Speaking of bike theft, aren't our bikes insured by homeowners/auto insurance?

ok, you have a rider for "Limited Fungi", what on earth is that???

 

I have absolutely no idea haha.. Just read some reviews for california casualty and the experiences don't seem good. Looks like I'll be shooting for State Farm.

 

I think it's mold...

 

Mercury standard policy only covers $500 per bike up to three bike maximum. Currently there is no option to add addition coverage for bikes either.


When shopping for insurance I found the most companies did not cover bikes or at least not anything worth while like Mercury. Only a few companies covered bikes in full.

 

I had Mercury a long time ago, and dropped them as they said a 500 deductible on bikes, and a limit of 500 in value.
So in effect, unless they stole something along with the bike, no coverage.

Changed to Allstate, there is a 500 deductible, but they will pay replacement value. I check this, as it is the most likely item to be stolen.
However, a little caution goes a long way to protecting your investment.

 

About six months ago I went Insurance shopping. State Farm said they would cover bikes in full for pretty much every question I asked. Downside it was $2,200 more a year. Ouch! I remember Travelers Insurance, Safeco, and another that slips my mind had decent coverage with bikes but had a high prices too.

I'll check into Allstate. I don't remember if I looked into them. My broker looked into about 20 companies for me.

Anyone have separate auto and home owner's policy? I could save a little money splitting them but I'd be afraid of making a claim and each company saying its your other insurance's problem.

 

A few years ago my hard tail fell off of my ex's car and was destroyed. State Farm payed out $3500 for a bike that was put together with spare parts (all high end parts but spare parts none the less). That was enough to buy a brand new Ti Motobecane and a Intense Tracer frame. I think I only pay like $17.00 a month.

 

I've narrowed it down to either State Farm or Allstate. I got a quote from State Farm which was pretty decent for home insurance, but bumped my auto insurance up about $100 a month from what I have now (mercury). I asked the State Farm agent about bikes and she said if a bike was stolen they would cut a check for half the price of the bike and when you actually bought the bike they'd send the other half.

Other than that .. Still waiting on Allstate to call me back.

Thanks for the help!

 

Huh? So they will give you half of the replacement value and then once you prove you replaced it you get the rest?

 

They will send you a check for the depreciated value of the bike/property right away. Then they pay the remainder, up to MSRP, once you have replaced it and provide receipts. This is pretty standard.

I have made a couple claims with State Farm. They were excellent to deal with. Only bummer was they cancelled my policy after the second claim. It was hard to find a replacement as many companies won't cover you with 2 or more claims in 5 years. My broker found one who would, with no specific limit on bikes at replacement cost, but it was over double what I paid with State Farm.

A couple years ago we got rear ended by a guy who had Mercury auto insurance. They were also great to deal with. Its too bad they have crappy limits on bike coverage, though you could go with them for auto and State Farm or someone else for renters insurance.

 

Yes. For my new house when I went shopping I was considering going through my auto insurance company but they didn't directly underwrite in California, would go through another company, and didn't offer much of a multi-policy discount. I haven't read my different policies lately to check on it but I'd assume if you have something that could potentially be covered under two different types of policies it would be your choice which to claim it under unless they have a stipulation that they can go after another policy to cover/share the loss.

If you want to talk about a tricky situation, I've got a few older cars and actually have two different auto policies through two different companies, both of which I've been with for years. Let's say I'm driving a rental or someone else's car and get in an accident, which policy's liability covers it? Or a catastrophic accident that maxes out the limits could the other party go after liability under the other policy?

You generally can't have two policies on the same vehicle but there's no statutory limit on how many different policies for different cars (which is often the case with specialty classic car insurance). Both of my insurance companies know about my other policy and while one has expressed a desire that they'd rather have me move everything to one or the other, they can't drop me and some of my cars are quite a bit less expensive with one policy and the truck and another car I keep on the other policy is less with that one and vice versa.

 

Interesting thoughts Eric.


I'm always worried about splitting insurance (home and auto) and getting rear ended by an uninsured motorist totaling the bikes on the back. Will my car insurance coverage cover this? Even today I haven't been able to get a straight answer from any of the companies. Most tell me if I have home and auto that one or both of them will cover it, and most of these companies cannot even tell me to what amount. It's been a frustrating road shopping for insurance. State Farm seems to be the best for bike coverage but I can't afford or stomach to spend $2,200 a year more than Mercury.

On the bright side my insurance agent, who I always bug about bike coverage, said today that Mercury has some bike coverage changes coming soon. Maybe the squeaky wheel got the grease!




Thinking about insurance again it would be great to create a questionnaire and send it to insurance companies to see what levels of coverage for bikes they offer. Questions regarding:
- Bike theft (home, hotel, vacation home, friends home, Snow Summit, etc...)
- Bike damaged in transportation (rear ended hitch rack, roof rack garage door, etc...)
- Bike damaged being hit by uninsured motorist on street
- Bike heavily damaged from crash (Like a road bike crash with broken frame and many scratched broken components)
- Bike rack damaged by uninsured motorists
- Options for additional coverage if bikes are not included under basic policy

I'm sure there are many other questions too. Maybe a questionnaire could benefit the community.

 

I asked the State Farm agent about getting rear ended with the bikes on the back and she said it would be covered under the home insurance. Statefarm has great reviews online, but I didn't like that the lowest my deductible could be was $1000. I ended up with Allstate who gave me a better price and a $500 deductible.

