WheelieSchatz gets insured!

Hold on to your helmets, folks, this is the post you've all been waiting for: today we're going to talk about bike insurance!

Chances are your home owner's insurance (or renter's insurance) isn't giving you  as much coverage as you need (for those of you who didn't know, yes, your homeowner's insurance might cover some bike losses, even away from home. They do, however, have to know you own a bike, so even if you don't get bike insurance after reading this post, make that call at least).

Why do I need bike insurance? 

Because crippling medical debt is a soul-sucking albatross that hangs around your neck for years. It ruthlessly quashes any viable chance of achieving aspirations or upward mobility. Even if you're right where you want to be in life, trust me, the health care system in this country guarantees you will owe it more money than you have.

Sound overly dramatic? It's not; I know because ten years after my husband's (not bike related) single-vehicle rollover accident, we are still paying hundreds of dollars a month to get out of the debt from the fallout...debt that was incurred after the very good coverage he received from worker's compensation kicked in.

I don't care how great your health insurance is or how many thousands you have socked away in your FSA. As an equalizer of men, both Death and Taxes have nothing on Medical Debt.

That's partly because it's not all in the form medical bills. It's putting the groceries and gas on credit cards while you're out of work. It's paying late fees or half of the minimum payments because you have to also buy, you know, food.

There's also paying what your insurance doesn't cover after all that, too. Drop some antibiotics down the sink accidentally? Have fun scrounging up the $435 for that replacement bottle (yes, this happened to us), and that's when you haven't figured out how you were going to get the $85 co-pay together in the first place. Hey look, more credit card debt you can't afford! And you thought that was just for irresponsible people who live beyond their means.

If you're reading this and live in the Phoenix metro area like me, then you especially need bike insurance because we are cycling in of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians and cyclists in the country. 

That all said, there are also great perks to having bicycle insurance, especially for serious, competitive cyclists (who probably aren't reading this blog, so please share with your Serious Cyclist friends!).

So let's get started, shall we?

How it works and what it covers

Several companies offer bike insurance, but I went with Velosurance, primarily because -- you guessed it! -- they offered the best comprehensive medical coverage. 

But there are lots of other very beneficial things Velosurance and other bike insurance carriers also offer, including: 

• Roadside assistance (and bike rental if you need it)
• Spare parts coverage (as in, for you to buy and stock spare parts)
• Tournament/race fee reimbursement (some companies; shop around for this)
• Bike clothing/gear, like helmets or gloves 
• Money for a new bike if yours is stolen (and was properly locked up, of course)

The type of coverage you need will depend on you, obviously.

In our case, although our bikes aren't elite machines meant to slay mountains or traverse miles in an inhuman amount a time, they are our primary form of transportation and, as such, theft coverage is extremely important to us. 

Medical coverage and roadside assistance were the other two main factors I considered when shopping around. 

Getting a quote is simple. You type in some pretty basic information about your bike and they'll show you three tiers of coverage right away. Here's what mine looked like, for both our bikes: 

Here's what the coverage looks like for each of our bikes, starting with WheelieSchatz:

Here's the quote for Ghost (Judd's bike): 

Obviously, we went Full Paranoia and maxed out all available coverage. Here's a better explanation of what some of these coverages mean. 

Our initial payment of $117 took a few paychecks to get together, and the $67-ish per month will definitely mean more cooking (ugh) and less eating out, but we know from experience it's worth it in the long run. 

Great, now I'm freaking out about insurance. Now what? 

First, regardless of whether you decide to get bike insurance or not, it's a good idea to call both your auto insurance and homeowner's or rental insurance companies and ask what they will and won't cover should your bike be stolen, damaged and/or you get into an accident (both involving and not involving another vehicle and/or person). 

If you are unfortunately hit by a car, for example, your auto insurance may cover some medical costs since a bike is considered a vehicle in Arizona, and your homeowner's insurance might kick in after that. Your health insurance would also presumably be involved somewhere in there, too, but that is beyond my ability to explain even in a hypothetical like this one.

If you hit another bicyclist or pedestrian, your liability insurance, if you have it, may kick in when/if they sue you, and also pay their medical bills.

Still, bike insurance can possibly add additional medical or liability coverage, and that's never a bad thing. If you're looking at $45,000 of medical bills, and your homeowner's insurance covers $5,000, and your auto insurance covers $15,000, and your bike insurance covers $10,000, you're still five grand in the hole but that's better than owing $15,000. 

In some cases, however, your home insurance might decline to cover medical costs associated with a bike accident because you have health and/or bike insurance (i.e., coverage is better provided elsewhere exclusion); it's a good idea to ask your carrier how/if having a bike insurance policy in place will impact coverage of bike-related things.

That's unlikely, however. The old adage is generally true: you can never have enough insurance. 

In our case, we don't have a car so we don't have auto insurance at all, which bumped bike insurance from a luxury, excess policy to a necessity. 

THESE ARE JUST EXAMPLES AND NOT MEANT IN ANY WAY TO BE INSURANCE OR LEGAL ADVICE.  CALL YOUR CARRIER DIRECTLY AND MAKE THEM ANSWER QUESTIONS.

They'll tell you they can't give you specific dollar amounts in many cases, and that's true -- but they can tell you a generalist, basic idea of what they would cover. 

You: "If I hit a pedestrian while riding my bike and they get taken away in an ambulance and sue me, would you cover any of the legal fees or anything?" 

Carrier: "Well, blah blah can't give specifics, but yes, you do have liability coverage up to $X,XXXX.....please buy excess liability insurance if you're really worried about it." 

Secondly, consider what coverage you need most. If you live in a gated community or in a rural area where there is a low chance of theft, maybe that's not your deciding factor. 

If you go touring, worldwide coverage is definitely a deciding factor (do not skimp on this). 

OK, enough paperwork-type things. It's only 100 degrees out and I've got some bike riding to do. It's especially nice to know that whether I break down and need roadside assistance or if I get into an accident, I'm covered. I hope you are, too. 

THE DISCLAIMER SO YOU CAN'T SUE ME IF YOU BUY CRAP BIKE INSURANCE OR GET BIKE INSURANCE AND THEN YOU'RE NOT COVERED FOR SOMETHING FOR SOME REASON: Although I do work for an insurance broker, and am a newly-licensed property and casualty insurance producer, please understand that 1.) my brokerage does not sell bike insurance (that I know of); it specializes in photography and drone coverage 2.) I do not and have not ever sold insurance; I am a document control specialist and do other things 3.) I was going to get bike insurance and write this post long before I ever even applied to the job I have now.