How to Insure my Custom Build?

[Jezston]

I'm going to have to change my insurance I fear, as my current household only covers bikes with a value up to £500, and the LBS building my bike say I should insure it for a grand!

But how does one present the value of a bicycle to an insurer, and does anyone know of some good household insurance that will cover such a value, or any combined household + specialist insurance deals that will save me money?

I guess the LBS can present me with an invoice stating the value of the bike, but will this be 'correct' of them?

Thus far I've only spent about £170 on it!
Frame: £60 second hand off ebay
Powder Coat: £60
Rims: £50
Sturmey Archer 3speed alloy coaster hub: ?
Shimano 105 front hub: ?
Two wheel builds: ?
SA 3 speed thumb shifter: ?
SA 42 tooth crankset: ?
Chain: ?
Front brake: ?
Brake lever: ?
Second hand lightweight Campag headset: ?
Second hand Campag aero seatpost: ?
Fancy american suede saddle: ?
Assembly: ?

 

[PpPete]

Change your household insurance.
Mine covers multiple bikes with value of up to £1000

 

[fossyant]

Cis are very good. Up to £1k for each bike then you can add additional bikes under a named item policy. On top of contents I pay an additional £120 a year for a £4k bike and a £1.3k bike. Just told them the value.

 

[MacB]

Definitely make sure it's covered properly, I also keep a spreadsheet listing the makeup of each bike, component costs and where they were purchased, then I have a big box file that I keep all my receipts in. Throw in a few pics of the bikes and that should be enough to satsify any loss adjuster.

 

[GrasB]

My policy is a new for old so the general advice given to me by my broker was price the bike build up at RRP (eg if you have an SRAM Force group set then the price is £1080 not £690) & give that as a quote for it's value. If you buy a bike then have components swapped over then you spec the price for he full bike plus the upgrades.

 

[DTD]

When I got a new bike I rang my insurer and they (for a bit extra) upped the maximum on each bike to £1000

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

I tell mine the amount and simply call it ‘Custom build sports bike’, the more information I give them the more they can pick holes in it at the time of a claim as far as I'm concerned. I do take current pic’s when I update the bike, if I can with me on it, plus a few close up’s to show the spec’, so that should I have to make a claim I have photographic evidence of what I had.

Paul Smith

Touring Tips

 

[Jezston]

Just bumping this as my Insurance is up for renewal in a couple of weeks, and I'm having a bit of trouble.

I currently pay about £25 a month to cover my belongings, some expensive recording items outside of the home and my old £400 bike - NOT my new bike. On the 8th of June, this will be going up to £40 a month, for no particular reason.

My current insurer will not give me a new quote because I live in a shared property (I have a flatmate). Neither will CIS for the same reason.

Endsleigh will offer me a decent rate for my household contents of £20pcm, but that won't cover my recording stuff or ANY bikes. For the recording stuff and the old bike they want ANOTHER £20pcm.

Endsleigh will not cover a custom built bike at all. They need a named make and model so they can ship a direct replacement in the event of theft.

So I'm a bit stuck!

Also, somewhat annoyed as just two years ago to cover all my household, my recording gear AND my old bike cost me ... £12 a month. But then I did the unthinkable and actually made a claim when my bike got nicked. So it doubled. And now having a flatmate it's doubling again. 4 times the insurance, and I still haven't got my bike covered.

The online/phone insurance brokers are getting on my nerves as they don't seem to understand the custom built bike bit and get all confused, then offer me insurers I've never heard of and fear won't pay out.

SO ... I'm going to pop round some high street brokers at the weekend - hopefully people who know what they are talking about.

Until then, any advice?

Anyone good just to cover the bike, so I can go with endsleigh for the household stuff?

 

[ufkacbln]

Make it a named item- That's what I do on all of mine. Simple phone call, send off the receipt (or statement of value) and sorted.

 

[fossyant]

M&S then ?

 

[e-rider]

M&S used to insure bikes under house insurance with no limits - not sure if that's still the case now though.


Custom builds are a nightmare to insure. Bear in mind that with excess fees and 10% loss per year with most policies that 3 years worth of payments often equals the value of the bike. So assuming you don't lose more than 1 bike every 3 years.......

 

[lpretro1]

Yes - I had this recently. Do it as a named item. If you ask nicely your LBS will do a 'valuation' letter for you. If you also take photos of the bike and it's equipment this will help and keep any receipts for the various parts if you have them. The insurers are happy to accept this. Ours got coverd up to £1500 each -albeit with an additional premium as the limit was £1K.

 

[fossyant]

Custom builds are a nightmare to insure.

Not if you can get them under the house insurance. Jezston's issue is the 'sub let' as it makes the situation tricky.

If it's your own home / no other 'interest' in the house, then you can get a custom bike insured easy. I've had my Herety insured for years and recently upped the replacement value - no problem done - no cost increase.

You have to shop about.