 

I had a $500 deductible with State Farm for my renter's insurance. A lower deductible is nice but I wouldn’t lose sleep if it is higher because you should realistically only use this coverage for major claims. If you have the misfortune of making a few claims they will probably cancel your policy after the second or third one – so save it for something major like your garage being cleared out of bikes, or a fire. Small stuff like a bike rack being damaged isn't worth making a claim. You will pay more for $500 than $1000 deductible so consider how often you have made claims previously to get an idea if this is worth it.

If you get rear ended it should be covered by the other guy’s auto insurance, you should not have to claim on your own insurance unless he is uninsured.

 

My renter's insurance with State Farm was $15/mo for around $25,000 contents coverage with no limits on bikes. You must be looking at homeowners insurance to see a $2200 difference, and there are probably some big differences between what each policy covers aside from contents - that part of the coverage is usually small potatos.

You may be able to get a rider added to the policy that would cover bikes specifically, and can cost anywhere from $3 to $8 per $100 of bike per year. Hard to say if it is worth it, as that can add up to the cost of a new bike over time. If you have one $5k bike stolen every 10 years, compare that to paying say $6 per $100 of bike per year on the same $5k bike - $300/year or $3k over 10 years. You might be better off keeping the money and up your home security instead. I use a beater bike now for commuting. Fortunately my bikes are covered in my existing policy which is the best deal if you can get it.

 

I have three insurance companies
20 years with mercury(auto)
7years with McGraw(pacific specialties insurance(2005 Harley Road King)
11 years Allstate(home)

Im sad to say its been expensive for this insurance and glad to say i have never had to use it for a claim.

I recommend a lower deductible with a bit more coverage just incase and shop for the best return not the amount you pay.

 

Seems like a lot of people are not clear on how insurance works for claims. Keep in mind there are two types most people have, and they each cover different things.


Renters/homeowners policy –covers personal property (not cars) including theft or damage, regardless where it happens, up to any limits/exclusions in your policy. If your car is broken into and they take your tape deck, credence, and dirty undies you would claim this property on your renters/homeowners policy. If your bike is up top and you drive into the garage, you would claim it on homeowners insurance. Damage to the car itself (windows, roof damage etc) would be claimed on your auto comprehensive policy if you have one. Not sure if you could make a claim if you crash the bike while riding it and damage it. Seems to me you’d be on your own here.

Auto policy – generally covers damage to vehicle itself, and liability related to vehicle collisions. There are many options you can add but the minimum requirement is to cover basic costs you might be responsible for in a crash. Comprehensive coverage covers damage to your vehicle in a crash, fire, hail, break-in, etc. Uninsured motorist covers you if the other guy does not have insurance. But your auto policy does not cover personal property in the car or anything attached to it like a bike rack, that is stolen or damaged. The only time personal property might be covered is if you rear-end someone and damage their bike/rack, as that is part of the damage you are liable for in the collision.

It should not be a big deal to have auto and renter/home insurance from different companies. The only instance I can think of where this could be an issue is getting hit by an uninsured motorist. Normally if you are hit by someone their policy should cover all damage to your vehicle and property (ie, bikes on rack). But if uninsured, and you have uninsured motorist coverage, that part of your auto coverage should cover both the car and personal property damaged in the collision. Though your auto insurer may tell you to claim the personal property on your homeowner policy. You would have to clarify how this would work with your agent. They should be able to answer any question about coverage, its their job. If they can’t I’d talk to a different agent.

 

Auto policies can cover items in and on the car. Quite a few years ago an uninsured, drunk driver that was street racing through my neighborhood rear-ended one of my cars and damaged some things crushed in the trunk. I want to say they reimbursed me around $1k or so for lost personal property. Some policies may also cover things like trailers, bike carriers, or other items like bikes attached to the vehicle. Depends on policy and sometimes the state insurance regs.

Like you mentioned, many times an auto policy won't cover items stolen from within or on the vehicle and you may need to make the claim under renters or home owners policy (if they'll cover it). It can be a gray area and hard to interpret and a lot of these what-if questions might best be handled by sitting down and talking with a good agent if you have a company you're interested in going with or possibly an independent broker that is familiar with types of coverage and limits with different underwriters.

Also if you already have a policy and are curious what it will and won't cover a good place to start would be to request a copy of the actual policy documents. Those big, many, many pages of fine print that spells out what they will and won't cover and amounts. They can be a touch difficult to interpret if you're not good with legalese but would at least get you prepared for types of questions to ask your agent/broker if you want to clarify anything.

 

I'm sure there are some circumstances where it is possible to have damage to personal property covered caused by a collision especially if you're not at fault, but it is not something I would count on. In your case did you have uninsured motorist coverage? Or did your insurer cover the personal property because the damage was caused by a collision that was obviously not your fault? If we are not talking about collisions then you definitely want to have renters or homeowners insurance if you want bikes to be covered in the case of theft.

 

I'm with State Farm too with a $1k deductible.
We also have a seperate Personal Articles Floater Policy for our jewelry, cameras & high end fishing gear with a low deductible.
I inquired about adding our bikes to the floater policy and was told NO mountain or racing bikes. ONLY road bikes with a value of over $700 can be added to a floater. wtf?
If you have State Farm your bikes will be covered under your homeowners, HO6 or renters and subject to your deductible. Bike claims are paid ACV (Actual Cash Value) prior to the loss.

An a different note, if you have bike racks 'attached' to your vehicle...they would be covered by your auto policy. Depending on the type of loss, racks can be be covered by either comp or collision and whatever deductible you carry.
Theft= comprehensive
Collision= collison.

Hope this helps.
$.02