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Home and Contents vs Specialised Bicycle Insurance

January 23, 2023
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Your bike could be your pride and joy, a machine to take you over the finish line, or even a lifeline to get to work. Whether you use it to commute daily, for family bonding time, or to clear your head, every cyclist understands that their bike is so much more than just a bike.

With this in mind, cyclists also understand that there’s nothing worse than having something happen to your bike. One of the best ways to keep your bike safe is to insure it, but navigating the endless maze of insurance policy options and cover types can be daunting. The differences between policies are often difficult to discern, and it can be confusing to try and determine whether to insure your bicycle with a specialist bicycle insurance agency or under your home and contents insurance.

Why do I need bicycle insurance?

In Auckland alone there are between 500 to 1000 bikes reported stolen each year, although this figure is predicted to be much higher at around 2500-5000 bicycles stolen, many going unreported. While these figures are alarming, they still don’t represent the actual theft statistics. Many bicycle thefts aren’t reported to authorities, and malicious damage is even less commonly reported.

Accidental damage or crash damage generally isn't reported. Despite this, these can also be costly incidents that may leave you unable to ride your bicycle until you can repair or replace the damaged parts.

Our statistics show that bike insurance claims were steady throughout the year, with little sign of decreasing. The overwhelming majority of our claims were damage-related, while the rest were theft-related.

We are new to NZ but here’s what our 14-year experience and Aus has taught us:

Bicycle Insurance claims by month
What our clients claim for

Factors to consider when choosing your bicycle insurance.

Making sure that your bike is sufficiently covered is vital. Understanding what to look for will help make this process easier.

Home & contents insurance is designed to cover people’s personal belongings (and possibly the structure of their home) in the event of things like fire, flooding, theft, or natural disasters. If you are adding your bike to your home and contents insurance, ensure it is covered if stolen or damaged away from your home.

Consider what you use your bike for. If you race with it a lot, you should consider if you need racing cover. If you often travel with your bike, travel cover might be your ticket. Life is unpredictable, and the last thing that you want is to be left without a bike.

Here's how home & contents insurance compares to specialist bicycle cover:

Table of comparison

Why choose specialist bicycle insurance?

There are a couple of misconceptions about bicycle insurance.

Many think it's unnecessarily expensive, designed for serious cyclists, or only worth buying if your bike costs over a certain amount. We're here to tell you that none of this is true with Sundays insurance.

Sundays offers customisable policies so that you have cover that best suits your needs. Whether you’re looking to insure your commuter or need cover as you travel the continent on two wheels there is an option for you. You risk excessive premium increases when you claim on your  Home and Contents insurance for high-value items like bicycles. At Sundays, we don't increase your premiums when you claim to give you additional peace of mind. Not only do your premiums stay the same, but your excesses on your claims are likely to be lower with Sundays than with Home and Contents.

What Sundays covers:

Crash while riding your bicycle

Malicious damage

Theft from and away from home

Domestic travel with your bike

Transporting your bicycle on a bike rack

Optional racing cover

Optional worldwide cover

Optional accessories & wheelset cover

Why choose Sundays bicycle insurance?

Multi-bike discount: We know that one bike is never enough. With Velosure, you can add a second bike to your policy and receive a 10% discount on the premiums for your second bicycle.

We’ve been around the block: With over 14 years of experience, we understand the bicycle insurance industry, and your bike is in great hands with us.  

We’re cyclists ourselves: Our team consists of elite athletes, retired professionals and weekend warriors. Since we cycle ourselves, we understand the desire to get back up and pedalling again quickly after something happens.  

Add your accessories: We know that all your gear, devices and other accessories add up, and the last thing you want is something to happen to them. At Velosure, you can insure these items by adding them to your policy.

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