Quiz: Do you know what a Pinarello Bolide, Dogma F8 Xlight, or a Cervelo P5 is? Second Question: Are you aware that they can cost you upwards of $10,000 to purchase? And last but not least, if you answered the first two questions with a yes, do you realize that these expensive bikes may not be covered adequately by your homeowner’s insurance?
What? Yes, I do realize that bikes are contents or personal belongings and therefore are covered under homeowner’s insurance subject to your deductible. So, what’s the issue? I’m so glad you asked.
Most home insurance policies cover your personal ‘contents’ for 16 named peril exposures such as fire, theft, vandalism, smoke, falling objects, freezing etc. If anything happens to your personal property that is NOT one of the 16 perils listed in your policy, coverage simply does not apply.
An example I use often is when someone singes a hole in a couch with a cigar or cigarette, that is not covered because it’s not a specifically named peril.
Another uncovered cause of loss would be collision.
Most often, when you think of exposures with any of your personal belongings, you don’t usually think of ‘collision’ except when it comes to your vehicles, watercraft, and ATVs. These items are also not covered under home insurance policies by the way. (Just some bonus knowledge for you)
With bikes however, the peril of ‘collision’ is very much a possibility, and because collision is NOT covered under a standard home policy, neither would you have coverage if you were to leave a road way and say hit a tree causing serious damage to the bike itself.
In order to have insurance on items such as this for collision and other occurrences, you would need to either schedule the bike (where you specifically have it named on your home policy and pay an additional premium for it), or have an open peril policy vs a named peril.
So, what is an open peril policy? Again, so glad you asked, as I just happen to have the answer.
An ‘open-peril’ policy is one that includes a coverage called ‘Special Personal Property’ that simply broadens the scope of what they will cover.
When you have this kind of policy or coverage endorsement, the policy states that they will cover ‘all causes of loss’ EXCEPT those that are specifically excluded and named in the policy.
Some policy exclusions are intentional acts, wear and tear, flood, latent defect, rust, corrosion etc. (See your policy for specifics)
One again we believe it’s important for you to be aware of what is and what is not covered under your home or any other insurance policy. As always, we are here to assist with any of your home, auto, business or life insurance needs.