Bicycle Austin forum

CharlesDuffy

Member

Registered: 2009-07-03

Posts: 56

Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

Howdy, 'yall. I'm looking to see if I can cut down my monthly expenses, and insurance looks like one of the likely areas for improvement...

Right now my bike is insured via an inland marine policy with Nationwide; it's great coverage (all-perils, $50 deductible) but severely expensive; apparently they have another agent in Colorado who has worked out a cheaper policy for electric-assist bicycles (with uninsured motorist and personal injury protection available, just like on a car) and can arrange them in other states as well, but she hasn't answered my questions yet about whether it's replacement-cost or actual cash value (or what the depreciation schedule is if it's the latter). Do any of 'yall have experience or suggestions with regard to insuring bikes against damage or theft away from home? This would all be much cheaper if I were willing to take the risk for any damage which is my own fault (my homeowner's coverage would maybe do fine on its own, albeit with a high deductible) -- but when I was taking the League streetcycling class, one of the things they pointed out is that the percentage of crashes that come down to cyclist error is quite high, and my homeowner's insurance of course won't cover that. Any of 'yall have suggestions?

On a related subject, car insurance -- while I'm now commuting exclusively by bike, I still have a car around for carrying passengers and running to Costco on the weekends. I've actually thought a little about getting rid of it and getting an Xtracycle or Madsen for hauling groceries, but the Wifely One has nixed that so far. Anyhow, since it's no longer used to commute, I'm thinking about reclassifying the car as a pleasure vehicle, or buying an insurance-by-the-mile policy from MileMeter (if I can keep my usage of the car below a 41mi/week average, a policy with them would be 1/6 the price of what I'm paying now, easily paying for even an expensive policy on the bike). Anyone have experience with trying to get the car into a lower-cost insurance category when no longer using it day-to-day?

Thanks!

bikinpolitico

Member

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-09-04

Posts: 78

Website

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

Since you are only using the car for occasional errands, you should consider Austin CarShare (http://austincarshare.org). Reclassifying your car saves very little in insurance, and you are forgetting you have money tied up in the car itself, which is losing value every day. With CarShare, you only pay for what you use and insurance is included in the price. This means almost all your transportation costs are variable, not fixed, nor depreciating.

For cargo bikes, the Xtracycle Freeradical is probably your lowest cost, least commitment option. It will fit on most 26" or 700c bikes and costs about $500.The Madsen will haul more stuff, but costs about $1300. If you really want to take the plunge, get a Bakfiets. The Xtracycle also has the advantage of being pretty fun to ride even when empty. Most of the other cargo bikes are great when hauling stuff, but not much fun for every day riding. (I did a Bakfiets vs Xtracycle comparison here= http://austinontwowheels.org/2008/10/15 … n-a-bike/)

Regarding the wife, why not just get a cargo bike and park the car at a friends house that is not nearby for a month as an experiment. You can honestly try life without the car but still be able to get to it if things don't work out or there is a true need. Chances are, you won't be missing it, and she'll get used to it.

Last edited by bikinpolitico (2009-07-19 20:54:16)

Lynn

Member

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 22

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

My insurance agent has always asked how many miles per year that my husband and I drove each of our cars, and classified the cars accordingly. I agree, however, that lower mileage doesn't seem to equal a low insurance rate.

I recently sold my car, so we are now a one-car household. My husband was less than enthusiastic, but saying that I would join the carshare seemed to ease his mind considerably. Pointing out how much we spent on maintenance for my car during the first 6 months of this year also helped, particularly after I indexed that number to the total number of days I was driving and determined that renting or taking taxis would have been cheaper.

CharlesDuffy

Member

Registered: 2009-07-03

Posts: 56

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

Since you are only using the car for occasional errands, you should consider Austin CarShare (http://austincarshare.org). Reclassifying your car saves very little in insurance, and you are forgetting you have money tied up in the car itself, which is losing value every day. With CarShare, you only pay for what you use and insurance is included in the price. This means almost all your transportation costs are variable, not fixed, nor depreciating.

A very good point -- but Austin CarShare doesn't have any spots close to me (in North Austin); if I were downtown, it would make more sense.

Insurance, at least, I'm now buying on a usage-based rate -- I mentioned before that I was looking at switching to MileMeter (a Dallas company selling insurance by mile driven rather than by time period, albeit with a minimum of 1000 miles per 6 months); I finally did that early last month, so other than depreciation (and as long as I'm using that minimum), my motorized transport costs really are variable right now.

(if I can keep my usage of the car below a 41mi/week average, a policy with them would be 1/6 the price of what I'm paying now, easily paying for even an expensive policy on the bike)

Good question.   I drive my pickup truck about 2,500 a year.   Please share your research.

I waited on reporting back to actually get some experience with MileMeter, and ended up getting more than I wanted -- broke a spoke on the bike, had to wait over a week to get a replacement (Crank Brothers wheel -- seems like nobody carries replacement parts), and scraped up the top of the car while using it to commute in the interim. Neither of the body shops I talked with had ever heard of MileMeter (or even had them in their computers), but they handled the claim smoothly -- and had a Real Person on the other line when I called who knew what was going on with my claim without having to look it up.

