115intheShade’s thread about his late Griffen got me wondering. If one were to drive into one’s garage while one’s high end bike was atop one’s car, would a homeowner’s policy insure the accident? Renter’s? Proably not auto…
Just curious… Thanks.
Been there, done that. Auto = No, since it’s not actually affixed to the car; same as if you had something valuable stolen out of the trunk. Homeowners = most likely yes, since it covers your “household” posessions. But, in my case, it wasn’t worth filing a claim after subtracting the deductible and figuring the likely premium increase for having had a recent claim on record.
My renters insurance (through Geico) claims they will. I was really clear about the value of my bicycles, wheels & such, they made note of it on the policy and said it wouldn’t be a problem.
However…I have my doubts if anything ever happened to my bikes (theft or damage) I’d get much of anything from the insurance company…
My lease requires I keep renters insurance & its under $20 a month.
Travis
dumb blog
That is 100% with out doubt a homeowners / renters claim, not an auto claim. A buddy who did that got his when he had to pay for his homeowners deductable to fix the garage, then also the auto to fix the roof of his car.
However…I have my doubts if anything ever happened to my bikes (theft or damage) I’d get much of anything from the insurance company…
Funny how that works, insurance companies are all friendly when they’re taking your money. Then when it comes time to pay up they send in the hounds and find a loophole to not pay out on the policy.
Homeowner’s/renters insurance would cover it, but you’d very likely need to have a specific rider on your policy that covers your bike(s). My insurance policy covers bicycles up to $1000. Because my bikes are worth more than that, each one needs to be named and have its own separate coverage sufficient to cover its full replacement value. Interestingly, they don’t have a limit on the number of bikes so if I had 17 bikes worth $800 each, they’d all be covered - but a single bike worth $2000 is only covered up to $1000. For the record, and for the benefit of anyone in BC, I’ve heard from several sources that the best deal going is through BCAA @ $4/$100 for additional coverage on bicycles.
What I’ve never found out (more due to a lack of effort than anything) is the *impact *of a claim. How much my premiums would increase, and for how long effectively drives the decision of whether it’s worthwhile to insure bikes of middle to lower value. Perhaps my race bike is worth insuring, but not my winter bike? At what point does the increased cost of having made a claim outweigh the replacement value of the item claimed? I suppose I need to call my broker and then do some math to find out…
What I’ve never found out (more due to a lack of effort than anything) is the *impact *of a claim. How much my premiums would increase, and for how long effectively drives the decision of whether it’s worthwhile to insure bikes of middle to lower value. Perhaps my race bike is worth insuring, but not my winter bike? At what point does the increased cost of having made a claim outweigh the replacement value of the item claimed? I suppose I need to call my broker and then do some math to find out…
I alluded to this in my earlier post, and wonder as well… but as one who’s dabbled just a bit in the actuarial sciences, I think there’s no set answer as it’s a moving target that’s adjusted based on the number and value of all the other claims for each insurance carrier over time. If your claim is a statistical outlier, it probably warrants little attention, but if there’s a wave of expensive bike claims, you can bet they’ll jack you back on your next renewal.
For the deductible/premium cost and duration of my renter’s policy back in the day, I got a new mtn bike (and a significant upgrade, at that) out of it when my old one got stolen, but then it didn’t add up as a homeowner when I drove my training bike into the garage roof more recently so I just ate the cost for that sorry episode myself.
It happened to me once years ago. Only the fork was damaged so I didn’t make a homeowner’s claim.
However, the roof of my car was damaged…that was an auto claim.
Khai
Do you know if the BCAA deal covers just accidental damage or if it also covers “in use” damage - i.e collision/crash. Currently I have accidental damage and is around the same price point although I think a few dollars higher per year.
thanks
Jeremy
For the record, and for the benefit of anyone in BC, I’ve heard from several sources that the best deal going is through BCAA @ $4/$100 for additional coverage on bicycles.
I’ll have to remind you of that later this year and get the details from you.
115intheShade’s thread about his late Griffen got me wondering. If one were to drive into one’s garage while one’s high end bike was atop one’s car, would a homeowner’s policy insure the accident? Renter’s? Proably not auto…
Just curious… Thanks.
I know a guy who drove his team edition Trek 5000 series postal bike into the garage on his rack. The insurance company (homowners) got him the team edition Madone disco bike for replacement.
The problem is that I am sure that he had to pay a deductible and that they probably raised his rates as well.
Insurance is a law of averages operation. If insurance companies make a profit, that means that they get their money more than you get yours.
It really depends on your policy. I lost a bike off the roof of my car at 70 mph. It was then run over several times on the highway. I contacted my insurance company and they explained that I would be out my $1000 deductable but they would be happy to cut me a check for the remainder of the REPLACEMENT VALUE of the bike. My claim had no impact on my rates and i had a check for $700 in a few weeks.
My policy does not have an upper limit and specifically names bikes as being covered. When I started getting a basement full of bikes that had values in the mutiple thousands of dollars I called my insurence guy and asked him if i needed a rider policy. After confirming that I was not keeping motorcycles in the basement he told me that as long as I never uttered the word ‘racing’ when refering to the bikes that they woudl be covered under my policy with no limits.
I think that for most insurance companies a $700 check is pretty easy to write when your used to coving the cost of new homes. Of course if my house burned down or the theives knew what to take it will be interesting to see if they really woudl stroke a check ~$25,000 worth of replacent value bikes and wheels.
Khai
Do you know if the BCAA deal covers just accidental damage or if it also covers “in use” damage - i.e collision/crash. Currently I have accidental damage and is around the same price point although I think a few dollars higher per year.
thanks
Jeremy
I’ve no direct experience myself, but have been told of multiple people who have claimed and been paid for bikes totaled on the road, crashed while riding. As with any policy, never mention the word “race” - but my understanding is that BCAA is very good about paying out.
I had a road bike replaced on my renters policy in July last year. My rates were roughly $200 (but got me a $180 discount on my auto coverage) per year, and my claim came out to just under $4000 after deductible. I wasn’t offered the option to renew the renter’s policy, even though I’ve paid in $6k on the auto in 3 years and haven’t had a claim. My renter’s policy will be dropped at the end of the month. Though I don’t have the same situation with my auto… Looks like I’ll be finding a new insurance company.
thanks to this thread i just called allstate about my renters policy. had to add extra coverage for my bike. worked out at 10 bucks a month, which is fine.