True Bicycle Insurance on the Horizon?

Lindsay Caron writes an interesting piece on bicycle insurance, a surprisingly scarce commodity, on BikePortland.org.  You would think that since a bicycle is a means of transportation, you should be able to insure it like you would a car or a motorcycle, but this is not the case.

Bicycle insurance that is similar to auto insurance already exists in England, Australia, and New Zealand. It covers policyholders’ medical bills resulting from bicycle crashes, as well as covering bicycle repair or replacement and lost wages from serious injuries.

Not only can you not purchase this "bicycle as transportation" type of policy here in the states, it's difficult to find true, all-peril "bicycle as personal property" insurance either.  


Here's what I mean:  When you purchase high value items, such as jewelry, fine arts, and the like, you need to purchase a special policy that provides Inland Marine protection, often referred to as personal articles coverage.  Personal articles policies broaden your coverage for those specific named items to include pretty much any type of unintentional loss, and you need that type of policy for just about any collectible item.  Without that type of policy, you are limited to your homeowners insurance, which provides "named peril" coverage as opposed to all peril.  Insurers don't like to cover bicycles under personal articles policies, and collision is not one of those named perils on your homeowners coverage.


So, if you are in a bike accident, you have no coverage for your high dollar bicycle replacement or lost wages.  You may have coverage for your medical bills through your health insurance, but many times health insurers will decline losses relating to accidents up front until they find out if a car policy will pay something.


The good news?  The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) is hoping to bring this type of coverage to the USA soon.

The catch: in order for the plan to be affordable to its members yet not pose a serious financial risk to the underwriters, it would have to cover a large pool of members outside of the highest risk group — cycle-commuters with no other insurance options.   The LAB would have to include this insurance as part of their base membership fee. Even as supplemental insurance, the proposed plan was a screaming deal at only $10 a year, which would be added to the annual fee for members. Such a plan, [Portland insurance agent, Jeff] Lang argues, could potentially make a LAB membership more attractive to new members as well as providing a basic service.

The LAB hoped to bring this coverage about in 2009, but the poor economy, decreased donations, and decreased membership during that year scuttled the plan.  The new year brings new possibilities though, and hopefully this thing can come to fruition in the near future.

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services, a home inventory provider based in Murfreesboro TN.  Please visit FarleyHomeServices.com at your leisure.