How to properly insure your bike

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Lerato Khumalo

The booming e-bikes in particular are making bicycles increasingly expensive vehicles. Damage can be very expensive. How to best insure e-bikes, cargo bikes, etc.

Regardless of whether they have an electric motor or not, bicycles are booming. And they can be very expensive, especially if they have a motor. But what is the best way to insure your bicycle? You can do this either through home contents insurance or your own policy. When does what make sense?

The consumer portal “Finanztip” recommends the following rule of thumb: If the bike is not that expensive and comprehensive insurance is less important, the cheapest way to get insurance is through home contents insurance. The portal examined this in a bicycle insurance test with a total of 33 providers. It is worth taking out your own bicycle insurance if the value is around 1,200 euros or more. Depending on the tariff, this will also pay out in the event of an accident or third-party damage – comparable to comprehensive insurance for a car.

With home contents insurance, the bike is usually insured against theft and destruction in the apartment or in a locked cellar. This means, for example, after a break-in or fire. With a bicycle clause, the protection also applies when you are on the move or outside. The insurance will then also pay if the bike is stolen while locked on the street.

Sometimes this clause can already be included in the policy, in other cases it has to be added. Then it depends on the individual contract. But the range is wide: according to “Finanztip”, the bikes are often insured free of charge up to a certain amount – other providers want more than double the amount.

Important: In most home contents insurance policies, there is a limit of one percent of the insured sum for bicycles. If this sum for the apartment is, for example, 60,000 euros, only a maximum of 600 euros will be reimbursed for the bicycle – regardless of how expensive it was. Using a rule of thumb, insured persons can calculate this for their contract and see whether this sum is sufficient for them or whether the bicycle is underinsured:

According to “Finanztest”, it is worth taking out your own bicycle insurance if the bike is worth around 1,200 euros or more. The specific scope of the services depends on the provider and the tariff. Many offer all-round protection and, in addition to theft and loss, also insure the repair of damage caused by accidents, falls or bad weather and even include breakdown assistance.

Finanztip calculated the costs of good insurance cover for 21 examples (variation of bike type, postcode area, condition, previous damage). The result: For racing bikes, e-bikes or city bikes (value between 800 and 1,900 euros) they are close to each other, starting at around 55 euros per year. For a significantly more expensive cargo bike (5,000 euros), the insurance premium in the test was more than twice as expensive (starting at 122 euros per year).

Good bicycle insurance should therefore include at least the following points: