Oyster

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specialty insurance, but found the options super limited, with websites, technologies, and processes that felt very outdated.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.

sdmc530

I don't have a bike worth more than 2500 so there is nothing specific for coverage that is probably worth the cost. You can do homeowners/renters but you already know how that works.

So no, nothing specific for bikes. But if I had a bike worth say 10K, then i would have it covered.
My suggestion would be visit with your insurance provider and adjust your policy and find a better place to store your bike too

Oyster

Hi sdmc530 - thanks for the reply!

Out of curiosity, would you pay c.5% of the value of the bike on an annual basis? I.e. for your $2,500 bike, would you pay $125 a year to have it properly protected or would it need to be cheaper? Is it a question of price for you or just that you don't see the value of insuring something that costs only a couple of thousand dollars?

Iride01 

If you can't easily afford to replace your bike for any reason. Then you really need to go talk to an insurance agent and find out what is available.

However I personally wouldn't just get insurance for the bike only. It likely cost too much. So find out if there are other policies like renters insurance or home owners insurance that cover many things and give you more bang for your buck. At least with them you stand a better chance of it covering some eventual loss for you instead of the more unlikely event that you have another bike stolen.

At least for me, bike theft is very unlikely since I don't have to leave my bike anywhere unattended. Might also just consider getting bikes you can afford to replace. Usually as you get older you make more money. So that scale of what you can afford to replace slides up to high end bikes. So don't despair, you can have a enviable bike one day! <grin>

While you are at it, you should talk to the insurance agent about liability insurance. Yes, if you cause an accident and someone is injured or you damage property, then you are liable for paying their costs. That can also come bundled with other policies or you might consider an umbrella policy which can be or were inexpensive at one time.

If you have automobile insurance, some companies do include some protection for you on a bicycle and liability.

Bald Paul

Bicycle insurance to protect all cyclists | Velosurance

DowneasTTer

Going thought this in my mind as well. Last month my wife and I were headed to the local trail head with our two $3k carbon bikes mounted on our Kuat rack. Stopped at a ped crossing with flashing lights. The guy behind us stopped as well. But, the driver of on SUV behind him didn't the message and ran into the back of the car in front of him pushing that car into our car and destroying the two bikes, rack and damage to the car. The damage to the car is of course covered my car Insurance but the bikes and rack are not. The guy that was at fault has the state mininum Insurance for Florida ($10K) doesn't cover the total damages so my bikes are a lost cause. I looked into buying bike Insurance but the cost was around $500/year and would only cover one set of bikes (they use the serial numbers). So to cover all my bikes would be in the range of $1500/year. Have been driving all over the country carrying bikes for the past 50 years and this is the first loss. So our Solution is to self insurance. Good luck.

sdmc530

Yeah, probably because I am finically able to just replace the bike if I had too. I mean insurance for XXX dollars for a number of years will probably cost more than the depreciation of the current bike value. But yeah, I don't see the value in insurance for 2500 bike. Its just a reason to get a new one I don't insure my other sporting goods either. My hunting bow set up is 2K, if that goes bad, stolen, lost, damaged, whatever I will just replace. Even if I can claim on homeowners for the %3 deductible and a hit on the policy for a claim in the end its just not worth it short of a major dollar amount.

but if I hade a say a high dollar super bike, I probably would then insure it some how.

but that is just me

Oyster

Really interesting, thanks for all the insights! At Oyster we have partnered with leading bike retailers to make sure consumers have the choice to buy insurance when buying the bike. We definitely feel that having bike insurance separate from homeowners is the best solution for most people, but love to hear people's experiences and thoughts.

If covering on a homeowner/renter policy, I would definitely make sure you check: (a) what the deductible is; (b) what the maximum limit is: and (c) what coverages are included (theft away from home and crash damage are often not covered). We've sadly got many consumers who bought a policy with Oyster after having suffered from one of the above.

Troul 

I wouldn't pay anything more than $1.50 a month for a full replacement (price of actual price + accessories at current comp new pricing) on anything of major brand under $7,500. Just my $00.02.

Bmach

You really need to talk with an agent. Every state is different, ins companies are different. I have home owners insurance and replacement value. My agency was shocked when I told him the value of my wife’s and my bikes but he said we are covered.

SurferRosa

Wish I could find insurance for $5k in bike value for $50/yr.

rydabent

About 10 years ago, I had a bike stolen out of the back of the garage, when my wife had the door open while tending flowers. My homeowners ins paid for the bike in full, and covered the price of the tools I had in my trunk pack.

