February 1, 20242 yr I'm not understanding the insurance costs that represent recovery and theft coverage. Seems there's no point in paying recovery as there's no benefit in the cost of your insurance premium. I got a quote for £149 to fit a tracker, then an insurance price of £13/month for the associated insurance and recovery. If I just take out insurance, it's £11/month. This makes me think that if the percentage recovery rate of tracked stolen bikes is so high, why then is the insurance so expensive? If there's a high probability of a stolen bike being recovered in the first 24 hours, I would think the insurance cost would reduce, not increase. "We recover 9 out of 10 times after a theft" In motor insurance, your policy decreases if you have a tracker fitted. Not so with bikes?
February 1, 20242 yr Do ebike insurers extract the widdle because it isn't legally required, therefore less scrutinised?
February 1, 20242 yr Is that 2 options from a single insurer [mention=41521]warlord0[/mention] ? or 2 different companies as the track and retrieve is a value added insurance with extra costs for vans and teams etc as well as the tracking infrastructure (tho thats probably just bought in).. Did you check about adding it to home contents insurance?
February 1, 20242 yr Author Is that 2 options from a single insurer [mention=41521]warlord0[/mention] ? or 2 different companies as the track and retrieve is a value added insurance with extra costs for vans and teams etc as well as the tracking infrastructure (tho thats probably just bought in).. Did you check about adding it to home contents insurance? I shopped around a bit, ended up getting a quote from the same insurer as the recovery company use as their underpinning arrangement. The cost of recovery etc. would seem a waste of the extra £2 as the insurance will pay new for old anyhow, so where's my incentive to get the bike back? I'm not gaining anything, so why pay more? It seems a strange business model. Most quotes I got were in the £10 per month range based on the cost of the bike as new. I'll certainly be looking at adding it to contents insurance.
February 1, 20242 yr Someone on the forum mentioned Laka about a week ago, I was quoted about £4 a month for my cheapo converted bike. https://laka.co/gb
February 1, 20242 yr the co-op were always good for bike insurance when added to contents, cheap and no quible pay outs. though if they are still ?? ( early 80's i was an insurance/assurance agent for Pearl, hence out of date nominal insight ) I think perhaps sports orientated cyclists may value their own bike after the attention they have paid to it to a new off the shelf virgin model? but as long as the insurance covers the full cost of replacement Im sure many would prefer a new bike to replace the stolen bike.. its the silver lining of new for old insurance after all. £4 a month is pretty good my less than £1000 value ( with locks, lights, etc,) conversion cost more added to the house contents and away from home. if getting a home contents quote for the bike make sure its not just covered while at home.. when first using an online broker for insurance the bike cover was while at home only!! ffs.. I discovered it a year later at renewal checking over!! thankfully not needed then (or since fingers crossed) I will bookmark Laka for the summer Cheers [mention=33660]guerney[/mention]
February 2, 20242 yr Wouldn’t an Apple AirTag at 30 quid be cheaper and longer lasting than a tracker? I have one in my suitcase and it works very well.
February 2, 20242 yr I'm not understanding the insurance costs that represent recovery and theft coverage. Seems there's no point in paying recovery as there's no benefit in the cost of your insurance premium. I got a quote for £149 to fit a tracker, then an insurance price of £13/month for the associated insurance and recovery. If I just take out insurance, it's £11/month. This makes me think that if the percentage recovery rate of tracked stolen bikes is so high, why then is the insurance so expensive? If there's a high probability of a stolen bike being recovered in the first 24 hours, I would think the insurance cost would reduce, not increase. "We recover 9 out of 10 times after a theft" In motor insurance, your policy decreases if you have a tracker fitted. Not so with bikes? Trackers are a con 1. They are easily removed anyone who believes thieves don't take them, out are fools, there are only a couple of places to put them 2. By the time you track your bike if lucky the frame is all that is left on a scrap yard. Pointless things you could have bought a better lock for the money
February 2, 20242 yr 2. By the time you track your bike if lucky the frame is all that is left on a scrap yard. I'll know instantly, follow the perp by taxi, then attack the perp with an aluminium rounders bat (smaller swing arc than a baseball bat) when he opens his door and get my GPS tracked bike back... smashing the perp's kneecaps on my way out, so he never rides again, also his balls so he never fathers mini-perps. And his teeth, nose etc. Maybe even elbows. It's the only rational response to bike theft I can think of. Edited February 2, 20242 yr by guerney
February 2, 20242 yr [mention=40339]thelarkbox[/mention] - bear in mind I only learned of Laka's existence about a week or so ago, but I hope it works out. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/laka.co.uk
February 4, 20242 yr Author Laka £10-12.33 per month for the core product (no accidental damage). Much cheaper everywhere else I got quotes from for the same cover.
