Shopping for Bicycle Insurance in Canada

On my first break from a busy week, I decided this morning to waste some time on the computer, reading the newspaper. This is when I came across the first title I've read in local newspapers that seems to be pro-cycling in this article

My husband and I cycle to work and also take the kids by bicycle to their activities. We spend a lot of time on our bicycles.

It led me to think about bicycle insurance. I don't mean insurance to cover motorist-caused accidents with bicycles, which is virtually all of the time. What about cases when bicycles cause injury to people or damage property? Maybe the cyclist is on her cell phone and wildly slams into a car a while she wasn't looking. I am being sarcastic here. This is a reaction to the suggestion in the article that cyclists purchase insurance. Cyclists don't use cell phones while driving; drivers do, despite laws against the practice. Personally, it seems that each time a driver cuts me off as if he or she didn't see me, I see that they are on the cell phone. In the first few weeks after the anti-cell phone law was enacted, I did see a reduction in driver cell phone use. But that period of romance is long over, and drivers are back at it. Putting my life at risk.

I digress. Curious about whether other countries require cyclists to take out insurance in accidents they've caused that do not involve automobiles, I found that the UK, Australia, and the US offer some options.

In the UK, there is CycleGard Road Care. It provides personal liability coverage for cyclists for $44 a year. With the cost of the insurance so low compared to cars at thousands a year, you'd really have to question how often bicycles cause accidents that require insurance coverage, as insurance costs are based on a sophisticated system of number crunching that guarantees that insurance providers come out ahead.

But what about Canada? Google led me to Bicycle Insurance Canada, a sad one page writeup which said, "Below is a list of providers we are aware of , that will provide bicycle insurance cover. You will need to ring them because their websites don’t offer a standard option online for bicycle insurance." It listed three mainstream insurance companies. I clicked on the one which happens to provide my home insurance.


I typed in my question: "Do you have bicycle insurance (collision, 3rd party)?" and the automated computer responded with links pointing to rental car insurance! That's artificial intelligence for you, that! I tried taking out the terms in brackets, "collision, 3rd party" that were confusing Robbie the Robot, and this time I was told that the question I really asked was "What types of insurance do you offer?" Ah, that's better. In the list that followed, bicycles were not mentioned. Time for the 1-877-777-7136. This led to the general line for Client Services.

Can I help you? "Yes. Do you have bicycle insurance? I don't mean insurance for when a bicycle is stolen, but do you have insurance if I am riding my bicycle and I hit a person or a parked car?"

She did not know of any particular bicycle insurance. Luckily for me, I have an existing policy with this company. The operator looked into my home insurance to find if I was covered. She suspected I was. She read out a portion to me over the telephone: "...Personal liability, to accidents or occurrences, unintentional bodily injury or property damage arising due to personal actions anywhere in the world." $1M in liability. There is $6000 for voluntary medical and $6000 for voluntary property damage. What, you ask, is voluntary property damage? If I was at someone's home and decided to, say, pick up their Stradivarius and smash it on the hardwood floor to make a point while telling a story about how a driver was on his cell phone when he smashed into me, yes, I would be covered. But only in the amount of $6000. Dommage. Similarly, if I do decide to take my tire pump and smash in the headlights of a driver who cut me off, I would be covered.

To make certain, I ended the call with this: "So, are you sure I'm covered?" Yes. "What about my husband and my children?" Yes, everyone in the household. Excellent. Now I can text while riding again! No worries!

I did not call the other two companies that might offer bicycle insurance. One only offered service in Alberta, New Brunswick, and Ontario. So I wrote an, out of curiosity. Question to be resolved: "Does bicycle insurance exist?" That question to be answered when I hear back from them.

Then the bigger question: How often do cyclists cause accidents that require insurance coverage? I think the answer is obvious, from the $44 a year insurance premium for Brit cyclists.