If your beloved bike is stolen, it’s a real hassle. It’s even worse if your home contents insurance doesn’t even cover it.
What you need to pay attention to when taking out home contents insurance to ensure that your bike is adequately covered, in which cities you need to be particularly careful and what to do if your bike is stolen.
The Federal Criminal Police Office publishes the Police Crime Statistics (PKS) every year, which include the frequency of bicycle thefts. Of the 20 cities examined, Leipzig tops the list. Over 1,539 bicycles were stolen here per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021. Münster is in second place on this negative list with 1,416 stolen bicycles. Halle an der Saale is hardly any behind with 1,243 bikes. The capital Berlin is in the middle with 752 stolen bicycles and Cologne is at the bottom of the list of German cities with 697 bicycles.
If your bike is stolen between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., some cyclists with old home insurance policies are left without protection. This is because old policies often still contain the so-called night-time clause.
This clause limits protection at night. A bike is only insured while it is in use – for example, if the cyclist locks it up outside the cinema and then rides home. But if you park it outside a friend’s house to spend the night there, you would get nothing if it were stolen. The good news is that many new tariffs do not include this clause.
Owners of very expensive bicycles can decide whether to add an additional clause to their existing home contents insurance that also covers simple theft. It is worth taking a look at the individual terms and conditions of the home contents insurance.
In addition to home contents insurance, there are now also many special bicycle insurance policies. Depending on the provider, these include not only theft but also repair costs and benefits in the event of accidents. Special bicycle insurance policies are a little more expensive and are usually worthwhile for more expensive bicycles such as e-bikes, which are not always adequately covered by home contents insurance.
If your bike is stolen, you should immediately report it to the police – either at the place where it was stolen or at your place of residence. Since you usually don’t know the thief, the report in these cases is made against an unknown person. You should describe your bike in detail, state the frame number and be able to present documents proving ownership. You can influence the location of your bike to a certain extent by coding your bike.
The next step is to inform your insurance company about the theft. They usually require proof of ownership and information about the report to the police. Insurance cover only applies if a report has been made.
If you want to search for your bike yourself, you can also put up flyers or search the Internet and newspaper advertisements. The reason: thieves often advertise their stolen bikes in classifieds and online portals.
