Is my bicycle covered by my home insurance policy?

A typical homeowners insurance contains two sections:

• Property coverage
• Personal liability coverage

The property coverage portion is further broken down into four coverage areas:

• The primary building
• Detached private structures
• Personal property
• Additional living expenses (in the event that the primary dwelling becomes uninhabitable)

Your bicycle falls squarely into that third section: personal property. So, if your bike was damaged in a house fire or suffered any other insured loss, you would have coverage for it under your home insurance policy.

But you should also be aware of a typical policy feature that could apply in this case. Bicycles and their accompanying equipment are subject to a special limit of insurance if they are lost or stolen. In most cases, payment is capped at $500. What that limit means to you will depend on the kind of bicycle and accessories you have. If you just have a simple, inexpensive commuter bike with no frills, that $500 limit might be more than enough. But if you have a cargo bike, especially one equipped with an expensive electric conversion kit, that $500 limit might only cover a fraction of your loss.

The deductible also comes into play here. If you have a high deductible and a high-end bike, it might not make sense for you to pay the hefty deductible only to receive woefully inadequate compensation from your insurer (see An Overview of Insurance Deductibles for related reading).

If your bike is an expensive model and you want adequate coverage for it, there's a simple solution. You can simply schedule your bike onto your homeowner's policy. By providing some additional information about your bike (make, model, value, and so forth) and paying an extra premium, you can get it insured for its purchase price.

So, in summary, yes your bicycle is covered under your home insurance policy, and no, you don't need special coverage for it. But you might need to have it scheduled onto your policy if its value warrants doing so.