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M o n a x,
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Tony Adams
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tony at atoms.net
web: atoms.net
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Thu, 14 Aug 2008
Bike Insurance?
I just caught wind of some insurance which is supposedly available for bicycles. The anecdotal rate I heard for a Chicago resident is $130 a year.
I've had one bike stolen (so far) in the twenty years that I've lived in Chicago. Twenty years at this rate works out to $2600 for the insurance. I hesitate to add it ALL up, but while my total spending for bikes, maintenance, parts, accessories certainly adds up, insurance would not reduce expenditures on tires, patches, freewheels, bearings, etc anyway.
So that adds up to like, $1450? Since the only time the insurance would have paid off was for the $300 mystery bike. Had I been buying it all these years I'd simply be out $2300 instead of being out $300. Like most insurance, it seems like a pretty bad deal.My Chicago Bike Purchase History
since 1988
- The bike that got stolen (can't recall what it was < $300 for sure)
- Ross Mountain Bike ~ $250
- Raliegh Hybrid ~ $300
- The French Bike - $50 (broke crank and sold bike via CL for $30 so) $20
- The Wisconsin era Trek 500 free (but $300 of parts and labor)
- The Chicago era Schwinn Continental $80 + $200 (new wheel, single speed conv, etc)
But wait, it gets worse. Let's imagine that one put that $130 a year into some kind of savings vehicle with an interest rate of 4%. After twenty years that account would be worth $3,871.15.
The moral of the story is certainly not an original idea, but like most good ideas it is worth repeating:
Don't Insure Anything You Can Afford to Replace.