Hi Bike Forum community,
Long time and avid cyclist here. I had a new bike stolen from me a couple of years ago and unfortunately, I didn’t have renters insurance at the time, which meant I had to fork out nearly $2k for a new bike. Lesson learned, I thought. Two years later, my new bike was also stolen. Fortunately, this time I did have renters insurance! So I made a claim for theft and after having to provide what felt like an unnecessary amount of information via physical mail, I was informed that (a) the maximum payout for a single item under my policy was $1,500 and (b) my deductible was $1,000. This meant a total payout of $500 for a $2,000 bike… so much for insurance.
A quick survey of close friends in the biking community made it clear to me that this was a very common occurrence. Way too many people just didn’t have the right protection, especially when bike theft is so common. I thought there must be a better option and began to explore specialty insurance, but found the options super limited, with websites, technologies, and processes that felt very outdated. This journey led me and my fellow co-founders to think there must be a better way to cover people’s most important belongings. So we launched Oyster
Our mission is to democratize insurance by making insurance for valuable items (such as bikes) more accessible and affordable.
What are people's thoughts on bike insurance? Do you have specialty bike insurance? Do you cover it on your homeowners or renters? Do you self-insure? We want to build the best insurance company we can and would love to hear any thoughts or feedback you have regarding your experiences with existing bike insurance, any pain points you have experienced, as well as any features you would love to see.