Personal accident insurance – is it really necessary?

We all love biking but sometimes the trails aren’t so kind to us and we find ourselves suffering for our sport. We take a look at whether personal cycling insurance can help you to get back on two wheels.

We’ve all heard tales of crashes, tumbles and prangs, and most of us have been on the receiving end of a good few of them. A lot of them happen when we are “just riding along” or when that pesky tree jumps into our path, I think most riders can give testimony on the inflexible nature of trees. Most of us, most of the time, well, we shake it off. But what happens on the occasions when we don’t get up so quickly? When we find ourselves lying there thinking something doesn’t feel right, like that foot that isn’t facing in the direction it should be, the wrist that has a bend where there wasn’t one before or, a nightmare becomes reality and our back doesn’t feel quite right. This was made very real to us when a member of the ENDURO team experienced this for himself and you can read his story below.

Let’s face it unless you’re a commercial diver, a tree surgeon or Lion tamer, biking is likely to be the most dangerous thing you do all week, but yet we happily accept those risks, they are part of what we do and part of why we love it. Helmets and pads help keep bumps and bruises at bay, and we all have to go to work tomorrow so finding a happy place between an adrenaline rush and certain death is the aim of the game.

Why would I need insurance?- that’s what the NHS is for!

Whatever your personal opinions of the NHS might be, it means that we aren’t lumbered with medical costs when we limp into the hospital so why would anyone consider insurance and what does it get you?
Most people reading this are no longer 18, we don’t bounce like we used to and sadly, we’ve got to go to work and do the job we’re paid to do. When there’s a family that needs supporting the fear of taking time off work due to an accident becomes more pressing – insurance can look after you and take a little bit of that pressure away until the cast comes off and you’re ready to roll again.

Although, when out riding the risk of injury may not seem high, when we’re pushing to the limits between the tape, with riders behind and in front, the risk will inevitably increase – we have all seen the crashes, racing is the biggest area of risk for all bikers (unless you commute in London). Although organisers aren’t making insurance compulsory at the moment, everybody is heartily encouraging that you look into it. The insurance policy of the events you attend cover the organisers, not you. No insurance broker would offer a policy to an organiser covering the health of hundreds or riders of different abilities and ages riding off road at speed and if they did, events would be inhibitively expensive to enter.

British Cycling’s stance on enduro

In the big news of 2015, British Cycling (BC) declared that it would not be supporting enduro racing for the foreseeable future. From a personal perspective, the disassociation of BC from enduro means that, if you are personally insured with BC you aren’t covered when you’re racing in enduros. The BC insurance will cover you for everyday pedalling but when you compete in enduro, you are no longer covered because BC does not sanction these races. As soon as you put on a timing chip you’re on your own.

What are the options?

If you’re ready to admit that it might well happen to you, it might be time to investigate some personal insurance from a commercial insurer. A quick google search will uncover a couple of options offering ‘travel insurance’ type cover that will cover you in the UK. And just like buying travel insurance there aren’t any set prices for easy reference and comparison, you need to get a quote. This is quite simply because it depends on you, the level of cover you would like, whether you race, how old you are and what you want back in the instance that you do need to call on them.

Like most of the ENDURO team, you may think, “I don’t need that”, and we don’t want this to sound like an advert; but we experienced the Insurance question first hand when one of the team went down hard. Our intrepid UK editor Jim Buchanan very kindly volunteered to be a case study by going awry at a recent race and was successful in making his foot face backwards (you can read about Jim’s recovery here and here). Jim was insured through the UK-based Bespoke insurance – over to you Jim…

“I personally have always had my own accident insurance, starting out from back in about 1997. Last year when the UK’s enduro race organizers started insisting on riders having it to compete, it really made no difference to me. But after looking at the cover offered by Bespoke and how much it cost, then £8 per month was much cheaper cover than my existing £30 per month, which I was paying at the time. I started out with this basic cover, then after realising I could get double the payout by doubling the cover and it still only cost £16 per month, then it just seemed like a no-brainer”

“I made the upgrade around three months ago, hoping I would never need it, but lo and behold I went down at a race in The Forest of Dean, dislocating and fracturing my ankle quite badly. This resulted in an operation to fix me up with some interior metalwork and a cast. I was out of action for a while, and my physical job was put on hold for a while. I firstly tried to get my local GP to fill in and sign the paperwork for the insurers, as I had forgotten to bring it to the hospital originally. The doctors wanted three weeks and £50 to sign it; unbelievable! I wasn’t going to give them that much, so I took it over to the hospital two weeks later, where the surgeon filled it out free of charge. From the time I sent it off to the time I received my double payment of £2400 took an unbelievable three days, with no bother whatsoever”

“My only advice to anyone with insurance and having to claim, would be to get a friend to bring the forms into the hospital for you on your original visit, then you would get it within the week of the injury. The whole experience from claiming, to receiving, the money literally couldn’t have been simpler, to be honest, I was very pleased with the service”

Accidents do happen, and if you are thinking of getting insurance we have set up a special offer for our readers. Jim used Bespoke Insurance (other companies are available) as they understand the unique demands of mountain bike racing, and if you call them for a no-obligation quote and quote ENDUROMAG, they’ll give you a £10 Chain Reaction Cycles voucher. Might be worth the gamble.

Words: Catherine Smith