eMTB and eBike - third party insurance situation (not theft)

[birdmanoz]

I did some digging and this also seems relevant to normal bikes. The following is what i found out with regard to pedelec compliant power assisted bikes as per Vic Roads. I wanted to know what would happen in the event of an accident (hit someone on trail etc).


My RACV Contents policy

Covered under Contents Insurance We cover the legal liability of you or your family for: death or bodily injury to someone else, or loss or damage to someone else’s property in an incident that takes place outside the site, but within Australia. For example, you may be liable if you are riding your bicycle on a road and cause an accident

I emailed RACV to clarify if a compliant pedelec ebike was a bicycle for this purpose in Vic and the reply was

..."As the pedelec compliant e bikes are not a vehicle that can be registered to VIC roads then for the RACV it would fall under the same category as a bicycle/ push bike and therefore it would be covered through the liability cover for a contents policy. I hope this answers your question and gives you peace of mind in regards to your coverage." RACV claims consultant


I also enquired about other policy options namely

Bicycle Network and their membership third party cover. Reply was

Yes we do cover riders of legally compliant ebikes. Check out this link for clarification of that https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/cyclist-safety/power-assisted-bicycles. Please be aware that we only cover the rider and not the bike.


Note this was all Victoria and current as of 15 June 2018 so things may change.

 

[pink poodle]

@birdmanoz that reply is heavy on the wordy words approach that insurance companies are renowned for, am I correct in reading that it says your contents insurance (for your home contents under which your bike/s are covered) also provides you with some level of public liability when using the contents of your home, either at home or away from it, within Australia? Shit! That's all wordy words too. I was trying for some simplicity.

 

[birdmanoz]

@birdmanoz that reply is heavy on the wordy words approach that insurance companies are renowned for, am I correct in reading that it says your contents insurance (for your home contents under which your bike/s are covered) also provides you with some level of public liability when using the contents of your home, either at home or away from it, within Australia? Shit! That's all wordy words too. I was trying for some simplicity.

Yep that's correct. I have both RACV home (building) and RACV contents policies. That extract above is from the RACV contents PDS document which is the legally binding document. Also note that I have not specifically listed any of my bikes on my policy so they may not be covered for theft at my home. However this post is purely about the section of the contents policy that relates to third party liability and cover of the policy owner and family whilst away from home. I presume the same applies for normal bikes.

Its a pretty important issue that all MTB riders should consider. If you are on the trail on a normal bike and hit someone they could take you to the cleaners if you are negligent or riding dangerously (at fault in full or part). If you don't have insurance you could have personal assets at risk including home. So third party insurance is actually pretty important for all riders. I checked ebikes because I know that insurance companies will do just about anything to wangle out of paying a claim.

 

[Duane]

Interesting that their respose mentions compliant pedalelec bikes, does that mean things like the new Specialized monster which is not compliant from my understanding (over 250w output) would not be covered???

 

[DigitalRumble]

Interesting that their respose mentions compliant pedalelec bikes, does that mean things like the new Specialized monster which is not compliant from my understanding (over 250w output) would not be covered???

All the Specialized models sold in Australia comply with the standard for pedal assist e-bikes. The 250W is a nominal figure and short bursts above that figure are permitted without affecting compliance with the European standard that Vic Roads has adopted. The only area that might cause an issue with respect to insurance is if you where to be found to have intentionally derestricted your bike and allowed it to provide assist beyond the 25km/h limit. Specialized have cottoned on to people manipulating the wheel circumference in the Mission Control App to effectively derestrict the bike. Wheel circumference can no longer be changed in the latest version of their App.