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Comment by wintermutestwin | Hacker News Reader

My insurance policy (renters or homeowners) covers bike theft. Yes, there is a $1k deductible, but my bikes range from $3-5k each. Is this not a thing in the UK/EU?

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The Netherlands here. Homeowners insurance usually only covers bike theft when the bike is actually stolen from inside the home or garage, and there must be entry damage to prove this.

If you want to to insure against bike theft, you need a separate form of bike insurance. They generally have no deductible, though.

But it's usually not worth the effort. Daily-use bikes are too cheap to worry about, and expensive racing bikes / mountain bikes never leave your line of sight while outside your home.

Is bicycle theft taken seriously in the Netherlands? Meaning, do the police work to stop it? I’ve wondered since there’s such a strong cycling culture there.

What about damage? Can you get any insurance for that?

This is definitely a thing in Ireland and generally seems to be better value than specialist bike insurance. From my limited research, the latter is not worth getting for most people, but if you already have home insurance it's almost certainly worthwhile making sure it covers your bike, sometimes at a small extra cost to include bikes stolen not from your home.

Could you change the deductible? Mine is $500, and it's just not worth losing any sleep over it. I still lock the bike because it's a hassle to not have your bike when you need it, but life is too short to be lived in obsessive anxiety over locks.

You can even get this with zero deductible for some policies. I pay $8/mo for that with my renters.

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