not out and about, so this is what the premium
is for. It is beyond the wit of insurance companies to realise that I
can only actually be out on one of them at a time!

"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:40abc1fb.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

Simon said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what

they

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

are.

IMO no, it's not worth it. For three bikes with replacement values over
£1000 each my quote was about £30 a month. They're insured at home by
the household policy, but not out and about, so this is what the premium
is for. It is beyond the wit of insurance companies to realise that I
can only actually be out on one of them at a time!

Well, I added a bike to my household insurance, but I'm not sure what the
extra premium was. The total is £104 p.a. and that gives £200 bike cover.
Bike was stolen last week. Phoned police, they phoned back with crime
number. Phoned AXA (the insurance people) who took a few details. 20 minutes
later a call from a bike place. New bike delivered next day.

Worth it to me, at least until next year's premium ...

Rob

Zog The Undeniable said:

Simon said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know
what they are.

IMO no, it's not worth it. For three bikes with replacement values
over £1000 each my quote was about £30 a month. They're insured at
home by the household policy, but not out and about, so this is what
the premium is for. It is beyond the wit of insurance companies to
realise that I can only actually be out on one of them at a time!

we had an extension to our household contents for around £60 per year
covering all bikes up to £650.

Had 4 bikes stolen from garage, insurance company paid up with no problem.
in fact we were able to negotiate an 18% discout (on bikes and all
accessories) via Evans insurance replacement service that allowed us to buy
bikes to our spec (ie upgrade) rather than take the like for like replacemet
offerd by the ins compamy.

Payout from ins comapy around £1200 - i tossed in £250 and we have a set of
4 new and better bikes with all racke bells lights etc we could need.

Is insurance worth it? Yes!

pk

ps the claim was right down the line deteiling model numbers of every item
we had lost: bikes, racks, bells, lights, pumps

Simon said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what they
are.

Depends - insurance companies make a profit, so on average it's "not
worth it". However most people take a view that they can't deal with
the consequences of being unusually unlucky, so are prepared to pay
insurance premiums.

Probably you'd come out ahead if you never bought any insurance
through your whole life (statutory requirements excepted) .... but
you might be really unlucky and your house will burn to the ground or
something and you'll wish you had.

HTH - although it probably doesn't :\

in message <93Qqc.233$M_4.213@newsfe1-win>, Simon

(') said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what
they are.

Depends where you are. When I lived in Lancaster I had three bikes
stolen in quick succession (but this was, I will admit, after several
years living in Lancaster, cycling everywhere, and not having my bike
stolen). Now I live in the back of beyond, I haven't had a bike stolen
in 14 years (fingers crossed, touch wood).

Some urban areas you definitely want to be insured; out here, no point.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

The trouble with Simon is that he only opens his mouth to change feet.
;; of me, by a 'friend'

<snippity insurance is it worth it>

Easy.

1. Is your bike likely to be nicked before your insurance fees + the excess
= the cost of a new bike.

2. If you had your bike nicked, would you be able to afford the
replacement. If you couldn't afford the replacement, would this be bad?

Next comes the obvious things, like checking that you are insured for what
you want to be insured for, and that the small print isn't silly. Reading
the relevent bits of the small print often makes people realise that they
are not insured after all. Silly but true.

Seeing as you're thinking carefully about this, let us know who you went
with, why and how much. Then we won't have to think quite as carefully as
you did :-)

Simon said:

Title says it all.

My bike was stolen, but insured (or so I believed) on the house policy.
After three months of grief with the insurance people insisting they would
get back to me "this time next week at the latest" a decision was made
that my bike was not covered after all. Due to the circumstances in which
my bike was taken, I was not surprised by this outcome but I wished it
could have been reached a little quicker - preferably before I had spent
hours searching for the receipt for every component I had upgraded in the
last 12 months.

Nobody seemed to appreciate that I needed a bike to get around and do the
shopping. In fact, being without a bike for this length of time probably
increased my cost of living by several % points and had I known how long
the saga would last I would have replaced it immediately. I also felt
under suspicion (rightly or wrongly) and worried about having the
possibility of having black marks placed next to my name. Most financial
services are currently closed to me because I lived in a poor part of town
whilst I was a student. There is a whole independent 'justice' system out
there - I may be paranoid but I don't feel that it's either fair or
transparent.

Quoted message said:

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what they
are.

Obviously my opinions may be clouded by my experience above.

I 'insure' myself for all small risks by keeping a reserve of money in the
bank sufficient to pay for the boiler or a new bike. I could be in trouble
if I needed to replace both at once, but life would go on. In the long
run, this should work out cheaper because I don't need to pay for the
paper-pushing and profit-margins that insurance involves. And I can't
defraud myself and I'm unlikely to be suspected by anyone of defrauding
myself.

Quoted message said:

Also, suggestions for insurance companies that offer a great deal.

