Review: Cycleplan insurance

In Summary

Cycleplan have been around a bit longer than the average cycle insurance company - rather than launching on the back of the recent wave of cycling popularity, Cycleplan are part of JRW Group who have 17 years experience in providing specialist insurance to the sports industry for amateurs, teams, coaches and pros alike.

Their flexible policy allows you to choose the cover you'd like, they offer a 20% introductory discount and say that "if [within 14 days of buying] you find the same levels of cover elsewhere for less we'll refund the difference."

You can get a personalised quote at the Cycleplan website.

Background to Cycleplan cycling insurance

Cycleplan is a brand name of the insurance brokerage JRW Group. JRW Group run a series of specialist insurance brands that provide insurance for different sports - in addition to Cycleplan they also have brands covering golf, fishing and shooting but also personal trainers, whole teams, individual players and sportspeople. In total, they cover in excess of 200 different sports via their policies.

The Cycleplan policy is underwritten by RSA.

Overview of cover provided by Cycleplan cycling insurance

Cycleplan offer a very flexible policy allowing you to choose the covers you want. Any of the following options can be included or excluded to balance the protection you have versus the cost of the policy:

• Theft, damage and accidental damage - Most riders think first about insuring their bike for theft, vandalism or even accidental damage. Cycleplan's cover is based simply on the value of the bike(s) you want to insure and even covers up to £30,000!
• Public liability - this provides cover in the event that you injure someone or cause damage to their property as a result of owning your bike (for example colliding with a car or another rider). The costs of such claims can be large and Cycleplan offer £1m to £5m cover.
• Accessories - providing £250 to £1,000 cover for the cycling gear, GPS units, helmets, clothing and so on in the event of theft or accidental damage.
• Legal Expenses - up to £50,000 to cover the costs of pursuing a claim if you and your bike are involved in an incident.
• Replacement bike hire - between £500 and £1,000 to cover the cost of a temporary replacement bike hire in the event that yours is being repaired
• Personal Accident - cover in the event that you sustain a serious injury (such as loss of use of a limb, sight or even death) - between £10,000 and £50,000 cover.
• Loss of earnings - up to a year's worth of financial support in the event that you are unable to work following an accident on your bike with limits between £250 and £750 per week.
• Competitive use - a bolt-on that ensures you are covered if competing on your bike (note: you do not need this option to participate in a sportive.
• European or Worldwide travel - up to 90 or 45 days cover respectively.
• Excess waiver - to eliminate the excess you would otherwise have to pay in the event of a claim.

You can get a personalised quote at the Cycleplan website

How much does cycle insurance from Cycleplan cost?

The cost of Cycleplan's policies vary according to the options chosen, but otherwise are quite fixed. There is no extra charge for city postcodes, although it does exclude London so premiums are likely to be higher for people living in the capital.

We obtained quotes at the time of writing and noted the following indicative prices for each individual element of cover:

• £1,000 of bikes only - £70 per year
• £2,000 of bikes only - £135 per year
• £1m personal liability cover only - £12.50 per year
• £10,000 personal accident cover only - £10 per year (though this must be bought with bike or liability cover)

Cycleplan offer a 20% introductory online discount and the ability to pay monthly with a 0% APR when the total premium is in excess of £50.

Cycleplan also offer a price guarantee - on their website they say "We are confident you won't find another policy that closely matches your needs, for a lower price. So should you take out a policy and within 14 days find the same levels of cover elsewhere for less we'll refund the difference."

You can get a personalised quote at the Cycleplan website

What do Cycleplan customers say?

Cycleplan has well over 200 customer reviews on Trustpilot with customers rating them 9/10 whcih Trustpilot calls "Excellent". We noted only 3 customer reviews rating Cycleplan less than 3/5 stars, and noted several replies from Cycleplan customer services where questions or issues were raised.

On Social Media Cycleplan have an active Twitter account and a sizeable following. We again noted some positive comments on their feed:

@cycleplan Thank you very much! I'm well impressed by the quality of your Twitter customer service

— Alina Loredana Stan (@alina_stan) November 20, 2014

On searching for negative experiences, we could find just two, both relating to slow replies:

@cycleplan hey, been waiting for a call back to make a claim for over 24hrs. Any idea how long the backlog is?

— Alex™ (@AJackson2014) December 2, 2014

Cycleplan states that its customer services are all UK-based.

You can get a personalised quote at the Cycleplan website

What do the experts say?

Our research could not locate any rating information on Cycleplan or JRW Group and its brands by industry experts. However this is not unusual in cycling insurance - despite its growing popularity, it remains a specialist category and so attracts less industry attention.

Cycleplan's recent TV advert, run mostly during La Vuelta 2015, features professional rider Lizzie Armitstead who certainly knows a thing or two about the risks of cycling:

Whilst this can't be identified as 'insurance expertise', having a rider of this calibre endorse the insurer provides some reassurance.