I ended up putting on 700 miles last month (very much to my surprise, but being bikeless for a week didn't help), and paying $73.16 in insurance for those miles. Suffice to say that paying by the mile makes me a bit more cognizant of how much I'm driving, and that I don't plan on any more 700-mile months any time soon.

I haven't yet gone back to looking for a cheaper policy on the bicycle, but probably should; suggestions still welcome.

velosurance

Newbie

Registered: 2013-09-08

Posts: 1

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

Check out this bicycle insurance from Velosurance.
Velosurance is an up and coming bicycle insurance company that is founded in Florida and operates across US. We insure bikes and bikes only.
Velosurance offers a policy that protects bikes from loss and damage, and riders from medical and liability claims

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

I was pretty annoyed that they don't give even sample rates on their website.  You have to call or write for a quote.  They even have the gall to have a link on their site to "Rates and Coverage", which goes to a page called "Rates and Coverage", which does not have any information about rates!  Very sleazy.

I checked around the net and here are what some others are saying about them:

* "Policies start at $100 per year, and that’ll buy you theft/damage coverage on a bike in the $1,200 to $1,500 range. You can put more than one bike on a policy, which provides a per-bike price break." (BikeRumor)

* "Williams said that the average policy they write is around $350-$400 a year." (BentRider)

* "They quoted me $368/yr for a $6k bike." (MtbNJ forums)

* "I have a Specialized Venge, and a Scott Plasma Premium 3, didn't want health coverage and something else and they gave me a quote of 1200 a year. Ridiculous that is more then I pay for my house and three cars." (SlowTwitch forums)

I think I read somewhere that they won't cover bikes worth less than $1000, but I can't find that now.

AlexG

Member

Registered: 2014-02-07

Posts: 5

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

I got my bike covered with Velosurance, very happy with them. Im saying "happy" because I got to use them after I was racing and was a part of a multi-bike collision : I had to get a stitches which did not bother me that much , by my Cervelo P5 was completely totalled (frame broke). I got my check in  5 days , they paid for EVERYTHING except my deductible.

I also spoke to their rep multiple on the phone prior to buying it because i have to pay $697 a year for my insurance and I wanted to check their customer service which was outstanding.

I found nothing sleazy about them :

1) They dont give simple rates simply because it is very hard to do : rates vary on multiple factors just like car insurance : value of the bike , make of the bike, zipcode(state that you live in , car insurance in NYC is 2 times more expensive for the same car than it is in Florida , so what would be the sample price here ? )

2) You dont have to call for a quote, you can get a quote in 5 seconds just by filling out their quick form on the homepage http://velosurance.com

Well , at least I did not have to call for a quote , I got all I needed online, called them later with some questions specific to what I am doing (racing overseas sometimes, so I was wondering if my bike was covered overseas)

3)I work in finances and know smth about insurance concepts to address your last bullet point :  S-Works Venge is a $8500 dollar bicycle and Scott Plasma 3 is a 9000 dollar bicycle , together we have almost 18,000 in bikes.

I got a car, mazda3 from year 2007 that I drive in New York. I bought it for 6,000$ in cash. I pay 330/mo in car insurance = 3960$ a year on a $6,000 car that is now worth 4,000$ just because it gets older and depreciates

I think it is not a bad deal insuring 18,000$ worth on bikes for 1200/year    versus insuring a piece of junk mazda 3 for 3960/year given that I spend more time on my bike than in my car?

I may sound biased and I was hesitating alot before insuring my p5 but i was like "Thank god I insured it" after the accident.

My bike : Cervelo P5(around 12,000$) and I pay 58$/mo (697$ / year) to insure it.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

I'm sure your car insurance premium covers liability too, right?  That's actually the biggest part of the premium; damage/theft is much smaller.

I'm glad you're happy with Velosurance.  To be clear, though, you have to give up your email address to them before they'll give you a quote.  That's pretty sleazy to me.

AlexG

Member

Registered: 2014-02-07

Posts: 5

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

Yep, my car insurance covers liability, just like my bicycle insurance policy.

I suggest you try to get a quote from any large insurance company.
Geico , AllState, StateFarm, Progressive and then let me know where you DO NOT have to leave an email in order to complete the quote form. You will have to leave your e-mail in each and every quote with any insurance company. I work in a financial company, trust me, all insurance companies require your email - because this is where they will send your quote.

With that being said , you dont have to purchase anything from anyone, if a company asking for your email seems too sleazy for you (in 2014 when you can get a disposable email address in 5 seconds just to receive  a quote, lets say on http://mytrashmail.com/ ) - then you probably should not bother ever insuring anything if leaving an email scares you (no irony, I dont like to leave my data anywhere myself, but I believe insurance company quote is not the case for that).

Last edited by AlexG (2014-07-24 08:41:48)

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

Website

Re: Insurance (bicycle and low-mileage car)

I work in a financial company, trust me, all insurance companies require your email - because this is where they will send your quote.

Oh come now.  They demand your email address *so they can market to you*.  They could simply show your quote right on the screen, but no, they force you to give up your address.  You sign a petition for MoveOn, they do the same thing, and they forcibly sign you up for their email list; you can't opt-out at the time of signing.  Just because others do it doesn't make it any less sleazy.  Same for car insurance companies.

Read my post #6 above.  I searched the net and got sample pricing for Velosurance.  Velosurance could be helpful like that and offer sample pricing, but they don't.