Bicycle Theft Insurance
Bicycle theft insurance has always been one of our customer’s main concerns when taking out a new policy. If you are storing expensive bikes in a garage or shed, or if you want to leave your bike locked up while you’re at work, theft is likely to be at the front of our mind.
The truth is, the majority of claims we deal with are for accidental damage caused by crashes or careless baggage handlers, not bike thieves. But it is still worth being aware of the extent of bicycle theft in the UK, and some of the things you can do to prevent your bike being stolen.
Our bicycle theft insurance infographic looks at the latest bicycle theft stats, and we talk about the best ways to make sure you don’t end up as one of those statistics.
Bicycle theft is postcode related
It’s not really surprising to learn that the inner city cyclist is more likely to be a victim of bicycle theft than their rural based counterpart. Inner city areas in London and other major cities in the UK suffer with higher crime levels generally. By the time you’ve read this article another bicycle would have been lifted by a light fingered criminal!
Bicycle theft is big business in the UK
There were 376,000 bicycles reported stolen in the UK between April 2013 and the end of March 2014. The average sale price of a bicycle increased to £800 in 2014 as the UK gets more enthusiastic about the sport. The average however is skewed by low cost children’s bikes. Premium brands, report enthusiasts are spending on average £2500 on their machines and accessories. Top end bike sales over £5000 are up also 22%. With this in mind its clear why bike theft targets certain brands.
Bicycle theft prevention
There are things that you can do to help minimise the risk of being a victim of bike theft.
- You need a good quality lock that is ‘Sold Secure’ accredited. Making sure you’re bicycle is secure when not being ridden is just common sense and will provide an additional barrier to the casual, opportunistic bike thief. Read our blog on bicycle locks and shed padlocks
- At Yellow Jersey, we provide a DNA+ kit with each policy taken out. Using this, or something similar to tag your bike makes the bike less attractive to bicycle thieves who know there is an increased chance of prosecution if they get caught with a stolen bike. Should the worst happen, the likelihood of your bike being recovered is also improved. Make sure that your bike carries a sticker or mark that is clearly visible to the would-be thief. Knowing the bike is DNA marked or registered on a police database might just be enough to put them off stealing it in the first place.
- Register your bicycle on the national database at bikeregister.com. Police recover a significant number of stolen bikes every year – but many are never re-united with their owner because they don’t have sufficient information to tally owners with their newly recovered steeds. By registering your bike on the national database, you’re massively improving the chances of getting the bike back should the worst happen.
Yellow Jersey provide Bicycle Insurance to cover theft of bikes at home and abroad.