Anyone use Velosurance?

[rallizes]

Sort of considering getting a bike covered

Wondering if anyone has used Velosurance and if so how did it work for you

[Bentley]

I interested in real world experience. I’ve been told your auto policy works, but would prefer something more certain

[bpm]

I never seriously considered it, but went through the quote process to see how much it would cost. I was quoted an annual premium of $410 to insure a $7000 bike. I forget what the deductible amount was but I think it was either $300 or $400. Too rich for my blood.

[Bentley]

I never seriously considered it, but went through the quote process to see how much it would cost. I was quoted an annual premium of $410 to insure a $7000 bike. I forget what the deductible amount was but I think it was either $300 or $400. Too rich for my blood.

I never got past the quote... but does it really deliver if you need it?

Ray

[bpm]

I never got past the quote... but does it really deliver if you need it?

Ray

I'm curious about that too.

[Ozz]

What are you insuring against? Theft? Damage? Liability? All of the above?

$400 per year does seem like a lot for $7000 in coverage....

I would think homeowners insurance with some sort of rider (I think that is what they are called) would cover most of this....we have a "Valuable Personal Property) one...it runs about $300 per year for about $35,000 in covered items. I have not looked at adding my bikes to it.....

[echappist]

I interested in real world experience. I’ve been told your auto policy works, but would prefer something more certain


All depends on the state

As for theft, that's where renters' and home owners' insurance comes in

As for liability (as in, cyclist hits pedestrian and causes damage), that's where some auto insurance comes in. There's also umbrella insurance

What are you insuring against? Theft? Damage? Liability? All of the above?

$400 per year does seem like a lot for $7000 in coverage....

I would think homeowners insurance with some sort of rider (I think that is what they are called) would cover most of this....we have a "Valuable Personal Property) one...it runs about $300 per year for about $35,000 in covered items. I have not looked at adding my bikes to it.....

I went through the process. If the bike is selected as being used for competition, annual premium is ~7.5% of cost of bike (at the time of purchase of various parts). If the bike is indicated as used for fitness only, it is ~3.5%.

I should note that both is less expensive than the quote for specific coverage riders I received from my insurance company (Geico), and the annual premium for those riders are at 10% of cost.

Insurance, as always, is to pay for incidents for which the likelihood of occurrence is low but whose costs may be exorbitant. Insurance companies, as always, is in the business of making money, so that they come out ahead even when they need to pay.

We are talking about bikes here, after all. My renter's insurance covers for theft of my bikes (with a $500 deductible) and pays out at full-replacement value (as opposed to residual). For that, I pay ~$150/year.

The base level insurance offered by Velosurance really doesn't do anything for me, and it of "value" only for those not paying home owner's or renter's insurance. If I want to insure my least expensive bike for crashes during competition, I need to fork out $210/yr for that privilege. Granted, cheaper than paying $280/yr, but this is in the territory of where self-insuring would be cheaper in the long term.

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I suspect that this product is geared toward those who can't afford to self-insure but bought a rig that's way out of budget (not to judge, but think someone making $35k/yr buying a $5k rig). Were a $3k bill to come due to replace damaged frame and/or parts to come due on that $5k rig, they wouldn't be able to cover it. But paying $350/yr to cover the risk, they may think it's a way to hedge the risk. Whereas in reality, if there's nothing significant to occur in ten years (less back in the days when CDs actually yielded something), it would have been better off to self-insure.

[ToonaBP]

I recently called my insurance Co. to ask how much it would cover in the event a bike was stolen from my garage. They said it'd cover $2500.... and asked if that was sufficient. I said it'd cover a wheelset. They gave me a quote of $1400 to cover three bikes at replacement value. Since they'd be in the basement over the winter, I could suspend coverage to reduce the cost....

[echappist]

I recently called my insurance Co. to ask how much it would cover in the event a bike was stolen from my garage. They said it'd cover $2500.... and asked if that was sufficient. I said it'd cover a wheelset. They gave me a quote of $1400 to cover three bikes at replacement value. Since they'd be in the basement over the winter, I could suspend coverage to reduce the cost....

You may want to dig deeper into this. Is your personal property coverage $2,500? B/c if it's higher (say $10,000), your insurance ought to explain to you why it wouldn't cover a bike worth more than $2,500. It really shouldn't matter if it's a bike or something else of value (e.g. guitar, espresso machine, whatever).

What the $1400 quote might be is special rider (normally used on expensive jewelry). Those usually have a premium of ~10% of the value of the item in question.