February 4, 20242 yr Ive stopped by Laka for a quote now.. the site crashed when i first looked. Variable premiums for maintaining the same cover? ai actuaries?? something smells and this time its not me.
February 4, 20242 yr Ive stopped by Laka for a quote now.. the site crashed when i first looked. Variable premiums for maintaining the same cover? ai actuaries?? something smells and this time its not me. Did you clear your cookies between quotes? Also, if you're using a mobile network or very busy VPN, IP address changes can be confusing for some websites at peak times, leading to issues - this happens to me a lot because I use Smarty, which is actually the Three network. While not encouraging you to buy insurance from Laka (because I know next to nothing about them), you might receive more consistent quotes accessing their website at a less busy time? Or you could try the Opera browser's free VPN, which usually provides a consistent IP address. ai actuaries?? Oh no not AI. Edited February 4, 20242 yr by guerney
February 4, 20242 yr Rather than a tracker or one of those Apple things. I use my initials to prevent theft. When I'm travelling, I put them on my suitcase, and I also have them written in pencil on my bike. Since i did that, neither have ever been stolen. It works really well. Another thing that helps is a camera bracket. I put one on my handlebars about 10 years ago when i used to do some filming. I stopped the filming after a short while, but left the bracket there in case I ever wanted to do some more. In the ten years it's been there, my bike hasn't been nicked once. It must put some sort of force field around the bike.
February 5, 20242 yr Not that I own bikes that might be of interest to thieves, but I've found the best way to prevent theft is to stay on the bike I'm out on, all the time. Not that I see many people while I'm out, but I do sometimes ride by a permanent facility for a group who might move their homes around the country from time to time.... I'm always in a hurry when close to their location ..... There are times when I'd quite like to ride to the shops, but I'm not sure my saddle would still be on the bike when I returned, and some places I could park, maybe the wheels would disappear? QR clamps are useful like that. Maybe I should consider the 'key' locks I've seen on Ebay? A key for the locks would be something else to carry in the bike toolkit (and lose)? On a more serious note, I can see why bike insurance is becoming expensive. Gone are the days when a top spec bike might be circa £2000. These days £6000 is not so unusual, and £10,000 isn't as unusual as it should be either. For insurance companies to cover the cost of losses of these bikes, they surely have to charge ridiculous amounts of money in premiums to make sure they don't go broke paying out. Fraud must be a big problem too. A Specialised Levo, with it's 3rd motor replacement in warranty that needs a 4th motor outside of warranty, might be a better economic choice to have it "stolen", especially with a new for old policy. Who'd be an insurer of expensive e-bikes in the £4-£10k region? How could you make a profit without overcharging the lower value, lower risk customers? Is there an argument for capping the risk, by refusing to insure a bike with a greater value than (say) £2000? With a 'premium' value/higher risk company (or companies) providing insurance cover for the upmarket models so often stolen in cities by 'professional' thieves? New technology is helping .... At least bicycle owners and e-bike owners can get their transport insured..... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13009601/Ive-forced-declare-Range-Rover-road-sell-15-000-loss-insurers-quoted-890-MONTH-extortionate-premiums-destroying-lives.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13040943/uninsurable-Range-Rover-owner-quote-14000-insurance-stolen-one-day-later.html And when bikes get stolen, are the police always interested these days? https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-buys-his-stolen-bike-back-gumtree-282745 Yes, sometimes ..... https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/how-i-got-my-stolen-bike-back And there are Good Samaritans out there ..... https://www.bicycling.com/news/a30706461/man-buys-stolen-bike-to-find-rightful-owner/
February 5, 20242 yr Ive considered tracking options, but when i played out a successful tracking in my mind I ended up getting arrested for swearing at a police telephone operator when getting no help after camping on the thief's doorstep for proof.
February 6, 20242 yr Ive considered tracking options, but when i played out a successful tracking in my mind I ended up getting arrested for swearing at a police telephone operator when getting no help after camping on the thief's doorstep for proof. If ever you need help from the police, get a handycam (doesn't matter if it doesn't work), stand at the back of a police station and point the camera. They'll be out in swarms within seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VoPIH1OWL8:194
February 6, 20242 yr Insurance can be a minefield, I looked at home insurance adding in my alarm system and it made little or no difference, but if you declare it and its not set when you are robbed then they won't want to pay. I had a tracker on my land rover but it made no difference to the quotes I found for insurance.
February 6, 20242 yr https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68188064 Yes they are, says the bloke down the pub, Bob the builder and the lady, who lives in the house opposite.
February 6, 20242 yr https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/land-rover/land-rovers-thefts-expensive-insurance/
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