On at least some schemes, the premiums are charged on the 'new' price but
the payout is on the 2nd hand price (on bikes over 12 months old). For
example, if you have an immortal 1980s steel-framed tourer it will be
worth very little in monetary terms, but the premium you pay will be
calculated on the replacement cost of a new bike. But the amount you would
receive were it to be stolen would be its 2nd hand value. This
(apparently) was how my policy worked, even though it was billed as a
'new-for-old' policy.

AC

Simon said:

Title says it all.

And of course you never can tell without being able to look into the=20
future.

Fact is, I can spare a tenner a month easily, but I can't spare the=20
=A31800 it would cost to replace the main bike if someone thinks a spot o=
f=20
vandalism would be a Top Wheeze when it's parked outside somewhere.=20
180 months for putting that premium into a savings account as a re-buy=20
is a long time, and a long time before it's a significant chunk of it.=20
A lot of it will depend on how you run your finances and how tight they a=
re.

I'm less concerned about things like the MTB: I could get another one=20
easily enough that's good enough for my needs without breaking the bank.

Quoted message said:

Also, suggestions for insurance companies that offer a great deal.

Check your house contents insurance first, they may cover it anyway,=20
and/or give extra cover for a slightly raised premium. We've recently=20
found that there may well be an upper value after which they get much=20
less interested in helping. Shop around, they all seem to have=20
different gotchas (as we're currently finding out: Nationwide won't go=20
over =A31500, Halifax aren't interested if there's a tenant in the house =

too, etc. etc.).

Don't forget that you can lose a bike in an accident as well as having=20
it stolen. Not all accidents are someone else's fault, and when they=20
are it can sometimes take months to years to get the other side to cough =

up for an expensive bike, even if they've admitted liability.

Pete.
--=20
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Simon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<93Qqc.233$M_4.213@newsfe1-win>...

Quoted message said:

Title says it all.

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what they
are.

Also, suggestions for insurance companies that offer a great deal.

Of course, the answer is, "it depends".

My house & contents insurance covers any number of bikes up to a value
of £500 each, provided that they are locked to something. I really
haven't a clue whether they're covered abroad, perhaps I should find
out before the next trip.

Since the excess is £50, cover for my Galaxy that cost £650 is more or
less adequate, especially as organising a dedicated policy to cover
the shortfall would be more trouble (and money) than it's worth.

Plug for Halifax here. But keep asking for a requote, they're
[censored] for increasing the premiums for their regulars.

Cheers,
Al

in message <[email hidden]>, anonymous

coward (') said:

Nobody seemed to appreciate that I needed a bike to get around and do
the shopping. In fact, being without a bike for this length of time
probably increased my cost of living by several % points and had I
known how long the saga would last I would have replaced it
immediately. I also felt under suspicion (rightly or wrongly) and
worried about having the possibility of having black marks placed next
to my name.

Last time I had a burglary (which was about twenty years ago) I had a
relatively expensive contents insurance policy which (being naive) I
had got in a package with my mortgage. It was supposed to be a 'new for
old' policy. Not a great deal was stolen - a leather jacket, my camera
and one other small item, I forget what. I put in a claim for their
replacement value. I endured several months of investigation for fraud
which was by far more distressing than the burglary itself, and was
eventually - and grudgingly - paid about a third of the value of the
items.

I can remember few more stressful or unpleasant experiences in my whole
life; I haven't had contents insurance since.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

[ This .sig subject to change without notice ]

Simon said:

I know some will have strong opinons but I am interested to know what
they are.

Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. If you can afford to write a
cheque for a new bike if yours is nicked or bent by some clueless cager,
then no problem. If not, insurance is worth it.

Mine costs, from memory, just under £100 per year for £6,000 worth of bikes
(CTC).

Public liability insurance, inna CTC membership stylee, is of course always
worthwhile.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

Simon Brooke said:

Last time I had a burglary (which was about twenty years ago) I had a
relatively expensive contents insurance policy which (being naive) I
had got in a package with my mortgage. It was supposed to be a 'new for
old' policy. Not a great deal was stolen - a leather jacket, my camera
and one other small item, I forget what. I put in a claim for their
replacement value. I endured several months of investigation for fraud
which was by far more distressing than the burglary itself, and was
eventually - and grudgingly - paid about a third of the value of the
items.

My experience was rather different when my flat was burgled. Eventual
claim was about 4.5K (the CD collection accounting for more than half)
and they did send a loss adjuster round who rapidly came to the
conclusion that I was being very fair. Aside from pointing out the
quote for hi-fi replacement included a 10% discount if all ordered from
the place I got the quote from which I hadn't taken account of and
knocking that 10% off the hi-fi bit, they paid in full.

More recent was when the insurers of the Fool that casued the demise of
the Orbit sent a man to check out my story about replacement value.
He'd never seen a 'bent before (bent or otherwise) so it basically
consisted of me demonstrating that the frame was beyond sensible repair
and giving him a list of Helpful Contacts to ask questions of. Claim
was paid in full shortly afterwards.

Other claims I've had are for a carbon fibre skate pole and some
prescription glacier glasses that died skiing on my travel insurance,
again paid in full after gathering suitable documentation to demonstrate
I shat them not.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/