Korina

I bought a nice old bike for $75, put over $800 into it, and it's probably still not objectively worth more than a couple hundred. Should I get insurance?

Leisesturm

Isn't it clear by now that the answer is not insurance? Only one post even mentioned bike security, and only in passing! To lose two bikes in one lifetime of the value of those in the o.p. ... ... I can't blame the insurance provider. Prevention is always better than cure. Take this to heart. Do not let any bike >$1000 out of your sight. Do not crash, even if you are wearing a MIPS helmet. Do not ride on streets with >45mph speed limits even if you have all the flashers and high decibel horns that can fit on your handlebars. PREVENT disaster, do not plan for it. Do not let it happen! It was worth it to me to upgrade our garage door opener to one that is WiFi enabled. I can monitor its status on my phone anywhere in the world. It will alert me if it opens for any reason, even if its my wife who did it. It will close itself automatically if it is left open longer than 15 minutes. Fatalism is not a good look.

bikebikebike

The theft issue is just an extension of poor bike infrastructure in general.
Contrast this to the Dutch who are usually quite comfortable with the simple wheel lock.

The insurance companies avoid this by rating it at prices which are generally unattractive or unaffordable
but this is also reflection of the fact that they need a better participation in order to standardize it into something that they can rate.

Also consider the liability issue that electric bikes present because they are generally categorically not included in either automobile or homeowners/ renters policies.
This is an issue both in the liability and theft domains of the problem.

How is this different from Dodge City where you had to ride your horse with a weapon to avoid it from being taken?

I-Like-To-Bike

The Dutch also seemed to be "comfortable" with (or at least used to) a very high rate of bicycle theft.
The attached PDF is from 2000.
Extract:
Google search indicates thefts of unassisted bicycles has been reduced but is still quite high; the theft trend appears to be shifting to stealing e-bikes https://ebiketips.road.cc/content/ne...therlands-3603
https://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/857-st...s-in-amsterdam

indyfabz

That's the first thing that popped into my mind when I read his comment. Bicycle theft in the Netherlands is quite prevalent.

bikebikebike

Great data and references. Many good links inside
Since security is a big part of encouraging implementation, action on this is a critical part of infrastructure.
QUOTE: DutchNews.nl:
Some Dutch people call bike theft a national sport.
Some 22,593 people reported their electric bikes stolen last year, a rise of 25% on 2020 and 75% on 2019, bike theft monitor SAFE has said, based on police figures.Reports of non-electric bike theft were down by 45% to 26,365
the researchers found. SAFE estimates the real number of stolen bikes to be at least eight to nine times higher, saying that many people may consider reporting their ordinary bike has been stolen to be a waste of time.
Most of the stolen bikes were parked in the street but in 1,900 cases thieves resorted to burglary or even took the bikes from people by force.

European Bike Stealing Championships 2015 video tested the speed of the local crooks in Amsterdam, Rome and Prague.
Bait bike was stolen in Amsterdam in 22 minutes, but there are more interesting data and curiosities about bike thefts in Europe infographics.

Stichting Aanpak Voertuigcriminaliteit The Vehicle Crime Approach Foundation (AVc) is a partnership of various public and private organizations
with the aim of combating crime in the transport sector as effectively as possible. is the source of that great paper

I was wondering if there is database of bike insurance companies, issues from their perspective, police data and academic work from the industry and urban planners?
I am putting one together , but it is vestigial at this point.

something like : https://www.velomondial.net/velomondi...EED/TINDEX.HTM

Ironfish653

So what's your plan exactly? Run home when you get a garage door notification and confront the thief in the act?

Sometimes, stuff happens that you have no control over, no matter how many preventative measures you have in place. That's what insurance is for, to cover the costs of making it right when the unexpected happens.
Now, how likely a thing is to happen, and how much is covered, and how much it'll cost to provide that coverage is going to depend on you, your insurance provider, and your checking account. (What's the value of the item, how much do you want covered, and how much are you willing to pay for that coverage)

Ironfish653

That got me thinking; all of my bikes are like that. Nice, older bikes; some of which would cost far more to replace than I put into them, and some I've probably put far more money into than they're worth.
It'd probably be worth a phone call to my ins agent, just to know where my policy stands

Esos1

Is this a pyramid scheme? No offense but this sounds like a pyramid scheme 😅

Korina

Good luck; I hope you kept your receipts.

blacknbluebikes 

Oyster are you still looking at forming this insurance product? Long time, no post. Genuinely curious as to what you've learned.